Chapter Twenty: The Scapegoat Princess Consort Is Condemned to Death (20)

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“Your Highness, you have a pregnancy pulse…”

After taking a deep breath, Nurse Li leaned close to Consort Guang’s ear, lowering her voice and speaking through clenched teeth while instinctively placing a hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming or saying something she shouldn’t.

Experience showed—at the next moment, Consort Guang’s expression changed drastically, as if she wanted to shout or retort loudly.

Fortunately, Nurse Li was quick and prepared.

She immediately covered her mouth, soothing her in a low voice:

“Please calm down. Whether I misdiagnosed or not, this cannot be spread. You know my skill, and I have no reason to harm you.

I truly detected a pregnancy pulse.

No matter what you’re carrying, it must be terminated. You need to stay calm and tell me exactly what happened.

Only then can we discuss how to proceed with the abortion.”

Nurse Li was panicking herself, but she recalled that before entering the Buddha Hall, Consort Guang’s belly had been normal. Moreover, she had always been involved in her bathing and dressing, so it was impossible she had concealed a pregnancy from the start.

Yet this was even more terrifying—it implied that what she carried might not be human at all.

After comforting her for a while and ensuring her emotions stabilized, Nurse Li finally released her hand from Consort Guang’s mouth.

“How does your belly feel now?”

“No, no… how could this be…”

Though somewhat calmer, Consort Guang was far from composed. She was terrified and incredulous, trembling as she touched her own belly, whispering over and over how this could happen—how she suddenly bore an inexplicable fetus.

After a moment, she panicked and grabbed Nurse Li’s arm.

“Hurry, please help me terminate it!”

This was beyond explanation. If what she carried was human, it meant she had betrayed the Heavenly Martial Emperor. Could he forgive her? Could her family survive? Even if he kept silent for appearances, they would surely be destroyed. She wouldn’t even know how she would die.

If it wasn’t human, the Heavenly Martial Emperor would never tolerate a consort who gave birth to a monster. That was impossible!

Even if she knew she had done no wrong to the Emperor.

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But who would believe her?

No matter what was in her womb, it had to be removed—only then could she survive.

“I understand, I understand. First, tell me exactly what happened earlier,” Nurse Li said, knowing this well. But abortions weren’t easy to perform.

Medical abortion was nearly impossible—or rather, too risky. They had no proper medicine here, and going to the Imperial Hospital would instantly expose them. The doctors there were no fools; they knew exactly what the herbs were used for. Besides, even if Consort Guang was confined, she had a son. The Imperial Hospital wouldn’t be too harsh—they would send someone to check on her if she was ill.

If they came to examine her pulse, it would be over.

As for other methods of abortion, they were literal: forcibly removing the fetus, which seriously harmed the body and could cause fatal hemorrhaging if mishandled—two lives lost. Extreme caution was required.

So before deciding on the abortion, Nurse Li wanted to clarify exactly what had happened.

Perhaps there was a better solution.

Abortion was the last resort.

Consort Guang then recounted what she had done in the Buddha Hall. Nurse Li rolled her eyes. Her mistress was truly reckless—cursing someone under the watchful eyes of numerous Buddhas, and that someone was an innocent person sentenced to death:

“Could it be that your words offended a Bodhisattva who then punished you?”

“Impossible! I have done so many good deeds, been so devout! Besides, my son was misled, but he is the Emperor’s appointed heir. What does that have to do with me? Why would I be punished? Is the Bodhisattva blind?”

Consort Guang remained defiantly blunt, as always.

Nurse Li immediately understood that persuading her mistress to apologize to the heavens was hopeless. Even if she apologized, it might not help—and if it didn’t, Nurse Li would be blamed.

So she stopped saying anything irritating.

She reluctantly felt her pulse again, then pressed her ear to Consort Guang’s belly, trying to hear fetal movement—but heard nothing.

“Strange. It’s certainly a pregnancy pulse, but why is there no heartbeat?

It shouldn’t be… Could it be a false pregnancy?

But false pregnancies don’t present like this…”

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Nurse Li was starting to doubt her own expertise—this made no sense, it shouldn’t be.

Consort Guang, hearing her mutter quietly, lost patience and slapped her hand away, displeased:

“Unskilled doctor, just trying to scare me.

You nearly frightened me to death. What exactly is going on? What is growing inside me?”

Though Nurse Li had not been hit often, she was no stranger to it now and didn’t feel sorry for herself. After all, if this wasn’t handled properly, none of them would survive.

“Your Highness, even if what you carry is not a living creature, it’s by no means a good omen. I pressed your belly just now—it’s not gas, there’s definitely something inside. If it’s not alive, it’s even more dangerous. How do we remove it?

Also, even if you are ill, given your current state, it’s hard to explain it clearly!

I vaguely remember, over forty years ago, in the neighboring village, a young woman who wasn’t engaged suddenly developed a swollen belly. The doctor came and confirmed it wasn’t pregnancy but some unknown illness.

He was powerless and couldn’t cure it.

Yet rumors and gossip spread everywhere, accusing her of impropriety.

In the end, the girl jumped into the river and drowned herself. Her parents, to clear her name and their own, hired a coroner to perform an autopsy and found many parasite eggs inside her abdomen.

After that, no one said she was unchaste.

But people said she was possessed by insect spirits, a reincarnation of the locust queen. Eventually, her body was burned to ashes to put the rumors to rest, and her family could no longer live in that village. They had no choice but to move far away.”

“Do you think those who are against you will do nothing? How can you prove your innocence?”

What Nurse Li described was not just a neighboring village story—it was her sister’s fate, her family’s tragedy, and the very reason she had studied medicine in the first place. She had been driven by that ending to save lives, to help those in pain.

But her skill was limited; she was no renowned doctor.

She couldn’t change the ignorance of the common people. When her ideals were shattered, she still had to make a living. She first served as a doctor for Consort Guang’s family, and later, due to her medical talent, she entered the palace with Consort Guang. She was instrumental in maintaining Consort Guang’s health for many years, helping her bear and raise Prince Lu.

Her contributions were undeniable.