Physician to the Dragon Prince

CHAPTER 3 – His personal nurse

CHAPTER 3 – His personal nurse

Emma’s POV

“His Grace commanded us to take you to the servants’ quarters of the castle, for you to clean yourself.” A rigid soldier with broad shoulders came in to take me away.

“I won’t go anywhere without my mother!” My voice rose again and echoed through the dungeon walls.

“Very well. If you disobey His Grace’s commands, we have been instructed to hang your mother,” the soldier threatened coldly and walked towards my mother.

“Don’t you dare lay a single finger on her body! I will come with you!” I retorted loudly and stood up.

“Mother, you stay safe with others and I will come back soon,” I assured with a soft voice and she nodded.

Two maids were there when I came out from the dungeons. One of them was an older, mature lady and the other was a young girl. They both wore blue dresses and a scarf was tied to their head.

“Take her to the servants’ room and give her fresh clean clothes to wear. His Grace commanded to do so and when she is done, send her to the chambers of His Grace,” the soldier instructed, handing over the chains and key to the mature lady.

“Come with us and don’t struggle. There’s no way you can escape out of this castle. If you try to escape from here, the consequences will be not good for you and your loved ones. If you get the wrath of His Grace, you will suffer for your whole life in a deep dark dungeon,” the mature lady warned with a firm voice, her face contorted with seriousness. The girl with her looked down and didn’t utter a word.

We walked out from the dungeons and I could finally see the castle clearly. My eyes fluttered a few times, familiarizing me with the light. The castle was gigantic and much bigger than the Castle Euthoria of Dartburry, where I had served my king. We walked through a corridor and my sight wandered around to inspect the castle, occasionally peeping outside the corridor windows.

Five strong, square towers stood mightily, their tops almost touching the sky. They were set firm and were strong for a great defensive line. All of them were connected by lower, massive walls made of light grey stones. Elegant windows were distributed generously across the walls in seemingly random patterns, along with same-sized holes for archers and artillery.

The entrance to the castle was a sensible large gate with broad wooden doors.

Various large houses were scattered outside the castle gates, surprisingly the rich were comfortable living outside the gates as well. The castle showed some signs of decay after being around for ages, but its inhabitants were determined to repair any weaknesses to make sure the castle would be around for ages to come.

Carts, boxes, tents, and various trade goods were stacked and packed outside the castle, checked by the guards. I think those are supplies for the castle. I walked behind the two ladies and after a while, we came to the corner of the corridor and climbed down the staircase leading to another corridor. They keep walking and I followed them. The torches of the corridor were shining brightly but this part of the castle was dark even though it was still daylight outside.

“Come in.” The mature lady opened the door for me.

Entering the room, my eyes spontaneously roamed around, inspecting the room closely.  The room wasn’t big, it had three beds with clean sheets on them and everything was nicely arranged. I guess this is the maids' room.

“My name is Agatha and this is Gillian. What is your name, pretty lady?” the mature lady asked with a small smile.

“It’s Emma Carroll Trinder,” I told her.

“You need to have a warm bath. Here, I have a set of clothes for you, get ready with this. Until then, I have some work in the kitchen. I will come as soon as I am done with it,” she explained and I nodded. I didn’t have anything else to do other than nodding to others.

I took the clothes from here and went for a hot bath. Silently, I watched as the water turned brown with my dust and mud. We fought hard in the war even though we were not soldiers but nevertheless, everyone was supposed to learn and practice some attacking skills. It was probably because our king always expected that one day we would be attacked by another kingdom no matter how peacefully we lived. Peace can’t be manifested in the world until such greedy and murderer princes and kings ruled the world. Soon the water became clear again after washing away all the mud, dust, and dry blood from my body. But could anyone can wash away the pain in my heart?

I slowly wiped my body and got dressed in the clean clothes provided. She had given me a dress much like the one she was wearing. It was a long blue dress, with a frilled white apron, probably the standard dress code for maids of the castle. I sat on the bed and looked at my palms somberly. Pearl-like tears fell on my palms slowly, but when I recollected my father, I started sobbing louder. I never even had a chance to see his corpse. My mother just informed me that he was no longer with us.

“Are you ready? Then let’s go to meet His Grace.” Agatha approached me and chained my hands again.

“Why are you chaining me again? I am not going anywhere, don’t worry. I will only leave this prison after avenging the death of my father. Your prince is responsible for his death!” My chest was heaving heavily with anger when I remembered his face.

“You need to keep quiet if you want to live. To take revenge, you need to stay alive, right?” Agatha said and walked forward.

