The Princess And Her Alpha Bodyguard

8~ WHY WAS THE UNMARRIED KING SO GOOD TO ME?

I didn’t remember falling asleep that night. But now, when I opened my eyes, there was no longer a trace of the silver moonbeam. There was only the ray of yellow light shining through the window and brightening up the room. I looked out the window through the thin, see-through draperies to see the sun was already up high in the clear, blue sky. My mind, on the other hand, was the total opposite. I felt like there were layers of dense clouds obscuring my brain from processing the whole thing out.

That’s strange, I thought to myself. Was I too tired last night to fall asleep without knowing it?

The last thing I remembered was talking to Valdemir about the mystery behind the tree roots’ attack, the existence of the Ascian kingdom, and... werewolves.

“Right. We were talking about werewolves. Then, I asked him a question. But... what was that question about?” I rubbed my eyes, hoping to drive the sleepiness away so I could recall that movement. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. “Why can’t I remember the question? What did I ask him?” I was utterly mystified as I sat up on the bed and scratched the top of my head, searching for that missing part of my memory.

The creaking sound interrupted me from my thought. I turned to the door to see a young girl, whom I assumed to be around fifteen or sixteen years old, smiling from the opened door. “You’re awake, miss,” she says. Her voice was small and sweet, just like her petite frame.

“Yes. I guess I am.” I nodded.

“That’s great.” Then she turned around and said in a low voice, “Tell the others to get things ready.”

“I understand,” said a disembodied voice that I guessed belonged to someone who stood behind her.

“Be quick.” The girl turned back to me after she finished giving out her order. “Good morning, miss. My name is Lumina. I’ll be the one attending you.” She stepped into the room and closed the door. Her fandango, floor-length A-line dress fluttered in the air as she walked past the window. “How are you doing?” she asked as she drew the draperies to the side and tied them to the end of each bed’s frame.

Now that there was nothing in between us, I finally got a clear view of her. She had a round face shape and thin red lips. Her black pupils matched the color of her long hair that was braided in a relaxed fishtail reaching down to her tiny waist.

It was weird to hear someone addressed me as miss instead of your highness, but I had to live with it. I didn’t want to expose my identity. After all, I was a runaway.

“I’m okay,” I said with a smile.

“The water, clothes, and food will arrive soon. As we’re waiting for them, I’d like to help you with the wound. I need to change the medicine.”

“Okay.” I nodded.

Lumina brought an emerald cloak and draped it over my shoulders. “It’s a little chilly today. Please put this on, so you don’t catch a cold.”

“Thanks,” I said and adjusted the cloak to the front.

“It’s my duty to take care of you, miss,” said Lumina as she peeled off the blanket and rolled the hem of my nightdress up. “The swelling goes down a lot in just one night. How do you feel now, miss? Does it still hurt?”

I tried rotating my ankle slowly. I was surprised to find it was less painful than before. Last night, I couldn’t even move my toe. “It still hurts, but it isn’t too much,” I told Lumina.

“Arnica is really good for dealing with the swelling,” she said.

“Oh, okay.” I had no idea what she was talking about, but I’d just go with the flow. I didn’t want to sound so dumb.

“I’ll change the medicine for you now.” She stood up and headed to the table in the corner of the room. When she returned, she carried a chair and a silver tray that I assumed to be a medicine kit. She placed the chair next to my bed and put the tray on the floor before reaching out to my injured leg. “I’ll try to be gentle, but please let me know if it hurts,” she said as she settled down and brought my leg to rest on her knees.

“Okay.” I bit my lips and braced for the impact as she unbound the bandage. I’d never been a fan of pain. Given that I’d never trained in sword fighting or done any intense exercise, I rarely got injured. And when I did, I acted as if I would die at any minute. No matter how small the wound was, I’d cry like it was the end of the world. I remember crying for the entire day when I had a scraped knee resulting from tripping on my long dress. It took Ralph and my parents a lot of effort to console me until I felt okay.

I knew it sounded too much. But there was nothing I could do. After all, I was pampered since birth.

“Ouch!” I yelped when Lumina tied up the new white clothes on my ankle after she finished changing the medicine.

“Sorry, miss. Is it too tight?” She looked up with an apologetic face.

