After Being Marked by the Eldest Princess, I Got Pregnant with Her Child [Transmigration into a Novel] - Chapter 28

Song Shu Jiu looked at her, finally understanding Xiao Yunli’s intentions. So this was why she had come all this way to steal someone away from her.

Fine then, she couldn’t be bothered.

Gazing at Yan Chen, she pressed her lips together and said, “You take care of yourself.”

It seemed she would have to become a single mother from now on.

Her heart ached with bitterness as she turned away.

Xiao Yunli flicked her fingers, and a silver needle shot out with a sharp whistle. Beneath Yan Chen’s wide sleeves, her fist clenched. The needle flew with terrifying speed, nearly striking Song Shu Jiu when a figure swiftly leaped through the air, deflecting the venomous projectile with a single sword stroke.

Startled, Song Shu Jiu spun around only to be swept off her feet.

Her toes barely touched the ground before she was whisked away from the estate. Mid-flight, the Shaoshi gave chase, launching a palm strike. Seventeen turned and intercepted it.

The force of their clash shattered several boulders midair, sending both combatants stumbling back. Seizing the moment, Seventeen swiftly retreated with Song Shu Jiu in tow.

Once they landed, Song Shu Jiu immediately asked, “Guard Seventeen, are you alright?”

Seventeen clutched her left arm, where the Shaoshi’s strike had left a throbbing pain. She forced a smile. “It’s nothing. You—”

Her gaze flickered briefly to Song Shu Jiu’s stomach. She knew the girl carried the princess’s child.

“I’m fine,” Song Shu Jiu reassured. “I’ve been careful.”

Now that she was going to be a mother, she took extra precautions.

“What are you two plotting?”

Though she didn’t understand why Yan Chen had said those things, she still believed, Yan Chen would never choose that so-called Queen of Li Kingdom.

Seeing her unwavering faith, Seventeen smiled faintly. “Let’s go back first. The princess ordered me to take you somewhere safe.”

Song Shu Jiu nodded. Staying here would only make her a burden to Yan Chen.

Without another word, she followed Seventeen away.

Back in the estate, Xiao Yunli smirked. “Your love is rather fragile, isn’t it?”

Rumors had it that Yan Chen doted on that girl in private.

“Or… did you let her go for my sake, willingly breaking her heart with harsh words?”

She circled Yan Chen slowly, studying her in silence.

On the battlefield, Yan Chen had always sought her life. Why, then, was she willing to mark her now?

Even if it was only a temporary mark.

Still, the moment Yan Chen’s pheromones flooded her glands, she had felt an indescribable euphoria.

Yan Chen’s scent truly suited her.

“What makes you think I’d abandon my duty to my country for mere emotions?”

Xiao Yunli had dangled this bait mark her, and Li Kingdom would forge peace with Zhao Kingdom.

Besides, her mark wasn’t so easily digested.

“Sign this.”

Yan Chen produced a contract detailing the terms of a ceasefire between Li and Zhao.

Xiao Yunli glanced at it. “So impatient.”

She had been tormented by her heat cycle, barely surviving its waves. And now, mere moments after meeting, Yan Chen wanted her signature?

“For your sake, I’ll spare that girl for now. But if you want me to sign this peace treaty, you’ll have to make me sign it happily, willingly.”

A mere trickle of pheromones wasn’t enough to placate her.

Did Yan Chen take her for a fool?

Xiao Yunli skimmed the contract, folded it twice, and tossed it aside.

Leaning against the doorframe, she tilted her head and blinked coyly.

The sight was utterly bewitching, enough to stir improper thoughts in anyone.

Yan Chen chuckled. “You’re insatiable. Want more?”

Xiao Yunli loved her cold and indifferent demeanor, but Yan Chen suddenly changed her tone, “You poisoned me and still expect me to genuinely love you?”

Was Xiao Yunli out of her mind?

With the Night’s Allure poison still coursing through her veins, she dared to demand even more, how audacious.

Night’s Allure had no antidote. The previous night, she had been tormented until midnight before managing a brief, shallow sleep.

Xiao Yunli understood now. She had known Yan Chen would have another trick up her sleeve there was no way she would obediently comply just because of a mere truce.

That wasn’t like her.

