The prince woke up early morning on the fourth day with the defervescence of his fever.
Present in the room was Sir Culdran, his doctor, and his assistant, Lady Faye, and two other maidservants taking out the used linens from his room.
The exhausted doctor immediately approached the prince and checked on his status, then Lady Faye followed, bearing a welcoming smile upon seeing the prince awake at last.
“Your Highness, good morning,” Lady Faye greeted softly. She bowed her head and waited for His Highness’ answer.
“Lady Faye… good to see you,” Ruen replied, voice weak but with depth, “you look so tired.”
Lady Faye smiled in response as he stated the obvious.
“Your Highness, I am truly relieved that you are healing well with your injury. It has been days when you were unconscious.”
“True?” the young man replied in disbelief, but somehow in the back of his mind, he remembered full well the events that happened the night in the forest.
Sir Culdran took his pulse and his breathing while his assistant wrote the results. Ruen fell silent for a moment as if he was thinking of something and Lady Faye immediately guessed what he was pondering on.
“You are doing fine, Your Highness,” the middle-aged doctor declared, “more fluids and rest would do you well for now.”
Ruen nodded in agreement and gave out a reserved smile.
“Your wound is also dry and clean, so I don’t think there would be an infection in the coming days.”
“That’s good to hear Sir Culdran,” Lady Faye replied feeling relieved with the news.
***
Lianne woke up late in the morning after a tiresome night in the prince’s chamber.
She was not able to sleep much as the prince was still down with fever and she needed to stay fully awake for whatever needs Sir Culdran would instruct.
Lady Faye managed to advise her to rest at two in the midnight and took over the duty.
She quickly attended to her needs, took a bath, changed clothes, and ate her lunch already readied by Erza in the receiving room’s balcony.
Lianne was about to head upstairs to the north wing when Lord Jared met her at the foyer of the third floor.
“Princess Lianne, have you slept well?” the majordomo asked.
“Yes, Lord Jared, just enough of what I need,” she replied, nodding.
“That’s good to hear,” Lord Jared smiled. “Well, by the way, you have a visitor waiting for you in the guest room,” he said with a serious tone.
Lianne’s brows flexed in question.
She saw the old man’s face turn sullen as he continued to talk, and when she was informed that Duke Conrad was the visitor waiting for her, it made her skin crawl in disgust.
“But I had already instructed one of the servants to inform the Duke that you cannot attend to him, Your Highness.”
“Oh, thank you, Lord Jared. I owe you one,” the princess exclaimed feeling like a thorn had been plucked out of her foot.
“It is my pleasure, Your Highness,” the majordomo replied with glee. “Lady Faye is waiting for you in His Highness’ chamber.”
Lianne nodded.
“Yes, I will be going there now.”
***
The princess opened the main door of the prince’s chamber and surprisingly, she could not find one person in the receiving room. She stepped inside and went directly to the bedroom door to open it.
Once inside, she saw Ruen sleeping serenely in his four-poster bed.
The curtains had been changed from a deep red shade to a white-gold mixture. The vase of red tulips turned into lemon-lime amaryllis flowers, the fireplace had been supplied of a good amount of wood logs, and the overall atmosphere of the room was peaceful.
There was no trace of Lady Faye nor the doctor in the room, no servants present or any bloodied bandages on the floor, and immediately she felt aware of her own movements upon seeing that they were the only ones left in the room.
She stood beside the fireplace bewildered and stared at the sleeping man in her front.
Ruen’s face looked calm as if there wasn’t any hint of pain in them. She felt relieved by this fact and was about to exit the room when she saw a folded letter addressed to her placed at the glass top table near the fireplace.
‘I am accompanying Sir Culdran to his carriage, Your Highness. If it would be okay with you, could you stay for a while with His Majesty?’
Signed by Lady Faye herself, the princess couldn’t reject the old woman’s request.
She gave out a long sigh and walked towards a vacant high-backed sofa chair and sat comfortably in it.
She surveyed the room and noted an already placed porcelain pitcher half-filled with ice-cold water and a decanter of red wine side by side in a foldable plastic table.
She had been spending time inside his bedroom for almost four days and felt rather accustomed to its atmosphere that she did not think twice closing her eyes.
Taking a quick shuteye would be best to kill time…
***
The sound of the crisp crackling of the fire woke Lianne up from slumber.
She cleared her throat, straightened in her seat, and rubbed her eyes a little to whisk off any remnants of sleep.
Once done, she stood up but just as she did, she paused halfway and gawked at the sight before her.
The prince was already awake, sitting in his bed with three pillows behind him, and was already staring intently at her.
“Sit please,” Ruen said as he saw the princess stand frantically out of the chair.
She gazed at him whilst holding her breath and debated to herself whether to yield or run away from him.
In the end, she obliged and sat back on the cushioned chair, her hands clutching tightly on each of the chair’s arm handle.
