The Bald Princess

~Seven~

Beauty is the way you smile, my love. I see my stars shining in your eyes. And don't think any less of yourself, my girl, you hold my universe in your heart.

Atarah

"Are you okay, Miss Atarah?" Bailey asked once Warrior Duncan left the infirmary, making me look at her with a soft smile. Okay? I was more than okay. As okay as I could be. I nodded my head as I sanitized the bed as the patients left for their home. Bailey was looking at me with with her observant eyes. Like she was observing me. Bailey felt like a family and yet she felt different. Different from me. And yet so familiar. Like a sister from another mother.

"I am used to such words, Bailey. They don't hurt me as much now. Is that young lady okay now? She was crying a lot when she came in the infirmary." I asked about the girl whose mother asked me not to treat her daughter because I was bald. I could see anger filling her young eyes as she nodded her head stiffly, holding the register in her hands as she started entering the patients name who were leaving the infirmary.

"She had swelling on her abdomen. I have ran some tests and it looks like, she sat some stale food. Famine is really causing havoc now, Miss Atarah. Half of the kids aren't getting food because of the high prices and rest of them are getting rotten and stale food. But one has to fill their stomach, Miss Atarah, either by good food or by bad food." Bailey said with a sigh and I frowned at her words. True, even bread were as expensive as any precious stone. How would a poor eat food in such hardships? And why royal doesn't do a thing.

"Famine and inflation isn't just affecting them, Bailey. Tell me, do you have any money with you to feed your family?" I asked as none of us charged money for treating the patients. I didn't charge money because I was paying for my sins. It was my penance. And Bailey was helping others, selflessly because she wanted to get rid of the sins her family had committed by selling children into slavery. All of us were bound by our sins but social work won't run our house, it doesn't pay our bills. Money does. Paying jobs does.

"For now— yes, Miss Atarah. But I fear if the inflation continued for any longer, I would have to work into shifts. One has to feed the family." She said, her eyes losing its light as concern filled her once lively eyes.

"I understand, Bailey. You should search for jobs. Until when will you be at the mercy of your family?" Especially when they don't give you food the day you don't hand them money? I, of course, didn't say that out loud. She looked up from her register, occassionally smiling at the patients who bid their goodbyes to her.

"But how will you manage all alone, Miss Atarah? And I can work in shifts. But what about you? How are you even dealing with the hike in prices?'' She asked and I sighed at her question, shrugging my shoulders.

"Father's pension is supporting us for now, Bailey. It's hard to run the house expenses in such low pensions but at least, we have something in our hand. I worry for the kids who are sleeping hungry all night. We need to do something about this forced starvation."

"But what else can we do other than providing free medical aid to them? I need to leave now, Miss Atarah, you know how my Grandma is, she won't feed me if I get home any late than seven. Do you need a ride back home?" She asked and I shook my head, patting her shoulders. I have a work to do.

'Why don't you buy me a shirt, healer?" Warrior Duncan's voice rang in my head.

"No, I need to ran some errands today. I'll see you tomorrow, Bailey. And find yourself a job too, hm? Have a goodnight sleep." I said and she laughed, slinging her bag on her shoulder.

"Getting a sleep would determine if my night will be good or bad, Miss Atarah." She joked, though a part of her was serious. Her family was........ weird. Different. They aren't very fond of her. They are her family and yet they treat her like she's their paying guest. She is denied entry in her own house, the day she doesn't pay her family. She is denied food, the day she gets late from her work. She is suffering the real hardship.

"True." I laughed, though my heart curled in pain at the pain that surfaced her eyes but she was quick to mask it. And I realized, we all are getting abused at the hands of others. It's just the frequency of how often we are subjected to the abuse.

I walked in the garment shop. The shop looked empty. There were no customer in the shop and the shopkeeper was half asleep. I knocked on the counter and the shopkeeper jumped out in fear, sleep leaving his face. As soon as his eyes met mine, they narrowed in displeasure and something inside me curled in pain. This wasn't the first time people were disgusted by my presence but the pain remained the same, every single time.

"What are you doing here? Wasn't your public appearances banned? Do you really wish to taste the whip again for getting your curse to other, bald lady?" The man behind the counter growled and I tried to calm my insides down which quivered in fear. They scared me. The punishment I got last time for walking so freely in the public was still fresh in my mind. The whip marks on my body reminds me of my ugly self, every single day. But I tried to stay calm. Though tears had filled my eyes. I was on the verge of crying but I was okay. I had to be.

"I mean no harm to you, you kind Sir, I am here to just buy a few piece of clothing. Please do not call the royals, I really mean no harm to you." I said, my voice cracked and he scoffed.

