Queensmen

Chapter 85

~Empress-To-Be~

When Andrea went to check the door, Oris went to take a seat. The chair she chose let her have an unobstructed view of her bed—of Seline.

The silk and letter rested on her lap, hidden by the folds of her gown. Blue silk, blue silk... She thought of the uniform Eunuch Rai had been wearing. There had to be thousands of men in the same clothes.

It was too hard to narrow down.

The doors to the room swung open, revealing that her new visitor was once again the physician again. This time he had strings of packaged medicine hanging off his right shoulder and a young woman carrying a tray walking ahead of him.

"My lady, this is my daughter, Magnolia," he said.

"This humble one greets The Lady Of Inqa," the woman curtsied and the jug and cups on her tray swayed with her.

"You may rise," Oris told them as Andrea walked back to her side. "The one you are to treat is over there."

The physician nodded and started unloading his herbs. Mayree and Keziah flocked to his side to listen to his instructions about how long to boil and such.

Oris could only watch them. Other than the the bathroom, bedroom and secret passages, she had seen no other part of the room. She couldn't help even if she wanted to

Magnolia straightened up from her curtsey but didn't join her father. Instead, she held out the tray. "My Lady, this herbal wine from our hometown was entrusted to me by the Young Lord. It is good for relieving pain."

"Andrea, bring it here."

When the tray was placed on the table in front of her, Oris leaned forward and opened the jug, surprised by the familiar scent that hit her. What herbal wine? Isn't this just my favorite wine?

Granted, it was made with herbs, and made with wine, but calling it herbal wine was still taking things too far.

Oris poured it out into a cup, not entirely shocked by the deep purple color of it. She stared into it and felt her vigilance wane.

Bren sent this.

She remembered kisses that tasted of this wine, embraces that smelt of the roots her siblings picked in the nearby forest.

Why did Bren sent this?

She took a sip and found that it to be the same as in her memories. A cottage suffused with the smell of fermenting grapes and stewing herbs. Medicine dregs tossed out into the garden for the dogs to chew at and fight each other over, yet ended up being abandoned to the fate of being mulch.

"Mistress, you're smiling."

She set the cup down and shook her head, her composure restored by the happiness in Andrea's voice. "I was just lost in thought."

To Magnolia, she said, "Thank you for bringing this to me."

"Of course." The woman flashed a smile and dipped her head to hide it before scurrying off to Seline's side to apply the medicine.

Her father replaced her where she stood. "Your maids informed me that... Well... Well—"

"My mistress isn't that difficult to talk to, is she? Physician Lei?" Andrea cut in, not unkindly. "You want to see her hand, right?"

As though he was trapped in a desert and someone took the time to ask if he wanted water, the old man nodded, furiously like a starving hen pecking at grain. "Yes. Yes. I want to apply wound ointment on it. There is some left over and I decided not to waste it," he said carefully.