“I… I thought you were still asleep,” Lianne stated.
“On the contrary…” The prince awarded her a fresh smile.
“How long have you been awake?” she inquired, wanting to know badly. “Or better yet, I should ask, how long have you been staring at me? Is it your habit to stare at people while they are sleeping?”
“An hour or so ago, Lianne, and no, it is not my habit,” he simply replied glancing past her at the father clock bolted next to the glass door of the balcony.
Lianne shivered after finding out the truth, but she couldn’t argue more. ‘As expected of him,’ she thought to herself.
“You really shouldn’t sit like that you know. You’re not as healthy as you might think you are,” the princess pointed out. She was after all his caregiver and one that had the authority to admonish him.
He grinned in amazement and replied, “I’m aware of my limitations Lianne, but thank you for your sympathy.”
“Was it worth it?” She then threw an out-of-the-blue question, dismissing his overconfidence. “Are you insane to gamble your life just like that?”
For a moment, Ruen didn’t answer. Instead, he gazed at her as if sending a telepathic message only for her to decipher. The suddenly conscious princess went silent, creating a deep blush on her face.
“It was worth it, Lianne, and I would do it again and again,” the prince replied without missing a beat. “To see that you are safe, that is the one thing I desire.”
Because of his answer, she instantly found it hard to display her anger, so she deferred on reprimanding him. In the deepest part of her being, she was more than thankful to him for saving her life, but she couldn’t express that directly.
“Don’t expect me to thank you though,” she declared, her face blushing as she averted his gaze and went on to watch the dancing flames of the hearth.
He gave out a wry smile, but then began to wince in pain as he tried to level his left arm to his abdomen, and for that alone, the princess was reminded of his decrepit state.
“Thank you,” Ruen plainly said.
“Thank you for what?” Her brows furrowed.
She stood up from the chair and began to walk towards the portal in hopes of exiting the room, but Ruen halted her with a winsome response.
“For not leaving the mansion.”
She turned to face him and gave him a puzzling look. “I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”
He shifted in bed and positioned himself in a more proper position against the pillows to straighten his back, the process of which didn’t pass by so easily as it took him great effort to do so.
“I had thought that you would have left the mansion by now knowing that you could have escaped easily considering the mansion is too busy taking care of its… royal inhabitants,” he furthered, his gaze lightly caressing her.
Lianne didn’t reply immediately. She pondered for a moment, trying to sift out the right words. She frowned minutes later and replied, trying not to sound sarcastic, “I’m no cold-hearted woman if that’s what you mean, Your Highness. It isn’t in my philosophy to leave a feverish man under my care.”
Ruen smiled. “I know Lianne,” he answered, “that’s why you relieve me of my worry.”
Lianne was taken aback. This was the first time the prince had expressed his concerns. Maybe it took only a good amount of blood loss to change that apathetic side of him, she thought.
“Although it is against my pride taking care of my enemy, it’s the least I can do,” she managed to comment. “I am the reason for your injury anyway.”
Not wanting to stay any longer, she turned away from him and faced the door, but Ruen was quick to speak to curtail her exit, “Lianne, I’m thirsty.”
She spun to face him again wearing an earnest glare in her eyes, but she couldn’t oppose his order as nevertheless, he was still the wounded one.
“Of course,” she roughly spoke, “what would you want me to give you, water? or wine perhaps?”
“Wine,” he replied.
She poured a small amount of red wine into a slender glass flute and handed it to him as if she was a courtesan ready to drunk her customer. He accepted it, then gave a brief nod as if telling her to stay at the bedside. She dutifully did so, although hesitant.
He continued to drink the contents of the glass flute all the while his eyes were fixed on her.
Their gaze met and with that, she quickly directed her attention back to the fireplace, unable to bear the way he probed her.
It was a minute of truce as she waited silently for him to empty his glass, and when he was finally done, she reached out to take it, but was surprised when Ruen did the unexpected.
Lianne gasped as he pulled her waist using his uninjured arm.
This made her kneel in front of him, just at the edge of the bed. Her left hand holding the glass flute rested on top of the pillows and the other was fitted securely in between his fingers.
Ruen’s free arm wrapped around her back, pressing her body closer to him as he raised his head to welcome her lips.
The curls of Lianne’s hair slipped easily from her back and covered his face.
It was only a split second moment, thus she could not react quickly, but when awareness dawned on her that they were kissing, she started to stir.
In response, he locked his hand on her head to restrain her from moving away. He decided to push her head further to receive his ardor more.
She could taste the trace of the wine on his tongue as he slipped it inside her mouth.
What a bold way it was. Truly, she was not used to it, so she squirmed in response. But a whirling sensation shot throughout her body and this made her feel lightheaded.
The passion of his kiss was different than the last one inside the library.
When the latter felt aggressive and probing, Ruen’s kiss this moment felt gentle and tender, almost cocooning her heart with warmth.