Binding the Dragon for the Empress Chapter 85

You Deserve to Fall into the Eighteenth Circle of Hell

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In the evening, when Yan Yuan returned from the imperial study, he went to see Ning Zhiyu in the Luanfeng Hall. He had been in very bad spirits recently and had repeatedly wandered off during meals, not even hearing what Yan Yuan was saying.

“A'Yu, what's wrong with you? Tomorrow is your birthday, why don't you seem very happy? Did someone provoke you?"

Ning Zhiyu returned to his senses and said with a faint smile, "It's nothing."

Yan Yuan frowned worriedly, "Are you not feeling well?"

Ning Zhiyu shook his head and took a spoon to fiddle with the crystal cake in the bowl, "No."

Yan Yuan raised his hand to tuck the long hair around his face behind his ears and sighed, "Xuan Long refused to hand over the inner elixir, saying that he had to wait for the child… when we have the inner elixir, your illness will be cured, don't think nonsense. If you are unhappy with anything, tell me, I will help you solve it. "

Ning Zhiyu replied in a low voice: "Mmm."

Yan Yuan waved his hand and told Qingmei to leave, then picked up a soup spoon, scooped up a spoonful of black chicken soup and put it in front of Ning Zhiyu: "If you really can't eat, have a bowl of soup, it's not good to be so hungry."

"Okay."

Ning Zhiyu picked up the bowl and took a sip from the side of the bowl. As soon as the fragrant chicken soup with its golden oil entered his throat, a feeling of nausea surged up in his stomach and rushed straight to his throat.

Yan Yuan was startled and hurriedly raised his hand to massage his back: "What's wrong?"

Ning Zhiyu kept vomiting, and when Qingmei was summoned by Yan Yuan, she hurriedly brought in a spittoon. Ning Zhiyu was holding the spittoon and vomiting, his hair scattered and he vomited out the few bites of food he had just eaten.

His face was already ugly, and at this moment there was no blood left at all. He took the cloth handed to him by Yan Yuan and wiped the corners of his lips, the corners of his eyes red.

Yan Yuan's eyes turned to the dishes on the table, "Is there something wrong with this chicken soup?"

Qingmei cautiously replied, "The chicken soup was tested with a silver needle before it was brought up."

Yan Yuan frowned, "Then how could A'Yu suddenly vomit more than once? He has never done so before. Call the Imperial Doctor."

Qingmei was about to go out when Ning Zhiyu clutched Yan Yuan's sleeve: "No need, perhaps it's because I ate too much yesterday and my stomach got upset. I'm a little tired, A'Yuan, carry me to bed."

Yan Yuan grabbed his hand and laughed, "You have an appetite like a bird, how can you eat too much?"

Ning Zhiyu laughed along, "Hmm."

Seeing that he was indeed fine, Yan Yuan told Qingmei to go out and wait for him, and that there was no need to call the Imperial Doctor for the time being. He then picked up Ning Zhiyu and walked towards the bed. Ning Zhiyu hooked Yan Yuan's neck and leaned on his chest.

“A'Yuan..."

Yan Yuan looked down at him, "Hmm?"

Ning Zhiyu: "... Nothing, just wanted to call you."

Yan Yuan smiled and placed Ning Zhiyu gently on the bed, pulling back the quilt and covering him with it: "Sleep when you are tired."

"Mhm." Ning Zhiyu loved to talk to Yan Yuan before going to sleep, but today he was surprisingly quiet, he answered softly and then closed his eyes.

Yan Yuan stayed by the side of the bed until the moon rose above the branches, and when he saw Ning Zhiyu breathing steadily, he relaxed and got up to leave.

The person behind him, who should have been asleep, opened his eyes, and when the footsteps were far away, Ning Zhiyu sat up slowly, propped up on the bed, and called hoarsely.

"Qingmei."

Qingmei came in and bowed: "What are Your Majesty's orders?"

Ning Zhiyu looked wooden: "You go... and call Imperial Physician Zong to come."

The vomiting had actually started a few days ago. Qingmei was so anxious that she said she wanted to call the doctor to come and have a look, but Ning Zhiyu refused and told her not to tell anyone, saying he was afraid Yan Yuan would worry.

When Qingmei saw that he was finally willing to call a doctor, she took Ning Zhiyu's badge and left the palace in the night to ask for help at Zong Hua's house.

About two hours later, Qingmei brought Zong Hua, who was carrying a medicine chest, into the hall. Before starting to check his pulse, Ning Zhiyu sent all the palace staff away, leaving the doctor and him alone in the hall.

Zong Hua took out a brocade handkerchief and laid it on Ning Zhiyu's wrist, asking, "What is wrong with the Empress?"

Ning Zhiyu: "When I see greasy food... I vomit."

Zong Hua moved a little, and put two fingers up to diagnose the problem, and after a few breaths, he bent down and bowed, "Congratulations, Empress, this is a joyful pulse. I think it's because that fertility medicine has taken effect."

Ning Zhiyu's brain buzzed, the heat in his body instantly retreated clean, his hands and feet cold: "Joyful pulse..."

It was really a joyful pulse...

He is pregnant with the demon's demonic foetus...

Zong Hua: "Exactly."

"Don't tell anyone." Ning Zhiyu's eyes were red and his expression was dull. "Prescribe a set of abortion medicine to remove the fetus cleanly... cleanly."

Zong Hua looked up hesitantly, "Empress, the baby in your womb is stable and healthy, if the Emperor knew about it, he would be happy, why should it be aborted?"

Joy?

Where did the joy come from?

