348 Changing The Clothes
With the old woman gone, Esther could finally relax a little, although she did not dare lower her guard in this strange place. She looked at the unconscious man whose face was almost white due to blood loss and realized that now she had the means to heal him, she should start treatment right away. It would be terrible if his condition worsens.
She put the wooden box to the side as she kneeled on the floor, the damp skirt of her dirty dress pooling around her as she leaned forward towards the mattress where Prince Theron was laying. She first decided to remove his clothes, and again moved her hands to touch his undershirt. Since the garment was torn and coated in blood, and the old woman already provided a change of clean clothes, Esther simply decided to rip his clothes off his body. She had a little trouble doing so as she was physically stronger than the strongest human alive.
The sound of tearing fabric echoed within the silent underground cabin.
After Esther removed his undershirt, the young prince’s naked upper body came into her sight. Contrary to expectations, his strong muscled chest was riddled with scars, many stab wounds that seemed several years old.
‘I wonder how many times has this weak human teetered on the abyss between life and death. How many of these are wounds from battle? How many came from assassinations?’
It took her several seconds to realize she was lightly tracing the lines of his chest muscles. Though it felt awkward, she decided to erase what she did from her memory and proceeded to look at his open wounds. There was a large gaping wound on his left shoulders near the collarbones, while there was another one on the side right of his waist just above his hip bone. Both of them started bleeding heavily again after Esther and Prince Theron fell from the pit.
She needed something to press against one of his wounds to stop the bleeding while she cleaned the other. She went towards the shelves and the wooden cupboard where the old woman said their basic needs were kept. Inside the wooden cupboard, she found a stack of neatly-folded clothes and took a few clean towels with her. She then took a bowl for mixing herbs, along with other necessities.
After pressing the clean towels against his wounds to temporarily stop their bleeding, she then proceeded to a small stove in the corner where she proceeded to boil water. With practised movements, she then started cleaning his wounds with warm water.
Her hands were adept like a seasoned apothecary as she mixed the herbs in the bowl after grinding them into a paste. One would even think she’s a young apprentice physician if they see how skillfully she applied the herb paste on his wounds. When she finished treating the wounds, she then covered them with the bandages she found from the wooden cupboard.
“I have been treating animals in the forest for so many years, but this is the first time I have treated a human. Oh, the Crown Prince is not the first. His mother was first. Queen Theodora was the first human I treated, so he counts as the second human but the first male I ever treated.”
Now that treatment was over, she needed to put on clean clothes on him but…that would mean she had to take his pants off as well. Sighing deeply, she could not help but lament, ‘I am sure he will behead me if he realizes I am the one who changed his clothes. His temper is not good in the first place, and I am sure he hates me like we were enemies in our past lives. It’s even annoying because I have never done a single wrong thing to him or his family. What does he even take me for?’
After a few more moments of grumbling, she still decided to dress him—after all, wouldn’t he be cold if she left him alone like that? She first covered him with the quilt that was lying at the foot of the mattress and covered him with it. Without looking at his lower body, she moved her hands under the quilt and reached his waist. She carefully groped around to unbuckle his belt and unbutton his pants before pulling them off his long legs. Once it was removed, the corners of her lips curled into a smile of triumph, as if she had achieved an incredibly important feat.
From the wooden box, she unfolded the clothes given by the old woman. They were baggy robes and looked easy to put on. With his body properly bandaged, she quickly managed to put those clothes on Prince Theron, making sure she would not move his body and reopen his wounds. After placing his body on the clean, dry side of the mattress, she covered him with a quilt and decided to change her clothes.
She looked around the room to check if there was any place where she could change her clothes. However, the entire cabin was a single large open area and there were no divisions so there was nothing that she could use to hide her body while changing. Though the Crown Prince was unconscious, he was a man and she found it awkward to change the clothes in front of him. What if he happened to regain consciousness at the worst possible timing?
Esther looked at the door where the old lady had gone in and remembered her words to not disturb her, but in this scenario, she had to. With slow footsteps, she went towards the door, only to hear the old woman’s warning from behind the door the moment she twisted the doorknob.
“Didn’t I tell you not to disturb me? Seems like you want me to throw you out of my home!”
Esther immediately closed the barely opened door and wondered why that old woman was inside a pitch-black room.
She heard the old woman’s raspy voice again. “Don’t even dare to step out of that room. I have sealed the pit where you entered, and this place is protected so whoever is chasing you won’t find you two. But if you are stupid enough to step out…”
Esther quietly nodded, understanding what the old woman meant. The seal would probably disappear if she moves out of its area.
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