Back in Princess Amber's chamber, Harvey looked at the scene before him with wide eyes.
"I told you," Amber spoke quietly.
"You. Can't. Kill. Me." she added before she shoved Tyra away, and the hairpin Tyra had tried to stab her with also fell to the floor, covered in blood.
Tyra fell to the floor with a loud thud. With wide eyes, her shaking hand reached for her face, where she had a deep vertical cut from underneath her eyes down to her jawbone. It slowly dawned on her what had happened. She had been the one to get hurt out of the two of them!
Tyra let out a heart-shattering scream that caused Amber to groan in pain from the headache she felt.
"I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL YOU!!!" Tyra wailed in tears from the floor as her blood flowed down from her face, soaking her dress.
Harvey stopped watching in horror and acted quickly to hold Tyra up before she could reach for the hairpin, which she was crawling towards.
"LET ME GO! I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" Tyra kept fighting to be let off as she burst into tears at her ruined face and also at the knowledge that this witch had the upper hand again.
"You may want to get it treated before it scars forever. However, I do doubt you'd live a long life, so it shouldn't matter." Amber spoke in a relaxed tone that filled Tyra with hate and anger.
She kicked, wailed, and cried as she tried to get off Harvey's hold, but he was a really strong lad that she couldn't fight against.
Just then, the guards entered the room in a hurry and looked around in horror: the floor with so much blood, Princess Tyra's face, and Amber's palm dripping blood. Not to mention Tyra's arm, which was still bright red from the burn earlier.
"ARREST HER! KILL HER!" Tyra cried at the guards while pointing at Amber.
The two guards just stood there in confusion, staring at the scene and at each other.
"Take her with you and call for the physician to get her treated," Harvey instructed the guards, who hesitated for a moment before they went into it, taking a crazy Tyra out of the room by force. This time, it was her cries that echoed throughout the palace, as she also threatened the guards with death and threatened to kill everyone too.
With them gone, only Harvey and Amber were left.
Amber fell to the floor immediately, and Harvey quickly went to her side.
"I have to be awake. It's almost the Blood Moon." Amber muttered to herself even as Harvey helped her return to the bed. She also wanted to kill King Cedric with her own hands. Fate had to be fair to her this time.
Confused about how to handle everything, including treating her wound and cleaning the blood off the floor, Harvey just looked around.
He also could not bring himself to look at her after he had held the truth from her and struck her unconscious.
Thankfully, Paulina rushed in. But she wasn't alone. Lance was behind her.
"I knew you wouldn't die," Amber said weakly as she looked at Paulina, a gentle smile of relief on her face.
Paulina quickly went to her and sat on the bed beside her, embracing her while crying loudly.
"WHAT HAPPENED IN HERE?" Lance asked as he looked around the room in confusion.
While in Paulina's embrace, Amber's eyes began to shut on their own. Alicia had communicated with more people than Amber had in her entire life. So it was difficult for her to "download" the memories of Alicia all at once, and being forced out of her unconscious state had made a mess of her head.
Amber hugged Paulina back and rubbed her back gently.
"I will go find the physician," Lance said before he quickly left the room.
"I'm sorry, my lady," Paulina said as she sobbed. "I never wanted you gone. You have been my only friend and family for as long as I can remember. I just want you to be happy. You mean everything to me. I'm so... sorry for making you feel like I wanted you to disappear. Please stay with me."
Amber's hands around her tightened, and she sniffled just as her eyes began to shut involuntarily.
"I... will stay with you." She whispered to Paulina.
But before her eyes could shut completely, she looked at Harvey, who was watching her, and quietly said, "I... understand." Before her eyes shut and she fell back unconscious.
While Lance was looking for the physician, he was in Luciana's parents' chamber.
Luciana's mother had her hands covering her mouth as she shed tears of joy.
Luciana had surprisingly opened her eyes after her husband left for the morning assembly (where they had been forgotten, by the way).
Beside the woman was her older maid, who was beside her with tears of joy in her eyes too, while Luciana's maid was kneeling beside her bed, also crying as the physician checked her.
Throughout, Luciana just looked up at the ceiling blankly. She hadn't said a word or looked anywhere else.
The physician stopped and stood up, not looking as excited as them, as he asked them all to step outside for a minute.
"Why? Is something wrong?" Luciana's mother asked, panicking.
The two other women also had the same expression as her, but after he assured them he simply didn't want any distractions and their sobs were making it difficult to concentrate, they stepped out, waiting anxiously for him to call them back in.
But instead, he stepped out and closed the door behind him quietly, looking sorrowful.
"What... what is wrong? She is fine, isn't she?" Luciana's mother asked in fear as she looked at the physician.
"I'm afraid... Lady Luciana has... lost her voice. And... she may not live past a few years." He said sadly.
The words felt like a hard push at her mother, who almost fell to the floor if not for the quick effort of the two maids to hold her up.
****
EDIT: All your comments made me emotional and I wished I had read it sooner.
I saw a comment where Ayana mentioned I was saving up for my Master's degree and was even surprised someone remembered it.
Yes, I've been saving up and I planned to start my studies later this year.
But I think I'll probably have to focus on my health for now. As much as I hate spending nights in the hospital since it's something I've been used to, I just have to do this and pursue my dreams later.
Thank you all once again. And I wish all of you GREAT HEALTH. Cannot be overemphasised how important it is.
The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l