Chapter 175 - Just Stay, My Lady.

Maya could only gulp and wonder 'Why does she sound joyfull while uttering those cruel words?'.

Veronica continues with a laugh "You must be overwhelmed. Let me answer that for you. Our soldiers love to throw them into a salt water for a bath but we prefer rubbing the salt directly on their wounds. Why waste time when we can easily show them hell?".

Maya "..." Holy heavens!

Maya felt her every single hair standing all over her body even though she acted calm.

'They are heartless!'.

Veronica ends finally with a huff "But unfortunately, no one survived their third day of punishment. Now, you will understand why you are alive yet. Do you really think that you can do whatever you want and get away without being punished just because you are brought here by my father's edict? You are still alive after everything you have spoken just because of my brother".

Maya finally starts thinking of her words seriously.

'Was I roaming around without knowing these punishments?! What if that man suddenly got angered and threw me that punishment?!'.

Veronica smirks in satisfaction "Oh! I must visit my father too! I will meet you later, Sister-in-law".

Veronica leaves the chamber with it's deadly silence. She could tell she was terrified after hearing Veronica by feeling the cold sweats dripping from her forhead. 

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Night.

Maya came back to the sick chamber after finishing her dinner. It has become a ritual for her now. She visits him three times a day throughout this week.

Maya notices the cloth of the bed was fallen on his injured hand and already stuck on his injury. She frowns hard and walks beside him.

She tries to remove it slowly but freezes just before she pulls it out completely. 

GRUNTS!

Maya panics seeing Xavier already staring her and whispers "Oh..s-sorry..I didn't intend to hurt you!".

Xavier twitches his body muttering "It hurts..badly...".

Maya gulps before gasping "Oh..I will call the doctor-".

Before she could move away, Xavier grabs her wrist "No...".

She gets stunned by his grasp and hears him whisper "Stay".

She blinks before protesting "But you said it hurt-".

Xavier growls in pain "Just stay, My Lady".

She stands still in his grasp and couldn't move away from him either. Irrespective of his grasp.

She gulps down her pounding heart and nods "Hmmm..".

She is in astonishment and extremely happy seeing him awake. She is also happy for the reason that she is the first one to see him after he got his conscious back.

He asks "Can you help me sit? I don't know why I can't even move".

She holds his shoulder and helps him to sit. She has been eagerly waiting for him to get his conscious back. Now she doesn't know what to do or talk after he woke up.

He breaks the silence between them "Did you win?".

Maya blushes and nods clearing her throat. She doesn't know why in the hell her words died in her throat. Her mouth wouldn't speak looking at him and her heart is just dancing in a difficult universe.

He sighs in relief and asks staring her straight "What happened to me?".

Maya clears her throat finally finding her voice "When I came back you were unconscious and poisoned".

Xavier creases his eyebrows and finds it difficult to remain awake "Poison? Was it the swords?".

She shakes her head "No...the roots of the tree-".

He states suspiciously "But it's not poisonous".

She explains "It is. Only when a open wound touches it...doctor said they are capable of turning the blood into poison slowly".

He mutters surprised and closes his eyes often as if he is fighting his sleep "I can't believe...".

How can he miss the chance of talking to her and just sleep?

She sighs and notices his hand still holding her wrist. She huffs looking around 'Why am I nervous?'

She lets out a nervous breath seeing him again drifting back to sleep. If his hold on her hand wasn't there, she couldn't have believed that he was awake few moments before.

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Next day.

Maya was practicing Archery while her mind was too busy in her own thoughts.

She was angry. She has been trying to sneak out of her chamber every night since this past week. She just couldn't do it as the Palace is filled with soldiers for every few yards.

She tried to look around the palace and search the particular chamber around Kalki's where the past history has been recorded. 

'When Sarah told me about this I always wanted to search for it but never got a chance. I even asked Bhommi to help me find it but she tells that she couldn't step into that chamber for some strange reason'.

She tightens the string of her bow and aims an arrow.

THUD!

She smiles seeing it hit right at the spot where she intended to.

'This morning I was so close to that but Princess Veronica had to interupt me by walking that way. I had to hide myself to save my head hurting by just talking to her. Seriously. That girl needs to be spanked after pulling all the way around the palace by her ear!

She giggles after imagining the plot in her mind and sighs shaking her head. She aims the arrow on her wooden board again to keep herself busy.

Xavier was still taking rest and no one believed that he woke up last night. And she couldn't see him lying there so pale. His pale skin bothered her as if she was seeing his lifeless body. 

She shivers recalling the dead woman's pale body which turned white with no trace of color after she died.

It still haunts her.

She puts the bow aside tired and walks towards the ropes wiping her sweats on her face by her sleeves. She didn't bother to act appropriate of finding a cloth and grabs her gown and wipes her face.

"You can always use this towel, Maya".