Love In The Palace

Scar

Chapter 35.

Recap: In the previous chapter, Jade was already 6 months pregnant and she felt the first movement of her baby. Prince's Consort Chisa Yang found a voodoo doll under Autumn's mattress and hosted a small gathering for her, Crown Princess and Jade. Jade got into a fight with Autumn and the latter pushed Jade into the pond.

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How long has it been? No one wishes to count. It has been a stressful and tiring day. The sun has set, the moon has risen. The colour of the moon was paler than usual, as though it is also grieving like the others. Everyone has been anxiously waiting. Many have paid their visits and sent their prayers, though not all are sincere.

Definitely Crown Prince and Rowena are the ones who stayed in the room the most, their eyes sunken but never leaving the body that seems to have lost its soul. The colours are gone from her face. Jade is just lying on her bed, no one knows when she will ever wake up, no one knows if she will ever wake up. Slowly, sound of rain fills the entire room. The heaven is crying, for her, for Crown Prince.

"Mh..." His ears are sharper than normal human beings, perhaps, for him to be able to catch such low sound from Jade. He rushes to her side, while quietly signalling for all the physicians over.

"Jade? Jade?" Crown Prince whispers.

Slowly but surely, she opens her eyes, almost blinded by the many candles that have been lit in her room. Crown Prince then orders Rowena to put off two of the candles while letting the physicians to check on her.

They place a piece of cloth on her wrist and the head physician places his fingers on it for a few moments before retreating.

"Reporting to Your Highness, Mistress is now safe but she is still very weak. I will write down the list of herbs and tonics that she needs to take. Miss Rowena please make sure that Mistress drinks all of the tonics at the right time."

"Yes." She replies with a curtsy.

"I will now take my leave, Your Highness, while the other physicians will stay back to check on Mistress."

"Sure. You may go." All the Imperial Physicians leave the room while closing the doors gently, making sure to never make a noise. The Head Physician leaves hurriedly, probably towards the direction of Emperor's
Palace while the other physicians remain in their seats outside of Jade's chamber. The atmosphere is solemn, tense. The night is cold, but the atmosphere seems to be colder than the night.

"Am I... still alive?" Jade asks whispering. That is perhaps the loudest at which she can speak then. Crown Prince and Rowena look at each other, before the former breaks the silence.

"Yes... Of course. You are still alive." His voice is hoarse, his lips are chapped, dry. He has not drunk anything at all. Jade tries to mover her hand to push her body up, but she is too weak for that. Instead, she asks a question, which they both dread to answer.

"Baby... Is my baby...alright?" Silence. She only receives silence in return. From her slightly-blurred vision she finds traces of tears on Rowena's face, while Crown Prince's eyes seem to be red and teary. Her heart races as she awaits for an answer.

"An...swer me..." Still, silence engulfs the entire chamber with extreme coldness that pierces through everyone's hearts.

"Please..." She grabs onto Crown Prince's sleeves, as tight as possible, her eyes alternating between him and Rowena. She tries to hold back her tears. She hopes that they are just pulling her leg. She dares not look down, for fear that the bump is gone. She is too scared to see for herself.