Chad was whipped and passed out, waking up just at dusk on the second day.
The cut on her back was painful and numb, and the slightest movement caused a tearing pain. It was a good thing that the wound was all on his back, and that the person who was administering the medicine hadn't noticed her special chest wrap, otherwise her identity as a woman will be revealed.
Chad lay on the bedding and grunted twice from the pain, then she heard footsteps from outside, followed by the sound of the wooden door creaking open.
Chad inclined his head, only to see Enoch limping in carrying two bags of medicine.
"Awake?"
Chad only dared to nod in a small arc because she was afraid to involve her back wound and cause it to open.
"Lionel came to see you just now and said you were still asleep ..." Enoch pulled up a chair and tried to sit down, but half his ass was just about to touch the surface of the chair when he popped up again with a "hiss-".
Even so, Enoch grinned reluctantly at Chad despite his serious injuries, "Looks like big brother got here at a good time."
Chad's worried gaze immediately fell on Enoch's lower body.
"It's all right," Enoch noticed his gaze, "my skin is rough and thick, what's ten spankings on my bottom? Besides, the men in the Department of Punishment are old friends of your brother's. It only looks bad, it doesn't hurt at all, it'll heal in a couple of days."
Chad struggled to brace himself and gestured in small increments, "Why did you knock me out then?"
Although Chad was gesticulating with a light force, her eyes held a bit of anger.
Enoch knew he had taken matters into his own hands too much for Chad's sake, so he didn't dare look at her and had to look away, "Your back is still bruised, don't gesticulate."
And then he turned the conversation around, "By the way, this is the medicine that Lionel asked me to send over, he paid for it himself, the best wound medicine he could buy, it was given to you yesterday when you were in a coma, now it's time to change it - here, brother will do it for you... ..."
Chad stared at him, still saying the same thing: "Why did you knock me out?"
Enoch ignored her, and in silence stepped forward to change her medicine.
Chad couldn't care less about the wound on her back and grabbed him by the wrist, "Enoch!" She had always been a stable person.In all the years he had known her, Enoch had never seen her lose her temper, so he stopped and sighed very softly.
"If I don't knock you out,Do you want me to watch you die?" Enoch asked rhetorically.
Chad: "It's my fault, I'm to blame, you shouldn't ..."
She hasn't done full sign language yet, Enoch interrupted, "I'm your brother, I grew up watching you, what's the shoulds and shouldn'ts, right or wrong. I have a scale in my own mind, I don't need you to teach me."
Enoch hated the idea that she was willing to give up her life for the Duke. So unconsciously he became angry: "If the old Lionel had not beaten you himself last night, with those fifty lashes, how could you still be alive?"
"It's a good thing the Duke at least remembered a little bit of the old friendship and noticed Gill's identity early, otherwise if you had really caused a big trouble, even if you had ten lives, you wouldn't be enough to kill him!"
He finished his sentence with a barrage of words, finally losing some of his anger, and glanced down at Chad's face. When he saw that she was pale, he felt that he had spoken harshly again. Enoch didn't blame Chad, even he hadn't seen that Jill was a spy, let alone Chad, a simple boy.
"I'm to blame for this, if you analyse it carefully."Enoch's voice trailed off, "If I had seen the evil intentions of that little bitch earlier, I wouldn't have let her take advantage of it."
Chad is an unresponsive person, but Enoch is the opposite of her, and he has been the best at reading people's minds since he was a child.
When Gill was with Chad, the way she spoke, the way she looked, the sincerity in her eyes, even he thought that Gill was really in love with Chad.
Unfortunately, he had misjudged the person, she was just too good at acting.
Probably because her body was hurting so much, Chad looked a little wiped out. She gently pressed the back of Enoch's hand and withdrew it again.
"Brother," Chad said, "it's not your fault."
Enoch could see her sadness, so he stopped talking and silently removed the gauze from her back and gently changed his medicine.
After changing the medicine, Enoch filled the fireplace with firewood, opened half a window, and fetched a pot of water and put it on the stove to boil.
Watching Enoch go in and out to look after himself, Chad felt his heart ache and got up from the bed, and trying to get out of bed, "Don't bother, I'll do it myself."
"What are you doing being a hero again?" Enoch poured boiling water into the teapot and then ran over and pushed her back into bed, "What's the trouble? I'm your brother, and if I'm the one lying here, you'll have to serve me the same way, understand?"
Chad looked at him for a long time before he saw her lips move and spit out two words.
[Thank you]
There was a mouth shape, but no sound.
When she first arrived in the territory, Orville couldn't read her sign language and she had to move her lips like everyone else. But it was only a few phrases, and she also had to hand and foot and use them to aid in her explanations or the Duke wouldn't be able to read them.
Later, however, before she had learnt all the lip-speak, Orville had learnt sign language and could communicate with her without difficulty.
Enoch poured a cup of water in a teacup and put it in the window to let it cool, seeing this muttered, "What's there to thank."
Chad, however, replied sincerely, "Thank you brother for protecting me with your life."
"Don't say such mealy-mouthed things between men," Enoch inclined his head, pretending to be disgusted, but with a smile in his eyes."I've got to go first - in your absence. It'll have to be us guys taking shifts to wait on the Duke."
Chad gestured for him to get a move on.
Enoch glanced back at her before leaving the door, Chad's lips were bloodless from last night's whipping and she looked unusually frail.
Enoch knew she was in pain. She was smiling at him even though her eyelashes were fluttering with pain.The smile showed a shallow dimple in the left cheek that wasn't obvious.
"Get some rest," Enoch said to her before closing the door, "I'll see you later."
Chad nodded.