Today, we decided to visit Temple of Goddess Amelia. It is largest temple with Kingdom.
Unfortunately, our religious trip end up torment.
A sudden ambush by demons left us in despair.
Allan, who tried to protect me and Reena, was severely wounded.
His whole back was struck by arrows. It was so hostile that I couldn't even imagine to put myself in place of him.
But, after being wounded... in suffering, he stubbornly refused to stay down.
I thought it was crazy.
The fact, that he was so dedicated towards his duty. It was crazy...
Fortunately, before any more damage, aid arrived.
In shower of arrows, cluster of demons found themself helpless. They all suffered for what they did to Allan.
Just the way they ruthlessly... the disgraceful assaulted Allan with arrows, leaving him immobile. They too got slain by numerous arrows raining from sky.
๐๐ถ๐ต...
"Allann!!"
I approached Allan. Fallen on ground, he wasn't moving the slightest. I shook him but there was no response. Reena to did the same.
๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ.
"Princess!"
"Princess Lucia!"
I turned as I saw Neulon and Leon, with knights backing them, rushing to us.
"Princess, are you fine?! You aren't hurt anywhere, are you?" Nervous, Leon asked.
"I am! But Allan right here, he is no good. We must take him for rehabilitate, fast!" I commanded.
"Yes, my Lady!"
We made our way back to Raj Mahal as soon as possible. Called for best physicians we had to start Allan's treatment.
. . .
"That's it! I can't wait anymore!" I complained as I made my way to the door, but Nerisa stopped me.
"They told us to wait and that's all we can do. It would be better if you stay here and wait for professionals report."
Right now, we were outside Allan's room, he was getting his treatment inside.
๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต? ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ... ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Reena, she must have noticed my worries or no, it was too obvious.
I heard some footsteps approaching as all three of us turned to check.
"What's the situation?"
"The recovery process is still undertaking, Your Majesty." Nerisa answered my father. With brother and Leon on his side.
"I see..."
"F-Father, we mustโ,"
"Do you got treatment for yourself Lucia?" Father asked.
"There are no injurious just a few scars,"
"I see. I'll appreciate if you return to your room and have some rest."
"B-Butโ"
"Reena, you too. I shall have Leon accompany you back. You must go and see your parents, they must be worried too,"
"... I understand."
With that, Reena left with Leon.
"Father! Stop ignoring me."
"I am not ignoring you Lucia."
"You are! Why do youโ"
"What are you even bothered about?! That Allan?" He interrupted me again.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ?! ๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ?
"It is. I want you to check him out."
"Why so?"
"Huh...?"
I was at lost of words on father's reply.
"I asked, why is it necessary for me to check him out?"
"What are you saying?! Isn't it obvious that you should at least see how is his condition after being wounded so badly?!"
๐๐ต'๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ!
"It's unnecessary."
"Hah?!"
What is he saying?
"It seem you are forgetting something... I am a King, and that man is just assigned for your security Lucia. It's his duty to protect you by all means, even if it meant to sacrifice his own life."
"...What in the world are you saying?"
I was so astonished by the fact that my own father said those words.
"How could youโ"
"Don't forget this Lucia, you are a Princess. Princess of this nation. While he, he is just a common man. We don't know his background, hell, we don't even know whether he is a Kshatriya or not. What makes you so attached to him?"
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ.
I didn't even know how to reply. Such words...
"There were others too who lost their lives, you are not even mourning for them. Listen here, they die for us. Our life are important then theirs'. You don't have to grief for every single one who trys to protect you, your's is what that matters after all."
With that father turned leave.
I tried to stop him but my brother got in between.
"What father said is correct Lucia. It's your life that matters the most. You don't have to feel down for someone who sacrifice himself for you. No... You can't call this a sacrifice. It was Allan's job what he sincerely did so stopping wasting your energy on senseless."
๐ ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด... ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ?! ๐๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ!
๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ?!... ๐๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ.
After witnessing my silence, brother turned his heel too.
"Princess, are you okay?" Someone called me so I turned back to face them.
"Neulon...?"
๐ถ๐๐พ๐ ๐ฝ๐๐ฝ ๐๐พ ๐๐๐ ๐๐พ๐๐พ?
I was so busy with my thoughts that I didn't realise him approaching.
-----------------------
"...I don't know," Lucia replied to Neulon.
