Sylvester grabbed her hand and began to walk ahead. Passing through small bushes and tall deciduous trees.
Cordelia on the other hand did not look happy. If a stranger should see the duo, he/she would think the Grand Prince was forcefully dragging the lady along with him against her own will. No one would know that she had that grim look on her face because of her previous failure. This was the second time. The. Second. Time. She failed. Cordelia scolded herself inwardly. Although this was her second day with the Monarch and she wanted to fulfill her wish so badly. She wanted make it snappy and get done over with but last night, it seemed the Grand Prince pulled an all-nighter and today, he had the sharpest vision and wits.
What Cordelia never wanted to do was what she was going to do.
Patience.
She never thought that she would have to wait for a while; she would have to wait so patiently before she could erase this man's existence from the surface of the earth. She can't go on trying to attack him day by day and end up failing. She needed to study her prey carefully and watch his every move, getting to know his strength and use his weakness against him. That way, she could get him killed but it needed time and she was willing to wait for that good time to come.
As they were going, Cordelia was still in trance with her thoughts when a sharp root of a small tree that sticking out on the ground scratched her shin; the lower part of her leg.
"Ouch!, My leg!", Cordelia let out a cry of pain.
Sylvester stopped immediately she cried out. His gaze travelled to her legs, "Delia, are you alright?", his throaty voice had a hint of worry in it.
"Something scratched my leg", she said painfully. Even her face squeezed a little because of the sharp pain she felt.
"Let me take a look ", Sylvester bent down and squatted to take a closer look at her leg. Her right leg had a red line from the front to the side and blood was dripping out of her wound and the wound looked to deep to be a scratch.
"It looked deep and sore. Let me take you to the spring and get it cleaned ", He rose on his face as he spoke.
He did not wait a single second as he swept her off her feet and began to walk to another direction.
Cordelia's bright blue eyes widened within their sockets as she was taken by surprise by his sudden action. He carried her in princess style. He carried her so smoothly and swiftly as if she weighed nothing.
"Please put me down. I can walk", Cordelia protested. She just had a scratch on her leg, she never said she was lame.
"Your leg is injured", he replied.
"I am not lame", she grumbled.
"If you continue to walk with legs, the leaves and bushes will brush over the wound thus getting the wound infected. You might actually become lame"
"Just put me down, I'll try to be as careful as I can be", she protested again.
"No",
"I am the owner of my leg. It isn't you that will feel the pain and get infected",
"But I'll be worried", he said back
"But-",
"You sound so cute when you protest", Sylvester's lips curled into a smile.
Cordelia said nothing and pouted.
If it had been one of the Grand Prince's fan girls in the present same position as Cordelia, their faces would be so red to the point that it could bully a tomato and their hearts would thumping with joy. Just because they were in the arms of the oh-so handsome Grand Prince but instead, Cordelia looked like a sulking child in the arms of her father.
"You kept protesting for me to put you down but your actions said otherwise. You did not make any attempt to get down yourself", he spoke,
"That was because you are unwilling", she defended herself.
Sylvester let out a husky chuckle, "Yes, I am unwilling".
Cordelia's gaze settled on his face. Her eyes travelled about his forehead to his beautiful emerald green eyes to his full pink li-
"Where is your mind wandering to?", He threw a question at her.
"Huh?! Um, nothing", She quickly said and averted her gaze.
"Really? I don't believe so. You wouldn't have spaced out and hurt your leg. It clearly shows that you were thinking about something that you could not look at where you were going", He said, referring to the time her leg was scratched.
"I was not thinking about anything", she lied.
"But you are now", whoops, he caught her, " You are looking at my face. Do I look that handsome to you?"
"I thought I saw a mole on your face", she replied.
Sylvester chuckled again."Bad liar",
"I'm not a bad liar", she retorted,
"Oh yes, you are", he taunted.
"Put me down",
"No need for that we are almost near the warm spring", Sylvester said with his chin pointing ahead.
Cordelia turned her gaze forward and saw a pool of water ahead.
When they got to the spring, Sylvester finally put her down and removed her shoes for her even though she protested, he did it anyway. He took her hand and led her to sit on one of the rocks.
"Dip your legs into the water", he instructed. Cordelia complied and did what she was told. Sylvester squatted beside her and dipped his hand into water and began to wash away the blood from her leg. When he was done, he brought out her leg to inspect the wound.
"The wound is deep", he told her. He looked around as if searching for something, "wait here and don't leave this place", he rose to his feet, "let me look for some herbs that can disinfect your wound",
"Are you a herbalist?", she blurted out,
"No, just a few things I learned", he said to her before walking away.
Cordelia was alone all by herself but he did not take to come back with a certain leaves in his hand.
Sylvester crushed the leaves in his hand and rubbed them fervently to make it a small paste and added few drops of water to it before squatting beside her again.
"This is going to hurt but bear the pain", he informed her before applying the leafy paste on the surface of her wound.
"Ouch!", Cordelia wheezed
"It's okay, just bear the pain", he consoled after he was continued applying the herb on her wound. He looked worried.
When he was done, Sylvester brought a kerchief from his pockets and wrapped her leg with, doing it so gently with care.
Cordelia slowly dipped her hand into the water and splashed it on his face.