The Little Princess's Secret Guard - Chapter 11
Chapter 11: Applying Medicine
“Your Highness overthinks. This subordinate merely wishes to treat the saber wound on your shoulder.”
Lin Xiao did nothing more than gently loosen the sash at her waist, without completely undoing it.
Calming down and realizing she had made a huge joke, Shen Panyan’s face flushed crimson.
“You… you should have just told me. I… I thought…” She lowered her head, completely avoiding Lin Xiao’s gaze.
Lin Xiao glanced at her, seeming somewhat confused. “This subordinate already mentioned it just now.”
Shen Panyan:
Thinking back carefully, he had indeed mentioned it, but she had misunderstood.
Her cheeks immediately grew hotter. When she saw Lin Xiao’s hand move toward her left shoulder, Shen Panyan instantly grew anxious. “Wait!”
Lin Xiao’s action stopped. He looked at her questioningly, thinking she was unwilling.
“Your Highness, the saber wound must be treated immediately. If left for too long, the wound could become inflamed.”
Had they not been unable to return tonight, he would never have risked offending the Princess.
“I… I know,” Shen Panyan stammered. Treating the wound was one thing, but removing her clothes was something she found hard to accept. “I… I’ll undo it myself.”
Seeing her insist, Lin Xiao stepped back and turned around.
“Your Highness can call this subordinate when ready.”
Shen Panyan softly “Mm-hmm’d,” then tried to undo the clothes on her left arm.
However, as soon as she moved the clothes, it tugged at the bl00d-caked wound. The searing pain instantly surged up, making Shen Panyan gasp sharply.
“Hiss…”
The sound of falling snow drifted in from outside. The firelight flickered, but the dim light couldn’t conceal the paleness of Shen Panyan’s lips.
Her fingertips trembled. She couldn’t bring herself to just rip the clothes open in one go. Instead, it was like a dull knife grinding against flesh—every movement brought a fresh wave of pain.
After several attempts, Shen Panyan couldn’t bear the torment any longer. After hesitating for a long time, she finally looked up at the black figure in front of her.
The night was pitch black. He seemed to blend entirely into the darkness. If not for the firelight reflecting his silhouette, she wouldn’t even notice someone was standing there.
“Lin Xiao…”
“How about… how about you do it!”
Lin Xiao turned around. He saw Shen Panyan had torn her clothes haphazardly, and her beautiful apricot eyes were filled with tears. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say.
“Yes.”
His hands were much faster.
“Your Highness, please endure the pain.”
Shen Panyan nodded tearfully. “Be… be gentle.”
Lin Xiao nodded. However, his movements were extremely swift. Better a short sharp pain than a long dull one. In one motion, he removed the clothes from her shoulder, exposing a smooth, fair shoulder, and a beautiful, well-formed collarbone.
Shen Panyan clutched her clothes tightly with her other hand, terrified that they would slide down further.
A cold draft swept across her shoulder. Lin Xiao’s gaze was fixed on her shoulder, and Shen Panyan’s body trembled. She involuntarily wanted to hide.
Lin Xiao was completely focused only on her wound.
Beside her beautiful collarbone was a gash where flesh was split open. The wound had clotted, and dark red scabs were stuck to her clothes. Now that the wound was torn open again, fresh red bl00d immediately began to ooze out.
“Your Highness, you need not regard this subordinate as a person, nor dwell on this matter,” Lin Xiao said, his voice calm and detached as he began cleaning her wound.
Young noblewomen highly valued their purity. Given the Princess’s timid nature, he feared she might become despondent and take her own life.
“This subordinate has overstepped. Upon our return, this subordinate will personally ask Your Highness for punishment.”
“It hurts…” Tears welled up in Shen Panyan’s eyes. The pain occupied her mind completely, and she didn’t hear what he was saying.
“Your Highness, please bear with it a little longer.”
Every movement he made caused Shen Panyan’s body to involuntarily twitch. Her voice trembled. “Lin Xiao, it hurts…”
Helplessly, Lin Xiao tried to soften his movements again and again.
This reminded him of when he had accidentally injured the Princess before and applied medicine to her.
Even that small wound had made her fingers tremble with pain. This saber wound, though…
Lin Xiao’s gaze suddenly fell on Shen Panyan’s face.
He saw cold sweat beading on her forehead. She was biting her lips tightly, so hard that bl00d was starting to seep out faintly.
Lin Xiao paused, feeling a headache. “Your Highness, bite this.”
Since he had nothing else, he placed his right hand near her lips.
Shen Panyan was stunned and looked up at him.
They were incredibly close now, close enough for her to easily see every emotion in his eyes.
Calmness, indifference, and a hint of another emotion mixed in, which she didn’t understand. It seemed like impatience toward her.
Shen Panyan’s heart trembled, and she lowered her gaze.
It was perfectly normal for Lin Xiao to be impatient with her. After all, she didn’t even like herself.
As the medicinal powder was sprinkled onto the wound, pain surged through her. Shen Panyan’s body uncontrollably convulsed. Without thinking, she bit down hard on his hand.
Let this be his punishment for offending her!
Lin Xiao, bitten hard by the Princess, didn’t even frown.
As the medicinal powder took effect, the pain in her shoulder gradually subsided, and Shen Panyan slowly let go.
She turned her head away, not daring to look at him.
Lin Xiao used the cloth he had torn off earlier to bandage her wound. He pulled her clothes back up over her shoulder, then got up and left.
“Your Highness, please rest early. We will rush back to the Retreat first thing tomorrow morning.”
“…Mm.”
One sat by the fire, the other sat further away from the fire. Neither spoke again. The entire cave was quiet, save for the crackling of the burning wood.
