The Crown Princess Is Jealous Again - Chapter 68
One pill didn’t work. Two. Three… Still useless.
Xiao Beitang locked herself in her room, finally experiencing what Song Qingqian must’ve gone through. It was unbearable.
Three days later, Song Qingqian’s heat passed. Thankfully, the incense only stimulated desire and didn’t harm the body. After bathing, she recalled that day—it made her face flush with embarrassment. Xiao
Beitang’s words still echoed in her ears.
“What has Her Highness been doing these past few days?” Song Qingqian asked Xiaotao, who was combing her hair.
“Her Highness… has been locked in her room,” Xiaotao stuttered, her hands pausing mid-motion.
Surprised, Song Qingqian turned to look at her. “She locked herself in? What for?”
“It seems… Her Highness was also affected by the Hehuan incense…”
!!!
Song Qingqian’s heart immediately became restless. After a moment of silence, she asked, “Is she in there alone?”
“Yes,” Xiaotao answered. “Liuzi said she locked herself in the moment she returned. The imperial physician gave her medicine, I believe.”
Why didn’t she find someone to help her? Isn’t Linglong still at the Jiaofang Bureau? Why suffer alone…
Song Qingqian spent the rest of the day distracted. Compared to her own three days of heat, this was even harder to endure. There was no sound from Xiao Beitang’s room—not even a whisper. Liuzi and Xing’er waited outside, but Xiao Beitang wouldn’t let anyone in.
Day four… day five…
Two more days passed. Aside from meals and oil for the lamps, nothing went in or out. It had been five days—was her heat not over yet?
Song Qingqian grew increasingly uneasy. She summoned Liuzi and Xing’er.
“Does Her Highness usually experience such long heats?” she asked.
Liuzi looked puzzled. “Replying to the Princess Consort, Her Highness has never had a heat before…”
“Never?” Song Qingqian stared at her in disbelief.
Unlike omegas, alphas don’t experience regular heats, but still—once or twice a year is common. Xiao Beitang had been differentiated for four years, and she’d never had one?
Could Liuzi be mistaken?
But Liuzi answered with certainty: “Never. I’ve been serving Her Highness since her differentiation. I’ve never seen her like this.”
Xing’er nodded repeatedly. “Nor have I.”
Something wasn’t right.
With the Emperor off vacationing at Mirror Lake with the Empress, Song Qingqian couldn’t get answers from them either, which only deepened her unease.
She went herself to knock on Xiao Beitang’s door. “Your Highness?”
No response.
That first night, Xiao Beitang felt as though a thousand insects were gnawing at her insides. The suppressant pills she took did nothing. She’d scratched her neck red. Soon after, the pain settled deep in her body—no outlet for release. And then she began hallucinating: the scent of Song Qingqian’s pheromones, her voice, her face… it surrounded her.
Song Qingqian knocked for a long while. No one answered. Anxious, she kicked the door open.
A rush of oolong tea scent hit her, so strong it made her cough.
She stepped inside. Xiao Beitang’s robe lay shredded on the floor. Farther in, Xiao Beitang sat on the bed, eyes bloodshot. In the dead of winter, the charcoal had long burned out, yet she hadn’t called for more.
Dressed in only a silk undergarment, her forehead was glistening with sweat.
Her gaze was hollow, reddened eyes staring at Song Qingqian.
“Your Highness…” Song Qingqian reached out to touch her.
Xiao Beitang flinched and backed away like a startled animal. These past few days, her mind had been flooded with visions of Song Qingqian. Now she was here. Her scent. Her voice.
Sometimes lucid, sometimes not.
What was happening? Song Qingqian had never seen what an alpha in heat looked like, but this—this wasn’t normal.
“Don’t scare me, Your Highness… Please, say something.” A warm rush welled up behind her eyes, and tears spilled before she realized it.
She didn’t care if Xiao Beitang tried to escape again. She sat down and wrapped her arms around her.
This was real—unlike the illusions of the past few days. This embrace had warmth, texture, scent… It was Song Qingqian.
Her pheromones calmed Xiao Beitang. Resting her chin on Song Qingqian’s shoulder, she inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly, greedily soaking in the soft scent of orchid from her nape.
The red faded from her eyes, leaving only exhaustion. In a breathless whisper, she asked, “Song Qingqian… Do you know how dangerous this is?”
Song Qingqian pulled back and looked at her.
Xiao Beitang smiled faintly. “I’m in heat. You came close to a rutting alpha—aren’t you afraid I’ll lose control?”
Song Qingqian said nothing. She simply looked at her, long and deep.
“You should go. Your pheromones can only calm me for a short time. After that, the desire will only grow stronger. If you stay… I can’t promise I won’t hurt you.”
“Xiao Beitang.” Song Qingqian called her name.
She looked at her.
“That day… I tried to seduce you, and you pulled away. You said you were afraid I’d regret it. And you were right—I wasn’t fully lucid. You were afraid my words were just heat-fueled desperation.”
“I was afraid too. That no matter what I said, you wouldn’t believe me. I was afraid I’d regret saying I liked you like that. Because those words should’ve been spoken seriously, in clarity, with no ulterior motive. I didn’t want desire to corrupt something so important.”
“Xiao Beitang… At first, I truly only saw you as a student, as the Crown Princess. I just wanted to train you to be a worthy heir in three years, no complications. But you… you’re like a little sun. Sometimes you warm me. Sometimes you irritate me to no end. I don’t know when it started, but I got jealous. I sulked like a child. I deliberately tried to make you angry with others…”
“I used to laugh at myself. Just like any omega, my emotions got entangled with an alpha. I’ve never been like this. It’s everything I once disdained.”
Song Qingqian fidgeted with her fingers. “I’ve told you before—there’s nothing between me and Zhang Dingqing. She’s just a dear friend. I saw her often, yes, but mostly to learn more about Yuwen Yue, so I could prevent you from making mistakes.”
Xiao Beitang stared at her, lips parted in shock.
After a while, she finally asked, “So… you do have feelings for me?”
Song Qingqian smiled. “I’m perfectly clear-headed right now.”
“But I’m not…” Xiao Beitang pouted.
“That’s fine. When you were clear-headed, you already told me how you felt.” Song Qingqian leaned in and cupped her face, stroking from her cheek down to her chin, her voice light as mist. “You said… you wanted me. So very, very much. And you weren’t even in heat then.”
“And you always talk about divorce. Whether I bring it up or you do, in the end it would mean abolishment. Would you really… depose me?”
Xiao Beitang paused, then hurriedly explained, “I didn’t mean it like that! I did want to separate, but I also didn’t… I just—just didn’t want to trap you. In my eyes, our love should be equal, regardless of status.”
“I know. I know.” Song Qingqian took her hand and gently squeezed her palm. Of course she knew Xiao Beitang didn’t mean it like that.