Chapter 38 — Mysterious Man

On a sunny morning, everyone passed a luxurious building called the Palace. The beautiful women wearing the same uniform were busy walking back and forth to serve their employers, who were none other than the royal family.

The kingdom was named Reaghlobe Kingdom, a small kingdom but very peaceful and prosperous. All the people live in prosperity under the auspices of the kingdom because they have a king who is very just and wise in ruling.

If the maids were busy with various activities to serve their employers, such as preparing food, preparing aromatherapy for the master's bath, and other tasks, that was not the case with a lady-in-waiting named Nena. The 19-year-old lady is busy following her employer and good friend, Princess Laura Reaghlobe.

"Princess, are you sure you will go hunting so early in the morning?" she asked the Princess, who was getting ready to ride her favorite horse.

"Yes, Nana. How many times must I tell you? Hurry up and leave before the sun gets too hot. I also don't want to come home late. I don't want my father and mother to scold me," said the daughter. She also got on the horse, soon followed by Nena, who also got on her horse.

Laura Reaghlobe is a beautiful 18-year-old girl. She is smart but quite brave. She is cheerful and sometimes steadfast about her maid, Nena. Although a princess, her heart is kind, gentle, and not arrogant. She never discriminated in the association. Look, she even made a lady-in-waiting her best friend. She is a kind-hearted princess with all her goodness.

"Open the gate!" Laura ordered with dignity to one of the palace soldiers on guard at the gate.

"Where are you going, princess?" asked the soldier. They were permanently assigned to ask where the Princess was going if she was about to leave the Palace. The king ordered this to all palace soldiers who stood guard at every gate.

"Take a little walk. It won't take long. I'll be back to the Palace soon," Laura answered firmly, so the soldier bowed respectfully as his hand opened the Palace gate. The horse ridden by the Princess and her maid sped away from the Palace area.

The two horses dashed and stopped right in front of a hut. In a hurry, Nena entered the hut and took a bow and arrows for her master. After that, they continued their journey.

Not long after, the two stopped their horses after arriving in front of a forest. With firm steps, they entered the forest, although anxiety and worry were visible on Nena's face, in stark contrast to Laura's, which looked so excited.

"I am amazed at you, Princess. Why are you so fond of stealth hunting?" asked Nena breaking the silence.

"If they know I'm going hunting, surely they will forbid me."

"You are a woman, especially a princess, but you like hunting instead. A princess should have stayed in the Palace. Prepare yourself to become the wife of a handsome prince in the future. Instead of doing crazy acts by hunting in this forest. What if your flawless skin becomes covered in scars, no prince will marry you if your body is disfigured?" Laura glanced disapprovingly at her maid. She thinks Nena talks too much, and she doesn't like that.

"I don't care. Besides, I will only marry a man who accepts me as I am, regardless of whether he is a prince. And what if I'm a woman again? For me, women and men are the same. If men can be free to hunt, why can't women?" she said firmly, making Nena silent momentarily, realizing that she had annoyed her master.

"At least be careful while hunting, princess."

"Yeah, you take it easy, Nena. In this forest, there are no beasts. The Palace Soldiers had confirmed that because this forest was a special place for my father and brother to hunt. Don't talk anymore. The animals will run away because they hear your loud voice." After hearing Laura's firm words, Nena covered her mouth with her palm, immediately inviting a slight chuckle to the princess' sensual lips.

The two of them increasingly entered the forest, and the Princess began her hunting activities. She aimed her arrows whenever she saw a deer eating grass in the forest. However, even though she fired her arrows several times, none hit the target. All the animals she hunted always managed to escape.

"Why are these animals getting better at dodging arrows daily?" grumbled the Princess, who invited amused chuckles from her maids.

"It's not because they're good at dodging but because you're just bad at archery." Nena chuckled again while Laura just stared at her flatly.

"Huuh... never mind. I want to go to the river to wash my sweaty face," Laura said, and without waiting for her maid's response, she walked away. Nena had to run helter-skelter to catch up with her employer, who was quickly approaching her.

Laura washes her face with river water located deep in the forest. The river water that felt cold and fresh managed to get rid of all the resentment in her heart because of the failure of her hunt today.

"P-Princess." Laura turned her gaze to the clear river water when she heard Nena's sputtering voice. Laura's eyes narrowed at Nena's reaction, which looked like she was scared.

"What's wrong, Nana?" she asked, surprised by her maid's behavior.

