Now that 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.
I hope Ren gets better soon…
…
A while after Lin had fallen asleep, the door to the bedroom slowly opened. Ren carefully opened the door as silently as he could so that he wouldn’t wake Lin up. Carefully, Ren slipped out from the bedroom and into the living room. He was holding a candle to provide enough light for him to see and navigate his way around the house.
Is this girl crazy or what? Why is she sleeping out here in a sitting position? It’s so cold in this room, she’s going to catch a cold and get sick at this rate. I’m no fool, judging from the size of this cottage it was plain obvious that there was only one bedroom and only one bed. If I slept in her bed, where was she supposed to spend the night?
My dear girl, you are honestly too good-hearted for your own good. Look at her just sleeping there completely defenseless with a man that she had just met today in the house. I looked down at her sleeping face in the dim candlelight as I observed her sleeping face.
Now that I have time to observe her, I just noticed that surprisingly she has a very attractive face. Her skin was fine and white like the snow and her lips are small and pink. Her eyes were round and her eyelashes long. Her brows are shapely and her nose a perfect shape. Her hair was a dark brown color, straight and very long…
Without realizing what I was doing, I had already reached out a hand to lightly stroke her soft and fine hair. I froze in shock when I felt the softness of her hair against my fingertips, realizing that I had just started touching her. I sighed silently to myself as I slowly pulled my wandering hand way from her. I can’t leave her to sleep out here, I need to fulfill my original mission of taking her back to her bed.
Slowly and with care, Ren lifted Lin’s small body easily into his arms before taking her into the bedroom. When at the side of her bed, Ren gently placed Lin on the bed and wrapped the warm blanket around her body. After tucking her in, Ren sat down on the floor next to the bed as he continued to watch her sleeping.
Now…how should I go about with my scouting mission? I need to find the most optimal routes for my army to launch a surprise attack on the village. I only have a few days left before I need to head back and discuss the plan of attack with my head general. I pray this trip will be fruitful regardless of the slight and unexpected trouble.
Is it morning already? The light shining in through the window onto my face tells me that morning has arrived. I stretched lazily and I breathed in deeply. I felt like I had a good night of sleep and was quite well rested. I rolled around a little as I continued to stretch on my bed…
Wait! I’m on the bed?! But last night…I brought a man home…and I took care of his wound and then I let him sleep in my bed. So why am I on the bed right now?
I looked around and was immediately greeted with the sight of Ren sleeping on the floor next to the bed. Did he carry me to the bed last night after I fell asleep in the living room? But his arm is hurt and what is he thinking just sleeping on the floor like that. The floor must be freezing cold. Never mind his injured arm for a second, he’s going to catch a cold at this rate.
“Ren…Ren…” I called out his name softly as I shook his body a slightly. He stirred a little but didn’t wake up. I crouched down next to him as I leaned down to inspect his face. His face was slightly flushed, and he was sweating quite a lot. Oh no... I quickly touched his forehead with the palm of my hand. I knew it…Ren is burning up with fever.
“Ren…wake up please. I need to get you into bed…Ren!” I called out a little louder to him and he slowly opened his eyes in response. At least he’s still conscious. His eyes were in a daze and his movements were clearly sluggish. His body must be aching all over from the fever, I need to get him into bed as soon as possible and give him some medicine.
“Lin…” Ren called out my name in a low voice that was barely audible. He seemed confused.
“Ren…please try your best to get up. I’ll support you,” I instructed him patiently as I wrapped his arm around my shoulder to support him up.
With a lot of struggling, we somehow managed to get Ren into the bed. His body was hot, and he was sweating more now. His breaths were labored, this doesn’t look good at all. I need to give him some medicine and wipe his body down with cool water as soon as possible. I ran off to boil some water and prepare the medicine before heading back with a bucket of cool water and a small towel.
--To be continued...
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
“These are the demands from our Emperor. If the Town of Amber Leaves can agree to all of these conditions, we will accept your surrender and stop the battle,” Shin stated officially before reading out all the terms present in the scroll.The terms included very common terms such as taxes to be paid in money or as crops. Ability for the Empire to use and control the land and population as it sees fit. The condition for complete surrender and loyalty as part of the Flame Dragon Empire. All terms were common, and nothing stood out except for one in which Shin read with more emphasis than the rest. After all, this term was just recently added by the emperor himself less than a month prior to this.“As for the final condition, the Town of Amber Leaves agrees to send the most beautiful and talented virgin to represent the town as an ambassador. The ambassador will live in the Imperial palace for the rest of her life and serve the Empire in good faith. That