The Eldest Princess' Substitute Husband (Transmigration) - Chapter 18

“Is she crazy? Why does she feel so protective of Wei Luoyi?”

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After Song Jinsheng finished her bath, she returned to the room to find Chunyue and Dongyang by the bed. One was expertly massaging Wei Luoyi’s lower abdomen, while the other was feeding her the brown sugar water.

Song Jinsheng walked softly, hoping to approach without being noticed, but Dongyang spotted her anyway.

The two maids quickly rose and curtsied. “Consort…”

“Shh.” Song Jinsheng gestured for them to be quiet, then slowed her pace to walk to the head of the bed.

Her gaze fell on Wei Luoyi’s face. Her expression was peaceful, her breathing long and steady. Her eyes were half-open, yet she didn’t react at all to Song Jinsheng’s arrival.

Song Jinsheng watched her for a moment, then turned to the two maids and whispered, “Is she asleep?”

Chunyue held the half-finished bowl of sugar water, tiptoed forward, and looked at the person on the bed. She nodded with certainty. “Yes, she should be.”

“I still have half a bowl of sugar water left. It seems Her Highness was so tired from the pain…”

“Sigh… The Princess has always been like this. The abdominal pain keeps coming back. During these times, we both have to stay with her at night.”

Dongyang sighed, her voice low as she looked at Wei Luoyi. She then turned to Song Jinsheng, who was still in a daze. “Then we’ll have to trouble the Consort to take care of Her Highness tonight. If anything happens, just go to our room and call for us.”

“Okay, don’t worry,” Song Jinsheng said, her voice firm.

After the two maids left, Song Jinsheng looked back at Wei Luoyi.

Her eyes were now tightly closed. Once she was sure the princess was asleep, Song Jinsheng tiptoed to the wardrobe, pulled out a set of bedding, and spread it on the floor in front of the bed. She moved as quietly as possible, afraid of waking Wei Luoyi.

She had said it was cold earlier, so she had asked for the brazier to be placed right next to the bed. By the time she finished laying out her bedding, the heat had made her face feel warm and flushed, and she was getting a little irritable.

She wiped her forehead with a hand and looked back at the bed, worried that Wei Luoyi might get too hot under two blankets.

She couldn’t see clearly, so Song Jinsheng moved closer. Indeed, she saw that the hair at Wei Luoyi’s temples was already damp with sweat.

While it was important to stay warm during her period, if it got too stuffy, she wouldn’t be able to sleep well later…

After a moment of hesitation, Song Jinsheng didn’t move. She just sighed inwardly and quietly went to blow out the oil lamp.

The room went dark, falling into a deep silence.

Song Jinsheng tiptoed back to her spot on the floor and carefully tucked herself into the blankets. Before lying down, she looked at the bed, her expression thoughtful.

…Forget it.

I shouldn’t disturb her.

Better not to make things more complicated.

After convincing herself, Song Jinsheng turned her back to the bed with a sense of peace.

The night was as silent as usual, but Song Jinsheng’s mind was anything but calm. Moonlight filtered through the window lattice and fell on her face, illuminating her lost-in-thought expression.

She couldn’t pinpoint any specific worry. It was just that every time she tried to close her eyes, she would see a vivid image of Wei Luoyi in her arms. The pain in her expression, the hand clutching at her sleeve. It all made Wei Luoyi seem so fragile.

So fragile that she seemed unlike the cold and indifferent person who wrapped herself in an icy exterior. So fragile that she made Song Jinsheng want to pull her close…

Is this what a protective instinct feels like?

I must be crazy. How could I feel protective of Wei Luoyi?

Who was Wei Luoyi? And who was she?

Even if she treated her like a younger sister, even if she was used to taking care of people, she shouldn’t be thinking so much about Wei Luoyi’s well-being. What’s more, the other person might not even appreciate it…

The Princess Zhaoyang, the most favored princess of the Southern Chi Kingdom, hardly needed her to take care of her.

Song Jinsheng tried to tell herself to get rid of these messy thoughts, but the more she tried to forget, the harder it was. And the harder it was, the more she tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

Just as she was finally starting to feel a little drowsy, she vaguely heard a few weak whimpers. The sounds were intermittent, accompanied by the rustle of clothes on the bed behind her.

Startled, Song Jinsheng immediately opened her eyes, threw off her blanket, and looked at the bed. Sure enough, Wei Luoyi was curled up and twisting her body, and the pained whimpers were becoming more obvious.

Song Jinsheng was frozen for a moment before she started to get up to find the maids. But before she could take a step, she suddenly stopped.

If she went to call Dongyang and Chunyue right now, wouldn’t they see the bedding on the floor? Then they would know that she and Wei Luoyi weren’t sharing a bed, and…

Song Jinsheng didn’t dare to think any further.

I’m screwed.

That was the only thought in her mind right now.

With no other choice, Song Jinsheng quickly lit an oil lamp. She then walked to the bed and sat down. But when she saw the blanket completely bunched up into a ball in the dim light, she felt helpless and at a loss for what to do.