"I-It's over there. There's a corpse." Laura was stunned. She followed the directions pointed out by Nena. It was true what Nena said. She saw someone lying face down on the bank of the river quite far from where she was. Without wasting time, she ran towards the person, followed by Nena, who ran behind her.

With great difficulty, Laura turned the body of the person who turned out to be a man. She placed her ear to the man's chest to check his heartbeat. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth as she realized that his heart was still beating, but seeing his blue skin, Laura knew he looked like he was seriously injured.

"Oh, geez. I could swear I'd seen handsome princes in and out of the Palace many times, but none of them could match the handsomeness of this man. Look, Princess, he's so handsome. Could he be a prince or a knight?" Hearing Nena's words, Laura looked at the man's face. She had been too focused on checking his condition, so she didn't care about his appearance. Laura admitted that what Nena said was true. The man in front of her was very handsome, so he made her blush. But quickly, Laura changed her face as flat as possible as if she had never admired the man's handsome face.

"Come on, Nena. Not the time to say that. Quick, could you help me? We must treat it immediately. If he doesn't hurry, he will die." With Nena's help, they supported the stranger's body.

"Uh, this guy is heavy. Even though he's not fat, that's for sure because of his muscular muscles," Nena grumbled, making Laura roll her eyes, tired of hearing that.

"Stop saying weird things, Nena. We must quickly get him out of the forest."

"Yes, yes, Dear Princess Laura, I'm sorry," grumbled Nena, which made Laura shake her head this time.

They lifted the man onto Laura's horse. Laura followed, riding the horse. Then the two girls spurred the horse to dash out of the forest.

"Princess, where are we taking him? To the Palace?!" Nena shouted as she struggled to keep up with Laura's horse, which she thought was too fast.

"We're not bringing this foreign man into the Palace. We take him to our secret hut!" she replied. This time they galloped off in silence.

Arriving at the secret hut, they supported the man and laid him on the single bed. Swiftly and deftly, Laura inspected the man's condition, she found a blue stab wound in his chest, and she realized he was poisoned. Inside the Palace, Laura studied medicine, so with only a glance, Laura knew very well that the man's life was on the line. She had to hurry to save him if she didn't want it too late.

"Nena, I'm going to the Palace to ask the Imperial Physician for an antidote. It looks like he was poisoned, which is quite lethal."

"Just let me take it," said Nena offering herself.

"No, just let me. If you go, the Imperial Physician will ask you many questions before administering the antidote. It would be different if I asked for it. I'll go first, you wait here. Don't leave him alone."

"All right, Princess. You must be careful." Nodding for a moment, Laura strolled off to her Palace.

After spending nearly an hour, she finally returned to the hut inviting indistinct grunts to come out of Nena's mouth. The reason was that the lady-in-waiting felt frustrated when she was ordered to wait on the foreign man, especially since the foreign man was dying.

"You're taking too long, princess," she grumbled.

"I have to look for men's clothes earlier."

"Haah, menswear? What for?"

"Of course, for this man. Can't you see his clothes are soaked?" Nana nodded her head. She observed how her employer treated the man's wounds.

Laura tore the man's upper garment with the knife she carried. Then she sprinkled white powder right above the wound on his chest. Nena's gaze had shifted, and now she was staring at the stranger's palm. Her eyes widened when she saw the strangeness in the man's hand.

"P-Princess, look at the wound on his palm. I could have sworn the wound closed by itself!!" her booming shout made Laura jump in surprise. Choosing not to protest because her heart almost jumped out at the scream of her maid, Laura decided to follow Nena's gaze. Now it was Laura's turn to widen her eyes. What Nena said was true. She also saw the wound on the man's palm close slowly.

"P-Princess, somehow I feel this man is suspicious. How is it possible that a wound can close by itself even though it is not treated? Besides, don't you feel that his skin is very cold to the touch," said Nena, which Laura felt. However, Laura still had common sense. She pushed aside all the doubts in her mind and tried to find a logical reason for what happened to the strange man in front of her.

"I think his body is cold from being in the water overnight. As for the wound, I don't know. Maybe his body is special. I also do not know. Instead of thinking about that, it's better to help me put on a change of clothes for him." Nana didn't say anything. Without a word, she helped her employer put dry clothes on for the man.

"Oh my gosh, his body is so sexy," said Nena with a squeal of joy when she stared at the upper body of the man who was now naked. Even though she didn't say anything, Laura had to swallow her saliva with difficulty when she looked at the muscular body in front of her.

