Husband, Be A Gentleman 『Liskook』

Chapter 47

After a nap, Lisa thought about the emperor's motives.

'Jungkook, I'm not certain the emperor poisoned me,' Lisa said.

'Why?' Jungkook asked.

'I don't know what the emperor's motives to poison me are,' Lisa said.

Jungkook's head and heart were muddled earlier. Lisa's logic reminded him that he forgot to think about his father's motives for poisoning Lisa.

Jungkook and Lisa's eyes shone at each other.

'Lisa, do you think it's that person too?' Jungkook asked.

Lisa nodded her head. 'Perhaps that person used Princess Kang Hua in hope of using her to kill me. Besides, Princess Kang Hua didn't need to wait, she could have poisoned me the moment I arrived in the imperial city.'

'In the past Bei Dou and I had the same thought as you,' Jungkook said. 'Then we thought perhaps she wanted you to die outside the Yan Manor to deflect suspicions... but looking at the past now, perhaps that assumption is wrong.'

Lisa's chest hurt while remembering how viciously Princess Kang Hua stabbed her and she wondered if Princess Kang Hua was still alive.

'That's right,' Lisa said. 'If Princess Kang Hua wanted to kill me, she would have killed me at the Yan Manor.'

'Earlier like you,' Jungkook said. 'I thought it was imperial father. But now I think it's that person, she has a motive to kill you.'

An image of the kind Consort Mu appeared in Lisa's head and she sighed. 'Glancing at her, she seems like a kind person.'

'Lisa, do you remember what I told you about Consort Chen?' Jungkook asked.

Lisa remembered Jungkook confided in her about how Consort Chen was poisoned by Fu Gui and she nodded her head.

'At that time I suspected there was something wrong about the fragrance of the incense sticks,' Jungkook said. 'So I hid them but later they disappeared. Thinking about it now, I think she found out I hid them and sent someone to retrieve the incense sticks. I think Consort Mu knows that I know the incense sticks were poisoned.'

'That's why I think she wants borrow a dagger to kill me,' Lisa said.

'She and seventh brother used Yan Shi Ting's fake pregnancy to oppose the empress and the crown prince,' Jungkook said. 'They would do anything to eliminate anyone who poses a threat to them big or small.'

'Jungkook, what should we do now?' Lisa asked.

Jungkook laid his hands on Lisa's stomach. 'I need to ask someone to be certain who poisoned you. After I've confirmed it then I can plan what to do next.'

'Who do you need to ask?' Lisa asked.

'The empress,' Jungkook said.

'The empress?' Lisa asked. 'If the empress denies it then it's possible Consort Mu is the culprit. But if the empress did it, would she admit it to you?'

'I have a way to make the empress tell me the truth,' Jungkook said.

'Jungkook, are you hiding anything else in your stomach?' Lisa asked.

Jungkook held Lisa's hands and put them below his stomach. 'Inside your husband's stomach isn't hiding anything. But your husband is hiding something here.'

Lisa's face flushed red. She pulled his hand to her mouth and bit hard. 'Even if you're about to die, you wouldn't know how to be serious.'

Lisa didn't think Consort Mu would be so cruel only to ensure Jungkook didn't have a son. She was worried if other people found out she was pregnant then something bad could happen to their child.

'I think it's not the right time for our child to be here,' Lisa said.

'Lisa, do you know what Bei Dou gave me after we got married?' Jungkook asked.

'What?' Lisa asked.

'A remedy to prevent pregnancy,' Jungkook said.

'Why didn't you use it?' Lisa asked.

'If I can't protect my wife and child,' Jungkook said. 'Then I wasted more than twenty years of living.'

Lisa didn't know why Jungkook's stern tone warmed her heart.

'Jungkook, do you want to be the emperor?' Lisa asked.

'Lisa, I want to see how you'll look as an empress and how you'll fool the world thinking you're a gentle empress,' Jungkook said.

Lisa thought Jungkook was a capable man. If he truly wanted to be emperor then she would support him. But she didn't expect him to be amused at the thought of them being the emperor and the empress.

'Then I don't want to be the empress,' Lisa said. 'If I'm the empress, I'm not allowed to move around while others bow in front of me. There's nothing amusing about being the empress.'

'Wife, if you'll be unhappy as the empress,' Jungkook said. 'Then your husband will continue being a carefree prince.'

Lisa was certain Jungkook didn't want to be the emperor and she thought it was a pity to waste his abilities. She was curious how he would look wearing an emperor's clothes and sitting on the throne. But an emperor had more than three thousand concubines. That thought soured her heart.

'Lisa, you're injured so it gives you an alibi to stay at home and make it easier for you to hide that you're pregnant,' Jungkook said. 'For the next year I'll feed you and wait for our child to be born. Wife, why must you be pregnant? How will I endure the nights? Wife, think about it. I can see you, touch you but I can't eat you. Isn't this a way to kill me?'

Lisa laughed at Jungkook's pitiful face. 'Jungkook, you can marry a second wife.'

Jungkook looked at Lisa like he wanted to kill her.

Lisa pouted her lips. 'I was being sincere.'

Jungkook's hands held Lisa's head. 'Wife, wake up! Don't dream during the day and speak nonsense!'

Lisa didn't show that Jungkook's words sweetened her heart.

'Jungkook, how are you going to deal with the empress?' Lisa asked.

'Lisa, do you want to know about Bei Dou's real identity?' Jungkook asked.

'Yes,' Lisa said.

'Lisa, do you know about what happened to the Thinh Household in the south?' Jungkook asked.

'Thinh Household?' Lisa asked. 'Are you talking about the Thinh Household that was convicted of treason, their properties were seized and they were killed a few years ago?'

Lisa was surprised when she heard how many horse carriages it took to carry all of the Thinh Household's properties to the palace.

'Bei Dou's real name is Thinh Kien Nan,' Jungkook said. 'He's the oldest son and the thirteenth generation of the Thinh Household.'

Jungkook remembered after Bei Dou saved his life, Bei Dou pointed to the south and asked him to call him Bei Dou. But Bei Dou's heart was in the north, Bei Dou wanted to kill the empress who framed and killed Bei Dou's family.

'Bei Dou didn't want to be a merchant like his father and ancestors,' Jungkook said. 'He likes learning about medicine. When his family home was on fire, I saved him from the fire. He suffered burns on his body and it was hard to recognise him. Wife, didn't you always ask me why Bei Dou's face doesn't change expression? It's because his real face was burnt.'

'His... face?' Lisa asked.

'In the past he wore a mask,' Jungkook said. 'Later in Southern Jiang, he met a master physician who gave him a new face. That's why no one knows his real identity.'

'Why did you save him?' Lisa asked.

'I met Bei Dou long ago,' Jungkook said. 'At that time I was asked to perform duties outside the palace and I was attacked by assassins. It was Bei Dou who saved me. So when I knew about his family, I wanted to save his life.'

'Did the Thinh Household commit treason?' Lisa asked.

'What happened to the Thinh Household involves the empress,' Jungkook said.

***