213: Witnessing The Unwanted

Witnessing The Unwanted

Several minutes before Arlan appeared inside the Abetha Mansion…

Oriana informed the guards manning the gate, "The Queen of Megaris has sent me to attend to His Highness' injury."

The knight first went inside to get  permission and returned after a while. "You can come inside."

Oriana was led to the drawing room, the same place where she was received in the morning. Along the way, she was surprised to find that the glass window she shattered to create commotion was already fixed. The huge glass panels had been replaced with new ones, and there were no signs of any damage anywhere. 

'These royal servants sure are fast and efficient with their work.'

Just as she had that thought, she heard a voice, "That window was fixed by noon."

It caused her to stiffen. It was Cian's voice and she wondered why he was telling her this. Getting hold of herself, she turned to face him with her head lowered. "Good evening, Your Highness."

The two of them entered the drawing room, and Cian went to sit on the couch. Oriana remained standing, with her head still humbly lowered. 

"I heard you were here this morning," she heard Cian remark. She could feel his gaze scanning her. 

'Is he suspicious of me?' Her guilty conscience was enveloping her mind. 'There is no way he would know, right? I made sure to clean up and keep his desk tidy, and I shouldn't have left traces after running away with Lord Yorian.'

She shook away her thoughts and replied, "Yes, Your Highness. I brought medicines to help you heal faster."

"I surely appreciate your kind intentions," Cian spoke.

"It is my honor to be of help, Your Highness," she replied.

She continued to ponder why Cian pointed out the broken window, to her of all people. The prince would not say nonsense. Unknown to her, she felt nervous in front of this prince. She feared the worst—that he already knew she  sneaked inside his study and looked into his private stuff. 

When he opened his mouth, she half-expected it to be an order for the knights outside to seize.

"Aren't you going to check my hand?" she heard him say, which caused her to almost want to weep in relief.

"Y-Yes, Your Highness!" She walked towards the couch and she swore he looked at her with the gaze of a hawk. 

"May I sit beside you, Your Highness?" she said hesitantly. "I need to—"

"Go ahead." The prince sat comfortably in his royal demeanor. 

She sat on the other end of that three-seater couch and faced the Crown Prince. "Your hand, please."

Cian moved his hand towards her. She noticed that the bandage had been changed, and the way it was wrapped was visibly too tight. 

"I will need to roll up the sleeve of your shirt," she said, asking his permission, only to hear his nonchalant response. 

"Hmm."

She felt like rolling her eyes at this 'hmm'. 

'Why do men love to respond with this 'hmm' instead of clearly saying 'yes' or 'no'? To me, this 'hmm' is the laziest and rudest response anyone could give. It's so hateful. Luke, that brat prince, and even this prince. I hate them all.'

Swallowing her frustration, she took it as Cian's permission and started rolling his sleeve till his elbow. She nimbly removed the bandage and saw the swelling had increased. Her delicate hands held his wrist and hand, inspecting while turning his wrist to different angles, watching his expression as she did so. Her fingers ran over the skin with some pressure.

"Is it painful?"

"Hmm."

"If I do this, is this more painful?"

"Hmm."

"Did you use a sword, Your Highness?"

"Hmm."

Oriana felt like killing someone now. 

"Your Highness…" This must be the reason why her master, Erich Winfield, had that nasty personality. Even she would grow to have a temper dealing with stubborn patients. "What exactly did you do? And please do not spare me the details. I need to understand what happened to your hand, unless you want me to cut your hand open to see the state of your bones."

Her grave expression, as if she was intent on doing exactly as she said, caused Cian to let out a sigh. "I engaged in a fight," he replied. "I used a sword to protect myself."

She looked at him. "I told you—"

"I know." he cut her off. "There was a situation."

"I am not asking why you got into a fight, Your Highness. Let me know, did it throb when you blocked the first attack? The second attack? Or even before you received the attack? Was it a sharp pain? Was there cramping? Stiffness? Did it spasm? Is the pain only in the wrist? Do you feel it on your entire hand now? The fingers? How long did you use a sword—"

Oriana fired one question after another, prompting Cian to obediently answer her, albeit his responses were curt and short.

In the end, she could only sigh.

"As it happened already, we can only try to fix it," she said in a resigned tone. "I will have to press some points on your hands to release the cramping and lessen the pain. Later, we can continue with applying ointment and not putting any more pressure on the wrist."

"Hmm," was all he responded. 

'So this prince chose to be a jerk as well,' she sighed inwardly. 'He was not like this before. He was a gentleman, not cold and indifferent. Could it be that he is really suspicious of me and that is why he is acting this way?' 

A shiver ran down her spine, thinking of what punishment she would receive. Not to forget, what Arlan would do to her knowing she sneaked into another royalty's residence to get information about banned herbs.

"Aren't you going to start?" he asked after a while. 

She got back to her senses. "I will need the oil I gave this morning."

Cian's personal attendant quickly left and returned with the small bottle of oil.

Using that oil, she started pressing the pressure points on his hand, even kneading the skin from his palm to his wrist, not knowing that another prince had his ears on her and he was not so happy about her words. He could not help but come out of Cian's study, only to see a scene that made him clench his jaws.

As the attendant hurried to bring them the herbal oil, he left the door of the drawing room open. Arlan, who was standing on the open corridor with a high vantage point, could clearly see the interior of the room.

"Massaging it will make you feel better," she replied, while doing her best.

"Raise your hand, Your Highness," she instructed after a while. "Let me know if you feel sharp pain or if you feel discomfort. I will just rotate it with the help of my hand." 

She put her palm against his and entangled her fingers with his. She rotated his hand slowly along with her own hand.

Cian stared down at her, his thoughts unknown. 

Once she was done, her hazel eyes gazed into his sapphire blue ones. "How do you feel, Your Highness? Did it reduce the pain?"

"Hmm."

"I will now bandage your hand."

Not expecting any response from him, she started to bandage his hand with a fresh set of bandages. 

"It's done, Your Highness. Please follow the instructions given to you about your wrist and apply the medicines on time. Because the inflammation worsened, I also suggest immersing your hand in cold water to reduce swelling."

"Hmm."

She deliberately glanced in the direction of the attendant, who nodded in her direction, as if to say, 'I will do my best.'

"I will take my leave then."  1

She bowed and turned to leave upon getting a nod of approval from the prince. 

Once she left, Cian stood up from his chair to go back to his study. On the way, his knight, Eliot, asked, "Aren't we going to interrogate and punish that aide?"

Cian's lips were raised in a playful smirk. 

"That poor aide is going to be in enough trouble already." He continued walking ahead, leaving his knight confused.

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A/N- Long Bonus Chapter dedicated to reader RMehrotra. Thank you for the supergift. <3<3

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