Chapter 106 - Patient Zero

Lei Xing woke up in the afternoon, feeling worse than before. Her head was pounding and body aching. The spots weren't bumpy, itchy or painful, but they definitely affected her on the inside as she was feeling very unwell. The head physician quickly arrived to check on her, with two other Imperial doctors, one she recognized from the night before. 

When Lei Xing asked what her condition was, the head physician regretfully informed that they were still investigating it. Then he assured her that they will definitely be able to make a breakthrough soon, and she will be back to full health in no time and there was nothing for her to worry about. 

After hearing that, Lei Xing just sat on the bed staring at them wide-eyed in shock.

{...No cure? O_O)...}

Seeing her lack of response, the head physician reassured her again that all will be well, and that the entire department was working on her case. He then calmly advised that it was best for her to remain in her palace to prevent it from spreading, as they had not yet completely ruled out that possibility. Then he reassured her again that she will be fine. 

All Lei Xing took away from his ramblings was that she was a serious case, possibly contagious, and in general, it seemed like a confirmation of her death sentence. 

{...I don't think patient zeros ever survive. I'm going to die T_T)...}

While Lei Xing was still in shock over the looming sense of her imminent, painful demise, the Emperor arrived. He smiled at Lei Xing who was too busy staring off into space to pay him any attention. She was consumed with her pre-mourning, dreading her painful end to come. The eunuch following behind the Emperor handed a tray with a small sack on it to one of the Imperial doctors. 

The Emperor then said to the head physician, "That's the cause, find a cure." then he walked over to Lei Xing and sat beside her on the bed and asked, "How are you feeling?"

Lei Xing who was still reeling in grief, quietly murmured to herself, "I'm going to die?"

The Emperor sighed then pat her head, "You'll be fine."

On seeing this, the head physician panicked and immediately said, "Your majesty, you really shouldn-"

The Emperor frowned and barked, "I said go find a cure!" 

"But Your maje-" The head physician still tried to protest but stopped when Emperor glared at him. He sighed, then bowed and left with the others in the room, leaving Lei Xing and the Emperor alone. 

The Emperor stroked Lei Xing's head and reassured, "There is no need to worry, they will have the medicine soon."

Lei Xing finally woke up from her stupor, frowned and brushed his hand off then asked, "Wh-what caused this?"

The Emperor frowned at the hand she brushed off, then sighed, "Most likely the flowers you fell on."

Lei Xing knit her brows, "Flowers? How do you know?"

The Emperor offhandedly responded, "It's the only thing that makes sense."

After discussing with Bi Lo and Bi Lu, he concluded that the illness had something to do with the fall, since it was the only instance that affected only her and his brother. They ate the same food as the others and besides that moment, Lei Xing had no direct contact with his brother. Also while Lei Xing touched other flowers, his brother did not. 

Although it's possible that she may have touched him after touching the cause. But according to the Bi brothers, she did not make contact with his skin. So after thinking about, the flowers they fell on were the likely culprit. So he sent the Bi brothers to go bring some for testing. If this is wrong, then they will uproot all the flowers in the field to find the cause.

"But -"

"It's nothing for you to worry about. Just get enough rest and get healthy." The Emperor interjected. He was not keen on explaining the backstory of how he uncovered all this. "Have you eaten?"

Lei Xing shook her head, then frowned and laid back down, facing away from him and covered herself with the blanket, "I'm not hungry. You can leave."

The Emperor looked at her for a while, then said, "Rest well. I'll come back later."

"No need to." Lei Xing mumbled back, shuffling further down the bed, out of reach. The Emperor frowned, then sighed again and got up and left.

After he left, Lei Xing got up and with Ah Jin's assistance went to take a warm bath. She found she felt better in the bath and so stayed in for as long as possible. After that, she tried to eat something, but the moment she did, it immediately came back up, sending her into a retching fit which made her insides ache. After that, she weakly went to lie down, and Ah Jin placed ice wrapped in sheets on her head and stomach, to ease the pain and she eventually fell asleep. 

In the evening, Lei Xing weakly opened her eyes then closed them as she winced in pain when she moved. She called for water and someone quickly held her up and held a cup to her lips and she eagerly drank and then relaxed back with a sigh. 

She then frowned when she realized that she was resting on someone, her eyes flew open to see the Emperor looking down at her. She was too tired to move, so instead, she irritatedly asked, "Why are you here again?" 

The Emperor wrapped his arms around her and asked, "Why can't I be here?"

Lei Xing sighed in annoyance and bit back, "I'm contagious. Go somewhere else."

The Emperor then smiled, "It's nice of you to worry about me."

Lei Xing frowned and mumbled, "Who's worrying about you? I just don't want to deal with the false accusation of sending you to death's door right now."

The Emperor raised his eyebrows, taken aback by her statement. Then he chuckled and stroked her hair, "Don't worry, I'm a lot more resilient than most people, so it'll take more than something like this to kill me so you're safe...Also if you were truly contagious, then it's already too late." The Emperor finished smirking down at her.

Lei Xing rolled her eyes and mumbled, "It'll shock you." And closed her eyes. 

The Emperor snorted, it seems she was a lot more loose-tongued when ill, and a blatantly ruder too, normally she would at least attempt to hide it. But he did not mind it as she was ill, plus he actually found it funny, and cute too. 

"Do you want to eat something?" The Emperor asked but Lei Xing did not respond. After a while of no response, he thought she had gone back to sleep and so moved to lay her back down, when she suddenly hugged his waist. He blinked, a bit shocked but stayed still and swiftly hugged her back.

They stayed like that for a while, then he heard her sniffing and looked down to find tear streaks running down her face. He felt a pang in his heart and frowned, and quickly brought up a hand to wipe the tears and softly asked, "Does it hurt a lot?"

Lei Xing did not respond. She despised being sick, it always brought unpleasant feelings of loneliness and dependency that she did not want or need. It was the only time where she felt lonely being by herself, and uncomfortable in her solitude. And she always had the nagging urge to run home to her family to be pampered and cared for, "I want to go home." She finally mumbled after a while.

The Emperor knit his brows and did not know how to respond and so bluntly said, "You can't right now." Then he thought that was not the right approach, "Um...It's not safe, the palace has the best care available. It's better to stay here..." He paused and frowned in thought and then added, "Your family may get sick too...and -"

Lei Xing nodded and so he stopped, sighing in relief.

In the end, the family she wanted was not the one he could give, no one could. The Emperor looked at her face and wiped off the tears that kept trickling down from her lowered eyes, he then quietly asked, "Can't this be your home?" 

Lei Xing knit her brows, but before she could respond. The doors opened and she instinctively pushed off the Emperor and almost ended up falling down to the ground. Thankfully, the Emperor reacted quickly and caught her. He looked at her frowning expression and then frowned himself, feeling upset with her response as he rested her back against the headboard. 

Xiao Ruo came in along with the head physician and a few other Imperial doctors. They walked up to the bed and bowed in greeting, then the head physician happily informed, "Your majesty, we have found the cure." 

and Lei Xing skeptically looked at it the Imperial physician in disbelief and mumbled, "That quick?"

The head physician smugly smiled and explained, "Your highness, after you take this now, you will instantly feel better. And after a few days of taking this, the spots will clear up as well. You can rest easy now."

Xiao Ruo then brought the bowl of medicine up to Lei Xing, who knit her brows as she looked at the orange-hued broth in the bowl.

{...Who knew ancient medicine was this quick? But a few hours though...}