The Usurper's Queen | COMPLETED

04 | beneath the surface

"Gilbert!" I exclaimed when I saw my twin brother laying on a bed in the infirmary, groaning in pain.

"Annie," he answered weakly, still unable to sit up. "I'm alright, really. I just fell down from my horse, that's it. I guess I'm lucky I didn't get trampled though."

"Just fell down?" I scoffed. "What if your head cracked open? Then I wouldn't have a twin anymore, you stupid thing!"

Gilbert smiled weakly and said, "You can have all my desserts forever then, Annie." I gritted my teeth and punched him in the chest lightly.

"Why are you saying such foolish things? Did the fall cause your brain to stop working?" I spat angrily.

"I should've known that I would have lost. I suppose I am a fool, trying to win against the Duke of Cindertrappe," he said softly and sighed. Gilbert looked at me, and he frowned.

"Where's your ribbon, Annie?" he asked, and I felt my hands and feet grow cold. How could I tell him that I gave my ribbon as a token of favor to the man who had defeated him?

"You gave it to him, didn't you?" Gilbert accused, and I could only nod solemnly. He sighed and looked away, pursing his pale lips tightly.

Moments later, I heard heavy footsteps and someone grunting in pain as they staggered into the infirmary. "Speak of the devil," Gilbert chuckled, and I turned around to see Edmund being assisted inside.

He noticed me and smiled generously, and said, "I won, Lady Winterbourne. I won for you."
I stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, facing Edmund's smiles at the front, and my brother's piercing glares from behind. Several nuns then rushed towards Edmund with bandages and a basin of warm water, and using a pair of scissors, cut open the sleeve of his shirt.

"Oh dear," the nun said as she inspected the infected cut on Edmund's arm, and ran her hands all over his toned, muscular arm, a very inappropriate thing to do, especially for a nun.
"Please allow me to treat it for you, Your Grace," she said coquettishly, but Edmund shook his head.

"I'd rather you not," he sighed, and looked over at me. "Ah, Lady Winterbourne! I'd like her to treat me, please."

I looked at Edmund, wide-eyed, as the nuns slowly retreated away, clearing the way for me. "Annie," Gilbert hissed, staring at me in shock after hearing what Edmund just said.

I decided to ignore him, and slowly walk over to Edmund. Guilt washed over me when I realized that the infected wound was the stab wound I caused weeks ago, and how could I ignore him?
Gilbert glared at me in betrayal, as if I just pranced over to make love with the enemy. I then reluctantly sat on the wooden stool next to Edmund's bed, and inspected the wound on his arm.

"From what I see here, it seems that you didn't go seek treatment, did you?" I said slowly.
"It didn't hurt much, so I felt there was no need to," Edmund said nonchalantly.

"Are you stupid?" I scoffed in disbelief, but once I realized what I just said, I immediately fell silent and cowered in fear.
"Forgive me Your Grace, I had spoken out of turn-"

Edmund acted as if he didn't hear my offensive statement, and merely instructed me to clean the wound. "I'm lucky that your dagger was so sharp that it left a clean cut. If it were blunter, this wound would've been much worse."

I lowered my head remorsefully and grabbed a piece of linen and submerged it into the basin of warm water. "Allow me to clean the wound, Your Grace," I said while leaning closer to him.

Edmund's skin was extremely pale that it was almost white, and you could easily see the purples of his veins. This made the wound look even more eye catching and the skin near the wound had turned painfully red. He flinched when I tried to clean the wound, and I said, "You said it didn't hurt before."

"Now it does," Edmund hissed in pain. I rolled my eyes and vigorously scrubbed the wound, removing all the dried blood that caked onto the wound. "Lady Winterbourne-"

"It wouldn't have hurt that much if you got treatment for it much earlier,"I sighed while opening the jar of salve.