A Lonesome Fragrance Waiting to be Appreciated 3

24

"Any news of Bai Pingting?" The Queen interrupted with a question.

"Bai Pingting's whereabouts are currently unknown. There's something else though..." Chu Zairan raised his eyes to study the King of Dong Lin's expression and stopped.

"Go ahead and speak, Senior Official."

"This...this is just a rumour, not confirmed." Chu Zairan hunched over as he carefully proceeded, "It seems that when Bai Pingting was taken away by He Xia, she was already..."

The Queen was secretly alarmed by this and she hurriedly asked, "Already what?"

"...Already with the Duke of Zhen-Bei's flesh and blood."

When this came out, not only was the Queen but also the King was shocked. "Is this true?"

"King, this is just a rumour..."

"The blood of my Royal House of Dong Lin was sent into He Xia's hands?" The King of Dong Lin's eyes were wide in anger. His breath suddenly got caught in his throat, sending him off with another fit of coughing.

The Queen's heart felt completely frozen into blocks of ice. She clumsily helped to clear the King of Dong Lin's airflow, tears already beginning to fall. Seeing the King of Dong Lin had stopped coughing, she stood up and slumped to her knees, crying, "King, it's all my fault! This is a result of my sins."

The King of Dong Lin was stiff for a long time. He heaved a sigh. "Queen is not at fault; it is mine. This is such a joke from the gods, my House of Dong Lin has finally had a seedling yet...Senior Official."

"Here."

"Immediately write an Order and send people to find Bai Pingting. She must be protected and the child in her belly." The King of Dong Lin then slowly added, "When she is found, tell her that as long as she gives birth to Brother's son, then I shall bestow her the title, Duchess of Zhen-Bei."

His body was not like before. After Dong Lin lost their two princes, the only people eligible to inherit the throne were the Duke of Zhen-Bei and his heirs.

The Songsen Mountains continuously ran for several hundred miles. Winter withered things, but luckily pine trees were not afraid of the cold. Zuiju had been collecting pine needles to use for acupuncture for Pingting while travelling. The treatment barely allowed Pingting to summon enough energy to continue on their journey.

The two people knew their prayers to the skies were unanswered. Prayers to the earth were ineffective. They could only use their own effort to pave their wave to survival. Although it was hard, they had swallowed it all back and never once said it was tiring.

Sometimes Pingting's pulse was good, the other times bad. The gleaming white of the forest and mountains stretched on, boundless, into the horizon. The road seemed to be growing longer day by day. The two had lost their way several times in the mountain forest. They had gone around in circles until they finally found the right direction with great difficulty.

Pingting's legs gradually grew powerless. It seemed one step was even more tiring than ten steps. She knew she couldn't last much longer but was afraid to drag behind Zuiju, so she didn't say anything.

On this particular afternoon, they finally reached a rocky area. The Songsen mountain rocky areas grew unique berries that could bear fruit even in winter. Although it wasn't delicious, it was undoubtedly good food for the two.

"Please sit down Miss. I'll go get some for us to eat." Zuiju helped Pingting to sit down. No much later, she brought a pile of red-purple berries tied with her skirt. The branches of the berries were dense and with pricks, causing a number of fresh wounds on her hand.