Ning Zhiyu turned his head to look at him, his face as white as a ghost, and he said softly, "Don't ask the reason... just do as you are told. This matter, do not tell anyone... if it leaks out, your scholarly lover, your scholarly lover will not live in this world."

Zong Hua's eyebrows tightened slowly and he hung his head, "... Yes."

Ning Zhiyu bowed his head, his green silk covering his cheeks: "You personally go and get the medicine, it has to be thick, boil ten times the amount..." Otherwise it may not come out.

Zong Hua was puzzled: "Empress, for an ordinary foetus, just one pair of saffron will be enough to cleanly remove it, taking more will be extremely draining on the body."

"Do as I say."

Zong Hua ambled away, no longer persuading, and turned to leave, personally going to the Imperial Hospital to get the medicine.

Ning Zhiyu lost his strength and fell back onto the bed, curling up as a wisp of black and red smoke rose from the top of his head, condensing into a sturdy figure at the edge of the bed.

The demon had heard the whole conversation just now, and his evil cold red eyes stared blankly at Ning Zhiyu's thin back.

"... You have this honourable one's child?"

"......" Ning Zhiyu treated him like air.

The demon clenched his fists and whispered, "You're going to kill him..."

"Or what?" Ning Zhiyu asked gently in return, "Do I have to leave behind a child of a flower thief?"

The demon pursed his lips and said reluctantly, "That night was your..."

"That night I would rather have died than be touched by a demon." Ning Zhiyu always spoke to him softly, but it was as cold as a sharp sword condensed into solid form, enough to penetrate the heart of a demon.

The man behind him was quiet for a long time.

"What's so good about him? He doesn't love you."

Ning Zhiyu hooked his lips, "That's still a hundred times, a thousand times better than you, a demon..."

The demon's fingertips sank deep into his palm, his red eyes flickering as he whispered, "It's just the position of the Empress. Once my flesh is reshaped and I revive the demon race, I will make you the Demon Queen. I can just have you alone... the child..."

"Get lost." Ning Zhiyu interrupted him.

The demon paused.

Ning Zhiyu: "Don't tell me that you're in love with me."

The demon laughed indifferently, "How is that possible, this honourable one merely looks at you with pity and wants to be responsible for you."

Ning Zhiyu's words were soft and clear: "I don't care. The farther you get away, the happier I am, I can't wait for your soul to fly away, I can't wait for you to never be reborn..."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you."

When Qingmei came in with the abortion medicine, it was already dawn outside the window. The abortion medicine that was boiled with ten times the amount of saffron looked bright red, like fresh blood.

The demon stood by the side. Except for Ning Zhiyu, no one else could see him. He watched helplessly as Ning Zhiyu drank every last drop of the pungent soup, his crimson pupils faintly showing a bloodthirsty intent.

When Qingmei took the empty bowl and withdrew, cold sweat broke out at the corners of Ning Zhiyu's forehead. It was obvious that the abortion medicine had already started to work, and the child was inevitably stripped from the mother's body, so the pain was inevitable.

"A demon like you, how could you have a child?"

"You only deserve to be sent to the eighteenth level of hell to suffer the burning fire. Your soul being in the world will dirty the air of the world."

The demon's throat bulged as if he wanted to glare a hole in Ning Zhiyu's face, but in the end he said nothing and disappeared in his place.

Ning Zhiyu weakened in pain and his consciousness quickly became blurred.

......

Perhaps because they will be leaving tomorrow night, Hu Le was extraordinarily exuberant. He was young, and it was normal for him to be overjoyed. He did not leave immediately after the evening meal, and stayed at the bedside with Xuan Long.

“A'Po… we’re leaving tomorrow night, have you thought about where we are going?"

Xuan Long: "Where do you want to go?"

Hu Le thought for a moment, "Let's go to the elder of the fox clan first, and ask him to see if there is any way to extend your life."

Xuan Long obliged, "Okay."

Hu Le was always uneasy about the human race, "I'm afraid that person is not helping us with good intentions, but has ulterior motives..."

"I will protect you." Xuan Long said seriously.

Hu Le took Xuan Long's cold hand and rubbed it heartily: "No way, it's my turn to protect you and the baby."

It was late at night and he thought Yan Yuan would not come, so Xuan Long spoke to Hu Le with confidence, his heart warming at his words, his eyes unintentionally touching his hand, his brow wrinkling slightly: "Your hand..."

Although Hu Le's wound had healed, the finger that had been trampled on had not healed and was hanging limply. The originally beautiful and slender finger was broken in several places, the bone inside had probably broken.

Hu Le lowered the injured hand so that Xuan Long would not see it: "It's alright, the fox clan elders have a way to heal it."

"When your body is well, we will find a place with good mountains and rivers to live in seclusion and never venture into the mortal world again, okay?..."

Xuan Long: "Mmm, okay."

Hu Le chatted with him for a while, and seeing Xuan Long's tired face, he said, "I'll go out first then, go to sleep and call me if you need anything."

Xuan Long: "Hmm."

As Hu Le left the hall, he bumped into Yan Yuan. Xiao Zhanzi was not on night duty that night, so there was no one outside the side hall to keep watch and therefore no news of any movement came in. Both the man and the fox were stunned, and Yan Yuan frowned at him.

"I thought I told you not to enter the hall at will."

Hu Le had a cold face and stepped aside, ignoring him.

Yan Yuan was too lazy to bother with him and passed by him to enter the hall. It wasn't long before the sound of bed limbs shaking and the man's low, muffled grunting came from inside, as if he was deliberately making it heard by someone.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: September 22, 2022