Seyran

Chapter 16: Tangled secrets

The sun was setting fast in the cold weather of the last month of the year, bringing down with it the light of the day. Light's pearls, candles, and the strict lights were already being lit. In the health center of the imperial palace, the light's pearls were of the rarer quality, beautifully round and magnificently luminescent, almost blinding, not big yet powerful enough to turn the night into day. Just one per room was more than enough with that kind. With those tools' light, the antidote for Yenaigai was safely prepared and had been left to cool down with the ambient temperature of the delicately heated room for it wouldn't do it any good, to cool down abruptly.

In fact, the usual cure for the red ants' poison was already available inside the health center but seeing the reaction of the patient far stronger than that of a normal infected person, the different chiefs discussed the possibility of condensing a stronger dosage for him while at the same time being preoccupied with the negative effects. It varied from a patient to another but generally, they were buzzing sounds in ears, the sensation of being hot one moment and cold the next one or a muscle that contracted suddenly. That was usually because the antidote used was said to have an effect on some selected people's cores. But this patient had his core destroyed they couldn't risk more damages done to it not knowing if he was of the percentage of those who would be affected. So it wasn't really easy to have the antidote condense enough to heal him and at the same time dilute enough to not cause other problems. The calculation for it had been, surprisingly, being done by the imperial head physician herself.

When the time had been judged right, under the watchful eyes of the crown princess, they put the patient in a seating position, pried opened his mouth and inserted something like a small tube inside of him. It was a tube different than the one they had used to feed him easily digested liquid food and salty water some hours before. Now the tube was thinner and a little longer. Little by little, the department chief of flesh, who was the one administrating, let the antidote in the tube drop by drop. While she was doing so, the others were explaining what was there to explain. That was how they had worked the whole day, not moving or touching a thing without taking the time to explain their every move to the seated person next to the bed, not that the other was responding; then again she wasn't asking them to stay silent too, so they kept on explaining. The first who had started to explain had been their chief elder and afterward, the poison department's chief and the qi's department chief took turns explaining when they weren't fiddling with flasks in their hands.

They were working earnestly, that she could tell, whether or not they really got the right cure, it wasn't something Seyran could give a defined answer to. But she knew that under these people's care, the servant didn't wake up again. Whether it was their work or that of the multiples sedatives shots in his blood that was finally reacting, that too, she wasn't sure; but she knew at the very least that by herself there wasn't much that she could do. Between killing and healing, killing was the only thing she knew.

Huang was softly snoring on one corner of the bed for hours now. The little bird was tired... and a little hungry too. It contemplated asking for mana but remembered being told to cultivate a day ago. There was a strong unwillingness in it concerning that fact, and that aside, it wasn't like it could gather that much concentration in this bustling room anyway. Furthermore, it refused to fly to do so in a calmer environment. That had, of course, nothing to do with the fact that he didn't want to be away from the sick man. Nothing! It was just that flying was too tiring!

So, the red little bird slept with a hungry stomach, as close as it could be to the one it said had nothing to do with its unwillingness to go out.

As the last drop of the medicine went down the tube, Chief elder glanced at the now empty door. More than anxiety it was actually a faint surprise that she had felt when the royal advisor had gone, letting her know that she may have miscalculated. Her gaze rested on Seyran's back head afterward. With crossed legs and a hand resting under her chin, she didn't mind the slightest bit when her angry aunt departed. Maybe that talk about this person being able to manipulate Fenrir wasn't all gibberish or why else would she treat her elder with this little consideration. Shanlin had waited but let alone entering; Seyran hadn't even turned her head to look her way. In the end, she left fuming not bothering to conceal her anger. Head Yahui then glanced at captain Shen who was standing behind the crown princess's chair as she has always been since her appointment as captain of the crown princess's guards. There wasn't much difference between her way of being now and how she used to be two days before, letting elder chief pondered still if those claims that the crown princess was another person was actually really true.