"No, I don't want to go!"
Anna's heart sank when she heard Kyren's proposal to send her back to his home. She had lost her attention when he broke the news and did not even bother the name of the place he mentioned.
"It's for your own good. This camp is not suitable for you. You'll be well taken care of later," Kyren persuaded.
Anna shook her head fervently in disapproval.
"I don't want to. I'll be alone there. I'm scared!" Her voice was brittle, and her face clouded with worries.
"You don't have to worry. Just wait for me. I'll be home once I finish my tasks here," he added.
Anna still refused. She was adamant about not leaving.
"Please don't send me away. You're the only one I have. You promised that you won't abandon me!" Anna pleaded ardently.
Tears started to brim in her eyes. The pitiful face was staring at the prince, full of hope.
Kyren sighed as he almost lost his patience in convincing her. Never had he thought that this little wife of his, who appeared as docile as a lamb, could become so stubborn.
"I'm not abandoning you! Look, even if you stay here, I won't be around you every day. I've got my tasks to do, and when I'm out, it might take days or, worst, weeks!" he explained.
Anna could not hold back her tears. The fear and sadness of being alone in a foreign land crushed her heart.
"No! Please don't..."
***
Rafe and Ayden walked together on the path between the organised erected tents within the campsite. The two were heading to the commander's tent as they had been summoned to check on his wife, their new patient.
When they arrived, the sound of a woman crying and begging permeated from the closed canvas of the white tent. Looking at each other, their faces dyed with worried expressions.
"No! Please don't..."
The sentence of a plea between the sobs was enough to make Rafe rush swiftly and barge into the tent without thinking.
Surprisingly, he saw Anna facing Kyren, sitting on the bed while the grand duke stood tall before her. Both of them looked at him with widened eyes.
"Don't you know how to ask for permission to enter?" The commander glared at the healer with a murderous look.
"Forgive me. I heard a cry, so I thought —"
The following words did not come out of Rafe's mouth as his grey eyes caught the princess's small hands holding to Kyren's. The danger that crossed his mind was a false alarm.
"Get out!" snorted the commander.
"Sorry... I'll just wait outside."
Rafe took a few steps back slowly before turning around and escaping through the tent flap in embarrassment.
"What happened?" asked Ayden, who waited outside in surprise.
He was holding the healer's bag in his hands. Rafe shrugged his shoulders with a grimace look.
"Don't know. I thought he was hurting her. But it doesn't seem so," he replied.
The healer and his assistant waited until they were called into the tent. Anna was still sobbing when the two of them entered.
"Check her condition," ordered Kyren in a stern voice.
"Could you please step outside for a moment?" requested Rafe politely to the commander.
He did not want to raise the grand duke's anger more as he had crossed the line just now.
"Why can't I stay?" Kyren's question felt more like a denial of the request.
His eyes turned to the healer, staring intensely.
"I would like to have a private session with the patient and my assistant if you don't mind. It won't be long," he promised.
"Kyren..."
Anna looked at her husband with doe eyes, her voice between her cries. Her delicate hands were still gripping his hands.
"It's going to be all right. I'll be just outside the tent," he reassured her, gently pulling his hand away from her.
The princess frowned at him.
"You don't have to be scared. Remember him? He's the healer from last night."
Anna's eyes rolled to Rafe. She took a moment before nodding.
"We'll talk again after this, all right?" Anna agreed to his request.
He wiped her tears and rubbed her head gently. The two men widened their eyes at the endearing act of the commander. It was far from their actual expectancies.
When the tent flap closed, Ayden put the bag on the table while Rafe quickly approached Anna and asked, "What happened, my lady? Were you hurt?"
He looked at her with a creased forehead.
"No... He... He said... He wants to send me back home." The princess's soft voice shook.
"Home? To your home?" asked Rafe bluntly.
"No, his home. Garrard or something... I don't know!" Anna's face turned red.
"Aahh... It's Gerhard, my lady," Ayden interrupted.
The healer squinted his eyes at his assistant, gesturing for him to stop interfering.
The assistant healer pursed his lips at the signal. He quickly averted the healer's eyes and pretended to be busy, stretching the parchment on the table and taking out the writing tools from the bag.
Rafe turned back to Anna and said, "I see... I thought something else had happened."
Anna wiped her trickling tears and looked at the figure before her. She knew the healer named Rafe Amares. However, the other man, who had long, straight black hair and eyes, was foreign to her. He was a total contrast to Rafe, who had short, grey ruffled hair and eyes.
