The Eldest Prince paced slowly within his study, eyes sharp and brooding. It took only a moment for him to settle on a decision.
"Smallpox is no trivial matter."
He spoke softly, but his tone carried weight. "Since Yun Shu dares to play with fire, she had best be prepared to get burned."
"Your Highness means…"
His strategist stiffened in shock, then a flicker of fervor lit up his eyes.
"Indeed. This time, we must ensure nothing goes awry."
Their voices remained low and hushed, an eerie murmur beneath the dim lamplight of the study. Outside, the night stretched on in peaceful silence.
The following morning, the Eldest Prince appeared in court as usual, his expression unchanged, calm and composed as though nothing had happened.
It was not until after court adjourned that something unusual occurred.
General Wei Yuan followed behind Yun Shu with hurried steps. Once the crowd of court officials had dispersed, he finally called out to her. His expression was dark and grave.
"Your Highness, the Crown Princess," he asked, "I heard the assassin at Tian Waitian Restaurant the other day was sent by Bei Xiang. Is that true?"
Yun Shu turned to him with a faint smile, hands tucked into her sleeves, her bearing composed.
"Where did General Wei Yuan hear such a rumor?"
After all, the Dragon Shadow Guard had intervened that day. Everything had been handled cleanly.
"Bei Xiang is not mad. At such a delicate time, if they dared to send someone after This Princess, would that not be courting their own destruction?"
"Is that truly the case?"
Wei Yuan's brows furrowed in suspicion. "Then why would such rumors spread?"
"Then perhaps General should ask where he first heard it."
With a slight raise of her brow, Yun Shu calmly deflected the question.
"Could it be that someone deliberately ensured you would hear of it?"
"No one needed to be deliberate about it…" Wei Yuan trailed off, suddenly grimacing as he scratched at his neck. "Why is my whole body so unbearably itchy all of a sudden?"
Itchy?
Yun Shu's expression shifted. Her gaze swept to the spot he had just scratched, and without a word, she took several swift steps backward.
"Someone, summon the Imperial Physician at once!"
"It's just some itching, why call for a—"
Wei Yuan had thought Yun Shu was overreacting, but before he could finish the sentence, he caught sight of his own hand. Countless tiny red dots had bloomed across the back of it.
His eyes bulged, wide as brass bells.
"What is this? Have I caught smallpox?!"
Panic stripped him of all composure. In front of Yun Shu no less, he blurted out a curse.
Yun Shu stood nearly ten paces away now, her expression like still water. Calm and cold, she began assessing the situation.
"Smallpox would not erupt across the body all at once. This looks more like a rash. Or more likely… you have been poisoned."
A rash. An allergic reaction.
But Wei Yuan had never experienced such a thing before, and ruled that out immediately. Scratching furiously at his arms and neck, he began cursing in fury.
"Who is the shameless dog who dared poison me? Once I find out, I will flay them alive!" Realizing it was not smallpox lifted a weight off his chest. His fury, however, only intensified.
Now slightly more clear-headed, he looked toward Yun Shu, a trace of grievance creeping into his gaze. "If I was merely poisoned and not afflicted with a contagious disease, why did Your Highness retreat so far from me?"
"Who knows if you still have residual poison powder on your body?" Yun Shu remained composed, her logic airtight. "What if the wind carried it onto This Princess?"
Wei Yuan was rendered speechless.
"Very well then. You are the Crown Princess, after all. You are indeed noble."
Scowling, he followed a frightened young eunuch into a secluded side hall.
By the time the Imperial Physician arrived, he took one look at the red welts covering Wei Yuan's arms and nearly turned on his heel in fright.
It took Yun Shu—who remained at a safe distance—to explain on his behalf and instruct Wei Yuan to change into fresh clothes and wash his hands. Only then did the physician dare approach and examine him.
After taking his pulse, the physician visibly relaxed.
"Your Highness need not worry. General Wei Yuan has merely been exposed to a type of poison powder known as 'Itch Dust.'
This powder causes no serious harm to the body. It simply induces extreme itchiness and produces red rashes such as these. Within seven days, it will dissipate on its own."
"Seven days?!"
General Wei Yuan's composure finally cracked.
"You mean I'll have to endure this frog-skin rash for seven whole days?!"
"Er…" The physician winced, nearly deafened. He lowered his voice nervously. "I can prescribe a salve that will ease the itching. Once applied, the discomfort will lessen significantly. But… the red welts themselves will take seven days to completely fade."
"Then why are you still standing there? Hurry and write the prescription!"
Though the rash was unsightly, and he would have to stay out of his wife's sight for a while or face her disgust, at least the tormenting itch would be soothed. That alone was a relief.
Without waiting for the eunuchs to dawdle along the way, General Wei Yuan seized the written prescription and dashed off to fetch the medicine himself.
The physician, now free of that menace, wiped imaginary sweat from his brow. He was just about to leave when a slender hand extended in front of him.
"Examine This Princess as well."
The look on Wei Yuan's face had been downright terrifying. Yun Shu could not shake the unease from earlier.
She had stood close to him, spoken face to face, and watched as those red spots emerged. "What if the wind truly carried some of that Itch Dust onto This Princess?"
"…Understood."
The physician's hands trembled. He hastily packed away the pulse cushion Wei Yuan had used and replaced it with a fresh one before respectfully gesturing.
"Your Highness, please."
Yun Shu sat down and placed her wrist on the cushion, allowing him to carefully take her pulse.
"Well?" she asked, noticing the physician's expression turn subtly grim.
Her heart began to tighten.
"Did some of that powder really get on This Princess?"
"Your Highness must not panic," the physician began solemnly.
Then, with a loud thud, he dropped to his knees.
"Your Highness was exposed to only a trace amount of Itch Dust. Far less than what was found on General Wei Yuan.
Even if… even if the poison takes effect two hours from now, the rashes on Your Highness's body will be minimal. Merely a few small spots…"
Yun Shu said nothing, her face unreadable.