Shen Panyan watched the flickering orange firelight. The wound on her left shoulder no longer hurt constantly, and the cold of the winter snow had been driven away by the fire. Her turbulent, complicated emotions slowly calmed down, and her thoughts gradually became clear.
In truth, Lin Xiao had done nothing wrong. She was the one who had been self-indulgent, unleashing all her temper on Lin Xiao.
She owed Lin Xiao an apology.
Guilt filled Shen Panyan’s heart. She wanted to apologize to him, but when she saw his silent, severe profile, she backed down.
She would apologize to him after they returned.
It had been a very, very long time since she had been this willful.
Calming down, Shen Panyan naturally wouldn’t act as she had before.
She felt that something about Qiushuang was very wrong.
Qiushuang hadn’t been like this before. When she first came to her side, she had been very kind to her. She would not only coax her but also protect her. If the servants below showed any disrespect, she would strictly reprimand them. Sometimes, when she was a little willful, Qiushuang could tolerate her. If she felt wronged, Qiushuang would carefully wipe away her tears.
When she was in the palace, she was often scolded by her Imperial Mother, and it was always Qiushuang who comforted her. Had it not been for that, she would never have risked her life to protect her.
She had always trusted Qiushuang and listened to her, accepting whatever she said without question.
But why did Qiushuang change?
Even if Qiushuang was dissatisfied with her, she had never restricted her. She could leave whenever she wanted. Why did she treat her like this?
When exactly did the change begin?
Shen Panyan pondered carefully… Suddenly, she realized that Qiushuang’s attitude toward her seemed to have slowly changed after the appearance of Second Young Master Chu from the Ministry of Rites.
Because she was unwilling to accept Second Young Master Chu’s letters and refused to have any contact with him, Qiushuang started getting angry at her.
Qiushuang not only took the liberty of accepting the letters Second Young Master Chu sent her but also repeatedly urged her to choose him as her husband. Her refusal was the beginning of the rift between them.
Shen Panyan didn’t like Second Young Master Chu, nor was she willing to marry him. His notorious reputation had spread throughout the capital.
In the capital city, everyone called him the “Playboy.”
Whenever he encountered a beautiful girl, he would spend lavishly on her, tossing off love poems and letters as if she were the only one he would ever marry.
However, once the girl agreed, he would lose interest, ignoring her and causing her heartache. Only after she insisted on marrying him would he reluctantly take her as an outside concubine.
He wasn’t even willing to grant a legitimate title, only keeping them as outside concubines.
How could such a person be good?
Everyone in the capital called him romantic, but Shen Panyan utterly despised him.
Such a person could never be a good husband.
She refused, but Qiushuang felt that Second Young Master Chu was very good to her and was a rare good gentleman in the capital.
Before, she had only felt confused, assuming Qiushuang didn’t know Second Young Master Chu’s bad reputation. She was also embarrassed to tell her about his despicable deeds, which was why she consistently avoided him. She had never suspected anything. How could Qiushuang, who was constantly by her side, not know, when even she, a Princess with limited information, was aware?
Now, there was only one possible reason: Qiushuang did it on purpose.
But why did she insist on forcing her to accept Second Young Master Chu?
No matter what, she was a Princess. Even if her temper was bad, her Imperial Father would not marry her to such an unreliable man, unless she was forced to marry him.
And what circumstances would force her to marry him?
Recalling the recent events, a sudden cold sweat broke out on Shen Panyan’s back.
Lin Xiao said that Qiushuang had been plotting to send him away and lure her out so she could fall into the hands of bandits. Shen Panyan was confused: she didn’t think she treated Qiushuang badly enough to warrant such hatred, to make her fall into the hands of bandits.
Furthermore, although the Imperial Retreat was far from the capital, it was where her Imperial Father came for the spring hunt every year. How could there be bandits nearby?
Such a huge flaw in the plan, and she was only noticing it now.
Shen Panyan felt a chill in her heart, her face turning ashen white as paper.
Qiushuang, as her personal maid, spent years with her in the palace and at the Imperial Retreat. How could she possibly lure bandits by herself? That meant someone behind her must be helping her.
The person behind her took such a long, convoluted route to make her fall into the hands of bandits, definitely not to kill her, but to ruin her reputation.
As long as she fell into the hands of bandits, whether she was assaulted or not, the final result would be her being utterly disgraced in the capital.
Her Imperial Father already disliked her. Once her reputation was ruined, Shen Panyan didn’t dare imagine her fate.
Whether she would be hastily married off, perhaps to that Second Young Master Chu, or spend the rest of her life as a nun in a Taoist temple, Shen Panyan couldn’t know.
But one thing was clear: her life would be ruined forever.
She was just a Princess unloved by her Imperial Father and Mother. Although timid, she had never offended anyone. Who hated her so much as to wish such a fate upon her?
Qiushuang had failed. Would the person behind her give up now, or would they replace her with another?
If they replaced her, were there others among the people around her…? Thinking this, a great fear arose in Shen Panyan’s heart.
Recalling the palace maids and eunuchs around her, Shen Panyan vaguely realized that every single one of them seemed suspicious.
They were never very respectful to her, often gathering to talk. As soon as they saw her, they would shut up, give a perfunctory bow, and scatter. Because people often left her palace, the Ministry of Internal Affairs frequently sent new servants. She didn’t know much about any of them. In the past, those servants were always managed by Qiushuang, and she never interfered…
Now that she thought about it, she could truly trust no one among those people.
To be a Princess like her was probably unique since the founding of the Zhaoyan Kingdom.
Shen Panyan buried her head in her knees, silently weeping.