47.
Edrick shouted toward them at the top of his lungs.
“Her Highness is injured! She needs healing magic immediately!”
Upon hearing this, Lord Siorcan ordered the knight trailing behind to summon a wizard.
A moment later, a young wizard from the imperial staff came sprinting.
While he assessed the Imperial Princess’s condition, Edrick joined the knights in clearing away the rocks.
As they lifted the boulder crushing her knee, a completely shattered joint and mangled lower leg were revealed beneath the torn hem of her skirt.
Seeing bone fragments piercing through her skin, Edrick swallowed a groan. In this state, even with healing magic, she risked losing the use of her leg forever.
“If we let the wound close like this, the leg will heal completely twisted. We must move her to the campsite first to reset the bones.”
The wizard, who had been examining the Imperial Princess’s state with a grave face, spoke in a heavy, sunken voice.
Edrick looked at him with a dark expression.
“Will she be able to hold on until then?”
“I have cast recovery magic; she will be fine for the moment.”
The wizard, who replied with a sigh, rubbed the back of his neck and added, “Still, it would be best to splint the leg so the wound doesn’t open further. Do you have a suitable tool?”
“Will this do?”
Lord Siorcan unbuckled the scabbard from his waist and held it out.
The wizard took the scabbard, weighed it in his hand, and nodded slowly.
“Then I will bind the leg. Please, support the underside.”
Following the wizard’s instructions, Edrick carefully cradled her swollen lower leg.
At that moment, a painful scream erupted from the woman’s slack mouth.
Startled, Edrick lost his grip. The leg, with its protruding bone, dropped to the ground and spurted dark red blood. As he stood paralyzed by the gruesome sight, Varkas, who had been observing from a short distance, lunged forward. He wrapped both arms around the Imperial Princess’s upper body, pinning her firmly.
“Stop the bleeding, now!”
Regaining his focus, Edrick hurriedly grabbed her leg again.
Meanwhile, the wizard tore his cloak to compress the long wound running from her thigh to her knee. The Imperial Princess buried her face in Lord Siorcan’s chest, letting out animalistic moans as she clawed at his neck with her dark red fingernails.
“It’s done! Now, tie the splint!”
At the wizard’s urgent shout, the knights bent down to secure her leg against the long scabbard.
Once the first aid was finally over, Lord Siorcan picked her up in his arms.
Edrick reached out to him urgently.
“I will carry her. You should look after the wound…”
The moment his hand neared her, the man’s arms pulled her body tight against his chest. Edrick hesitated at that defensive gesture.
Varkas, his brow furrowed in annoyance, gestured with his chin.
“Never mind. Lead the way. There is no time to waste.”
“I… I apologize.”
Muttering an apology without realizing it, Edrick hurried to light the way with a torch. He knew they couldn’t take the Imperial Princess up the steep slope in such a condition; they would have to circumvent the cliffside to reach the campsite.
As he navigated the dark forest path, he glanced back at Varkas.
The light held by the knights faintly illuminated one side of the man’s face. Gazing intently at that expression—cold enough to be wearisome—Edrick straightened his head. Now was not the time to be curious about that man’s inner thoughts.
Clearing the wandering distractions from his mind, Edrick quickened his pace and exited the dense, overgrown forest.
* * *
Her leg felt as if it were on fire.
Groaning in pain as if her skin were boiling, Talia barely managed to lift her heavy eyelids, which felt as if they had been glued shut.
Inside her flickering vision, a ceiling shimmering with light came into view. Her confusion lasted only for a moment; seized by a bone-piercing agony, Talia writhed and let out a sharp scream.
“Hold her down so she can’t move!”
Drawn by the unfamiliar voice, she looked down and saw a stout, portly middle-aged man leaning deep over her leg.
With one hand, he pressed down on her thigh while using a small, tong-like tool to poke at her blood-soaked knee.
Talia, watching the scene with eyes filled with terror, twisted her body to escape the man. Someone standing at her head pressed down on her shoulders with brutal force.
“Your Highness! Please, calm down!”
Talia, gasping for air, looked up at the dark shadow looming over her.
The haggard face, clouded with deep exhaustion, looked familiar. Only after a few seconds did she realize it was one of the maids that Talia Roem Gwirta had assigned to her. But she felt not a shred of relief.
With wide, dilated eyes, Talia alternated between the maid’s stiff face and the man digging into her knee, then reached out and scratched at the woman’s face.
The maid, who had been pinning her body down with tanned, sturdy arms, screamed and hurriedly pulled her hands away. Not missing the chance, Talia tried to crawl and escape across the bed, but a pair of strong hands suddenly appeared and pinned her wrists to the bedding.
Talia struggled violently, like an animal caught in a trap.
“Let go! I said let go!”
“Please calm down! We are in the middle of treating your wound. You mustn’t move like that!”
The man shouted desperately, pressing his armored chest against her upper body.
Talia struggled even more fiercely. Intense pain felt as if it were tearing her entire body to pieces, yet the frantic need to escape overwhelmed every other sense.
“No! Don’t touch me!”
“Bring the sleeping draught at once!”
The man shouted loudly.
Talia looked up at the roughly-hewn face cast in deep shadows with terror-filled eyes. Her Imperial Guard, who usually acted like a fool, was now suppressing her with a menacing, hardened expression.
A familiar terror and helplessness tightened around her throat.
She reached out to scratch his face.
“G-go away! Just leave me alone!”
As she shrieked through ragged sobs, a short curse broke from the man’s lips.
Talia twisted her body even more desperately. The man gathered her wrists into one hand and brought a cold glass bottle to her lips.
“Drink this. When you wake up, everything will be over.”
Talia kept her mouth tightly shut.
He did not give up easily. Pressing the mouth of the medicine bottle firmly against her lower lip, the man begged.
“It is not poison! It is medicine to dull the pain while we treat you. So please…”
Even at the knight’s desperate plea, Talia gritted her teeth and held out.
She could trust no one.
They were surely just waiting for the moment she became helpless to commit some horrible act.
Knocking the medicine bottle away with her elbow, Talia stubbornly sat up. She thrashed her blood-soaked legs to escape from the beasts holding her, when she saw a slender silhouette suddenly enter the tent.
Upon confirming his face, Talia went stiff.
The man, who carried the scent of heavy rain, gripped her upper body with arms like a snare.
There was no time to escape. Varkas, who had settled in behind her, held her upper body firmly with one arm and gestured to the knight.
“Bring the medicine.”
The knight obeyed the order immediately.
Receiving a new bottle, Varkas pulled the cork out with his teeth and pushed the bottle’s opening against her lips.
Talia stared at it with trembling eyes before shifting her gaze to his expressionless face.
Varkas urged her in a low tone.
“Drink.”