Light from the Shadow

Chapter 16

Rishi did not know what to make of the situation he was in at the moment. When he opened his eyes a few minutes ago, the first thing he saw was Ayna's sleeping face beside him. Sleeping peacefully. He turned around to look for his glasses. Ouchh!! His back hurt from the sudden movement. He bit his lip, trying to hold his scream inside. He soon found his glasses on the bedside and quickly put them on. Where is this...?

He slowly turned back to face Ayna again. She looked tired – there were dark circles under her eyes.

The door suddenly opened. One of her maids came in.

"Mr. Rishi! Thank goodness, you are awake!!" Aria put the tray she was holding on the table and ran to the bedside. She had originally come in to wake the princess.

Ayna was woken up by Aria's loud voice. She rubbed her eyes. "Aria?" And then she saw Rishi looking back at her. For a moment, she just sat there without moving.

"Your Highness..." Rishi called.

Tears welled up in her eyes. She started crying. "You damn four eyes!!! I thought you are dead!!!"

Rishi almost turned deaf by her yelling.

"Oh... Princess..." Aria comforted her. "It's good that Mr. Rishi has regained consciousness."

Rishi tried to get up but Ayna held him down. "Don't move! The wound will reopen again if you move too much." She wiped her tears. "Are you hungry? You must be. You haven't taken in anything for the past 2 days. Do you want some soup? No, you can't get up... Are you okay with bread? I can break them down so..." She asked Aria to bring her the food she just brought in.

Rishi blocked her hand. "I'm not hungry. Just... give me water."

Ayna bit her lip. He looked like he was in pain. She helped him sitting up and let him leaned on her. She brought the glass to his lips and then carefully tilted it so he could drink. Her eyes fell on the bandages that were covering most parts of his body. It must have hurt so badly...

"Where are we?" Rishi asked after he finished guzzling down the water.

"It's Lord Kanan's mansion." Ayna asked Aria to fetch another glass of water from the kitchen. The maid left quietly. Ayna tried to make him lie back to the bed again but he refused. He had rested enough.

"How did we get here?"

"The guards we sent to contact Lord Kanan came back later and... found us." Her voice trailed off. She did not want to remember the ordeal from that night.

"I'm sorry..." The princess lowered her head. "If only we didn't force you to come with us..." She clenched her fist tight.

"You and everyone else might be dead now." Rishi finished her sentence. "Shouldn't you be saying something else to me now?"

He could see tears spilling down from her eyes. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "Thank you..." Her voice trembled. "Thank you, Rishi..." She buried her face into her hands and cried.

"Her Highness was extremely worried about you." Aria told the librarian when she came to bring his dinner later that day. The princess was having dinner with Lord Kanan and his family.

"I know." He flashed his handsome smile, making the maid blushed. She cleared her throat.

"Well, I heard you saved us from those bandits, so thank you..." and then added. "But you should thank Her Highness, too."

They were not... mountain bandits. But Rishi refrained from mentioning that.

"I heard when the guards returned, they found us in the cart, covered in blanket while the princess was waiting outside alone, in the rain." Aria then pointed to his bandaged body. "The physician said the princess did a good job with your wound. Who knew she knows how to do first aid?" She laughed like a proud parent.

Rishi spooned the soup into his mouth. It was warm. "Ummm..."

"What is it? Is it not to your liking?" Aria asked.

"No... just curious, why were we sleeping in the same room? Me and Her Highness?" Worse, they were in the same bed. If that over protective childhood friend of hers found out, Rishi was sure he would be sent to the dungeon.

"Ah... that... it's because there is only one guest room on the first floor. Your wound was so bad, the physician advised everyone not to move you around. As for the princess, she... hurt her legs, so it was a little bit inconvenient for her..." Aria scratched her head. "But rest assured, the princess did not mind at all. Well, both of you are hurt so it's not like you can do anything..." She paused then giggled.

Did not mind, huh?

He finished his dinner and returned the tray to Aria.

"Do you mind, Sir?" The young maid asked.

Rishi looked at her, unsure what she was referring to.

"Do you dislike it, sharing the room with someone?"

Rishi smiled. "I don't mind, if it's her."

Ayna walked back slowly to her room after the dinner, feeling tired. Lord Kanan had asked her tons of questions about the incident. It appeared that he had sent his people to find out who tried to rob the royal family that night. She was his old friend's only daughter. How could he just sit back and do nothing when something like that happened nearby his territory? Moreover, there had not been any robbery case around for years. He needed to find out who was behind them.

"But Uncle, how are you going to find them? They... all of them are dead." She had said.

"Their friends may still be around. We can't be too careful. I don't want things like this happen again." The lord of the mansion insisted. "You take your time to heal yourself and your companions. My men will accompany you for the rest of your journey and..." He paused. "I'll keep quiet about the handsome man you brought with you from your father." He winked at her. Ayna turned blank.

"Is he your boyfriend, Your Highness?" His wife asked, obviously keen to hear more.

"Wha... What??? No!!" Ayna shook her hands frantically. "He is just... one of my servants!"

"Come on, Ayna. All of us can see how you are so particular about him." He laughed.

"It's... it's because he... he put his life in danger to save us... It is given I return his deed..." Her face was red.

"Ahh...he reminds me of you, dear. You saved me when I almost drowned in the lake back then." The wife recalled their romantic encounter from more than a decade ago. Lord Kanan looked at his wife lovingly and nodded. The elderly couple continued to tell Ayna their love stories from the past and provided more unneeded advices.