He entered the room and as if the medics were made aware of his presence, two practitioners came to stand behind him as he picked a chair from the corner of the room and brought it close to the bed where Melina lay to sit down.
"Your Highness," both of them bowed and greeted him.
"Has she eaten anything since she was here?" was the first question Leon posed to the practitioners as he tore his gaze from Melina and looked at them for an answer.
The man and woman looked at each other before shaking their head, "No, Your Highness, she had been asleep since yesterday so we didn't get the chance to feed her." the woman replied.
Leon's eyes narrowed and he pinched his brows before he looked at Melina again, this time with scrutiny because he drew his face closer to hers.
He brought his hand to her face before he brushed his fingers on her cheek faintly. The two practitioners almost gasped at his actions but kept their mouths shut to not be on the receiving end in case he was still angry like earlier when he came here.
"She had not been awake, you say?" Leon spoke, his face narrowly hardened and the two could feel the sudden heat in his voice.
"Yes, Your Highness. She-" The lady didn't even finish her statement when Leon turned to glare at her. She didn't understand the reason for the stare and turned a bit frightened.
"If she hadn't been awake, why are there dried tears on her cheek like she had been crying?" Leon asked coldly, his eyes darkened as he began to suspect that these physicians had maltreated her while she was awake or did something.
The lady's narrowed, a crease formed between her brows and she came closer to get a better view of the girl's face. She noticed the white quilt that had been used to cover her earlier was on the floor and the bedspread seemed a bit scattered.
Perhaps she had struggled? It had to be that!
Her eyes widened and she looked at her fellow practitioner, who looked equally dumbstruck.
"Your Highness, I apologize for speaking but we had been coming from time to time to check up on her, and we didn't once see a sign of her having woken up before. We didn't also see any of these things out of place." The man who had been there finally spoke with trembling hands and a face down.
"How is it possible that you have been checking on her but didn't get to see her when she was awake?" Leon asked the two practitioners, his gaze on them deepening as if he was trying to see through them for any suspicion but it seemed like they were being honest.
The medics were not people to look down on a specific set of people because they had been trained to accept and treat all equally. Even though the influence the elites had on them was greater, it didn't mean they didn't try to be fair to some extent.
"We took a break when she didn't seem to be waking up soon, Your Highness. Please forgive us, we had no idea she would awake the moment we departed," The woman explained and pleaded with Prince Leon with her head down.
She knew she could only speak like this to him because it was Prince Leon and not his father. His father was known to be quite domineering when it came to listening to certain people especially when he felt they wronged him. And she was sure if it was King Lucas, one of them would be punished for their negligence.
Leon stared at Melina with worry, his gaze that had tightened earlier softened almost immediately. Even though he believed the practitioners, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone had been there while she was asleep which was the only thing that explained her struggle.
She couldn't have been struggling with herself, could she? Or perhaps she was having a nightmare as a result of what happened this evening in the library? Had she been frightened or recalled something in her head?
Different thoughts and possibilities of what may have caused her struggle came to Leon's mind and he tried to believe it had just been related to fright from the assault and not because someone had made her struggle.
He had tried his best to keep her safe especially after Jordyn came asking him questions about her and who she was. Matthew had also told him how Julian was in a coma momentarily so it wouldn't be possible for him to come here and hurt her again, right? At least, not now. He didn't know any other person who would care to hurt the maid currently.
The elites still weren't aware of what happened and by the time they would be, he would be able to handle them properly. He already knew what he was going to do. But he needed to take care of her first.
"This is your last chance, both of you," Leon said as he stood up from the chair, giving them a stern look. "Ensure that she is safe and eats properly when she wakes up again," he commanded and they nodded in approval.
"Tell the royal physician to do a proper check on her and give me the feedback by daybreak tomorrow."
"Yes! Your Highness!" The two bowed when the prince spoke and immediately went to where the girl lay, arranging whatever had scattered around her and picking up the quilt to cover her properly again.
Leon searched around for any trace of something...and he found one.
Water...a drop and two of water were on the floor, confirming his suspicion that someone was there. This time, he would not play dumb.
He went to the desk that had been placed in the room where the two jugs and the goblet sat. He picked up the jug and opened the lid to see that the usual extent of the water in it had lessened. Then he covered it and dropped it back on the desk at the same time picking up the goblet. He turned it upside down and saw more drops of water spill on the cold floor.
A bit apprehensive, he looked over to the girl who was asleep on the bed.
"Leave," he abruptly ordered the two practitioners, catching them unawares but they immediately obeyed and left the room.
He sauntered to where she lay and looked at her, perusing her body and then he noticed that the strap of the white gown she had been changed into by the practitioners was slightly wet.
Had she woken up to drink the water and gone back to sleep? Something was not adding up.
His curiosity got the better of him and he began to search around her for anything off when she suddenly stirred in her sleep and leaned into the side of the bed where his face was, exposing her cleavage that pressed together from the way she slept.
Since the straps of the dress she wore barely held together as they were standard clothing and not of her measurements, it exposed more than required that immediately came to Leon's notice and he pushed his head back instantly, cursing under his breath.
Damn it! Was this girl planning to provoke him?