Chapter 78

***

“Huh?”

When Terban suddenly picked her up, Ellea couldn’t help but panic.

And her eyes met his as he looked down at her.

“What are you doing?” (Ellea)

“I don’t think you’ll hear me if I just say it.” (Terban)

“No, I…” (Ellea)

As Ellea tried to get down, Terban tightened the arms that were holding her. Then he started walking in the opposite direction she was going.

“Wait a minute. Where are you going?” (Ellea)

“First of all, treatment comes first, so we’ll talk about it later.”

As if to refuse any further resistance, Terban kept his gaze on the front and walked forward. Ellea thought she wouldn’t be able to persuade him, so she stopped trying to escape and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Borence, who was waiting for Ellea outside, couldn’t hide her surprise when she saw Ellea with Terban.

“Princess?”

But the answer came from Terban.

“This is the path that I am taking the Princess for treatment. Follow me.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Borence skillfully captured her surprise and followed the two without saying anything else. Ellea accidentally found her blood on Terban’s neck as she saw Terban walking fast, perhaps she was not heavy for him.

‘When did it get there?’

As she carefully rubbed his neck with her bloodless hand, Terban’s feet stopped moving.

When he lowered his head and looked at her, Ellea looked into his eyes as if asking why.

“Why do you suddenly stop?” (Ellea)

“Are you asking because you don’t know?” (Terban)

Then, Terban looked at Ellea’s fingers rubbing his neck. 

“Ah, that…… I was trying to wipe off the blood on your neck..”

Ellea, who had no idea that Terban had flinched for a moment at the tickling touch, expressed her story.

“Maybe it’s also on Your Majesty’s clothes. So if I can walk by myself…..”

When Ellea insisted on walking again, Terban moved again as if not to listen. Ellea, who had now completely given up on that determination, gave strength to the arms around his neck and leaned comfortably on Terban.

‘I don’t even know anymore.’

Even though she felt the warmth of his embrace, she couldn’t believe this situation. Normally, Terban would go to Shanil.

“Really, why did you come to me?” (Ellea)

Ellea’s question could have been heard, but Terban didn’t answer.

‘I do not know either.’ (Terban)

No, he couldn’t answer. Because he didn’t even know why. His body moved first at the sight of Ellea, who looked as if she was about to collapse at any moment. Other things didn’t come into his eyes at all at that moment. 

(*no, it’s contradicting, obviously he saw her fall off the horse and he was worried about Shanil instead.)

Soon after, the two arrived at Terban’s palace.

From the moment Terban entered the palace holding her, Elea felt people’s curious gaze and wanted to hide somewhere.

She buried her face in his arms for no reason, and Terban’s laughter reached her. 

“I don’t think that there are people who don’t know that you’re the Princess.”

“Are you teasing me now? Perhaps the rumors will pass through the Imperial Palace before the end of the day. Why did you take me to Your Majesty’s palace?”

“Because it’s closer to my palace than the Princess’s palace. But the Princess doesn’t seem like someone who cares about that, no?”

“Does Your Majesty think I want to avoid it because it’s scary? I want to avoid it because it’s annoying.”

In response to the honest answer, Terban thought it was like her and went into the empty room. And immediately, he carefully set Ellea down on the bed. 

As she moved her still body, the injured parts throbbed again.

“It’s strange that you fell off a running horse and didn’t get sick.” 

“I know that much.”

Terban was about to ask why the person who knew about it acted so recklessly, but the servant came inside.

“Your Majesty?”

“Bring the royal doctor here.”

“In the meantime, I’ll bring a change of clothes.”

When the servant and Borence hurried out, leaving only the two of them alone, Ellea moved her arm once.

“I don’t think my bones are broken. I think it was because I was shocked at the moment.”

Looking at this condition, it seemed that she would not be able to train for a while.

“How can you think of jumping at that moment?”

“How can I pretend I don’t know, something really bad could happen. Otherwise, Heris would have been seriously injured. It would be better for me to move because I felt less hurt.”

At Ellea’s words that she was willing to take the risk of getting hurt, something came up from Terban’s heart.

“You are a Princess. In that situation, anyone would have chosen to run away.”

“But I have no regrets. If I could go back in time, I would do the same.”

Was she foolish or was she too nice?

He didn’t understand why Ellea kept trying to handle the dangerous situation alone when she should lean on someone. 

(*lean on who? Obviously no one had taken any actions when the horses were running crazy.)

Terban sat down next to Elea and held her face to make her look at him.

Of course, there were scratches on her face as well as the invisible places. It was especially noticeable because of her white skin.

His finger lightly touched the wound, and Ellea shuddered in pain.

“It hurts.”

“Does it make sense for a person who is hurt by this to jump off a horse?”

Terban’s voice was absurd, yet upsetting.

“I’m really fine.”

“It’s forbidden from the Princess saying that it’s okay. Whether it’s okay to get hurt or it’s okay to be misunderstood.”

‘No, it’s too close.’

At one point, a knock on the door was heard as a subtle atmosphere was forming between the two who were too close to each other.

“Your Majesty, I have brought the royal doctor.”

At the voice, Ellea came to her senses late and backed away from Terban a little.

Seeing that, Terban also withdrew his hand from her face and got up from the bed.

“Come in.”

The door opened and it was Wontil who came in. Borence was also behind him.

“I see you, Your Majesty.”

“Heal the Princess.”

Wontil, who sat next to the bed, had a worried expression on his face, as if he had been informed of the situation beforehand.

“I heard the Princess fell off a running horse.”

“It’s nothing.”

“It will be decided by me, the doctor.”

