Chapter 2

The Head of the Imperial Medical Academy was sixty years old, the most experienced physician in the land.

After taking Chu Ye’s pulse, his robes were soaked through with cold sweat, his hands trembling.

“Your… Your Majesty…” he stammered for a long time, unable to form a complete sentence.

Chu Ye leaned weakly against the dragon bed, his face pale. He glanced at the man. “What is wrong with Us? Speak!”

The head physician wiped his sweat. “This old subject’s eyes might be failing him… Perhaps we should have the other imperial physicians take a look as well.”

Half an hour later, half of the Imperial Medical Academy was kneeling below, wringing their hands.

They whispered amongst themselves, and Chu Ye’s irritation grew. He threw a teacup at the deputy head!

“A bunch of fools! Can’t you even diagnose an illness? If you can’t tell me what it is, I’ll have all of you beheaded!”

Driven by a powerful survival instinct, they all stammered in unison:

“Your-Your-Your-Your Majesty, it is a pregnancy pulse!!”

A deathly silence filled the hall.

The teacup in Chu Ye’s hand was crushed into pieces.

“Absurd!!! I am a man, how could I possibly be pregnant?!!”

Chu Ye refused to believe it. He secretly summoned several more imperial physicians and even renowned folk doctors to check his pulse.

The conclusion was always the same-he was pregnant.

His physical symptoms also pointed to pregnancy. He suffered from “morning sickness” daily, and his body felt heavier.

It was as if he were truly carrying a child.

Chu Ye was so angry his face turned white. He immediately ordered the Imperial Medical Academy to develop an abortion medicine that would harm the fetus but not his own body.

But abortion medicine is inherently damaging to the mother’s body. He never knew how much pain it caused when he casually ordered it for his concubines.

-Now he knew.

The Pregnancy Pill from the system was incredibly potent, a bug-level item.

Chu Ye downed more than a dozen doses of the abortion medicine, writhing in agony.

I remained completely unharmed.

Then, with powerful movements, I stomped around inside his “womb” in retaliation!

The pain in his own body was unbearable. Chu Ye threw tantrums every day.

“Demon spawn! Monster! I will kill it!!”

Fearing for his life, the head physician had spent the last few days concocting a perfect, self-serving explanation.

So he spouted nonsense, “Your Majesty, this is not a demon, it is an auspicious omen!”

“The matriarch Huaxu gave birth to Fuxi after stepping in a giant’s footprint; the ancestor of the Shang dynasty was born after his mother swallowed a black bird’s egg; the mother of Yu the Great gave birth after dreaming of a shooting star… Therefore, Your Majesty must have been chosen by the heavens to receive a divine child, a sign of profound blessing!”

-Sometimes, people will say anything to stay alive.

The system and I were inspired. We simply sent a dream to the State Preceptor.

After observing the stars and performing a divination, the State Preceptor told Chu Ye the exact same thing.

Everyone was delighted, saying the nation’s fortune was strong. Only Chu Ye’s face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

Because I was doing my best to torment him from the inside, like a demon child being born.

Chu Ye had never shown sympathy for his pregnant concubines before, accusing them of being dramatic to gain favor.

When he ordered the extermination of families, he had no empathy for pregnant women begging him to spare their children.

Now that he was experiencing pregnancy himself, he was truly feeling its hardships.

Chu Ye constantly felt nauseous and vomited. His back and legs ached, he was lethargic and sleepy.

It was severely affecting his ability to manage state affairs.

The system thought that by personally experiencing pregnancy, Chu Ye might develop some maternal instincts due to hormonal changes.

I told it that was wishful thinking.

Every night, Chu Ye would glare at the spot where I was with the eyes of an enemy.

He’d call me a monster and a demon spawn, asking why I wasn’t dead yet.

“Just wait until you’re born. I will slaughter you!”

His response was a flurry of kicks and punches from inside his womb!

A left hook, a right hook! A Thomas flare!

I gave him a good thrashing.

Chu Ye’s face went pale, and he curled up in pain, breaking out in a cold sweat. He finally quieted down for a while.

Chu Ye was deeply secretive about the pregnancy, killing many who knew about it.

He kept the matter tightly under wraps, claiming illness to the public.

But as the months went by…

-His belly began to grow.