Chapter 39: Abortion pills arrive, desperate struggle

The air in the side courtyard felt like ice. The candlelight flickered violently in the wind, casting a flickering shadow on the bowl of thick, black abortion medicine on the ground. Steam still rose from the rim of the bowl, and a bitter, pungent odor filled Yun Zhi's nostrils, sending a churning sensation through her stomach. But it wasn't morning sickness—it was fear, a deep, bone-deep fear.

Two maids stood expressionlessly by the bed, holding medicine bowls. Xiao Jin stood behind them, his dark robe draped across the floor, covering his feet and the subtle hesitation in his eyes. He looked at Yun Zhi, who was curled up in the corner of the bed, her face pale. His voice was cold and devoid of any warmth: "Drink the medicine."

"No... I won't drink it!" Yun Zhi shrank back suddenly, her hands tightly protecting her lower abdomen, as if protecting her last lifeline. "This is your child! Xiao Jin, you can't be so cruel! If you drink it, you will kill our child!"

"Our child?" Xiao Jin sneered, stepping closer with a look of mockery in his eyes. "How dare you mention 'our' to me? He's just your and Xie Heng's bastard. Killing him is to clean up the mess, to prevent him from defiling my palace!"

"He's not a bastard! He's yours! He's yours!" Yun Zhi was trembling with anxiety, tears falling like beads from a broken string. She suddenly climbed down from the bed and knelt before Xiao Jin with a thud. Her knees thudded against the bricks, making a dull sound. The pain made her vision black, but she still desperately grasped his clothes. "Xiao Jin, I beg you! I kowtow to you, I admit my mistakes, even if you ask me to work like a slave for you, I'm willing to do it! I only ask you to keep this child, please..."

As she spoke, she kowtowed repeatedly to the ground, and soon her forehead bled, staining the bricks and the hem of Xiao Jin's clothes red. The warm blood seeped through the fabric and onto Xiao Jin's skin, causing his fingertips to tremble slightly.

For a moment, he almost softened his heart. Looking at the blood on her forehead, the tears on her face, and her humble appearance as she protected her lower abdomen, the ignored pain in his heart surfaced again - what if... what if this child was really his?

But as soon as this thought emerged, he forcibly suppressed it. He remembered Qiu Wen's testimony, the forged love letter, and the pregnancy-preserving medicine Xie Heng had sent him. All his rationality was consumed by anger and jealousy. He kicked Yun Zhi away with a fierce kick, his voice full of cruelty: "Don't sully this king with your dirty blood! Even if you die here, you must drink this bowl of medicine!"

Yun Zhi was kicked to the ground, a sharp pain piercing her abdomen, turning her face pale. She clutched her stomach, curled up in pain, her clothes soaked with sweat, yet she refused to give up. "Xiao Jin... you'll regret this... you'll definitely regret this..."

"Regret?" Xiao Jin bent down, grabbed her chin, and forced her to look up. "Let me tell you, the thing I regret least in my life is not killing you right away!"

He winked at the maids, and they immediately stepped forward, one on each side holding Yun Zhi's arms and forcibly lifting her up. Yun Zhi struggled desperately, but her strength was far inferior to the maids'. She could only watch helplessly as the bowl of thick black abortion medicine was brought to her.

"No! Let me go! I won't drink!" Yun Zhi's voice was hoarse, and her tears fell even more fiercely. "Xiao Jin, you executioner! You killed your child, you will be punished by God!"

"Heaven's punishment?" Xiao Jin sneered and took the medicine bowl from the nanny's hand. His eyes were full of ruthlessness. "I am the prince, and it is not your place to talk about heaven's punishment! If you know what's good for you, drink it yourself, so that I won't have to take action!"

Yun Zhi tightly shut her mouth, refusing to drink the medicine. She knew that if she drank it, her child would be gone, her only hope would be gone. She would rather die than lose this child.

"If you don't accept my toast, you'll have to drink for it!" Xiao Jin's eyes turned cold. He pinched her chin with force, forcing her to open her mouth. Then he put the medicine bowl to her lips, and the thick medicine flowed down the corners of her mouth and forced into her throat.

The bitter medicine burned her throat and her heart. Yun Zhi desperately shook her head, wanting to spit out the medicine, but Xiao Jin held her down tightly. She could only watch helplessly as the bowl of medicine was poured into her stomach bit by bit.

"Cough... cough..." The medicine bowl was empty, Xiao Jin let go of his hand, and Yun Zhi immediately lay on the ground, coughing desperately, trying to spit out the medicine, but she only spat out a few mouthfuls of bloody saliva.

The pain in her abdomen grew more intense, like countless knives stabbing at her, causing her to tremble with pain, her clothes soaked with cold sweat. She clutched her stomach, tears blurring her vision. As she stared at Xiao Jin's impassive face, the despair in her heart washed over her like a tide.

"Xiao Jin..." Yun Zhi's voice was weak, filled with despair and tears of blood. "You have such a cruel heart... You killed our child... How could you be so cruel..."

Xiao Jin watched her in agony, the blood on her forehead, the tears on her face, the sharp pain in his heart becoming more and more apparent. He subconsciously wanted to reach out and help her, but stopped himself abruptly. He couldn't be soft-hearted. This woman had betrayed him, and this child shouldn't exist.

He turned around, not daring to look Yun Zhi in the eye again, his voice as cold as ice: "Help her back to bed, keep an eye on her, don't let her do anything tricky."

After saying this, he strode out of the room, not daring to look back. He was afraid that if he looked back, he would regret it and would be unable to resist leaving the child behind.

The door slammed shut, leaving only Yun Zhi's painful moans and Madam's cold gaze. Yun Zhi lay on the ground, the pain in her abdomen becoming increasingly severe. She could feel something slipping away from her body: her child, her only hope.

"My child... I'm sorry... I'm useless... I couldn't protect you..." Yun Zhi's voice was weak, tears falling to the ground, mixing with blood, "It's my fault... I shouldn't have brought you into this world... I shouldn't have let you suffer with me..."

Her consciousness faded, but the pain in her abdomen became more pronounced. She knew her child was gone. The child she had carefully protected for two months, the child she had hoped for with all her heart, had been killed by his own father.

Despair, like a vine, tightly wrapped around her heart, making it impossible for her to breathe. She slowly closed her eyes, tears sliding down from the corners of her eyes for the last time, dripping silently into the bloodstains on the ground.

Xiao Jin, who was outside the door, hadn't gone far. He leaned against the pillar, listening to the painful moans coming from the room. The sharp pain in his heart became more and more obvious, as if something was shattering bit by bit. He thought of the blood on Yun Zhi's forehead, the tears on her face, the humble look on her face as she protected her lower abdomen, and her last words, "You'll regret this." He felt an inexplicable panic in his heart.

But he still forced himself to turn around and walk away. He told himself that Yun Zhi deserved this, that this was the fate that the bastard deserved. He couldn't regret it, and he wouldn't allow himself to regret it.

Little did he know that this "no regrets" would become a lifelong regret he could never make up for. He had personally killed not only his child, but also Yun Zhi's last shred of hope. And this tragedy, fueled by misunderstanding and jealousy, had only just begun.