Chapter 102: A Special Seat
Back in Lord Ivan’s chamber, Lucy stayed with Samantha to monitor her health.
The physician had arrived as per Lord Ivan’s orders to check on Samantha, and although the royal physician had been caught off guard by the sight of a maid, he failed to decipher why Lord Ivan would send for a royal physician to treat a mere servant when he could have sent for one of those village doctors, but then, he could not refuse, neither could he argue over the orders of his Lordship and immediately checked on her health with Lucy monitoring behind like a hawk.
When he was done, he changed the bandages on Samantha’s wrist, and after confirming she was in no critical condition, he handed Lucy a list of herbal medicine soup that she needed to prepare for Samantha once she woke up, and Lucy nodded politely to the royal physician before seeing him out.
"I will inform his Lordship that you came." Lucy said to the physician who nodded as if he was confused before taking his leave. As he made it to the Palace exit, he couldn’t believe he got called overnight just to check on a servant - not that he had a problem with it, but that was so unlike His Lordship to do, and it made him wonder - was that actually a servant or a lover disguised as one???
He didn’t know.
Meanwhile, in Lord Ivan’s chamber, Samantha stirred once more in her sleep. Her frail body felt weighed down by a heavy fatigue, but due to the warmth of her blanket, she kept drifting in and out of consciousness. As her fevered mind began to resurface, Samantha felt a soothing sensation on her forehead, a coolness that offered a respite from the heat that had plagued her for many hours.
Groggily, she opened her eyes, and her blurry vision drifted to the burning candlelight that had been lit on the candleholder. Blinking away the remnants of sleep that blurred her vision, her cleared gaze settled on Lucy who sat attentively on her bedside. Lucy’s gentle touch was revealed to be a wet towel she had placed on Samantha’s forehead so she could regulate her temperature, and the look on Samantha’s bleary eyes softened at the mere sight of her.
"Lucy..?" She murmured weakly, her voice barely more than a whisper.
Lucy, who noticed her friend was finally awake, smiled tenderly as she leaned close, whilst she gently held the uninjured hand of Samantha.
"Thank goodness you’re awake." Lucy’s almond-shaped eyes were filled with relief and concern. "How are you feeling now? No, what are you doing? You don’t have to sit up." Lucy had stopped the sick maiden when she made an attempt to push her weak self into a sitting position.
"You’re not feeling well, I don’t want you getting out of bed in this condition." Lucy softly admonished as she pulled the blanket up to cover Samantha properly, but she had stopped upon noticing how strangely her friend was gazing at her, and then her lips trembled as though she had something to say.