Esther didn't return even after more than an hour so Prince Theron felt worried. With gritted teeth, he staggered to his feet, using a random stick as a cane to support himself.
"You should wait for her," he heard the old lady's voice from behind the door of her room. His movements must have been too loud because it was still difficult for him to stand, catching her attention.
"I can't," Prince Theron sighed. "You have my gratitude for letting us stay the night. I bid you farewell."
"As you wish," the old lady responded.? The Crown Prince no longer hesitated and left.
After coming out of the underground cabin, Prince Theron's unsteady body was welcomed by harsh sunlight through the thin foliage of leaves. Based on the position of the sun, it must have been around noon time. He looked around the forest, and there were no signs of anyone. If soldiers were around then they should be here with Esther.
With the assistance of the wooden stick, he decided on a direction at random and followed an animal trail he chanced upon, walking without pause despite the fact that his wound at the waist was hurting. After walking for who knows how long, the Crown Prince finally heard a familiar voice call out.
"Your Highness!" the voice called out in joy. "Prince Theron is here! We found His Highness!"
That was Sir Galien, the guardian knight of the Crown Prince.
Seeing his knight and the soldiers running towards him, Prince Theron's expression became cold. Though he should be happy seeing his people, he was feeling dismayed as his eyes searched for someone who was not there.
"Esther, where is she?" he asked with a frown.
"The Queen's servant? The Miss has guided us to come this way. She must have been left behind when we came running…" Sir Galien checked the periphery, but other than the soldiers of the search party, no one else was around.
"Where is Miss Esther?" the knight asked.
Everyone searched for her but she was not found.
It worried Prince Theron and he ordered the people to continue searching for her. A strange anxiety covered his mind though he didn't know why he was feeling like that. He also started walking around to help search for her.
"Your Highness, just let the soldiers search for the young miss," Sir Galien said, preventing the Crown Prince from joining in. Please come with me to the edge of the forest as you are heavily injured. We have already contacted the palace and a royal physician will be arriving with a carriage. They will be here soon."
Prince Theron ignored what he said and continued walking as his eyes sought for a certain blond lady. The wound at the side of his waist started to bleed again, but he did not seem to care.
"Your Highness!" Seeing how the prince ignored him, the knight could only helplessly follow behind him.
His wound was hurting and he felt tired. Prince Theron looked at his waist which was stained with blood, and the stain was only growing with each step he took. He pressed on the wound with his hand and continued walking, silently bearing all the pain he was feeling. All he wanted was to see her safe and sound.
'Why?' She was just a servant and he didn't have to be worried for her but he did. There was no reasonable answer for that 'why'.
After some time, he heard a familiar female voice filled with worry.
"Your Highness, what are you doing?!"
Prince Theron looked at the source of the voice and it was her. It was Esther. He found Esther.
She was standing at a distance on his right, looking all tired as if she came to him running without stopping. 'What happened?' was all he could think about as he walked towards her with slow unsteady footsteps.
Esther noticed he seemed to be dizzy with fever and that his wound opened up again. His clothes were drenched in blood around his waist, and even his hand that was covering the wound was covered in blood. She hurried to go towards him—she could tell that if she didn't do so, he would continue walking towards her.
"Your Highness, why are you walking like this? Why aren't you—"
To everyone's shock, Prince Theron wrapped his arms around her as if he was relieved to see her, interrupting her from the rest of her words.
"Y-Your Highness…" She didn't know what to do and felt him standing with his entire weight leaning on her. He was losing his balance. She hugged him back to hold him tight while the knights ran towards them upon realizing that the Crown Prince went unconscious.
"Get the litter to carry His Highness's body here," Sir Galien instructed one of the soldiers. After a while, the prince's unconscious body was placed on the litter prepared to be carried by two royal knights until they left the forest.
On an empty clearing outside the forest, a temporary camp had been set up by the soldiers. Esther looked at the pale face of the Crown Prince and she felt her heart skip a beat, feeling worried about his situation. She immediately held his wrist and checked his pulse. "His pulse is weak."
Fortunately, the carriage from the palace had arrived and the royal physician did not delay to attend to the unconscious young man. He also checked the Crown Prince's pulse as he heard Esther's worried voice, "Physician, sir, His Highness's pulse is really weak from blood loss and he's feverish from overexerting his body. This is the largest wound on his body that needs immediate attention.." She was pressing on his wound on the waist with her hand to stop the bleeding.
Seeing signs of infection, bringing the Crown Prince back to the royal palace for proper treatment would be the best option. However, there was no time for him to get into a carriage as they needed to stop the bleeding first, or else he might die on the way. The royal physician signalled his apprentice who passed him cloth bandages and a more advanced medicinal paste than the one Esther prepared underground. Once it was done, they fed a liquid herbal potion to the prince before urging the knight to carry him inside the carriage.
The royal physician entered the carriage as well because he needed to look after the prince while Esther stayed outside frozen, not knowing what to do. It was the first time in so many years she felt scared about someone, scared for another person who could lose his life. She didn't expect things to turn out like this. She didn't expect him to walk and search for her without caring for his injuries.
'Why did he do it? Didn't he care for his life? I went away because I sensed that dissonant energy from last night lingering nearby, and I needed to get rid of that thing to protect him. What will I say to Her Majesty if something happened to him?' She looked at her hands. 'I could not use my power so as not to attract anything towards us.. Is it too late now? I thought he would be fine after meeting his knight.'