Chapter 5 Luring Him to Lick

Chapter 5: Luring Him, Licking

Xu Mo froze for a second, but quickly pulled himself together, bowed in agreement, and followed Su Zheng's orders to wrap Luo Yunchen up tight before accompanying him back to the Eastern Palace.

The people Su Zheng sent off got led on a wild goose chase and still hadn't come back.

Su Zheng directly told Xu Mo to follow him into the bedchamber.

Outside the bedchamber, Xiaoyunzi stood guard at the door, not budging. When he saw the Crown Prince come back, he dropped to his knees in a hurry.

Su Zheng waved him up: "Stay here and guard the door. Nobody comes in unless I say so."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Once inside, Su Zheng had Xu Mo put Luo Yunchen on the bed he'd woken up on: "Go get the imperial doctor."

"Yes." Xu Mo bowed and left to find the doctor.

Su Zheng walked over to the bed and looked at the guy lying there.

Luo Yunchen got his looks from his mom—sharp brows, deep eyes, a chiseled face, and a striking, almost painting-like handsomeness.

But right now, his face was pale, his lips were chapped, and messy strands of hair fell across his forehead, giving him this broken, fragile look.

Su Zheng didn't stop to admire the view. He reached out to take off Luo Yunchen's hair crown.

The second his hand touched the bun, a cold hand grabbed his wrist.

Su Zheng looked down. Luo Yunchen's eyes were open, dark and deep like a bottomless pit.

A cold, murderous look, like he was holding back some bloodthirsty craziness, locked onto Su Zheng. His voice was raspy and low: "Who... are you?"

Su Zheng softened his voice: "I'm Su Zheng. Don't worry, you'll be okay."

Luo Yunchen's eyes started to glaze over again, and his grip on Su Zheng's wrist went slack.

Su Zheng twisted his wrist free from Luo Yunchen's grip.

He looked back at Luo Yunchen, who seemed to have passed out again.

Not bothering to check if he was really out, Su Zheng kept going, taking off Luo Yunchen's crown and letting his long hair spill out over the pillow.

Then he undressed Luo Yunchen. His clothes were thin and ragged—three layers of robes, with a white undershirt on the inside.

Su Zheng stripped them all off, revealing the bloody, mangled wound underneath.

Honestly, Su Zheng had seen way worse—mangled limbs and torn flesh were old news to him.

This little scene barely fazed Su Zheng.

But now, something felt off. The sight of the wound was getting to him.

A weird discomfort crept in. Su Zheng couldn't tear his eyes away from the blood, and he even thought he smelled something sweet.

It was the smell coming from the blood, pulling him in.

Su Zheng wanted to ask the system what was going on, but his mind went foggy and out of control.

His eyes went dazed. On instinct, he bent down, slowly leaning in toward the wound on Luo Yunchen's waist.

His warm lips pressed against the bloody wound, licking gently, like a kitten drinking milk—focused, serious, and desperate.

"Mm..." Luo Yunchen was barely conscious, but the warm touch on his stomach pushed away the creeping cold.

Sharp, stabbing pains hit his nerves, making the feeling on his stomach even more intense.

Wet, soft, warm.

Luo Yunchen half-opened his eyes, just barely making out a dark head of hair.

The blood on the wound was almost all licked off, and Su Zheng's mind slowly came back.

When he realized what he'd done, Su Zheng freaked out.

Su Zheng: "System, what the hell just happened?! Why am I into drinking blood? Am I turning into a zombie?"

"Host, chill, chill. It's got nothing to do with zombies!"

"It's the chronic poison Empress Shen gave the original host, making him impotent and frail."

"The male lead's blood has medicinal properties that can neutralize your poison, that's why you couldn't help being drawn to it."

Su Zheng: "Chronic poison? Will it make me die young or drop dead suddenly?"

He didn't really care about being impotent.

"If you don't detox, yeah. But doing it all at once would drain your life force, leaving you weak and dead."

"But host, don't sweat it. With the male lead here, you just need to drink his blood every so often. In a year or two, you'll be fully detoxed without any damage."

Su Zheng looked at Luo Yunchen, his expression a little complicated.

This guy wasn't just his mission target; he was also his antidote now. He had to take care of him and fatten him up!

Outside the hall, Xu Mo called out: "Your Highness, the imperial doctor is here."

Then Nanny Chen's worried voice came: "Your Highness, are you feeling worse? Can this old servant come in and take care of you?"

Nanny Chen remembered the Crown Prince saying he felt bad earlier. She figured his condition got worse after he went out, so he called the doctor.

If the Crown Prince was unwell, he couldn't be left unattended.

Xiaoyunzi wasn't a personal attendant and might be clumsy. Nanny Chen feared a misstep would implicate her.

Besides, if she didn't see the Crown Prince's condition herself, and the Empress asked, she'd be at a loss for answers.

Hearing Nanny Chen's voice, Su Zheng knew those he had tricked were back.

Su Zheng picked up a clean garment, covering Luo Yunchen from chest to head to hide his identity, then raised his voice: "Only the doctor may enter."

Nanny Chen tried to persuade: "Your Highness..."

Su Zheng cut her off impatiently: "Get lost."

The doctor entered the bedchamber alone.

Those outside dared not disturb Su Zheng further, but Nanny Chen and the guard captain remained uneasy.

Unable to bother the Crown Prince, they could only question Xu Mo, the sole attendant who had accompanied him: "Guard Xu, how is His Highness really? How can he manage without someone to serve him?"

Xu Mo looked serious, clasped his hands and said, "Without His Highness's permission, I dare not speak further."

"Guard Xu, you'd better think this through. If something happens to the Crown Prince because of your silence, can you answer to the Empress?"

Xu Mo, unfazed by the threat, repeated, "Without His Highness's permission, I dare not speak further."

Nanny Chen and the Guard Captain, seeing Xu Mo's complete unyieldingness, could only grit their teeth and give up.

Inside the bedchamber.

Su Zheng waved off the imperial physician's formalities: "Skip the greetings, hurry up and check him out."

Following Su Zheng's gesture, the physician glanced at the person on the bed and was immediately startled.

His first thought was, which young lady had won such favor from the Crown Prince that he would summon a physician for her and even give up his own bed to stand and attend to her himself?

But quickly, the physician dismissed that thought, realizing the person on the bed was a man, and one with a sword wound at that.

The physician wondered which palace noble this could be, but what noble would be injured in the palace and not in their own quarters?

At this thought, the physician shuddered. Any fool could tell there was something more to this, something he was not meant to know.

Serving in the palace, playing dumb was the first rule of survival, so the physician quickly composed himself, putting on a calm face as he went to bandage and treat the man on the bed.