Witch's Daughter And The Devil's Son

Seren fed her all the medicine in the bowl, her movements slow but steady.

"Please get better--hic--get better, Martha," she sobbed, losing control over her emotions like a little girl,  and the sounds of her sobs and pleas echoed inside the small space of the thatched house.

"Drink all your medicinesâ€"hicâ€"your medicines, alright? You must, you must eat well, and grow strong and be better...please, Martha..."

Seren used to have no one. The only constant she had growing up was Martha.  How could she not be scared to lose her nanny, the only person she used to call her family?

She could not believe the heartwarming reunion she expected would turn into one of farewell...

"Get better...you can't...you can't leave me...please...?"

Once Seren finished feeding her the medicine soup, Martha had fallen asleep. Erich Winfield reentered the room with a bowl of freshly made herbal paste.

Seren stood up to let him do the work, but didn't leave. She wanted to know where and why her nanny was hurt. Martha was normal when she saw her last. Something must have happened after her wedding.

"Please wait outside, Your Majesty," the physician said after some consideration. "I will call for you once I am done."

"I-I want to stay here," Seren insisted as she feared that the moment her gaze left the woman, Martha would stop breathing.

Erich Winfield looked at Drayce, who replied, "Let her stay to watch. I will wait outside." He offered  Seren a comforting hug. "Don't be afraid. I will wait outside."

She nodded and Drayce left.

The old physician unfastened the strings of Martha's top garment before lifting the hems to expose her waist, and Seren saw there was a bandage wrapped around her abdomen.

For a moment, Seren's breath hitched, her mind wondering whether Martha had been stabbed by some unknown enemy, but there was no blood seeping through the bandages, and she was able to let out a small relieved sigh.

Erich Winfield skillfully unwrapped the bandages, she saw crusted green herbal paste on Martha's stomach.

When the old man cleaned that area with a clean cloth, it exposed a small part of Martha's skin on the left side of her stomach. On it was a pinkish patch of damaged wrinkled skin, as if something bigger than a fist had once seared her.

It was a burn scar.

"This? How did she get hurt like this?" Seren exclaimed, unable to hide  her shock. Her eyes were stuck at that palm-sized burn scar, and even though she knew little about injuries, she could tell it didn't look good.

The scar looked glaringly red, as if she had been burned not that long ago, maybe at most a day ago, and several layers of skin were severely damaged.

"I am not sure. She didn't tell me," the physician answered as he proceeded to wash the remaining traces of old paste with clean water.

"Mister Winfield, how can you not know?" Seren asked with her voice laced with impatience. "This burn looked like it happened just--"

"It happened even before you left the palace and she came to live with me. She was already injured then," he informed.

"But that's more than three months ago!"

"I believe she had been suppressing her injuries even before your wedding, Queen Seren."

A brief memory suddenly flashed in her mind. There was a time  when Martha left for a few days--that was around the time she first met Dusk, who brought her meals to the tower---and when her nanny returned to the palace, she did look quite unwell.

Seren had only realized now that this injury might be related to that incident.

"She did look weak...but I...hah, I should have noticed..." Seren mumbled with a pained chuckle. "I'm sorry, Martha. You must have been injured then, but I didn't...I..."

"She must not want to add to your burdens with you already having your hands full with your marriage and departure happening," the physician commented.

"Still...I prided myself as the one closest to Martha, but I was ignorant of her suffering."

Seren's mind filled with guilt, and once again, tears began to pool in her eyes.

"I was so into my own issues that I failed to notice my nanny's situation. My brother told me Martha left the palace with you the same day I left for Megaris. The injury would have festered by then. If she had only received immediate treatment...

"How...how could I be so ignorant? I am at fault for not paying attention to her when she acted abnormally quiet. I...I thought she was just sad that I was leaving..."

"No use regretting what had happened. Even if Your Majesty knew it, the situation would still be the same," the man said as he received a fresh roll of bandages from his apprentice who just entered the room.

No word could make it out from her mouth as she choked back her sobs.

The room suddenly became quiet, and only the sounds of Erich Winfield's movements could be heard.

"Will she be alright?"

"Even I cannot tell, as this burn scar has strange properties that leaves even me baffled. We can only keep on trying."

Once the physician finished treating her injury, he affectionately covered the unconscious woman with a warm blanket. He then stood up and gestured at the veiled woman. "Should we head out? We need to let her rest, Your Majesty."

After that, he gestured for his apprentice to follow him and the two of them left.

Seren hesitated and went to her nanny first. She sat at the end of the bed and held Martha's hand. As she closed her eyes, silent tears rolled down her face.

"I should have paid more attention to you, Martha. I didn't know you were injured. I am sorry."

Seren continued to murmur apologies as she tightly held the sick woman's hand.

Once she got hold of her senses, she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Get better soon. This time...this time, I will be the one protecting you. I will take you with me to Megaris, and I will make sure you live a good life. I will not let you suffer anymore."

Drayce, who was waiting outside, saw Erich Winfield and his apprentice come out of the thatched house.

"How is my wife's nanny?" Drayce asked.

"There is no improvement," the man said with a helpless tone. "At most, I can help lessen Celia's pain but..."

Drayce observed his exhausted face. This old physician was an arrogant man, his temper unmatched among his peers, and despite him having saved countless patients' lives, he would not bat an eye for a person's suffering. His only aim was to heal injuries and save lives, as for the process, it didn't matter to him.

But for this woman called Martha, who he also called Celia Voss, he behaved as if he would not even let her suffer the smallest aches. It meant this woman was more important to him than he was letting on.

"I believe your efforts of treating her won't be wasted," Drayce consoled.

"I wish the same, but as a physician, I know the limits of how the current medicinal knowledge is not enough to deal with the situation of her body. That she is enduring it well was already worthy of praise. I can only hope for a miracle."

"Maybe there will be one," Drayce said while the physician treated his statement as empty words of comfort.

In a while, Seren also came out of the thatched house and Drayce could see his wife's eyes were swollen from crying so much. He felt bad for her but at the same time, he felt glad that she shed tears.

There was a reason why he felt glad but he didn't wish to tell anyone about her ability. He didn't want her future to become where she would be forced to  act as a healing tool for everyone.

A person's life and death was determined by fate, and an exception could only be made when one had a lucky encounter.

Seren went to Drayce's side. Her husband tenderly dried the lingering tears from her long eyelashes. "Are you alright?"

She nodded and heard him continue, "Shall we head back to the royal palace? You can come to see your nanny again once she is awake."

Seren and Drayce left after thanking the old physician and his apprentice for taking good care of Martha.

After entering the woods, out of anyone's sight, Drayce held Seren close and the couple disappeared, quickly returning to Seren's tower within the Royal Palace of Abetha..

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