The Mad Princess and the Dying Prince novel Chapter 10

Lady Beaumont choked back a sob, clutching her injured side. "My lord, I know nothing! I arranged everything perfectly. Who could foresee what horrors awaited on the road?"

Finch checked Lucia's pulse once more and examined her skull with furrowed brows.

"I have a potent powder that will draw out the congealed blood, but it is fierce. The pain will be immense. Can you withstand it?"

It was a remedy he had crafted for hardened knights on the battlefield. It worked miracles, but the burning agony brought even the strongest men to tears.

"Do it." Lucia didn't waste a single breath on hesitation.

Finch cast her a deeply surprised look.

It finally dawned on him that injuries this severe must already be causing excruciating pain, yet her face remained entirely impassive.

Had the girl lost all sensation?

Finch applied the harsh powder and bound her head with clean linen strips.

"Your skull took a massive blow. There may still be bleeding beneath the bone. You must remain in bed for the next few days. Move slowly, and summon a healer at the first sign of illness. I will perform some needlework now to ensure your blood flows freely."

Hearing his thorough instructions, Lucia recognized his genuine medical prowess.

The powder was already taking effect. The bleeding ceased, though her wound burned as if seared by a hot iron.

"Understood."

"Does it burn?" Finch couldn't help but ask.

"It burns. But I will endure."

He inhaled sharply.

Grown men would be thrashing in agony, yet she merely sat there?

Lucia stared at the dark mist swirling on Finch's forehead and finally spoke. "You have been suffering from frequent headaches lately, haven't you?"

Finch blinked in astonishment.

Waiting by the door, Lady Beaumont instantly seized the opportunity.

"What absolute nonsense! Are you attempting to diagnose the physician now?"

"It is true. My head has been pounding relentlessly, and I cannot discern the cause. But a man knows his own body. My time is simply coming to an end. My spark is fading. I likely won't even live long enough to change your dressings next week."

He had felt an inexplicable, unshakable certainty over the past few days that death was knocking at his door.

He had already quietly arranged his will and affairs, waiting in his manor for the final moment, only to be dragged out by Prince Jareth to treat this girl.

Perhaps it was fate that she would be his final patient.

Her calm, unshakeable demeanor had drawn the raw truth out of him.

"Do you carry a sapphire on you?" Lucia asked.

"A sapphire?"

Lucia nodded, her tone deadly serious. "I will channel that deathly aura into the stone. Then, you will not die."

Finch burst into a hearty laugh.

"You rascal. Are you trying to mock an old man in his final days?"