The man observed the humble shack with furrowed eyebrows before turning his eyes to the girl holding on to him. He lost strength before they could reach the shack forcing Anya to help him again. He felt very unhappy that he was helpless to whatever she does to him because of his injury. Who told him to go and be injured by those assassins?
Anya carefully sat him down on the bed and helped him lie down. She rummaged through her medical cabinet before sitting by the bed and spreading out her gauze, salve, and medicinal herbs. The man looked at her with confusion, "What are those?" She ignored him and prepared to open his black shirt once again. But before she could, the man held her wrist tightly with more strength than he should have in his condition. "What are you doing?" His eyes shone with a dangerous glint. He wasn't conscious enough to feel her unbutton his shirt earlier, but now his stare showed him just how displeased he was.
"How am I supposed to treat the injury on your chest if I don't take off your clothes?" Anya questioned as she prepared to take his shirt off again. The man stopped her again while glaring, "I'll do it myself." His voice was icy, not a hint of warmth in them. She felt like this man had a certain… aura. Although he was injured, he didn't seem like the weaker party. He had such a noble air making her tilt her head a little. Who was this man?
Anya rolled her eyes and held her hands up in a surrendering position. "Alright!" The man quickly took off his shirt revealing a toned chest and firm abs. Anya closed her eyes as her cheeks turned red. Although she has treated many people before, she rarely treated men. She was a princess after all. No matter how loose the rules in Aonani were, her father made sure she only treated men when it was absolutely needed. Her dazed expression made the man more annoyed. He hated lovesick stares of women almost as much as traitors!
"What are you staring at? Hurry up!"
When Anya realized she was staring at his body, she quickly blushed harder and covered her face. "I'm sorry…" She squeaked as she quickly turned to the water she was boiling before dumping the medical herbs in it. She washed her hands in a basin she prepared and dipped her finger into the medical salve. She sighed in her heart. What kind of assassin looked this handsome and had a physique like a god? She looked at the cold purple eyes of the man that looked at her sharply.
She took a deep breath before preparing to apply the salve. "It's going to hurt a lot, so hold tight." She gently dabbed the medical salve on the long cut on his chest. She stole a peek at the man to see his cold expression didn't even flinch. She was a bit flabbergasted. What kind of man didn't even knit his brows in pain when it obviously hurt?
The man didn't reply to her warning and silently watched her apply medicine. Anya Blythe was known as a troublemaker princess who had no interest in ruling the throne. She was always up to mischief and loved to play. An immature and spoiled princess is what he actually thought, but looking at her serious expression while treating his wound made him a bit confused. He has never heard of the young princess of Aonani to be efficient at medicine.
He would know, since Aonani was the kingdom on his east. He has studied all the kingdoms since he was young, especially the ones bordering his own. They were similar in the way that he didn't wish to expand his kingdom but only to defend from those who tried to conquer it. Their vast difference came from the size of their kingdom. He ruled the largest land there was in the world, while Aonani was a very small kingdom that didn't bother itself with affairs beyond it unless they were being conquered.
He watched her wipe the blood that stained his chest with a wet cloth, not even looking the slightest bit nauseous at the excess blood. He looked away when she finally finished putting medicine on his wound. She looked up at the handsome man and held out her hand. "You need to sit up so I can wrap the gauze around you."
He ignored her hand and slowly sat up himself. Anya lowered her hand and giggled. She found this handsome man very interesting. He was totally at her mercy right now, yet he still acts so high and mighty. He furrowed his eyebrows when he heard her laugh… at him? No one has ever laughed at him, so he glared at her. She waved him off while laughing and finally took the gauze on her side. "I can do it myself." He said gruffly as he moved to take the gauze from her, but she moved it away from his grasp and pushed down the arm he was holding out.
The man froze when Anya drew near him to wrap the gauze around his back first. Her head was right below his chin and very near his chest. He could smell the scent of fresh apples as he inhaled. Anya pulled back a little to wrap the gauze all the way to his front before drawing closer again to wrap it behind him. The man watched her focused expression a little helpless. Hasn't anyone taught this princess not to be too comfortable with strangers? And men at that! He felt a little annoyed that she seemed to be very comfortable with treating men like this.
In truth, Anya has never treated a man's chest wound. Her father always made sure she didn't need to treat injuries like these, leaving it to imperial physicians, but she couldn't just let this man die from blood loss, right? She finished wrapping the gauze and finally drew back with bright eyes. "There! Once you take the medicine I'm brewing, you will be good as new." Anya paused before meeting his pretty purple eyes. "This will take around two days to heal. You can stay hear if you want, or you can leave. It's up to you. Since you're not actually an assassin, you can treat this as me thanking you for hiding me from those assassins."
Anya checked on her medical decoction and saw it was finished. She ladled some in a bowl and held it out to the man. "Here, you should drink this medicine to ease your pain." The man didn't take it and just looked at her with narrowed eyes. "It's not poison…" She mumbled a bit hurt. If she wanted to kill him, she would have done so earlier.
Suddenly, the bowl was taken from her grasp. She looked up to watch the man prepare to gulp down the decoction. She hurried to stop him, "Be careful! It's very hot! You'll burn-" She wasn't finished warning him when he gulped down the medicine without even flinching. She gaped at him astonished. Her eyes grew even wider at his next words.
"What can I do to thank you for saving the life of the King of Baize?"