23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE.

ROSALIE'S POV.

I was heading to the first person I would be treating after mixing up all my concoction, and I had two guards following me. They had made it clear to me that they were from Jacqueline. He commanded them to be with me throughout the treatment, to be sure I don't poison the people.

I said nothing to that, so I just did my thing, trying to ignore their presence and pretend that I was alone.

I got into the ward and met the woman looking so numb on the bed, and a healer was in there with her.

I took over from her.

"What's her present condition?" I questioned the healer, tugging my hands into my hand gloves.

"She is in the last state of the disease, and she can fade away soon." I was told.

"She won't."

I used my face mask and pulled the woman's mouth open. I scooped a spoonful of my concoction into her mouth and held her nose, blocking her nostrils for breath. I also held her mouth shut, and when she couldn't breathe, she swallowed the mixture, and I let her go.

I faced one of the guards, "Get people to come in and clean her up. She should open her eyes in the next fifteen minutes if she's not dead by then."

"Okay." He walked away.

I turned to the healer, "The next dose will be in two hours. Please, do keep a record of that so that she won't be overdosed, neither would her dose be tarried."

She nodded with no complaint, "Okay, but if she dies with the concoction you gave her, you will take responsibility, right?"

"There's no responsibility to take. She's already a dead soul under your administration. What then can I say?"

She sighed but said nothing.

"Just allow them to do what I told them to do, after which I would come later for her next dose."

"Alright."

That was settled, so I walked out of the ward with the remaining concoction with me.

"Led me to the next ward," I told the guard and he listened.

Jacqueline, in his hatred, had administered some special people to me to treat, those who the disease had eaten so deeply into, and to think that he found me in the morning to tell me to take the day off.

I scoffed in my head, and followed the guard behind to the next ward, not saying any word whatsoever.

We entered the ward, and I met a guard there with a little girl of about five years old. They were both waiting for me, judging from the relief which clouded the guard when I entered.

"Rosa," He called me and came closer with the girl tagging behind him. She was holding her hands together innocently.

"What's it?" I inquired from the guard.

"My alpha wants this girl to stay with you for a while til he returns from his mission."

I folded my hands together, "And why is that? Is one of my punishment babysitting now?"

"No, no. My alpha just wants her safe, and since we will be with you throughout the day, he wants her to stay with you for safety. She gave him a piece of information about his enemy, and he feared that she was not safe, hence, his conclusion." He explained to me in detail.

I sighed and stared at the girl again to see her innocent eyes on me. She blinked cutely at me, and I couldn't say no to the request.

"Fine! She stays." I agreed.

She moved to me and hugged my legs, "Thank you."

I nodded and gently crouched to her height. I cupped her cheeks, holding her tenderly, "You're one cute thing." I commented and pecked her forehead.

She returned my gesture with a sweet smile, "Thank you."

I nodded and got to my feet again, "I'll just take care of my patients while you follow me behind and do whatever you want. Are you hungry?"

She nodded.

"Do you have a food in mind?"

"No." She shook her head.

I turned to a guard, "Please, get her a plate of food. She seems very hungry."

"Sure."

He turned to leave but was stopped by the girl whose name I hadn't asked about, "Can I go with you?" She asked.

The guard looked surprised but nodded anyway, "Yes."

She held his hand and skipped away with him, leaving me with the other guard in the ward, and I focused on my patient.

Just like I did the first patient, I repeated the same thing for the second one, and after that, I watched the liquid slipping down her throat, and I faced the guard.

"Get people to clean her up, and get a healer to stay with her and administer her records."

"Alright." He walked out of the ward, and I followed.

"Who's next?" I questioned him before he could walk away.

"The next ward."

"Okay."

He went to carry out what I told him while I went to the next ward as he had said, and there, I met the girl on a chair, eating.

The sight startled me, and I flinched.

"Shit! What are you doing here? How did you even get in?"

She shrugged childishly, "The door is opened, and the guard thought you would be here by now, so I was asked to wait for you. Did I frighten you? I'm sorry."

I rolled my eyes, "Come on, you didn't frighten me. I was just not expecting anyone in the room, at least, not you."

