One Year

Questions

The Imperial Doctor was already waiting in one of the quarters near the Peony Koi Garden when they arrived.  His guards surrounded the room as Petra helps Ryu lay Siri on her front on the bed.  With a dagger, Ryu cuts through his coat and her dress to expose the dagger sticking out of her back.  Ryu moves away and watches as Doctor Honor quickly looks at what he's dealing with. 

"Good news."  Doctor Honor said as he touches the area around the wound.  "The dagger did not hit any bones.  We should work quickly so no more blood is lost." 

"We can help."  Meada and Gilldy said in unison.  Their heavy heart felt guilty.  It was their job to ensure her health and safety, but instead their Mistress got hurt.  It was their fault she was in this predicament.  "Our Lady taught us how to tend to wounds.  What ever you need we can assist you Doctor!" 

Doctor Honor looked at the two girls and wanted to argue with them, but seeing how the Prince didn't say anything to contradict them, he nodded his head yes to them.  After instructing them to give him certain tools to clean the Princess's wound, he finally took the handle of the dagger and pulled it out.  As he pulled the dagger, more blood gushed out from her wound, but Meada and Gilldy was there and ready with gauzes to cover the wound and slow down the bleeding. 

Meada took the tools for sewing up wounds out from her sleeve and took over Doctor Honor's job when she saw him heating up an iron in the coals to close the wound up. 

"With all due respect, Doctor Honor."  Meada said as she unraveled the catgut and threaded it through her needle.  "But my Lady should not have any scars on her body.  We'll be taking over for now." 

"How dare you---" Doctor Honor began to say but was interrupted by Prince Ryu. 

"Your services are no longer needed." Ryu told him.  "Pack up your things and go."

Never in his life has anyone treated him this way.  Without anymore words from him and Prince Ryu, he packed up his things and left. 

Meada sewed the wound up quickly with expert hands.  Remembering what their mistress taught them, she worked with calm hands and a calm heart.  When she finished closing up the wound, Gilldy took over to put the healing ointment on top of the closed wound. 

When the two of them started taking Siri's dress off, Ryu signaled for every male guard to leave the room and guard the door.  With her dress off, they wrapped her back with clean cloth so the wound would stay clean.  Ryu stared at them in a silent anger at himself as he blamed himself. 

Who was Prince Ronin and Concubine Nina to him and his future?  No one.  No one that mattered.  So why is it that he tried to save them and not the person who truly mattered? Why didn't he turn around to save her?  She was his one chance to become healthy again.  The one chance to pay back his King Brother for poisoning him.  The one person who did everything in her powers to make him and his men stronger and faster.  The one person who was his light in the darkness that he lived in for the past 7 years.  So why didn't he save her?

"Leave us." Ryu ordered Meada, Gilldy and Nancy out of the room. 

When he was alone with Siri, he rolled himself up to her and held her hand. 

"Why are you so cold?  Why is it that you're always so cold?" Ryu asked Siri hoping that she would hear him.  "Why aren't you answering this Prince?"

--------------------

"Tell me."  Ryu asked Rose, Meada and Gilldy the next morning when they came to report to work.  After they stabilized Siri, they all left the royal palace under Ryu's personal guards protection.  Instead of bringing Siri to the Flowing Lily Courtyard, Ryu directly brought Siri into his courtyard to rest and recuperate.  He dismissed everyone and stayed up the whole night watching over Siri.  Wondering why she said she was always cold when he stated her hand was cold. 

"Tell me."  Ryu asked again.  "Why Princess Siri is always cold."

Meada, Rose and Gilldy all fell to their knees and bowed so their head was level to the ground. 

"Princess Siri was infected with the Spirit of Coldness.  Ever since she knelt in front of the royal palace to beg an audience with the King when he called off her engagement with Crown Prince Morgan, she fainted after kneeling in the rain for three days and two nights.  Ever since then our Lady was infected with the Spirit of Coldness."  Gilldy answered truthfully. 

"Is there anything else I should know about Princess Siri?"  Ryu asked as he held her cold hand in his. 

"Ever since she got infected with the Spirit of Coldness, she has forgotten some past events."  Rose admitted.  "When she first woke up, she forgot our faces, her father's face and faces of the people who are most close to her.  She even forgotten about her heartbreak with the Crown Prince.  We thought maybe it was for the best that she forgot about her heartbreak.  Then she'll have a reason to live, instead of risking her life to kneel and beg for an audience with the King. With time she remember certain things in her life.  The four arts that she learned came back first, then some memories that we shared together with her.  Other than that, she doesn't remember much.  If she does, she doesn't talk about them." 

"Ever since Princess Siri woke up she has been trying her best to find a cure to cure the Spirit of Coldness within her.  That is why she has been reading so many books on medicine for the past two years.  We know you've asked her who her Master is and Princess Siri is telling the truth.  She has no Master.  All she knows is from reading books.  Those strange instruments of healing, she dreamt them and drew them herself.  She explained to the Chen blacksmith what she wanted and checked in on the blacksmith every day to ensure the instruments of healing were correct." Gilldy said. 

"Please forgive our Lady for not telling you the truth.  Please do not forsake our Lady."  Meada said before she kowtowed to Ryu.  But before her head could even touch the floor Ryu's words stopped her. 

"Do not dirty my floor with your blood."  Ryu said coldly.  "Leave. All of you.  When your Lady wakes up, word would be sent to you." 

All three maids left his quarters and went back to the Flowing Lily Courtyard.  Ryu held on to her cold hands and thought why she would keep these things to herself and not tell him about it. From what he knows of the Spirit of Coldness is that if she didn't take care of her body, the shortest she would live is a year, the longest is ten years. Since the annulment of her engagement with Crown Prince Morgan, it would be two years since she was diagnose with her illness.  But it was because of him, that endangered her life.  No wonder she wanted to live so badly.  No wonder she wanted to be free after a year of marriage.  So she could live the rest of her life the way she wanted to live it. 

"If this Prince promises you that you can live the life you wanted, as long as you stayed by this Prince's side.  What would you say?"  Ryu asked her unconscious body.  "What would you say if this Prince decides not to annul our marriage at the end of the year and decides to keep you instead? Would you hate this Prince?  What if this Prince has decided to make you this Prince's Queen?  Would you hate this Prince?  What would you say if you heard all these nonsense that this Prince has just said.  What would you say?" 

Ryu said as he sighed back into his wheelchair.  "Say something... anything..."