Rebirth: After Becoming the Villainess-Chapter 94: I’ll Go Annul the Marriage

Consort Qi, ever the kind soul, couldn’t bear to hear such words. Turning around, she instructed a palace maid to fetch some silver and jewelry. "This is my reward for you."

"Your Highness... You truly are... as kind as you are beautiful!"

Song Lianhe accepted without ceremony, clutching the gifts and giving her several earnest kowtows.

’She was in dire need of money at the moment. Be it from Zhou Cangyan or Consort Qi, she wouldn’t turn her nose up at any amount, big or small!’

Consort Qi let out a laugh. "You may rise."

Song Lianhe rose to her feet, beaming. As she glanced over at Zhou Junlin, she saw him looking down, lost in thought. For once, he didn’t offer a single sarcastic jab.

Since she had accepted a reward, she had to do her job to the best of her ability. Song Lianhe proceeded to ask Consort Qi about her diet and daily routine in meticulous detail.

After listening, her suspicions were confirmed.

She glanced back at Zhou Junlin. "Would Prince Ling please step outside for a moment?"

Zhou Junlin’s brow furrowed. Though displeased, he complied and withdrew.

Song Lianhe then asked Consort Qi to dismiss her attendants. Only then did she ask in a hushed voice, "Your Highness, may I ask, have you recently been irritable and sleepless? Have you found yourself weeping for no reason? Do you suffer from a dry mouth and throat, and a sensation of heat in your palms and the soles of your feet?"

Consort Qi gave a slight nod. "So, what is this ailment I have?"

Song Lianhe said diplomatically, "Your Highness is suffering from a deficiency of yin, which is causing an excess of internal heat and resulting in melancholy. It may appear to be a case of visceral agitation, but it is, in fact, an imbalance of yin and yang..." She leaned in closer and lowered her voice. "Your Highness simply needs to enjoy intimate relations with the Holy Emperor a few more times. The condition will resolve itself without any need for medicine."

"What?"

Consort Qi’s face instantly turned crimson. "You—you..."

’To think she was being so thoroughly embarrassed by an unmarried young woman that she was left speechless.’

Song Lianhe said with composure, "Noble Consort, the path of a physician demands objectivity above all else. Please, simply see me as an ordinary physician. To me, there is only the ailment, not distinctions of rank or modesty. I imagine the Imperial Medical Bureau diagnosed your condition long ago, but hesitated to speak plainly due to your status."

’So this was the frustrating reality of being part of the system.’

Zhou Junlin had only been waiting in the antechamber for a moment when Song Lianhe came out.

She was holding even more rewards than before, including a box of pastries presented as tribute from a foreign land.

Song Lianhe didn’t look at him. Instead, she beckoned over the palace maid attending Consort Qi and whispered a few words in her ear.

The palace maid started, a blush creeping onto her face. Then she nodded. "I understand."

Leaving Tanwei Palace, Song Lianhe was in high spirits. She stopped upon reaching the Imperial Garden.

Zhou Junlin, who was walking ahead, noticed and turned to look at her. "Why did you stop?"

Song Lianhe pointed with a wide smile at a rockery up ahead. "Doesn’t this place look familiar, Prince Ling?"

Zhou Junlin faltered. The tips of his ears flushed red, though his expression remained stoic. He took a few steps forward and finally voiced the question that had been on his mind. "What exactly is my aunt’s illness? Are you certain you can cure her?"

"Consort Qi isn’t sick at all. It’s just that..."

Zhou Junlin took a step forward. "Just what?"

Knowing that he regarded Consort Qi as his own mother, Song Lianhe wouldn’t joke about this matter, no matter how much she disliked him.

So she glanced around, then closed the distance between them, rising onto her tiptoes to whisper in his ear, "The Noble Consort is..."

「Across the lake in the Imperial Garden, under a covered walkway, Zhou Cangyan watched them with a cold gaze.」

"That’s Prince Ling and Second Miss Song, isn’t it?" came Cao Jin’s voice from beside him.

Zhou Cangyan retracted his sharp gaze, looking away and continuing on toward Kunyi Palace.

Back on their side of the lake, Zhou Junlin was stunned for a moment after hearing Song Lianhe’s words. He quickly processed them, his handsome face flushing red. "Song Lianhe, you..." He was at a loss for words. After a long pause, he finally choked out, "Have you no decency as a young woman?"

"Heh. If I don’t, do you?"

Song Lianhe gave a light laugh. Clutching her rewards, she started walking ahead and said at a leisurely pace, "Everyone has desires, both psychological and physiological. It couldn’t be more normal, so what’s there to be shy about? And on that subject..." She glanced back with a profoundly meaningful smile. "Prince Ling ought to have some personal experience with that, wouldn’t you say? Beneath the moon and among the flowers, by the babbling brook and the quaint bridge, at the rockery..."

"You—! Be quiet!"

Zhou Junlin couldn’t tell if he was more ashamed or enraged. He glared at her and said, "Xilan and I are in love. Even if we were a little intimate, it was a natural expression of our feelings..."

"Right, right, you’re absolutely right, Your Highness!" Song Lianhe had no desire to engage with him any further. "But Prince Ling, do you really think it’s appropriate to discuss your dalliances with another woman in front of me?"

"I..."

Zhou Junlin frowned. No matter how much he disliked Song Lianhe, he was still a well-read gentleman. Song Lianhe was the Princess Consort he was about to marry, and he was undeniably in the wrong.

"Then again, I don’t really mind."

She said with a bright smile, "We already agreed, didn’t we? I’ll go to the Holy Emperor and ask to have our engagement annulled. After that, you and Song Xilan will no longer have to sneak around." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Framed by the vernal beauty of the lotus pond, her smile made her eyes sparkle with an incomparable radiance.

But who could have known that Zhou Junlin would blurt out without a second thought: "I forbid it!"