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Blood Embroidery
墨書 Inktalez
I stood before the palace gate, holding the waist token of the Embroideress. Memories of that rainy night five years ago flooded back, when my father's head still dripped blood at the city gate. My mother shielded me but was pierced through the heart by an arrow.
"My lord, this is the new Embroideress," the Housekeeper presented the roster. I lowered my eyelids to conceal the hatred in my gaze. Five years had passed, and I had transformed from an orphan into the palace's top Embroideress, all for the chance to step through this gate today.
"Go in," the eunuch waved his hand. The wind rustled a fallen leaf beneath the palace wall. As I entered the Embroidered Room, I overheard several Embroideresses whispering.
"Have you heard? The Ninth Prince has a new divine doctor from the southern frontier..."
"Yes, yes! They say his medical skills are extraordinary; even Your Majesty has personally met with him."
As I stitched patterns, I perked up my ears.
"He's extremely handsome but very sinister. They say... he once poisoned an entire rival family overnight."
My hand paused with the silver needle. Poisoned an entire family? Just like how my family, the Su Family, was poisoned five years ago?
---
"Come here."
A cold voice suddenly rang out.
The Embroidered Room fell silent in an instant.
I looked up to see a man standing at the door, dressed in a Moonlight White Brocade Robe. His brows were sharp like swords, his eyes like Cold Stars, and his face resembled Leng Yu.
The most striking feature was his eyes—deep black as ink, yet seemingly concealing an unfathomable abyss within.
"This is Lord Xiao," the matron quickly stepped forward to pay her respects. "He is the Divine Physician beside the Ninth Prince."
Xiao Yuchen? The Divine Physician from the Southern Frontier?
I instinctively touched the Soul-Stabilizing Pill hidden in my sleeve and felt it radiate a slight warmth. It was an unusual phenomenon I had never experienced before. Why would this relic left by my mother respond to him?
His gaze swept over the crowd, and when it landed on me, I noticed a barely perceptible ripple in his eyes.
"Which Embroideress can create a pouch for This Official?"
"Embroideress Su is the most skilled," the matron pushed me forward without hesitation.
I bowed respectfully, "May I ask what design you wish to have embroidered, my lord?"
As I raised my head, a sudden wave of dizziness washed over me. My illness had been worsening lately...
"Peony," he said, a slight smirk playing on his lips. "Blood-Red Peony."
My heart skipped a beat. This was no coincidence. On the night my family was slaughtered, the peonies in our backyard were in full bloom, their blood-red petals reminiscent of flowers from hell...
What was even stranger was that when he mentioned "Blood-Red Peony,"
A warmth surged through my sleeve once more.
"Alright."
I suppressed the strange feelings within me and accepted the silk handkerchief he offered.
"When do you need it?"
"Three days later, This Official will come to collect it."
Watching his retreating figure, I pressed my lips tightly together.
That night, the moonlight flowed like water.
I knelt in my room and lit a stick of incense:
"Father, Mother, your daughter has entered the palace. I will surely avenge you!"
Tears fell onto the ash of the incense.
"Cough, cough..." A metallic sweetness surged up my throat.
I took out a pill I carried with me and swallowed it.
This was a condition I was born with;
my vitality was slowly draining away.
I couldn't afford to fall, at least not until I had avenged...
The next day, I arrived early at the Embroidered Room.
As the needle and thread flew,
the Blood-Red Peony gradually took shape.
It wasn't an ordinary bright red,
but a deep crimson tinged with black.
Like... congealed blood.
"What a vibrant peony."
The voice of Xiao Yuchen rang out above me.
My heart skipped a beat; how did he arrive so quickly?
I looked up, ready to speak, when suddenly a wave of dizziness hit me.
He was quick to support me, saying, "You’re ill."
It wasn’t a question, but a certainty.
"Thank you," I replied, pulling away from his grasp.
"Interesting," he said, a slight smile playing at the corners of his lips. "Would you like this official to treat you?"
"No need," I said, lowering my head to continue embroidering.
"Then do you know," he leaned in suddenly, his voice cold, "you won’t last three months."
My hand trembled, the needle piercing my fingertip.
"My last doctor said two months; you’re being quite generous by adding another month," I replied calmly, wiping away the bead of blood from my fingertip, my heart racing uncontrollably.
"Three days," he left those words hanging in the air before turning to leave.
A silk pouch slipped from his sleeve and fell to the ground.
I picked it up and found a red pill inside.
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