Another night had passed, yet Seren still didn’t wake up. The council meeting in the morning had just adjourned, and King Armen and Cian took time off to come to visit her before returning to work.
Seeing the King and Crown Prince, the two lady nurses stood up to greet them, while the Head Royal Physician, Heath Leuven, was in the middle of checking Seren’s pulse. He was so focused, he did not even realize the entrance of the two royals.
King Armen and Cian did not mind and simply waited for the Head Royal Physician to finish his work. Once he was done, Heath Leuven immediately realized the additional people inside the room and came forward to pay respect to the two royals.
He bowed to greet them. “Your Majesty! Your Highness!”
The two nodded lightly to accept his greeting, and Cian asked, “How is my sister now? Is she better?”
“Her Highness is indeed faring better than the previous night, but she hasn’t woken up yet,” Heath Leuven replied.
Cian turned worried as he raised his voice, “If she is better, then why hadn’t she—?”
King Armen raised his hand, signaling his son to calm down, and looked at Heath Leuven to continue.
“Your Highness, the incident seems to have traumatized Her Highness the Third Princess to such a great extent that she had closed her mind from waking up. This is her way of protecting herself, scared to see the same thing again,” Heath Leuven replied. “Such a response is common for women and children who have seen death for the first time, more so since from what I heard, what Her Highness experienced was appalling even to a brave man.”
Remembering the bloody sight he found inside her garden, King Armen felt anger rise again inside him. “Leuven, what can we do to make her feel better, and will she wake up soon?”
“The only thing we can do is give her body some time to calm down, and give her calming medicine and burn aromatic incense inside the room that will soothe her mind…”
“How long?” Cian asked.
“In a day or two, we should be able to see improvements,” Heath Leuven replied.
“We have waited till now, so a few more days is not a big deal,” King Armen sighed and looked at his worried son. Cian nodded slightly, understanding his father’s words.
The Head Royal Physician bowed once more. “However, Your Majesty, all we can do is help the princess out. The final outcome will still be up to the Third Princess herself, whether she will find the strength to wake up and face reality once more.”
—–
Drayce was by the window of his chamber after having a morning meal with Arlan.
“Tell me, did you sneak into her room?” Arlan casually asked while he made himself comfortable on one of the? wooden chairs inside his friend’s chamber.
“Wasn’t that difficult,” Drayce replied.
Arlan sighed, shaking his head. “And I am not even surprised.”
“Why ask the expected?” Drayce countered.
“Ahh, my bad. I am in the wrong to criticize you for your lacking manners towards a lady. Apologies, Your Majesty, the great King Drayce! Wait, let me add something. More like…Your Majesty Devil King Drayce. Sounds better?”
Drayce didn’t react to his sarcasm, so Arlan could only ask, “How is she?”
“Looks fine, but she hasn’t woken up yet.”
Their conversation was interrupted by Dusk’s sudden arrival. The majestic brown eagle landed on the window sill with something hanging from his beak. It was something he had brought for his master.
Drayce noticed the small item. “What is it?”
The bird was already looking at his master as if to urge his master to get it from him. Drayce took the item from Dusk’s beak and weighed it in his hand. It was a small violet silk pouch. Drayce first observed the pouch but did not open it. “Who does it belong to?”
Of course, there was no answer from the bird since couldn’t talk like a human.
The curious Arlan approached the window and witnessed what this master and pet were doing. “Making him eat a poor rat was not enough. Now, you are even sending your pet to steal the things of others. Tsk! Doesn’t suit the status of a king.”
Ignoring Arlan as usual, Drayce noticed a tiny embroidered mark at the bottom of the silk pouch. It was a familiar symbol—a red mark that looked like a flame and a flower at the same time.
Drayce looked at Dusk. “Does it belong to her?”
Dusk lowered his head to reach Drayce’s hand that was busy holding the pouch and pecked on it twice.
Understanding the meaning of who that ‘Her’ Drayce had just mentioned, Arlan scoffed, “So I was right. You are making him steal. A bad bird raised by a bad master.”
“Still better than a noisy nagger,” Drayce rebutted while he opened the pouch.
Before Arlan could respond, his attention was shifted to what was inside the pouch. The content didn’t look like anything ordinary.
Drayce observed those tiny balls that looked like blue beads. They were emitting their own brilliance, shining so brightly that even the sunlight coming in through the window couldn’t hide the bluish light inside that violet silk pouch.
“What are those? Why are they shining? They look like… magic pills?” Arlan asked with uncertainty, as those kinds of legendary elixirs only belonged to myths of old. He had once read in a book that magic pills emit light on their own, and this was the first time he had seen one. His curious gaze didn’t leave the pouch? .
Drayce thought about something and asked Dusk. “Is this medicine?”
Dusk pecked on his palm twice again and looked at his master in anticipation.
Thinking about why Dusk had suddenly taken things from others and brought it to him, he asked again, “Do you want me to give it to her?” There was no way Dusk would do anything uselessly.
Dusk responded the same again, answering his master with a ‘Yes’.
“Are you sure, Dusk?”
This time, Arlan asked the eagle with a serious tone. This was an important matter, as ingesting a pill of unknown or unverified effects could potentially harm, instead of help, a sick person. Arlan knew that if his friend were to agree to do what Dusk said, then there was no stopping it. However, the person he would be giving this medicine to was not someone ordinary.
In response, Dusk lifted one of his legs, as if asking them to look at it, and then put it down back. Arlan put forward his hand to let Dusk put his claw in his palm, and the two friends observed it.
“Were you hurt?” Arlan asked when he saw a pale mark, similar to that of a healed wound, just above the claw.
Drayce studied it too and asked, “Did she give it to you to treat your wound?”
Dusk pecked on the hand Arlan was using to check his claw.
Arlan chuckled with an exaggerated cheer, “Could this be a legendary elixir which works miracles on animals as well as humans?”
Dusk pecked on Arlan’s hand again, only to hear Arlan exclaim, “Hey, I was just saying it for fun…but you seem serious. There is no way that kind of holy medicine exists, right? That is a treasure that could cause a war!”
Arlan couldn’t believe a bird would be able to bring magic pills taken from the things of a young princess.
Drayce looked at his friend. “After spending so many years around me and seeing all those strange things, do you still doubt the magic?”
Arlan cleared his throat. “Well, I am only used to seeing disasters like earthquakes and throwing poor people here and there without even touching them. I never got to see the civil way of using magic like these healing pills,” came the sarcastic reply from the Prince of Griven.
