To Be A Virtuous Wife novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: Stillwater

The physician arrived in a hurry, with a satchel and a face.

He knelt over the dead man for a long time.

He touched the pale dust on the lips, rubbed a pinch of it between thumb and finger, and sniffed.

Then he sat back on his heels and was very quiet.

"Well?" the prince said from the doorway.

"Highness, I'd like to say it is arsenic."

"But."

"But it is a thing called stillwater." The physician wiped his fingers on his robe, carefully. "A pale powder from the southern traders. In a small dose over many months it numbs the limbs and slows the heart. In a large dose, such as this man took, it stops it within the hour."

Yuwei stood against the cell wall, hugging her arms.

"Who sells it?"

"Herbalists who know the trade. Not many. It does not look like poison. It tastes of nothing in tea."

"Tastes of nothing in tea," Yuwei repeated.

She looked at the prince.

He was looking at the floor, and his face was the stillest she had seen.

"Dongmei," she said, without turning her head. "Take the basket upstairs. Close the door."

Dongmei fled.

The physician began to pack his satchel with the air of a man who wanted to be somewhere else.

"Stay," the prince said. "Tell my wife what the first signs are. In a man who has been taking it two years."

The physician went white.

"Highness, I did not say that."

"You are going to say it now."

Silence in the cell.

Somewhere in the courtyard a bird was singing.

The physician swallowed.

"Stiffness in the hands in the morning. The limbs feel heavy at night. A tendency to drop small things, and a slowness when rising."

Yuwei had noticed it the first day.

He had set the clean cup down with a very careful click.

Not out of elegance.

Because his fingers did not quite do what he told them.

"You've been taking it," she said.

"For two years."

"Knowingly."

"Since the second month." Lu Chengzhou finally raised his eyes. "I found the powder in my morning tea. I did not drink what came after. I watched who brought it."

← Chapter 5 · All chapters · Chapter 7 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend