“What do you mean you can’t find the Crown Prince?” the Emperor scolded his advisor.
“Your Majesty, despite looking all over the palace, no one is able to locate the Crown Prince,” the old advisor stated apologetically as he bowed low.
“He went out again, didn’t he?” the Emperor said as he heaved a big sigh as rubbed his brows.
“With the upcoming plan to attack the Town of Amber Leaves, the Crown Prince must have slipped out to scout out the town…” the old advisor replied in a weak voice full of dread and anxiety.
“Why does he always do this?! Entering enemy’s land all alone. Always doing thing without considering his position as the Crown Prince. Order the generals to go after him at once!” the Emperor yelled as he lost his temper.
“Yes, Your Majesty…” the old advisor replied solemnly before bowing low and leaving the throne room.
The Crown Prince’s reckless behaviors such as this instance must come to an end. How can he take over as the Emperor after me when he still takes such risky actions? I need to find something to tie him down to this palace. Going off to war to expand our territories is a good thing but he’s done more than enough of that in recent years already. It is the war generals’ responsibility to lead war, not the Crown Prince’s. Most importantly, it is the Crown Prince’s responsibility to produce as many heirs to the throne as possible to secure the bloodline.
If things stay the way they are, there will be no chance of me seeing an heir to this bloodline before I die. Not only does that son of mine not care for the women in his harem, but he’s also not even bothered to remain in the Imperial Palace. I need to make sure he takes serious interest in producing an heir no matter what. Let’s hope that at least one woman from the incoming batch of offering will catch his eye.
…
I felt his eyes on me, watching my every movement, as I carefully applied medicine and bandaged his arm. The wound isn’t so bad so it should heal without any issues and without leaving a scar in a few days. I wonder if he got into a fight to get wounded like this. The bigger problem was that he had been in the cold for a long time. His body must be weakened by the cold and harsh weather.
“Where do you come from? I don’t think you’re from this town…umm…What’s your name?” I asked, trying to make some casual conversation as I focused on dressing his wound.
“Ren. My name is Ren. I’m…just a trader. I travel around towns to trade,” the stranger who I now know is called Ren replied stiffly.
“Nice to meet you, Ren!” I said as I smile brightly at him. I hope he feels better soon.
Oh, I almost forgot! The herbal tea should be done by now.
“Please wait here…I’ll get some tea for you now,” I told him briskly as I quickly headed towards the kitchen.
…
Ren watched as Lin exited the room. He heaved a sigh as he stretched his arms. The wound in his arm hurts a little but it was no big deal. To him, it was nothing more than a scratch. Lin seemed overly worried about it though, he thought.
Running into bandits on the second day of his scouting mission was sheer bad luck. He could have taken them down with ease but that would expose his identity, so he had to stick to his role of a helpless trader until the end. After offering all his valuable belongings to the bandits, he was able to get away with some minor injuries. However, the sleeping powder they made him sniff successfully knocked him out cold. He didn’t know how long he was lying there in the snow before Lin found him.
This girl is too innocent and good-natured for her own good. She brought me back to her house without hesitation. Although she was clearly living alone in the middle of nowhere, she decided to bring a stranger home, and a man at that. She seemed to have decent skill and experience in medicine which was a pleasant surprise. Her body was quite frail and small, I wonder why a nice girl like her is living all alone in such a worn-down and isolated place like this?
The snow is still raging outside, I guess it’ll be better to rest up here for tonight. I’ll thank her tomorrow for her hospitality and be off. It’s such a shame that this town will be going to war with my vast army very soon. I hope she will be safe from the impacts of the war…
…
“Ren, here is some herbal tea for you. Be careful, it’s still hot…” I said as I poured him a cup of tea from the pot and handed it to him.
“Thank you, Lin,” he replied softly as he slowly took the small cup from my hand.
At that moment our fingers brushed slightly, and I felt my heartbeat suddenly quickened as our eyes met. It was the first time that I looked directly into his eyes, they were a beautiful shade of brown and his eyelashes were long and thick. Ren has such beautiful yet intense eyes, I thought as I felt hotness rush to my cheeks.
“Sorry!” I apologized as I quickly pulled my hand away. I didn’t know why I felt so flustered.
Ren just smiled a little at me before sipping the tea slowly. I watched him silently for a while as he seemed to enjoy the tea. I should leave him alone so that he can rest and get some sleep. I also need to clean up a few things and try to go to sleep too.
“Umm…Ren…please go to sleep after you’ve finished your tea. If you need anything, you can call for me. Please blow out the candles before you sleep. Good night!” I quickly urged him to go to sleep as I picked up a few necessities that I needed and headed out of the room.
--To be continued...
Nowthat I was out of the bedroom, I headed for the bathroom to wash my face. My reflection in the mirror told me that I was quite dirty, and my face was a mess from the rough travelling. I must have looked quite unladylike in Ren’s eyes. Oh well, it’s not like we’ll ever meet again after he recovers and leaves this place. Then my life will return to how it was before.Since Ren was sleeping in my bed, I had to find someplace to sleep in the living room. My house was small so there was only one bedroom, a living room, a small kitchen, and a tiny bathroom. It was comfortably enough considering that I was living all alone. I wrapped a blanket around my body as I sat down on the chair. I’ll just sleep with my head resting on the dining table. I feel so exhausted from travelling to the village and from helping Ren on my way back.
