Chapter 47
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 47
Edric’s voice tore through the air as he screamed at the top of his lungs.
“Her Highness is injured! She needs healing magic immediately!”
Hearing the urgency, Sir Hart signaled a subordinate to fetch a mage at once. A moment later, a young mage from the Imperial Household came sprinting toward them.
While the mage assessed the Princess’s condition, Edric joined the knights in the grueling task of clearing the debris. As they heaved the boulder off her, her mangled leg was finally exposed beneath the shreds of her skirt.
Edric swallowed a groan. Several bone fragments protruded through the skin of her knee and calf. In this state, even with the most potent healing magic, she might never walk again.
“If the wound closes like this, the limb will be permanently deformed. We must move her to the campsite first to set the bones,” the mage said, his voice heavy and his face grim as he surveyed the damage.
Edric looked at him, his expression darkening. “Will she be able to hold out until then?”
“I’ve cast recovery magic, so she should be stable for the moment.” The mage sighed, rubbing the back of his neck before adding, “Still, we need to splint the leg so the wound doesn’t tear further during transport. Do we have anything suitable?”
“Will this work?” Sir Hart unbuckled his scabbard and held it out.
The mage took the scabbard, giving it a light shake to gauge its weight, then nodded slowly. “I’m going to bind the leg now. Please, hold it from underneath.”
Following the mage’s instructions, Edric carefully supported her swollen calf.
In that instant, a blood-curdling shriek erupted from the woman’s throat.
Startled, Edric’s grip faltered. The leg, with its jagged, protruding bones, hit the ground, spraying dark red blood. As he stood there, paralyzed by the gruesome sight, Barkas—who had been watching from the periphery—stepped in. He wrapped his arms around the Princess’s upper body, pinning her fast.
“Stop the bleeding, now!”
Snapping back to his senses, Edric hurriedly grabbed her leg again.
Meanwhile, the mage tore his cloak and applied pressure to the long gash stretching from her thigh to her knee. The Princess buried her face in Sir Sieorkan’s chest, letting out animalistic groans as her blood-stained nails clawed desperately at his neck.
“Done! Now, tie the splint!”
At the mage’s urgent cry, the knights bent down to secure her leg against the long scabbard. Once the emergency treatment was finished, Sir Sieorkan lifted her into his arms.
Edric reached out instinctively. “I will carry her. Commander, you should tend to your own wounds—”
Just as his hand was about to touch her, the man pulled the woman’s body closer, shielding her. Edric flinched at the defensive, almost possessive gesture.
Barkas narrowed his eyes in annoyance and jerked his chin forward. “Forget it. Just lead the way. We have no time to waste.”
“……I’m sorry.”
Muttering an apology despite himself, Edric hurried ahead with a torch to light the path. Since they couldn’t carry the Princess up the steep slope in her condition, they had to circle around the cliff to reach the campsite.
As he navigated the dark forest path, Edric stole a glance back at Barkas.
The light from the knights' torches faintly illuminated one side of the man’s face. Edric stared intensely at that face—which looked beyond cold, bordering on bored—before quickly turning away. Now was not the time to wonder about the Commander’s inner thoughts.
Clearing his mind, Edric quickened his pace and emerged from the dense thicket.
* * *
It felt as if her leg were on fire.
Groaning at the searing pain that felt like her skin was boiling, Thalia managed to force her heavy eyelids open.
Through her flickering vision, a ceiling shimmering with light came into view. Her confusion lasted only a moment before a bone-aching agony shot through her, causing her to writhe and let out a sharp scream.
“Hold her down so she can’t move!”
Drawn by the unfamiliar voice, she looked down to see a stout, middle-aged man leaning over her leg. With one hand pressing down on her thigh, he was probing her blood-slicked knee with a pair of forceps.
Thalia watched the scene with eyes wide with terror, then twisted her body to escape the man’s touch. Immediately, someone at the head of the bed shoved her shoulders down with brute force.
“Your Highness! Please, stay calm!”
Gasping for breath, Thalia looked up at the shadow looming over her. The haggard face, etched with deep fatigue, looked somewhat familiar. After a few seconds, she realized it was one of the maids Senevia had assigned to her. However, she felt not even a shred of relief.
With dilated pupils, Thalia looked back and forth between the maid’s grim face and the man rummaging through her knee. In a blind panic, she reached out and raked her nails across the woman’s face.
The maid, who had been pinning her down with sturdy arms, shrieked and reflexively pulled away. Not missing the chance, Thalia tried to crawl across the bed to escape, but a pair of powerful hands appeared out of nowhere and pinned her wrists to the mattress.
Thalia struggled violently, like a beast caught in a snare.
“Let go! I said, let go!”
“Calm down! We are treating your wound. You mustn’t move!”
A man shouted desperately, pressing his armored chest down against her upper body.
Thalia began to struggle even more fiercely. The excruciating pain felt like it was tearing her entire body apart, but the terror—the need to escape—overwhelmed everything else.
“No! Don’t touch me!”
“Bring the sedative, now!” the man bellowed.
Thalia looked up at the rugged, shadowed face with terrified eyes. Her personal guard, who had always acted like a fool, was now suppressing her with a face hardened into a terrifying mask.
A familiar fear and helplessness choked her. She reached out to scratch his face.
“Go—go away! Leave me alone!”
As she screamed through ragged sobs, a short curse escaped the man’s lips.
Thalia twisted her body even more desperately. The man then gathered both her wrists into one of his hands and pressed a cold glass bottle against her lips.
“Drink this. Everything will be over when you wake up.”
Thalia clamped her mouth shut.
But he did not give up. Pressing the mouth of the bottle against her lower lip, the man spoke as if pleading.
“It’s not poison! It’s medicine so you won’t feel the pain while we treat you. So, please…”
Despite the knight’s desperate appeal, Thalia held out with her teeth clenched. She couldn’t trust anyone.
They must all be waiting for the moment I become helpless to do something terrible to me.
Thalia knocked the bottle away with her elbow and forced herself upright. She kicked her blood-soaked leg, struggling to break free from the beasts holding her, when a tall, slender shadow suddenly stepped into the tent.
Upon seeing his face, Thalia’s body went rigid.
The man, bringing with him the heavy scent of rain, seized her upper body in a grip like a noose.
There was no time to escape. Barkas, positioned behind her, held her torso firmly with one arm and nodded to the knight.
“Bring the medicine.”
The knight obeyed the command instantly. Taking the new bottle, Barkas pulled the cork out with his teeth and thrust the opening to her lips.
Thalia stared at it with trembling eyes before shifting her gaze to his expressionless face.
Barkas urged her in a low, inescapable tone.
“Drink.”