Her Punishment

Hearing what he had said, Bai Qing had never felt so betrayed before. Bai Qing had endured so much from his family, now it was his concubines that she had to endure so much instead of understanding her and believing in her, Tian Qi believed in what they told him instead of asking for confirmation from her. With her pride, she had dealt with all that the concubines had done to her and all of the harassment. 

Bai Qing stayed up all night, unable to relax. She knew this was probably another plot of the concubine and the queen's dowager to get rid of her from the palace but she was not scared, worse come to worst, she'll be sent back to her kingdom. 

The following morning, the door slammed open and the queen dowager came into the room with the guards. 

"Mother." Bai Qing said to her mother-in-law but the older woman said nothing back to her instead had the guards dragged away.

Bai Qing was brought to the cold palace, and without a word, the queen had the guards step on her legs. Bai Qing did not scream at the pain but instead, she clenched her fist and glared at the queen

"Harder! Step on her harder! I want to hear her scream." the queen said but Bai Qing still did not let out a sound, she was sure that her leg was broken but without another word, the queen stormed off with the guards. 

She was not given any food, water, or even warm blankets for a week but luckily she held on tight and when the door opened she did not jump or say anything at all, she looked at her husband with a solemn face. 

"You've finally come." Bai Qing said to him from the floor and he waved for someone to come into the room, the head eunuch brought a tray with him, and on the tray was a cup. With a weak smile, Bai Qing got up with her shaky legs as best as she could. 

"As punishment for killing royal bloodline, for harming the relative of royalty; you will be punished by death." Tian Qi said to her and she nodded 

"Of course, that's your conclusion." Bai Qing said to him 

"Eunuch Su." Tian Qi said and the head eunuch brought the tray forward with a shaky hand, while she had been at the palace, the eunuch and she had gotten close. He also knew of the fact that the queen and the concubine had harassed her.

"Cr-Crown princess." Eunuch Su greeted her and she smiled at him weakly 

"I've been in your care, thank you for all that you've done." Bai Qing said as she took the cup from the tray, holding it in her hand she turned away from them all 

"When I die, eunuch Su, please return my body to my kingdom." Bai Qing said 

"But your Highness-" Eunuch Su began to say but she cut in

"I'm sure the queen dowager will agree." Bai Qing said 

"The happiest day of my life was when I first came to the palace, a new wife is cherished and loved but once you become one of the few, you can be forgotten. I've never wanted to live inside the palace walls but I came to love you and decided to endure it. I reached out too far so it's only fair that I'll fall, I'll pay the price of your child's life with my own. So, with this let us cut off all ties." Bai Qing said to him and drank from the cup in her hand, once she finished the drink she smashed the cup onto the ground. 

Bai Qing turned around to face him and walked towards him, he reached out his arms to catch her since she was swaying but she tried her best to walk away from him, her eyes on the door.

Once outside of the cold palace, she could feel the warm ray of sunshine, Bai Qing closed her eyes and let the tears stream down her face, and all she heard was the sound of Eunuch calling out to her before she fell. 

"Crown Princess!" Eunuch Su called out to her, when Tian Qi turned around, he saw blood streaming down her skirt, she was about to fall over. He caught her right before she fell over, seeing her unconscious it was finally letting him clear his head of his anger.

"Ca-Call the royal physician!" Tian Qi shouted and carried her off to his palace, not knowing that he was being drenched in her blood. 

"Where is he?!" Tian Qi asked once they arrived at his palace, he looked at his unconscious wife, the royal physician came in and looked at her condition

"The medication is working, the crown princess should be dead in a few hours." the royal physician said but he slammed his hand on the chair 

"That is not what I meant! I want to redo this! Treat her!" Tian Qi said to the royal physician but he kneeled down 

"There is no cure!" the royal physician said to him 

"There must be!" Tian Qi said 

"Even if there is a cure, the child could not be saved." the royal physician said to him and Tian Qi's blood ran cold 

"...Ch-Child?" Tian Qi asked him and the royal physician nodded shakily 

"She-She was 4 weeks along but right now there is not a chance that the mother or the child can survive this. What would you like to do?" the physician said 

"I don't care how but you must save both of them!" Tian Qi said to him after a while but the royal physician refused to do so, saying that there was nothing that he could do. 

"Then delay the effect!" Tian Qi said but still, the doctor said that there was nothing he could do, it was then that the eunuch came into the room 

"Your Highness please forgive me!" Eunuch Su said to Tian Qi

"What is it now?!" Tian Qi asked 

"I was worried about Her Highness and instead of giving her poisonous wine, I gave Her Highness a weaker poison. I was going to sneak her body out of here later on, I never intended to harm the heir!" eunuch Su said to him but Tian Qi took hold of Eunuch Su with a smile 

"What did you give her? We can look for the antidote!" Tian Qi said to him but he shook his head 

"I was in a rush and didn't look." Eunuch Su said to Tian Qi

"Slow down the effect and put out an order, that whoever can cure the princess will be rewarded!" Tian Qi said but no one moved

"Go!" Tian Qi ordered again when no one was moving

"And get this physician out of the palace!" Tian Qi said as he sat beside her, pleading with her to wake up but there was no sign that she was going to wake up anytime soon.

After three days, there was an unknown doctor who claimed to be a magical healer and said that he could heal her

It was the fourth day that Bai Qing woke up from being poisoned, looking at the face that was looking down on her she smiled since it was one that she didn't think that she would see in the Su kingdom

"Brother Ming." Bai Qing said weakly and he smiled at her, Ming Ru was a brother who was about the same age as her brother. He also grew up with her siblings in the palace but since the age of 15, he ventured out to study herbs and help people all over. 

After years of traveling, he heard the news that Bai Qing got married. Thus he traveled to the Su kingdom but when he arrived there was only bad news about the crown princess so he stayed behind and later heard the news that she was stripped of her title and was punished by poisonous wine. 

"What would have happened to you if I came any later than this? How can you let them bully you?" Ming Ru asked her and she tried to sit up weakly 

"I would've just died, nothing much." Bai Qing said to him and he shook his head 

"But did you ask if your child wanted to die with you?" Ming Ru asked her and she stayed still for a long while 

"Ch-Child?" Bai Qing asked him and he nodded