"We don't want to invite the wretchedness or dolour by having you on our property. Get the f**k out of here before I call the royals on you." The owner said, throwing a dirty look at me and I smiled, swallowing the pain as I had almost turned around to leave his shop when his worker stopped me.

"Boss, there had been no sale from past few weeks. It's not wise to deny the money. You do have the money, right?" His worker asked me in his hostile tone and I quickly nodded my head, removing a few coins from my purse.

"I have money, kind Sir. And I really mean no harm to you or your shop in any way, Sir. But if you still want, I'll leave the shop." I said, not wanting another public whipping and the owner of the shop looked reluctant to sell me his products but he eventually agreed.

"Charge her extra. We're selling you our product, woman, knowing the consequences of helping a cursed woman like you. And you must pay us extra for taking the risk." He said, his tone laced with venom and I nodded my head, biting my lips.

"Of course, I won't forget your kind gestures, you kind Sir."

~~~~~~

"I think I asked you not to cross the boundary again, healer. And yet you are here." Warrior Duncan said, his dark eyes glaring at me and I sudden regretted my decision of coming here. I had enough for today. I don't need you threatening me now.

His eyes darkened maliciously as he took a step forward, his eyes akin to the lie detecting machine, which felt your heartbeats and blood pressure to know what kept running inside you. He read me— every single page of my life, every single line of miseries. I knew, I often pitied myself but that's how I was. I was the only person I had, to share my pain. I was my own therapist. I was my own friend. I was my own mother. And I was my own medicine. I was the cure when I was the only one who caused pain.

"What happened, healer?" Warrior Duncan asked, concern swirling in his dark orbs, making my eyes to look up at him. We stood alike, almost same height and yet his daunting eyes made me cower back. But these were the same eyes that made me lose myself in them.

"Nothing happened, Sir Duncan. I was here to give you this." I said, removing a white shirt from my bag and his eyes widened as he tilted his face to the side. The moonlight falling on his face made his chiseled jawline prominent. There were light scars on his face— maybe from the battles he often fought.

"You didn't had to buy me a shirt, healer. I already have four of them." He said, brushing his fingers against the soft fabric of the shirt and my heart fluttered inside my chest when his fingers accidently touched mine. His eyes jerked up, meeting mine at the same time and I quickly looked away as heat spread my cheeks. Why in the name of Almighty, was he making me blush? Nobody has ever had this impact on me. Not a royal, atleast. They scared me; Warrior Duncan, however didn't made uncomfortable. He made me feel..... normal, in a good way.

"I.... I thought you wanted them for not arresting me the day before yesterday." I said, my fingers tugging on my skirt and he took a deep breath in, shaking his head. Before he could've said anything or could have handed me the shirt back, I spoke again.

"The shopkeeper won't take the shirt back, Warrior Duncan." I quickly said, looking at him to find his gaze already on me. Way too intense for my liking.

Lord, how gorgeous can a person be? Warrior Ansel Duncan was too beautiful for his own good. For a warrior, for a man who had such dark aura, his beauty was indescribable. But I could never deny that Sir Duncan was a sight to see. I could stare at him for hours and hours if he wouldn't have been a royalty and I wouldn't have been a bald woman.

"You, healer are stupidly adorable. Did you buy me two of them?" He asked and my eyebrows furrowed in confusion as my heart stuttered inside me. Adorable? He found me adorable. Wasn't I hideous? Scary?

"Um, no? Why?"

"Because there's another shirt inside your bag." He said motioning towards my bag and I looked down to find my bad zipped. How did he knew I had another shirt in my bag when it was clearly zipped?

"That's for my father. And how did you know I had another shirt in my bag?" I saw his eyebrows raising up and amusement swirling in them as he leaned his face closer to mine, making my breath to hitch. Kill me already, please.

"Killing you so early won't be as much fun, healer." He said with a smug expression on his face and my eyes widened as I took a step back, stumbling on my feet.

"Huh?"

"I smelled them." He said casually and I tilted my head, looking at him in utter confusion. What are you, a wolf?

"Huh?"

"You asked me, how I knew you had another shirt in your bag and I replied with I smelled it in your bag. And next time, healer, do not buy things for me because the day I accept your 'gifts' you won't be able to escape me. But since I didn't arrest you the other night, I'll accept this shirt as a p*****t to me, hm? And no, this is not a bribe." He said, making me blush as I gulped, nodding my head, though I didn't knew what he meant by 'I won't be able to escape him if he accepted my "gifts".'

"I.... I should leave." I stammered out and he nodded his head, looking at the sky.

"You should, it's getting late. Come, I'll drop you home."