We walked on the same path until we reached the third tower, most likely the center of the castle. She turned to the right side of the tower and soon we were in another corridor. She walked towards the corner of the corridor. When we passed along the corridor, the torches lit accordingly and when we finished passing them, they went off. This castle is hiding a lot of secrets! Eventually, we stopped in front of a room. The room was heavily guarded and the soldiers looked at us with the corner of their eyes.

The huge wooden doors were carved with dragons and at the top of the door were two large dragon sculptures with wide-open mouths. Do they eat humans? Or burn them alive with their fire?

Agatha knocked on the door.

“Come in.” When I heard his deep voice my whole body jolted. I squeezed the side of my dress and sighed deeply.

Agatha opened the door for me and we both entered.

His face got slightly irritated when he saw me with the chains. He asked Agatha to leave so that only both of us were in the room. I didn’t want to bow to him, I detested the thought. In my eyes, he was a murderer, not a prince. Instead, I looked around his chambers.  

The room had a huge comfortable bed with clean and silky sheets on it. The room was fully decorated with blue and grey furniture. In the corner of the room, there was a circular writing table and on it were some scattered papers with a feather along with a small bottle of ink.

We were looking at each other’s eyes attentively and I knew that none of us were ready to surrender to anyone. His ego was hurt by my feisty words towards him, but finally, he brought up the last trump card he had—he threatened to kill my mother. I had already lost my father and I couldn’t lose her too. I had to stay alive, keep my mother safe and so, I had to be bendable to his will.

“Very well. Let’s start with your name.” I could see his smile of mockery due to my surrender, slowly fading from his face.  

“Your Grace, my name is Emma Carroll Trinder,” I introduced myself, clenching my teeth, nodding my head but I refused to fully bow before him.

“Emma, tell me something about yourself.” He stood right in front of me, his large frame towering over my body. I even noticed that our shadows, created by the torches inside the room, were almost touching.

“There’s nothing important about myself, Your Grace. I was a noble servant to my king, King Meges Osidie of Euthoria Castle of Dartburry. In fact, I was a loyal servant, but now, after your attack, there’s no kingdom anymore. You have ruined everything we had and I can see that your bloodthirst has disappeared from your face,” I spat my verbal venom at him valiantly but he looked at me with an expressionless face. I couldn’t read what was going on in his mind nor did it reflect on his face.

“Only answer the question I asked! Do not blabber in front of me,” he warned, his voice laced with authority.

“I am not important enough for you to learn about, my lord. You are a prince, you have enough people in your place to concern yourself about, and I am just a prisoner,” I replied bravely, my tone of voice slowly rising inadvertently.

“It is I who decides who will get my attention and who won’t. You are no one here to decide anything in this castle, Tigress, and I don’t like to repeat myself to a servant like you,” he growled. If I am a lowly servant, then why did he call me to his chambers?

“You will know why you are in my chambers soon.” When I heard his words, I shivered a little and the hair on the back of my neck rose.  How on earth did he know that what I was thinking? Can he read my mind? Does he have that ability? I should be careful next time.

“Forgive me, Your Grace, I believe it is I who should question my presence. Why am I here alone in the Prince’s chambers?” I inquired, looking at him inquisitively as I titled up my neck upwards to speak to him.

His radiating aura was too strong for me to look at him, but I heard him explain my presence, “you will serve in my medical force as a nurse. I will ask Agatha to introduce you to the Royal Physician, and you will be responsible for my health, personally visiting me daily to check on my well-being.”

If he already has a Royal Physician, why does he want me to check his health? On the other hand, I could add poison to his meals and give it to him.

“Don’t ever think of poisoning me, Tigress, or else,  the consequences will be not good for your mother.” His penetrating gaze drilled through my body. How does he know what I am thinking?

“Pardon me, Your Grace, but if you have a personal royal physician to check your health, why do you need me? I am but a nurse, and I am unaware of the health standards of dragons. I have done checkups on humans. Your Grace, I believe you should continue your health check-up with the current royal physician.” I refused to serve him. I didn’t want to contribute to his good health, he was my father’s murderer.

“Tigress, don’t be stubborn and don’t show me your ego. Royal Physicians have already a lot of duties to do. He checks the king also from time to time, and I think this way will bring him a release from his duties little. Keep in mind that I am the one who makes the decisions here, not you.” He stared at me intently, his blue eyes were beautiful as they were dangerous. I had never seen such colored eyes before. He also had an authoritative figure that would make anyone fall on their knees, but I never wanted to. He would certainly not be spoilt with my behavior.

“I will do everything accordingly, My Lord! May I go now?” I responded and turned to leave.

“You can go now and meet Agatha. She will brief you on your duties as my personal nurse,” he said to me and I nodded.

Great, Emma! You are going to be responsible for the health of your father’s murderer!