And it was precisely this unyielding defiance that Xiao Yunli adored.

“You’re not afraid I’ll poison her?”

Yan Chen narrowed her eyes. “Then you can die with her.”

Daring to scheme against her and still expecting her mark? What a joke.

She had come prepared today. If Xiao Yunli was so obsessed with her, then she shouldn’t blame her for being ruthless. “Haven’t you noticed anything amiss?”

Xiao Yunli circulated her energy through her meridians and discovered a stagnant, congealed force in her dantian. Her expression finally shifted. “What did you do?”

“Nothing much. Just returning the favor.”

Did she think she was the only one who could use poison?

“Without my antidote, your martial arts will wither, and you’ll be left a cripple.”

Xiao Yunli had trained in martial arts since childhood, her foundation solid. The poison Yan Chen had used was the Energy-Dispersing Powder, designed to render its victim powerless.

The drug was odorless and tasteless, applied to her clothing. At such close proximity, Xiao Yunli had long inhaled it.

By now, her martial prowess must already be compromised.

Xiao Yunli tried to channel her energy but found herself utterly powerless.

Her face darkened. “So you’ve resorted to such tricks too.”

She had thought Yan Chen was principled, but after years apart, she had grown cunning and merciless.

“You provoked me first. I didn’t want to do this.”

Xiao Yunli had kidnapped Song Shujiu and poisoned her in an attempt to control her, a suicidal move to begin with.

Besides, her words had never been trustworthy. This talk of peace with Zhao Kingdom? She didn’t buy it for a second.

It was just another ploy, exploiting Xiao Yunli’s unrequited obsession with her.

Xiao Yunli, so proud and arrogant, would never tolerate losing what she desired. She coveted Yan Chen but resented Song Shujiu for stealing her affections, making her all the more determined to possess her. Unable to touch Yan Chen directly, she had instead targeted her loyalty to Zhao Kingdom, dangling this so-called olive branch.

Did she really think Yan Chen would take it?

“You didn’t honestly believe I came alone, did you?”

The Li Kingdom’s army was already mobilized, awaiting her command.

“If I’m unhappy, do you think any of you will fare well?”

Xiao Yunli was furious. She had already shown considerable leniency by letting that wretched girl go, yet Yan Chen still turned around and plotted against her.

All she wanted was mutual marking was the power of the Li Kingdom not worthy of her?

Was she, a reigning queen, inferior to some insignificant girl?

The thought chilled Xiao Yunli’s heart. She had rarely extended an olive branch, and Yan Chen had the audacity to reject it.

How ungrateful.

“First, I’ll cripple your martial arts spare the world your mischief.”

Xiao Yunli’s claim to the throne was illegitimate. There were likely many in the Li Kingdom who wanted her dead.

Without the ability to defend herself, relying solely on her subordinates would leave her vulnerable, she would never fully trust them. Her martial arts weren’t just about strength; they were her lifeline.

Realizing this, Yan Chen said leisurely, “Sign it.”

Xiao Yunli seethed jealous of Yan Chen’s blindness in favoring such a weakling, and enraged by her murderous intent.

“This thing has no binding power over me, I can tear up the treaty anytime.”

Since she insisted on thinking this way, Xiao Yunli played along. “What difference does it make whether I sign this contract or not? I do as I please.”

Did Yan Chen not understand her?

She acted entirely on her whims. Did they really think a mere piece of paper could make her withdraw her troops and never invade again? Ha! Wishful thinking.

“True.”

Yan Chen pondered this was indeed in line with Xiao Yunli’s character. But then she shifted her tone. “However, if you do that, the Kingdom of Li will lose all credibility in the eyes of the other nations.”

Xiao Yunli could go back on her word, but if she wanted to expand her territory further, she couldn’t act entirely on impulse. At the very least, she had to maintain some semblance of national dignity.

No matter how reckless she was, she couldn’t completely disregard these things.

Xiao Yunli’s anger flared. The Kingdom of Li was remote, and she did want to annex the surrounding city-states, to force others to bow before her. But relying solely on brute force was no long-term solution.

If she signed now, without a solid plan for future retaliation, the Kingdom of Zhao might indeed enjoy peace for many years.

No matter what, any military action she took would need a justification, no matter how flimsy.

At this thought, Xiao Yunli’s expression darkened.

