Seren also hurried towards her side, and the woman weakly smiled at her as she waved the physician away, silently telling him she could stand on her own.
“My Lady, you have returned.”
Seren gripped her hand, and her heart trembled when she realized how frail her nanny had become. Pale and thin, lips looking paper white…Seren could almost see the veins on the back of her nanny’s hand.
“M-Martha, what, how are you? W-Why do you look…what—?”
“I am fine, my lady, ah, no, Your Majesty,” came the weak but pleasant voice of the woman. Though it was obvious she was unwell, her gray eyes were filled with warmth now that the two of them had reunited.
Seeing Seren had brought Martha happiness, but seeing Martha had brought Seren heartache.
pAn,D a-n0ve1,c-o-m
Seren’s eyes turned moist as she could not believe her nanny turned into this miserable state in only a matter of months. She tightened her grasp on her nanny’s hand and asked, “A-Are you sick? Hurt? Tell me.”
“A little sick, some common illness. Nothing much, just that I do not have much appetite these days,” Martha replied as she didn’t wish to worry Seren. “You should not have been here, Your Majesty. This humble place doesn’t suit you.”
“Doesn’t matter as long as I can see you, Martha. If you are not well, we should get you to see a physician. Come with me to the palace. The royal physicians will make you better.”
Martha softly chuckled, “Your majesty, do you see him, that old man? Even the Head Physician in the palace treats him like a senior. Erich Winfield is the best physician alive. No one can help me better than him.”
Seren looked at the old man with suspicion and asked, “If he’s the best, then why are you in this state? Mister Erich, what is wrong with my nanny?”
Cough!
Cough!
Before Erich could answer, Martha coughed and her expression looked pained. She didn’t look like she could even stand properly. As if expecting this, Erich Winfield quickly wrapped her in his arms to keep her steady and his apprentice ran towards them to help as well.
“Martha—-“
Cough! Cough!
There was no reply from her nanny other than persistent coughing, and she heard Erich Winfield talk to his apprentice, “Take her inside. Quick!”
The young man carried the sick woman inside the house, and Seren followed behind them like a shadow. The apprentice lay Martha on the simple bed covered with a thin mattress and clean sheets.
As the two physicians began to check on Martha’s situation, Drayce came to Seren and rubbed her shoulder to comfort her. She looked at Drayce with teary eyes. “She wasn’t like this when I left. She was so strong and healthy. Martha… Martha is…Why is she suddenly sick?”
Drayce did not know how to reply.
The couple silently watched as Erich Winfield tried to administer treatment, giving her a bowl of concoction, which caused her coughs to disappear. However, upon checking Martha’s pulse, he could not help but let out a deep sigh.
Seren looked at him with a worried face. “Is…my nanny alright?”
Her voice was somewhat hoarse, as if she was on the verge of crying, but she didn’t want to shed tears when their reunion should have been a happy occasion.
The old physician didn’t know how to answer her as the truth would only hurt the young queen. He simply turned towards his apprentice. “Quickly bring the medicine I prepared today and continue making the paste that I was making earlier. We need to apply it on her wound—”
“Wound?” Seren gasped in shock. “Martha is injured? Where is she hurt?”
“I will explain later, Your Majesty. For now, Celia’s treatment should be my priority.”
Those words made Seren reluctantly obey and Drayce offered her an assuring gaze, encouraging her to calm down. She nodded, but a feeling of helplessness burst within her, causing the tears she had been withholding to almost escape her control.
The apprentice brought the bowl of medicine and was about to hand it to his master when he heard Seren say, “Please, let me do it.”
“Your Majesty…”
“Let her do it,” Drayce said and he looked pointedly at the old physician.
Erich Winfield stood up to give way to her. The apprentice then handed over that medicine bowl to Seren while he left the room once more to prepare the other medicine meant for Martha’s wound.
Seren sat at the edge of that small bed, and the more she looked at her nanny’s pained expression, the blurrier her sight grew.
Tears, she didn’t want to cry, but it was impossible to keep her sadness at bay, and soon, her sadness began to trickle down her cheeks.
The woman who has always protected her, the only person who stood up for her and remained by her side throughout the years, the sturdy wall that shielded her from any harm coming her way…her strict but warm nanny, that woman was now lying in bed, gasping for breath as if the act of inhaling was bringing pain to her.
That strong woman who showed no signs of weakness was now reduced to be the weakest being Seren had ever seen.
Seren was scared, so very scared, that the moment she blinked and opened her eyes, Martha would no longer be breathing.
Erich Winfield silently added a pillow behind Martha so that Seren could feed her medicine with more ease. Thinking it would be better to let Seren spend private time with her nanny, Erich Winfield turned to leave.
“I will return with the other medicine.”
He went towards his apprentice who was preparing the herbal paste.
Only Drayce remained in the room aside from Seren and Martha. He thought of leaving as well, but he remained in place so that he could offer even the smallest comfort to her by being by her side.
Seren could not stop crying as she started to feed medicine to Martha with a small wooden spoon.
Drayce noticed something as he looked at his wife affectionately feeding the older woman with the concoction. His dark eyes glimmered as they hoped for something, a miracle.
It must be Martha’s destiny to be saved by the one she had dedicated her life to.