"Come on, Nana. Hurry up and help me get him dressed."

"All right, all right." They also, with great difficulty, finally managed to dress the foreign man.

"Should we also change his pants?" asked Nena with a blush on her face because she was staring at the man's lower body, who had not regained consciousness until now.

"Don't be crazy, Nana. Of course not," Laura said as her hand hit Nena's arm because she realized where her lady-in-waiting was looking.

"But his pants are also wet," added Nena with a wide grin.

"You pervert, let it be. The pants will dry on their own later."

"Yeah, I was just kidding." Again Nena chuckled at the blush that was adorning Laura's pretty face.

They waited for the man for a long time, but until late in the afternoon, there was no sign of the strange man waking up from his long sleep. Laura got up from sitting. It was time to return to the Palace. She wanted to be on time to go home when she got punished by the king, who was none other than her father.

"Nena, it's late. I must return to the Palace."

"All right, Princess. We'll go back to the Palace," said Nena while her hands were busy cleaning up the medicines that Laura had taken from the Palace.

"No, I mean only I returned to the Palace. You stay here. You have to take care of that man, don't leave him alone."

"You're joking, right, Princess Laura? How dare you leave me alone with this strange man. What if he comes to his senses and stains me?" Laura rolled her eyes, bored, while her mouth let out a tired breath. She couldn't stop thinking about how her private lady's thoughts sometimes made no sense and were very perverted.

"Of course not. He's so badly injured. How could he have the strength to do that to you? Don't think nonsense, Nena. Can't your mind not be filled with bad things even once, "Laura said curtly, holding back annoyance.

"I am just kidding. Besides, I don't mind being spotted by a man as handsome as him."

"Oh my gosh, Nena. How could I meet a perverted-brained girl like you?" Nena just laughed crisply at Laura's voice with a face that looked frustrated because she had heard the joke just now.

"Yeah, I'm going home first. Remember, don't leave him alone. Tomorrow morning I will come here as soon as possible."

"Alright, Princess. Your word is an order for me," said the maid as she bowed before her master. Laura could only shake her head in vain at the sometimes annoying behavior of her maids.

Laura rode her horse, galloping away towards the Palace.

When night fell, Nena, already getting sleepy, finally decided to sleep even though she was forced to sit on a wooden chair because the only bed in the hut was now occupied by the foreign man she had rescued earlier that afternoon.

Nena started to fall asleep, but not long after she fell asleep, she opened her eyes again when she heard someone moaning. Nena widened her eyes when she saw the strange man lying down, resting on the bed. Nena swiftly approached him.

She paid close attention to the stranger's face inviting a desire in her heart to stare at him from a close distance. She also looked down to make the distance as short as possible, with the face of the man still lying stiff on the bed.

"I could swear I've never seen a man as handsome as you. Look, even your skin is whiter than mine. Actually, who are you? Prince huh? Or a Knight?" she muttered to herself. A smile suddenly appeared on her lips, imagining how handsome the man in front of her would be if his closed eyes were open.

"Open your eyes. I want to see your eyes. They must be beautiful," she muttered again. However, who would have thought her delusion would come true when the man suddenly opened his eyes? The man's blood-red irises appeared, making Nena jump in surprise and want to walk away.

Unfortunately, before she moved her face away, Nena felt a tug on her head. Everything happened so fast when she suddenly felt a sharp stab in her neck. The foreign man bit her, and Nena could feel her blood being sucked by the man.

Nena struggled violently, trying to escape, but the man's grip on her head was so firm that she couldn't move. Nena also pounded her fist on the man's chest and seemed to have hit the wound on the man's chest because now she was free.

Nena staggered, feeling dizzy because of the effect of her blood being sucked up quite a lot by the foreign man. With a limp, she walked out of the hut while holding the bite wound in her neck that felt throbbing.

Nena wandered with unsteady steps outside the Shack. Suddenly she could no longer maintain her body balance, and she fell on her back on the ground. The pain in her neck spread to all parts of her body. Nena felt that her internal organs were very hot as if they were burning. Screams escaped from the mouth, accompanied by body convulsions. Soon the heat turned into a chill that seemed to freeze every inch of her body. Nena felt that all the organs inside her body froze and turned into ice.

When she finally felt no more pain, she opened her eyes which had been blurry before, but now she could see again. However, Nena could feel something strange in her body, especially her throat. She was very thirsty, and it was unbearable. I don't know what happened to Nena. Even Nena herself doesn't know about it. She realized her body was not the same as it used to be.