She wouldn’t sign.

Securing Yan Chen had been her goal, but now it seemed impossible. Even normal conversation was met with cold indifference and mockery, she couldn’t tolerate such humiliation.

She had long coveted the lands of Zhao. Did they really think a single contract could shackle her? What a clever scheme but they underestimated her.

Or did Yan Chen believe she was so easily swayed?

“Then let’s die together. Since we’re both poisoned and neither of us can get the antidote, why not make it mutual?”

Realizing this, Xiao Yunli let out a soft, eerie laugh, her eyes gleaming with madness. If they couldn’t share a bed, sharing a grave might be just as entertaining.

“You’re insane.”

Yan Chen spat the words coldly. She knew Xiao Yunli wouldn’t sign, but seeing her refusal so blatant made her heart sink. Her earlier suspicions were confirmed, Xiao Yunli would strike eventually.

She had no patience left for these games.

Yan Chen stood, refusing to look at her. “You want mutual destruction? Dream on.”

If Xiao Yunli wanted to die, she could do it alone. Yan Chen had no intention of joining her.

“Do you really want to see my martial arts crippled?”

As Yan Chen turned to leave, Xiao Yunli called out bitterly, “I never should have meddled in your affairs.”

Yan Chen paused, her thoughts dragged back to five years ago by those words.

“Princess, the border of the Kingdom of Li lies ahead. Should our forces rest at the relay station first?”

Hong Chou and the others, clad in armor and mounted on horses, awaited her command.

Yan Chen, clad in her own battle regalia, was leading an expedition for the first time.

“Set up camp here. Send scouts ahead to assess the situation.”

The horizon was indistinct, the weather ominous, as if a storm was brewing.

Dismounting, Yan Chen felt the exhaustion of the long journey.

Nearby stood a relay station. She pushed open the door to find the interior noisy and chaotic, the innkeeper flipping dishes with a ladle.

She took a seat, but from behind a curtain in the inner room came the sound of blades being sharpened and a commotion.

“Little sister, why must you always run?”

A woman stood holding a dagger, looming over another in tattered white robes, bound and kneeling on a table. The prisoner’s hair was disheveled, her eyes cold, lips smeared with blood, clearly tortured for some time.

The woman with the knife traced the blade across her face, as if one careless move would plunge it in, leaving a mangled mess of flesh and blood.

“Your mother is dead. Why struggle when you should just obediently join her?”

The words stirred something in the blank depths of the white-robed woman’s eyes, as though the mention of her mother had awakened her numb, frozen heart.

“Look at her still defiant. Are we not allowed to speak of that vixen who used every trick to seduce your father while she was alive?”

Slap.

A sharp, crisp sound cut through the air as the white-robed woman’s head snapped to the side from the blow. She coughed weakly, unable to suppress it.

Shink!

The dagger’s tip lunged toward her only for a pair of wooden chopsticks to shoot from behind, striking the blade with precision and sending it clattering to the ground.

Xiao Yunli opened her eyes, her parched lips moving soundlessly. Then, through the stunned silence, she saw her, the one who had stepped forward, drawing every gaze, including hers.

Clad in armor, its surface gleaming with a cold, unyielding light.

In the end, Xiao Yun was defeated, and Xiao Yunli’s life was spared.

This woman was not from Li Kingdom. Xiao Yunli seemed to realize she had been saved by someone not of her own people. Yet, despite the aloofness in the woman’s eyes, there was an innate air of regality about her. Xiao Yunli’s stagnant heart suddenly pulsed with unmistakable clarity.

She knew then, she would never forget that indifferent face.

Before, her mind had been clouded by grief over her mother’s death, leaving her vulnerable to Xiao Yun’s schemes. But now, as she looked at this woman, the will to die left her.

Perhaps the world was still worth staying in for a few more years.

The woman tossed her a jar of medicinal ointment. Clutching the porcelain bottle, Xiao Yunli silently vowed to see her again.

Upon returning to the Li Kingdom’s palace, she began her plans for vengeance.

…

How distant those memories felt now.

Lost in thought, Yan Chen wondered, if she had known that the person she saved that day would later bring such calamity upon Zhao Kingdom and herself, she should have just stood by and let Xiao Yun kill her.

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