126 A decision has been made
The next ti he was conscious, Henry was already laying on the simple bed with a wooden small table beside it. He looked around and saw a simple but cozy room the owner projected, dried flowers everywhere, and the sll of herbs enticing his nose. Henry already guested the owner of the room.
As soon as he thinks about it, Anne enters the room. Henry was astonished just by looking at her face. She is changing, but in a good way, her face was maturing, her nose although not as sharp but still pretty to look at, her mouth now features more full lips than when she was a teenager, and her eyes now shapes to be rounder but beautiful to looks at, the purple hair color remained, but it’s now in more volu and fluffy than two years ago. In a way, Anne now looks more beautiful than before.
Their eyes t, and the situation beco awkward all of a sudden. She smiled at Henry and asked him a question.
“How do you feel?”
Henry tried not to look directly at her, just gave Anne a cold treatnt and asked her back, “What happened to ?”
“You fell unconscious after fighting with a half-giant.” She answered Henry while mixing so herbs into a glass of water.
Scoffed after hearing Anne, Henry now feels a bit light-headed. He winces and Anne rushes into the man with the dicine in her hand.
“Take this, you had a concussion. This dicine will help ease the pain.” Said Anne to Henry.
Anne tried to hand him the dicine, but Henry refused, not even trying to look at her face.
.....
“No, I don’t need the dicine.” He said to Anne while looking away from her.
A sigh ca from Anne. She almost pleaded for Henry to take the dicine from her hand. “Please, just take the dicine.”
No other words ca from Henry’s mouth, only a scoff, and not long after a grunt, the headache ca in full force. Anne tried to check on him, but Henry rejected her hand imdiately.
“Stay away from , I don’t want you to touch !” Henry warned her while his face looking at the window beside the bed, “Why am I here, anyway? In your room?” Gruntled Henry, trying to manage the pain in his head.
“How do you know this is my room?” Asked Anne innocently.
Flustered, Henry stuttered at Anne, “I... Well, I just knew... Now you can put the dicine on the table... I’ll drink it after you leave alone.”
Anne sighed, but after all, giving in to his request, she put the dicine on the small table and leave Henry alone, but not before warning him about the consequences if he refused to drink the dicine. Henry gave her a nod, and still not going to see her face.
The other two, Horden and David, have waiting in her living room, they stand up when she goes out of her bedroom.
“How was he?” Asked Horden to Anne, his face was full of concern.
Smiling at the old man, she tells him the results, “He is fine, just a concussion, already gave him the dicine, and is probably going to sleep right now.”
The two of them let out a sigh of relief. Horden smile at Anne and tried to express his gratitude, “Oh, thank you, Anne, if it wasn’t for you...”
Putting her hand in front, Anne grinned at Horden imdiately, “Oh it’s alright Commander, I will do it for everyone, not just for Henry, it’s my duty after all.”
“I know, dear, but still, please accept my gratitude.” Horden warmly smiles at Anne.
Anne served them a caftea and begin to have a conversation.
“So... Seeing my friend, David is here, I suspected you asked him for my whereabouts?” Anne asked Horden while David just drink his caftea, trying to be quiet.
“Yes, I am sorry, my dear. I really need to et you. Well, actually, chief Hale really needs to et you.” Said Horden, with a guilty conscience on his face.
A frown ca on Anne’s face. “Chief Hale asking for ? What happened at the capital?”
“Apparently sothing serious,” Horden tried to explain with a sigh, “There’s a new variant of the disease that ca to the capital, and many people are already infected by it, he was afraid that the disease will beco a new pandemic soon.”
“What? That was absurd. Not every variant of diseases will have a potential risk of being a pandemic.” Anne said to Horden. She was a bit taken aback by how chief Hale tried to conclude the disease that fast.
“But he was so sure about it, and rember, the spread of the disease is triple in just two months.” Horden said to Anne once again, “Chief Hale worried about the spread, and when he t with a mber of a traveling circus that in a treatnt at the main hospital for a crushed toe, he... He said sothing that was intriguing.”
“Don’t tell . He told chief Hale about , the healer that stayed in his village.” This is what Anne is afraid of, soone telltale about her staying in this village. She already begged all the n to keep her whereabouts a secret. But sothing tells her that the situation was so dire that the circus mber needs to inform chief Hale about her.
“He did, and he also inford him about your capability to heal the new variant of the disease,” Horden went quiet for a while, and afterward, decided to ask Anne, “Did you really have the cure for the disease?”
Shaking her head, Anne looks at Horden with a bittersweet smile, “There’s no patented cure, I just tried to concoct so dicine that will fight the disease, it was actually a trial-and-error right now.”
“So, it wasn’t a cure at all, just your attempted and valiant effort to help the people fighting the disease.” Horden put his hands on his head, frustrated by her honesty.
“I must apologize for disappointing you and chief Hale, but I truly don’t have the cure.” Said Anne once again.
“How many people that you have treated with this new variant?” Said a voice coming from Anne’s room. They turned around to see Henry leaning on the door fra, his face remain stiff when he looks at her, “So? How much?”
Anne tried to rember the exact number. “Err... it was twenty people for about two months. This is a small village, after all.”
“How many people that you successfully treated?” Asked Henry again.
“Eighteen, two people had sadly died from the illness.” Her head was down, rembering the nice grandma and the ten-year-old boy that was dying in her arms.
Horden, David, and even Henry were astonished by how high her percentage of the curing rates was.
“Anne, did you know how much percentage of the curing rates in the main hospital against this new variant of disease?” Horden asked her, trying to give her the reality of how crumbling the main hospital is right now, “It was thirty percent, chief Hale will never ask you to go back if it’s not for this dire situation that he was facing right now.”
Rembering the letter that she sent to chief Hale back then, she wanted to rescind her certification and go wandering the world. Chief Hale imdiately goes to her, riding a horse to the mansion of her best friend, where she stayed for a while. He asked her to keep the certification and beco the certified healer in every place that need her help.
Anne owed her a job right now because of chef Hale. He was very convincing, and she even received her monthly salary for a one-star junior healer. With her salary, she could help people in rural areas with ease, because she doesn’t need to think about coins all the ti. She was a frugal person, after all. One gold coin with ten bronze points was enough for her and Chikara, who is now already a full fledge Demon cat that can hunt for his own food.
Henry looks at Anne with a frowned. “So, what’s your decision, mind you? If you refused to go with , I will use brute force to take you with .”
Anne knew imdiately that it wasn’t a bluff coming from Henry’s mouth, although she just reply to her with a sarcastic remark, “Well, cry a river, I really like to see you’re trying though, since Chikara is already maturing, and now ready to attack from inside my shadow.”
“Would the two of you stop?!” Horden was not having it, “Henry, you stop with your rude threat already. I have enough of it!” After he warned his grandson, he looks at Anne and asks her, “So, do you really refuse to go back and beco a healer in the main hospital?”
Anne looked around her small hut, and with a sad voice. She gave Horden her answer. Two days later, a letter ca for prince Jason. It was from Henry, regarding his reassignnt mission. When he read the letter, he walks imdiately to Justice’s study room.
He gave a light knock and enter the room before Justice says his permission to enter.
“Well, hello to you too, brother.” Teased Justice. He was sitting at his desk, reviewing docunts.
“Henry sent a letter. He found Anne.” Said Jason imdiately after he entered the study.
Justice was frozen. He cald himself for a while before replying to Jason, “So, what did he say exactly?”
Jason took a deep breath and said, “River Anne agreed to go back to the capital, and resu her duty as the healer in the main hospital.”
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