The healer quickly introduced him as the princess's eyes darted to Ayden with curiosity.
"He's my assistant, Ayden Norman."
"Nice to meet you, my lady," greeted Ayden before sitting on the table, getting ready to scribe the patient's details.
Knowing Anna's situation, he did not approach her. The princess nodded, acknowledging his greetings.
"Now, can you tell me what exactly your husband said? Maybe there's something I can do about it," persuaded Rafe.
The princess then told the healer about Kyren's plan to send her home to the Duchy of Gerhard.
"I don't want to go," Anna burst into tears again.
"Gerhard is a nice place. It is lush with greeneries, and the land is fertile. I'm sure you'll like it," Rafe coaxed her.
Anna shook her head vigorously.
"Please don't let him send me there. I don't want to stay away from him." The poor crying princess looked so pitiful, making the two men waver.
"Perhaps, may we know where you come from?" Ayden carefully asked.
When the healer looked at him again, he quickly responded in a low voice with an innocent smile while holding the pencil.
"It's for the patient's history taking. You asked me to write every detail." He pointed to the parchment. Rafe nodded in agreement to Ayden's answer.
"I came from the City of Constance, Ardel," the princess replied. Rafe eyes widened as he heard the name of the kingdom.
"Oh, so you're an Ardelian. I used to study medicine at Engarth!" he said excitedly.
"You do?"
Anna's crying began to dwindle upon his statement. Hearing that someone knew about her kingdom and used to be there somehow relieved her.
The healer nodded with a happy smile.
He reminisced about his four years of study at the medical university in Engarth, the second largest city in Ardel.
Those were the days when young Rafe spent most of his time drowning in piles of books or holed up in the lab. He was so preoccupied that he skipped meals occasionally, making him thin and slender. Even now, he was still as slim as before.
"It's a beautiful kingdom, and I treasured my time there," Rafe said. Anna drooped at his words, and her relieved face instantly turned cloudy.
"It was...," she slowly answered with a dismal mood.
The healer could sense by her response and reaction that something miserable had happened to her there.
"Could you tell me what happened and how did you get here?" he asked her.
The crying had ceased, but the saddened face of the petite princess persisted. Her eyes were red, and her swollen cheeks looked puffier. Her bruised lips quivered as she held back the sadness pervading her heart and started to tell the story of how she was kidnapped by the slave traders and brought to Cassian.
"I've nobody. My husband is my only family now. Please don't make him send me away," Anna's voice came out feeble and thin.
"I understand. I'll talk to him then. You don't have to worry about this," Rafe grinned.
"You will talk to him?" Anna responded. Her drooped shoulder rose, and her cloudy eyes shone with anticipation.
"Of course. You're my patient. If you go away, how will I take care of you?" The healer added.
The princess's chest lightened as she heard his reply.
"Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome. Let me check on your wound, all right?" requested the healer.
Feeling delighted, the princess allowed the healer to do his task.
The examination took a while, and Rafe was satisfied with the princess's condition.
"It seems your wounds and cuts are all clean. Did the commander give you the salve?" he asked.
"Commander? Who is that?" Anna blinked as she cluelessly looked at the healer.
He was pretty surprised by her answer.
"Umm… didn't your husband tell you anything other than sending you home?" asked him again.
Since the commander returned to his tent this morning, the man had spent quite some time with his wife. He thought they had reconciled and at least got to know each other a little bit.
"No. Why?"
"Oh, nothing in particular," Rafe quickly responded, shaking his head.
He thought it would be best to leave the matter to Kyren's hands.
"Perhaps, can you tell me where I am?" she asked curiously.
"You're in the Dartrey Forest, and this is the camp for the Knights of Gerhard. We're here for the campaign to secure the Cassian borders under His Majesty's order," replied Rafe.
Anna's eyes widened as she listened to his answer.
"Oh, then, that means my husband is a knight too," she assumed.
"How do you know?" Rafe wondered.
"Well, he looked like one. Also, you and Mr Norman are calling me 'my lady'. From what I know, only the knights' wives and noble ladies can use the title," she replied.
"Ah… yes, that's true. But Cassian men also addressed the maidens as 'lady' sometimes, especially when unsure of their status," Rafe explained.
Anna's mouth circled in an 'O'. She never knew that the Kingdom of Cassian would have such a culture. Now, she remembered that Kyren had called her 'lady' when they met in the forest last night.
"Why don't you rest for now, and I'll talk to your husband. I'll settle this for you."
Anna nodded in relief as the men left the tent. She was raring to stay regardless of what it took.