Neulon, don't know what say after this, just stood there awkwardly.
"Hey..." Lucia called out in low voice.
"...You heard everything, right?"
"I have been here for a while now actually. I even greeted Prince and His Majesty from afar and yes, I witnessed everything." Neulon answered honestly.
"What are your thoughts on this...?"
"I believe what Prince and His Majesty said was right."
"...Why?" Lucia mummerd.
"Huh? My apologise, but I didn't heard you well," Unable to caught on, Neulon urged Lucia to repeat.
"I said, Why?! Why do you think everything that father said was right?"
Neulon, on Lucia's sudden outburst, slightly took aback.
Then he replied, "It's hard to explain, or it's more likely that it will take time for me to fully explain this to you. It's bottom's duty to serve those above him..."
"..."
"All in all. It is how it is,"
On Neulon's words, Lucia didn't moved for sometime.
"...P-Princess?"
"A-Ah, sorry..."
"N-No, it's fine,"
"...Well then, I'll return to my room. I need sometime to think, alone..." With that, Lucia ran off.
"P-Princess, I didn't mean to hurt you in anyway!" Neulon tried to explain but Lucia never turned back.
For a moment, Neulon thought he saw tears fell behind.
When Lucia was nowhere in his sight, Neulon surveyed his surrounding one last time.
๐๐๐๐พ๐! ๐๐๐๐พ๐!!!
"Excuse me,"
After knocking couple of times, he entered the room.
There he saw few physicians treating a person.
The man has his whole body bandaged.
"...Report the condition,"
"Lord, it's almost done, all the wounds are treated. It's a..."
"What? Say it!"
"I-It's just, this man, his wounds are recovering in much faster rate compare to a normal person. All he needs is at least a week rest and he'll be good to go."
Neulon, who never in his life saw someone injured to this extent survive was taken aback hearing those words.
๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต! ๐-๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ถ๐บ...?
โ Neulon thought.
"You may leave now."
On Neulon's permission, physicians left.
Neulon made is way to a chair right infront of bed and took a seat.
After sometime, he finnally decide to speak up.
---------------------------
"...Hey, I know you're awake. So just get up already." Red-hairs said.
"Oii, Even I can tell thatโ You heard me right, so answer me already."
"...So Loud," I sighed as I lifted my body up and sat down.
Red-hairs, who was sitting right in front of me, was starring straight at me.
"What? Don't you even know that it's rude to interrupt one's rest."
To which he gave me a disgusted look.
"You, tell me everything." He asked.
"Tell you what?" I questioned him back.
"Argh! Not this again! Just tell me already, why are you doing this?"
๐๐ฉ๐ฉ, ๐๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต...
"That, you'll understand eventually," This reply only made him more irritated which I, personally enjoyed.
"So, what's next? You just can't go around with that body of yours, can you. You will fall,"
"Can't deny that, so what?"
"Haah?! Don't tell me you forgot the very arrangement you made yourself!" Red-hairs said, annoyed.
Maybe I played enough dumb. Or too much.
"Don't worry, we'll go as we planned."
He looked at my whole body from up to down, "In this condition?"
"I appreciate your concern but no need to concern about that, now thenโ"
After that I explained Red-hairs all the plan, of course the main course I left vague. We decided to meet behind church, a specific place suggest by Red-hairs himself. Though, he was still a bit suspicious of me so I came hard with my words.
There were few compromises but we end up deciding 11 of night for...
"I still didn't get it... What is it that you're so eager to visit church?" Red-hairs asked. He must have his questions but I decided to pay no mind to them.
"Just few things I need to confirm..."
My silence made it clear to him that he wouldn't get it unless he try to act on it.
"Well then," He got up from chair to leave.
"It's decided, 11 at night. Don't you dare to play prank on me, okay? Make sure to come on time. I wouldn't wait even for slightest second if you're late,"
"Whatever..." With that he left the room.
I took a deep breathe as soon as Red-hairs left and fell back to bed as my consciousness started to fade again.
Then I had a dream.
A Nightmare.
I was trembling, though body wasn't.
And last thing I know... was a warm sensation.
Warmth of someone.
In my dream, it was a person who embraced me, but.
I could feel it around my palm. My Hand.
As I calmed down from all the suffering.
My eyes open.
. . . . .