“No, it’s okay.” I shook my head.

“Let me change the bandage on your hand as well,” she said as she gently brought my feet back to the bed.

“Alright.” I peeled the cloak off one of my shoulders and gave her my hand.

I watched as Lumina untied the white-turned-dark-brown cloth and applied a similar color of herb to it. She looked so calm while doing this. It was as if she had done it a thousand times. “Are you a doctor?” I asked.

“No, miss. I’m not,” she said. Her eyes still focus on the laceration wound.

“Then, are you a healer?”

“No, miss. I’m simply a maid. What makes you think that?” She looked up and smiled.

I shrugged. “Well, you know what you’re doing. There’s got to be five types of medicines in that tray, and they all look the same to me. But you know which one to use. It’s hard to believe you don’t have a medical background. Maybe you’re an apprentice?”

“I really am just a maid, miss.” Lumina shook her head and put her attention back on the wound. “To be honest, I didn’t know what these medicines are until last night. Our people rarely need a doctor or medicine, even when we’re wounded. But…” she trailed off and giggled.

I blinked in confusion, wondering about what she found to be funny. Before I could ask her what she was laughing about, Lumina picked up her words.

“But King Valdemir made me practice this the whole night until I could do it,” said Lumina. Her lips still curved up into a smile.

“If that was what it was, then that masked guy made you not get enough sleep. So why are you smiling?” I couldn’t wrap my head around this. No one should be happy about staying up all night.

“It was worth it. I got to spend time alone in his majesty’s chamber. I even get to touch him,” said Lumina. Even though she still had her face down, I could tell she was blushing because the tips of her ears had gone red.

“Touch him? I thought you said you were practicing medicine,” I asked, thinking about things I shouldn’t.

“Yes. He told me to practice on his body. He needed to make sure my hands were gentle when tending to wounds.” She giggled again.

“Why did you act like it was your first time touching him? Since you’re a maid, aren’t you supposed to help him get dressed every day? Doesn’t he need your help to make him look presentable? It’s what a king does.”

“No.” Lumina shook her head. “King Valdemir never let us do any of that. He does a lot of things by himself.”

“Why? Because he only wants his queen to do it?” I was surprised by my own question. I didn’t know why I blurt this out. It was as if I was eager to know about his marital status.

What is wrong with me? I thought to myself and suppressed the urge to smack my forehead.

“No, miss. His majesty is single. He doesn’t have a queen or a fiancé,” said Lumina in a high-pitched voice. It was like she was excited to deliver this news.

“Oh.” I let out a sigh of relief and smiled, even though I didn’t mean to. “So, he isn’t married yet.”

Stop, Lae! What’re you thinking? It’s none of your business if he is single or married. A small voice scolded me at the back of my head.

“I was confused when he told me to learn this thing last night. But now, I understand. He did it for you, miss,” said Lumina.

“Huh?” I looked at her in bewilderment. “What do you mean?”

“He made me learn this so that I could attend to you this morning. I bet if he wasn't busy with his royal morning duty, he’d come to do this himself. Just like how he did last night.” Lumina put the new bandage on my hand and winded it in spiraling turns.

“What did you just say?” I asked. “I thought the maids were the ones who changed my clothes last night?”

“Yes, miss. Dila and I wiped your body and changed your torn dress to this pajama. But the person who dealt with your wound was his majesty. He even stayed in the room the entire time until late at night,” she said with a wide smile. “I was shocked to see him bring an outsider to our castle. Instead of putting you in the dungeon, he took good care of you. Everyone was shocked to see this because it was unprecedented. But I guess there’s a first time for everything.” She wrapped the bandage one final round and secured its end. “There. It is finished, miss.”

“Thank you.” I retracted my hand back under the cloak.

“I’ll go and check up on the girls. I wonder what takes them so long to bring those stuff,” said Lumina as she stood up to her feet.

“Okay.” I nodded.

I watched as she put everything back to where it was: the silver tray and the chair. Then she picked up the used bandages and headed toward the door. As she disappeared behind the closed door, I was left alone in silence again. But my head wasn’t as peaceful as the atmosphere in the room. It kept replaying Lumina’s words nonstop, causing a series of questions to pop up in my head.

They were questions I wanted to ask Valdemir when I met him later.

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