I moved towards the patient on the bed, and she was a woman again, like the rest. I realised it was Jacqueline's handwork.

He must have intentionally chosen females for me to treat. He almost made it seem as if he was jealous of seeing me with a man.

"Are you okay?" The little girl questioned me.

I stared at her and nodded. "A little bit stressed, but I'm okay."

I gave the woman her dose too, when suddenly, I felt someone pulling me forcefully, and I met myself in a narrow pathway, being pulled away.

My eyes caught sight of the girl as she pulled me with her effortlessly.

"Hey, where are you taking me?" I questioned in a trembling voice, I was becoming scared.

"Away from here. Nobody cares for you here. I want to get you to escape."

I looked behind to see the walls closing up on us with each step we took, and that increased my fear.

"Run faster, we're going to die!" I yelled.

She harkened to me, held my hand tighter and began to run in an unusual move, moving swiftly like she was older than herself, and I almost lost my breath.

It began to cease with each step we took, and a time came when it became unbearable.

That time, I couldn't feel the ground under my feet anymore. It felt as if I was flying, and I feared that my soul would slip out of me.

But when all was end for me, we got to an open space and stopped running.

She let go of my hand and I began to gasp for breath. I slipped on the floor, blowing some air on my face with my hands, which was not helping at all.

"Hey," I heard the girl call, and next, she began to blow air on my face til I was calm and okay.

"Thank you." I appreciated her like it was not all her fault in the first place.

When I got back, I sat up on the floor and looked around to see we were in the woods, and right behind us stood a big tree, which only meant one thing, "We ran out of the tree!"

"Ah!" I screamed and backed away.

No wonder it felt as though the walls were closing down on us. We were inside a tree.

"Sh! Hey, sh!" The girl cautioned me.

I turned to her. "W... Who are you?"

"My king wants to have a word with you, you just have to follow me gently," She told me, indirectly ignoring my question.

I moved away from her on my butt, "No. No, I don't want to go."

"Why? Nobody even cares about you here."

"I still don't want to go, please, leave me."

I stood up and began to run away, but noticed I was running on a spot. I added more pressure, but it was the same thing.

I turned to the girl, and she was just there, looking ever innocent, "Please, let me go."

"You can't get away from me. You can only try but you can't get away."

Tears clouded my eyes, and soon, I began to hear a sound of a rushing sound like a helicopter, but when the thing showed up, it was no helicopter. It was just a random animal which flies.

"See, our ride is here."

She effortlessly got hold of my hand and began to pull me away towards the animal while I struggled with a small girl who didn't seem to feel any of my struggles.

When we were about to get to the ride, a shot of flame ran by us, and it caught the animal, 'our ride'.

It picked up in loud cries and flew away, with its cries echoing behind it.

"Jacqueline Sun!" The girl shouted and turned to the source of the fire, and as she had guessed, Jacqueline stood there, resting on a tree with his hands folded together and his lips held a smirk.

"Am I late to join the party?" He questioned, chuckling, but one could tell he was not chuckling. He was mad. Very mad.

"Jacqueline Sun! How dare you show up?!"

"No, how dare you show up in my pack?!" He thundered back and pulled away from the tree. "You have balls to show up here. Don't you hear stories? Or maybe you decided to ignore the stories you heard."

The girl stepped forward with her hand still holding mine. "Or maybe I just see the legendary Jacqueline Sun as nothing but an ant I can crush with my pinky." She spoke fiercely, getting ready for a fight.

"How about you learn the hard way?" Questioned Jacqueline, not in any way taking position or anything. He just stood straight.

"Bring it on!"

She let go of my hand and ran towards Jacqueline who stood his ground.

Well, I couldn't bear to watch it. I shouted, "Wait!"

They both halted, turning to me, "This is child abuse!"

"Child? Who's a child?" The girl spoke in a different voice which sounded like that of a hundred men, and she turned to me in annoyance.

'Oh, maybe she's not a child.'

"Take cover!" Jacqueline shouted after me, and he attacked the girl, causing a fight to break out between them.