Wontil became firm in front of the wounded no matter who the opponent was. For full-fledged treatment, he spoke politely to Terban, who was still standing behind him.

“I would appreciate it if you could leave us alone for a while for treatment.”

When Terban looked at him as if to ask why, Wontil said with a look of embarrassment.

“The Princess has to take off her clothes for treatment.”

Terban, who heard the answer, was embarrassed and hurriedly went out of the room. Wontil turned his head after seeing that, and said to Ellea. (*I think this doctor may be a woman. But it’s say ‘he’ so I don’t know. I don’t think a male doctor can be with the Princess alone, let alone naked.)

“Then will you take off your clothes for treatment?”

With the help of Borence, Ellea took off her top first.

When she took off her outerwear, the white shirt she was wearing was exposed, which was stained red with red blood.

As soon as he saw it, Wontil’s brow furrowed.

Then her shirt came off, revealing the impact of hitting the ground and the wounds from the fall.

In particular, her right arm and shoulder were seriously injured, and there were scratches all over her body. Borence was heartbroken that she couldn’t see the end of the treatment. 

“It must have been quite painful.”

“It was bearable. It wasn’t even that hard to move.”

Wontil wiped the blood, disinfected and treated the wounds with careful touch. A bandage was wrapped around the right shoulder and arm, the most severely injured.

He also applied medicine to the wounds on her face and other places.

“I will give you some medicine to take after meals. And, as you know, don’t use your right arm and shoulder for the time being. Of course, it is forbidden to train as usual.”

“It must be so.”

As soon as the treatment for her legs was finished, Ellea put her clothes on roughly and she heard Wontil’s worried voice.

“I’m worried that the Princess seems to have been injured a lot since she came here.”

“It happened unintentionally. Please keep it a secret that I was seriously injured. I don’t want people in the palace to worry about it.”

“Well, I can’t guarantee if I can keep it a secret.”

Wontil looked at Borence as he replied.

“As long as you don’t say anything, it’ll be okay. I don’t want people around me to be sad even if I look pathetic.”

[Am I really stupid and pathetic? With someone so noble in my heart.] (EL)

At that moment, the medicine box in Wontil’s hand fell to the floor and made a loud noise. Surprised by the sound, Ellea tried to move, but Wontil hurriedly stopped her.

“It’s okay, so please rest.”

Wontil quickly picked up the scattered medicines from the floor.

Memories that he had been trying to forget came to his mind. Like Ellea, the earnest voice of that person had asked him to keep it a secret.

“I’ll go now. Don’t forget that it is a situation where the Princess should never overdo it.”

Wontil went out of the room with that advice until the end. And the door behind him closed.

“It’s been a long time since I thought of that child.”

Until now, he was so heartbroken that he tried to ignore it. El’s death was sadder for him than anyone else.

‘Come to think of it, I think there are many similarities between El and the Princess.’

Immediately, he shook his head as if it was a really absurd thought.

‘It can’t be. I guess I’m too old now.’

“Have you finished the treatment?”

After changing clothes, Terban, who was waiting outside, came right up to Wontil and asked.

“Yes. The impact is pretty big, so the Princess will have to be careful moving around for the time being. That way, the wounds can heal quickly.” 

Wontil quickly clear up the noisy thoughts in case someone knew even his own thoughts.

‘It’s never going to happen, it’s just my own delusion.’

***

Meanwhile, Heris and Chaylen were walking to the place where the carriage was waiting for Heris to return to her residence.

The two were just quiet, unlike when they were with Ellea. Chaylen was in a state of anger over Ellea’s injury.

When he thought of the previous situation where he had no choice but to watch, he felt dizzy.

When Ellea tumbled to the floor, he immediately left his spot and ran towards her.

While he was lost in thought, he heard a voice calling him.

“Duke.”

Hearing the sound, Chaylen turned around and saw Heris, who had been walking side by side with him earlier, was now behind him and was calling him.

“Can you walk a little slower? It’s hard for me to walk.”

Seeing how difficult it was from the aftermath of the previous incident, Chaylen realized that he had not been considerate of her, and then went back and stood next to her.

“I’m sorry. I was just thinking about something else.”

“I understand. You must have been thinking the same thing as me.” 

This time, Chaylen began walking slowly, following Heris’ footsteps.

“If the Duke is busy, you can go first.”

“I don’t mind it, but it’s something Ellea asked me to do.”

Although Heris was beside him, he did not hide his annoyed voice. And it was the same with Heris.

“I hope no one sees this.”

“Anyway, tomorrow there will be a lot of buzz about what happened, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Then that’s a relief.”

Heris looked up at Chaylen, who was walking beside her.

Observing from his hair to his eyes, she spoke without hesitation according to her personality.

“Does the Duke like Ellea?”

At those words, Chaylen stopped and turned his head.

Seeing that his eyes were shaking, Heris only laughed.

“You seem very surprised.”

Chaylen took a step back and tried to pretend nothing was wrong.

“Not really.”

“You don’t deny that you like Ellea.”

“Young Lady seems to be having a lot of fun.”

“It’s always fun to hear other people’s love stories.”

At Heris’ words, Chaylen smiled as if it was ridiculous.

Like the first impression he had, she wasn’t hesitant in front of him. It was more comfortable for Chaylen to be honest.

“So what do you want to say?”

“I don’t mean to be intrusive. I’m just going to watch with great interest.”

At her look of excitement just thinking about it, Chaylen also gave up on stopping her.

‘Ellea’s friend, this one is not normal either.’ (Chaylen)

He had a premonition as if he had been caught by a great person in a different way from Ellea.