By thetime I was back, Ren’s eyes were closed as he continued to battle his fever. Sorry Ren but I need to remove some of your clothes to wipe you with cool water, I apologized silently to Ren inside my head. I slowly reached out my hand and began disrobing him. This is for medical purposes, but this is my first time undressing a man, I couldn’t stop my hands from trembling slightly as I tugged and pulled at his top. Finally, I managed to completely remove his clothes from his upper body.I sucked in a breath as my eyes took in the sight before me. Thankfully, Ren still had his eyes closed otherwise he would have seen my shocked reaction. I knew that Ren was tall and much bigger than me, but I didn’t expect that beneath his clothing hid such a well sculptured and muscular body. I’ve never seen a man without a shirt on before, but I knew enough that a stand
“You’reawake?” I heard a man’s voice as I lazily woke up from my slumber. Where am I? When did I fall asleep?The display of muscles close to my face when I opened my eyes brought me quickly back to reality. I am suddenly reminded that I am still lying on top of Ren. I bolted up into a sitting position, as I pushed against his firm chest with the palms of my hand.“Ren! Are you feeling better?” I managed to ask in a panicked voice. That didn’t sound right at all.“Is that the first thing you think of after waking up in this position?” Ren teased me as he laughed merrily. Well, at least someone is feeling much better.Wait. My position? I looked down and realized that now I was straddling his hips. I felt blood rush to my face as it dawned on me how embarrassing this po
“Actually, on the same day that I was born my mother died giving birth to me and a mysterious disease infected many villagers. The Village Head and the villagers decided to place the blame on me for the cause of the epidemic that happened…” I told him in an emotionless voice.“That’s completely crazy! Blaming an epidemic on a newborn baby. I bet those people are really simple-minded, so they looked for whatever and whoever was the most convenient to blame,” Ren said in a dark tone.“I guess…” I replied vaguely with a sad smile. Perhaps they really were crazy but that is just how things are. Reality isn’t always so pretty after all. Ren’s reaction surely surprised me; usually people would take the side of the mass in order to avoid causing trouble for themselves. At least that was what I’ve experienced so it was a pleasa
Afterdinner, I tended to Ren’s wound. His fever was cured completely, and he seemed to be as fit as ever. The wound on his arm was healing faster than I expected thanks to the medicine and probably Ren’s natural speed of recovery. Ren seems to have a very healthy body.“Ren, I think you’ve pretty much recovered…so…” I started to say hesitantly. How do I say this, so it doesn’t seem like I’m chasing him away? All I wanted to do is tell him that his body is pretty much healed and there’s not much I can do for him as a doctor except helping to dress his wound. Dressing the wound wasn’t a hard thing and he could probably do it himself with ease soon as the bandages may not be required anymore because his wound had closed quite nicely.“Umm…what I’m saying is…if you want to continue on your travel t
“Wait, Lin!” Ren called after me as he got up from his seat.“Hmm?” I replied questioningly as I turned my head over my shoulder to look back at him.“Umm…try not to go out so much…if something happens in town, you should just stay here. Ok?” Ren said hesitantly without meeting my eyes. I didn’t quite understand what he meant but I won’t be going into town very often anymore after Ren leaves.“Ok…Goodnight,” I agreed despite my confusion. I offered him a small smile as I went to prepare for bed.…When Lin wakes up, I’ll be long gone. The night here is always so still and quiet, apart from the sound of the wind the night was dead silent. I won’t get to see Lin in the morning so the least I can do is to leave her a note. I wonder if she understood my warning properly. I wanted to warn here more clearly but that was not possible.I took out a pi
“War has started! We’ve been invaded. The soldiers are out fighting now. We need all the healers that we have to take care of the injured. Now follow me at once! Quickly!” the soldier yelled in as he rapidly gestured for us to follow him.We looked at each other before nodding in understanding. I couldn’t bring myself to believe it but if war was really here, then the soldier was right. We must follow him at once to set up the hospital and to tend to the injured.“Wait a moment while we grab our medical supplies!” Auntie cried out as the three of us grabbed all the necessary medicine and tools that we need.“We must hurry!” the soldier continued to bark at us.“Can you please help carry this?” I asked the soldier as I passed him a large backpack full of medical supplies.“Ok. Now, lets go!” the soldier ushered us firmly out the door.The cold wind blew harshly against my
After treating that patient, we had a short meeting with the other healers as the situation headed for the worst-case scenario. We all knew what that meant as he stared wordlessly into each other’s eyes and nodded sadly.“We can’t go on like this anymore…so from now on…it’s code Black…” Uncle Gobei stated what was already on everyone’s mind. It took courage and authority from a senior doctor to say those words because it meant that from now on, we would be forsaking the lives of some patients. That’s right, we’re going to leave some of them to die…Code Black. The situation that no medical practitioner wants to find him or herself in. Ever. In emergency situations where there are more patients than the medical staff could handle, patients will be categorized based on their probability of survival. Only those labelled as having high and medium probability of survival will be given treatment. Tho