Chapter 6: Contraceptive Brew and the Letter of Farewell

Boom—

In that instant, Fu Heng felt as if the sky had collapsed; his heart clenched fiercely, and his body nearly lost its balance. Staggering, he accidentally knocked the inkstone off the edge of the table.

The dark ink splattered across the floor, spreading and winding toward Hei Sha, as if trying to swallow him whole.

No one had ever seen the prince so unhinged. Just the news of the princess’s disappearance was enough to make him unable to stand.

Hei Sha felt as if he had plunged into an icy abyss, a murderous aura crashing down upon his head.

Suddenly, Fu Heng raised his foot and struck Hei Sha squarely in the chest. His eyes were as sharp as blades, and the fierce aura around him erupted like a flood.

Hei Sha’s face turned pale from the kick, blood soon trickling from the corner of his mouth. He barely managed a sound, hiding his face in his knees, overwhelmed with guilt.

The commotion inside had already alerted the shadow guards stationed outside, but none dared enter.

They all knew the weight the princess held in the prince’s heart. Otherwise, the prince would never have sent Hei Sha, the head of the shadow guards, to secretly protect her.

Yet now, the princess had vanished!

Fu Heng fiercely suppressed his anxiety and, in the next moment, vanished like a whirlwind within the study.

Hei Sha gritted his teeth and followed swiftly, not daring to slack for a moment.

Fu Heng soon rushed into Chu Li’s courtyard. Anyone could see his panic; even his normally steady steps faltered.

He knew every blade of grass and tree in this courtyard intimately. A mere glance confirmed nothing was out of place.

When he placed his hand on the door, ready to enter, he suddenly turned to the shadow guards behind him.

“Disperse! Search elsewhere!”

Even in such turmoil, Fu Heng remembered this was Chu Li’s courtyard, her chamber—no other men could be allowed to intrude.

He entered the inner room alone. His eyes immediately fell on the large bed where he and Chu Li had been entangled the previous night. The embroidered quilt was still disheveled, and a plain bowl lay quietly by the bedside.

Fu Heng’s pupils contracted sharply. He quickly picked up the bowl and sniffed it. There was still a lingering medicinal scent, but it seemed non-toxic, which eased his mind slightly.

He searched the entire room inside and out three times, finding no clue.

No signs of a struggle, no forced entry. Chu Li was known for deep sleep and a strong attachment to her bed. If she wasn’t abducted by foul play, then where else could she have gone?

At that moment, the shadow guards, who had dispersed to investigate other areas, returned to the princess’s courtyard, their faces grave.

They cast sympathetic and worried glances toward Hei Sha. If something truly happened to the princess, Hei Sha might be executed by military law at the prince’s command!

“Bang!” Hei Sha knelt heavily before Fu Heng, struggling to speak.

“Your Highness, we have searched everywhere… there is no sign of the princess.”

He admitted his failure. The prince had entered the princess’s room the previous night. To avoid disturbing his master, Hei Sha had deliberately stayed away from the courtyard. In the past, he had always done so without incident.

When the prince returned to the study late at night, Hei Sha did not immediately resume his post but secretly guarded his master in the study, only returning outside the princess’s courtyard after half an hour.

The mansion was heavily guarded by shadow guards everywhere today, supposedly secure. Yet despite the tight watch, the princess still disappeared.

Fu Heng’s eyes were bloodshot. The hand behind his back, clenched tightly from anxiety, had turned pale and even showed faint traces of blood between the fingers.

The imperial city was already rife with hidden currents. Having just returned to the capital for official duties, and with the emperor intending to keep him there, several factions had grown wary of him. Could those hidden enemies have targeted his princess to harm him?

Fu Heng took a deep breath and handed the porcelain bowl to Madam Hong.

“Have the court physician examine this.”

The bowl likely contained medicinal broth. He had never known Chu Li was ill—guilt spread deep within him.

It was partly his fault for being stationed at the frontier for years, rarely returning to the capital. Did she resent or hate him?

Soon, Madam Hong hurried back with the court physician, their faces marked by an unspoken urgency. It seemed the medicine in the bowl was problematic, warranting the physician’s personal visit.

Fu Heng’s expression grew grave, his heart tightening.

Under Madam Hong’s guidance, the court physician stepped forward nervously, covering his mouth with his hand, clearly indicating this was a matter none but the prince should know.

Fu Heng frowned and exchanged a glance with him. The physician bit his lip and lowered his voice.

“Your Highness, the residue in this bowl appears to be… a contraceptive decoction.”

The physician quickly glanced at the prince, feeling a dark cloud pressing down on him, almost unbearable.

Fu Heng’s deep, fathomless eyes surged with waves of rage, his heaving chest signaling he was on the verge of fury.

The shadow guards, unaware of the bowl’s contents, could only guess from the prince’s reaction that the matter was grave.

Only Hei Sha, closest to the prince, heard it clearly: a contraceptive decoction had been found in the princess’s chamber?

Did that woman truly not want to bear the prince’s child? Or was she forced to drink it?

Fu Heng burst into Chu Li’s room again. A terrifying thought was rapidly consuming his mind.

He ransacked the room wildly, the noise so loud that servants in the courtyard heard it—sounds of things being smashed and thrown. Was the prince quarreling with the princess?

Soon, Chu Li’s room was in disarray. Fu Heng’s gaze finally fixed on the wardrobe, on several dazzling and extremely expensive dresses.

In a corner of the wardrobe, a letter was hidden.

Fu Heng’s hand trembled as he opened it. The handwriting was not delicate but had a reckless freedom. A few brief lines—all of them a farewell.

Only Chu Li could write with such bold elegance; Fu Heng recognized her handwriting instantly. Only she would dare to call him by his given name.

“So be it, Chu Li, you are truly reckless. I underestimated you!”

Fu Heng never imagined that the little woman who always greeted him with a radiant smile, clinging to him enchantingly, who in their intimate moments seemed to surrender her entire being to him, could leave so decisively and cleanly when provoked!

That leftover contraceptive decoction in the bowl—she must have left it deliberately for him to find!

All because of Fang Siyu, the woman brought into the mansion today? An insignificant woman had caused her to abandon their three years of love without a word!

But last night, she clearly said she wouldn’t be jealous!

Fu Heng clenched the letter tightly. Every word on it stabbed at his eyes.

——

The sun had nearly set, and the early winter sky darkened quickly. The banquet was just dispersing, but night had already fallen.

Chu Li lay in bed in her small residence, the faint candlelight casting her pale face in sharp relief.

The contraceptive decoction from last night had weakened her, and coupled with her troubled emotions throughout the day, she felt a dull ache in her lower abdomen.

Qiu Yi, who had gone out for medicine, hurried back, his expression filled with suspicion.

“Master, something’s wrong! The prince has ordered guards at the city gates to cooperate with the city soldiers in checking anyone leaving the city. The prince must know you have run away.”