The Forgotten Field - Chapter 108

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 108
I traced my fingertips across it. The viscous liquid left a ghastly stain upon my pallid skin. The blood-soaked cloth clung to my lukewarm flesh like seaweed.
With vacant eyes, I gazed down at the sight before me, then pressed my ear against my blood-stained chest. A faint pulse thrummed beneath.
Only then did my frozen thoughts begin to thaw and move once more.
He gathered me into his arms, sheet and all, and kicked through the Bedroom door.
Several Handmaidens passing through the Corridor stiffened at the sight of him. Barcas bellowed at the top of his voice.
“Summon the Healer! At once!”
* * *
My insides burned as though I had swallowed boiling water. The searing heat twisted my stomach into knots. After thrashing about, exhaling scorching breath, my bones suddenly felt as though they were embedded with shards of ice.
I fumbled to pull the blanket toward me. Seeing my distress, someone wrapped me in arms as hot as heated iron.
The warmth seeping into my blood drew a sigh of relief from me, yet fire ignited within me once more.
I writhed, drenched in sweat. Realizing my suffering, the arms encircling my back began to withdraw.
I clung to him with all my strength.
Hold me. Don’t leave me alone.
Whether he understood the words that merely hummed within my mouth, the warmth enveloped me once again.
It was agonizing. Yet somehow, I felt reassured.
Like a chick burrowing into a hen’s feathers, I curled myself within his broad embrace.
Before long, the stabbing pain in my stomach faded, and a silence as profound as a tomb descended. It was as though I were immersed in lukewarm water.
I remained suspended in this strangely serene sensation for some time. My hazy consciousness gradually grew clearer.
I barely managed to lift my heavy eyelids. A shaft of light pierced through the curtains, stabbing at my retinas. The stinging sensation drew an involuntary groan from me, and urgent footsteps echoed nearby.
“Miss! Are you regaining consciousness now?”
Turning my head, I found the Nursemaid wearing a distressed expression, and I furrowed my brow.
The Nursemaid seized my hand and sniffled.
“Do you know how my heart has been burning with worry? Why does this keep happening to you….”
I wore a bewildered expression. I couldn’t understand what had happened or how.
As I cradled my throbbing temples with one hand, the Nursemaid, tears streaming down her face like chicken droppings, suddenly sprang to her feet.
“What am I doing! This is no time for this. Please wait a moment. I’ll fetch the Healer at once.”
With that, she bolted from the Bedroom, her footsteps thundering.
As silence settled around me, my mind finally began to function properly. I surveyed the modest Bedroom slowly.
Only after several seconds could I recall arriving at a city in the Eastern and Western Regions. But my memories after that were hazy. It was as though I had been dreaming with my eyes open.
“You’ve finally regained your senses.”
As I was retracing my fragmented memories, the Healer hurried into the Chamber.
She approached the bedside, breathing heavily.
“How are you feeling?”
Looking up at her with a bewildered expression, I parted my parched lips. A rasping sound emerged from my cracked throat.
Seeing this, the Healer immediately poured water into a cup and handed it to me.
Struggling to sit upright, I leaned against the headboard and moistened my mouth with the lukewarm water. The liquid that trickled down my esophagus irritated my stomach uncomfortably.
As I coughed softly at the strange discomfort, the Healer quickly withdrew the cup.
“Don’t drink too much at once. Your stomach has been damaged, so you must be careful with water intake for some time.”
I furrowed my brow.
“Damage to the stomach?”
“You don’t remember?”
When I shook my head, the Healer explained in a composed tone.
“Your Highness lost consciousness not long after arriving at this Castle. After that, you suffered for nearly two days straight.”
My eyes widened at the suddenly returning memory, and my complexion darkened.
It had been while I was resting on the bed. Suddenly, a sharp pain had assailed me. I couldn’t even think to call for help as I writhed from the stabbing agony in my abdomen, when abruptly a scalding liquid surged upward. It seemed I had lost consciousness almost immediately after expelling it.
I gently touched my still-throbbing solar plexus and fixed the Healer with an icy glare.
“Did someone poison me?”
“No, Your Highness. It doesn’t appear that poison was used.”
The Healer hastily denied it.
“It seems the bleeding occurred as a side effect from the medicine you’ve been taking over the past few weeks.”
“A side effect?”
I regarded her with skeptical eyes.
Aria continued her explanation in a calm manner.
“The medicinal tonic Your Highness was taking contained ingredients capable of damaging the stomach. Ordinarily, they are excellent ingredients that replenish vitality and invigorate the spirit… however, if a patient with a weakened stomach takes them for an extended period, there is a risk of internal bleeding.”
I let out a derisive laugh.
“So you’re saying you simply gave me such medicine by mistake?”
The Healer’s face stiffened slightly.
She exhaled a heavy sigh.
“That is my assessment.”
“….”
“I thoroughly investigated the medicine Your Highness consumed, and it was composed only of ingredients meant to aid in vitality recovery. However, it appears the Healer who prepared the medicine was unaware that Your Highness’s stomach function was as fragile as a small child’s.”
I furrowed my brows suspiciously.
“You’re oddly defensive of that woman.”
“I am merely stating the facts I have discovered. I do not wish for Your Highness to exhaust yourself with unnecessary suspicions.”
Aria replied matter-of-factly and straightened her posture. Then, with her characteristic composure, she picked up a small kettle from the shelf.
“In any case, that Healer will receive appropriate punishment. And it appears I shall be taking over your treatment from now on.”
She then poured an appropriate amount of clear liquid into a small teacup.
I gazed down at it with cautious eyes. Aria offered a wry smile and explained.
“It is honey tea with a small amount of medicinal herbs steeped in it to aid stomach recovery. If you consume it gradually, your stomach should feel more at ease.”
I reluctantly accepted it, but I had no desire to bring it to my lips.
After staring at the lukewarm tea for a while, I asked in a tightly controlled voice.
“The medicine I’ve been taking all this time—you’re certain it wasn’t poison?”
“I cannot completely rule out the possibility that other medicinal ingredients were mixed in… but if that were the case, traces of poison would have remained in your body. However, Your Highness has shown no symptoms of poisoning.”
“Then…”
Is Barcas safe?
I almost asked that, but I closed my mouth. I had no confidence in coming up with a plausible explanation for how he had come to take the medicine prescribed for me.
I moistened my parched lips. All this time, Barcas had been gradually consuming that medicine as well.
Would he truly experience no side effects?
Unable to shake my anxiety, I spoke with barely contained urgency.
“That medicine—if a healthy person took it, there would be no problems at all, correct?”
The Healer, who had been regarding me with a puzzled expression, nodded her head.
“That is correct. In ordinary circumstances, it would actually aid in restoring one’s vitality.”
Talia was engulfed in relief, her shoulders sagging. Then, abruptly, she felt a wave of self-disgust and released a hollow laugh.
I was more relieved that he hadn’t been poisoned than I was relieved that no one’s life was in danger. The realization was staggering.
Talia dragged her hand wearily across her face, her cracked lips trembling.
“Barcas…”
Where is he right now?
What was his reaction when he saw me collapse?
I swallowed the questions that had risen to my throat and lay back down on the bed.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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