I should have bought some painkillers from the system earlier… Why didn’t I think of that?

“Wuwu… wu…”

The person under the blanket seemed to be in unbearable pain. She twisted toward Song Jinsheng, and her soft whimpers were gradually mixed with a few sobs. Her bundled body trembled non-stop.

“Hey… Your Highness…” Wei Luoyi’s crying completely panicked Song Jinsheng. She was completely at a loss.

She quickly moved closer to the person curled up in a ball, barely daring to breathe. She gently lifted a corner of the blanket, and when she saw Wei Luoyi’s face, she was stunned, her expression frozen.

Wei Luoyi’s long, waist-length hair was messy and splayed across her face, covering her eyes and brows. Song Jinsheng could only see her small nose twitching as she sobbed, her lower lip tightly bitten.

A wave of sympathy washed over Song Jinsheng. She instinctively pushed aside the tangled black hair, only to see Wei Luoyi’s brows tightly knit together. Her long lashes were already wet, and tears streamed from the corners of her eyes, one after another.

Song Jinsheng frowned and gently wiped away a tear with her thumb.

“Your Highness… Your Highness?” Song Jinsheng called out softly, but the only response was soft sobs and a few words in her sleep.

“Wuwu… don’t… don’t go… it hurts… I hurt…” Wei Luoyi cried, shaking her head, pleading for something in her sleep. Her hands clenched the blanket tightly, refusing to let go.

Song Jinsheng had never seen her looking so heartbroken before, and she felt her own heart ache. Although she didn’t know who Wei Luoyi was talking to, she responded, “I’m not going anywhere. I won’t leave…”

In her panic, she remembered how Dongyang had massaged Wei Luoyi’s stomach earlier. Song Jinsheng hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath. She reached her hand under the blanket, gently placed it on Wei Luoyi’s lower abdomen, and began to rub it in circles.

Just as Song Jinsheng was about to look up to see if she was feeling better, her hand was suddenly grabbed by Wei Luoyi. It was as if she was using all her strength; her nails dug into the inner side of Song Jinsheng’s wrist.

“A-hiss…” Song Jinsheng gasped in pain, instinctively trying to pull her hand away, but Wei Luoyi’s grip was stronger than she had expected.

“Don’t go… please… don’t go… no… Mother…”

“…”

At her words, Song Jinsheng’s hand went still. She stopped struggling, but her brow furrowed tighter from the increased pain.

But more than the pain in her hand, Song Jinsheng was more concerned with the word “Mother” coming from Wei Luoyi’s mouth.

Who was “Mother”? Was her birth mother not the Empress?

And if so, where was her birth mother?

Song Jinsheng stared at Wei Luoyi’s pained face, lost in thought. No matter how tightly Wei Luoyi pinched her hand, she didn’t pull away. She only gritted her teeth, bore the pain, and continued to massage her lower abdomen.

She had always thought of Wei Luoyi as an emotionless person, cold and indifferent, but she hadn’t expected there to be someone who could make her feel so sad and sorrowful.

“Mother… Mother, don’t leave… Mother… it hurts so much…” Wei Luoyi’s tightly closed eyes opened slightly, but she continued to sob. Her body trembled even more violently, and tears poured out like a dam had broken.

Song Jinsheng’s eyes were filled with a mix of unfamiliar emotions. She used one hand to wipe away Wei Luoyi’s tears and the other to massage her stomach, soothing her in a low voice. “Okay, okay, I won’t go. I won’t…”

“Stop crying…”

“Wuwu…”

Perhaps it was because she heard Song Jinsheng’s comfort, but Wei Luoyi’s cries grew softer. Her chest no longer heaved violently, and she slowly calmed down. Still, she clutched Song Jinsheng’s hand, refusing to let go.

Song Jinsheng sighed softly, her thumb gently stroking Wei Luoyi’s swollen, tear-stained eyes. She left her hand on her face for a moment before carefully pulling her hand out of Wei Luoyi’s grip.

Song Jinsheng got up and re-tucked the blankets around Wei Luoyi. Only after her breathing became steady did Song Jinsheng let out a sigh of relief and return to her bedding on the floor.

She lifted her hand and turned it over, looking at it. There were several red marks on the inside of her wrist, near the pulse. Some of the marks had even turned purple. It was obvious how tightly Wei Luoyi had been holding on.

She might have looked frail, but her grip was incredibly strong. The marks probably wouldn’t fade anytime soon…

Song Jinsheng rubbed her wrist, let out a silent sigh, and looked at the person sleeping peacefully on the bed. She remembered the fragmented words from her dreams, and her hand moved a little slower.

So… her “Mother” was no longer here?

If Wei Luoyi wasn’t the Empress’s child, then who was her “Mother”? Was she another consort? Or…

In an instant, many possibilities flashed through Song Jinsheng’s mind.

The stories in the deep palace were always so complicated.

What had happened to Wei Luoyi?

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