Chapter 441
Michael carried Elettra and followed the old doctor to the back room. The shop assistants in the pharmacy sized him up and whispered, "Look how young this little lady is. She must be newly married. I wonder what happened to her to be injured like this. It’s really pitiful."
"Who says otherwise? Luckily, her husband is reliable, or she would be dead.”
Those words reached Michael’s ears, making his face flush red.
The wooden bed in the back room was covered with clean, coarse cloth mattresses. Michael carefully placed Elettra down, his movements as gentle as if he were handling fragile porcelain.
The old doctor opened her blood-stained clothes and gasped when he saw the hideous wound under her shoulder blade, “The arrowhead was poisoned. Another half an hour, and even a deity would not be able to save her.”
Michael’s heart sank abruptly, and he said urgently, “Doctor, please, you must save her.”
The old doctor showed a look of embarrassment on his face. “The little lady is too badly injured. My medical skills are limited. The only thing I can do is keep her alive.”
Speaking of this, the old doctor seemed to have remembered something and said to Michael, “But it’s not like there’s no way at all. Now you take her and rush to Pidence City as fast as possible to find the imperial physician. If the imperial physician can’t do anything, then the only one who can save her is Mrs. Cavendish. I just don’t know if Mrs. Cavendish is willing to lend a hand.” The old doctor sighed.
He looked at Michael’s coarse cloth attire and assumed he was an ordinary man. ‘How can ordinary people see Mrs. Cavendish?’
Michael's eyes lit up. “Please help her, old man. I’ll take care of the rest.”
The old doctor saw the persistence on his face and nodded. “I’ll do my best; the rest depends on the girl’s luck.” He took out a silver needle from the medicine box and heated it over the fire. “You can wait outside; the old woman will help here.”
Michael had to step back out, and the door to the inner room was gently closed, blocking his view. He looked into the room from time to time, but there was no movement inside. The time spent waiting outside was agonizing.
Half an hour later, the old doctor lifted the curtain and walked out, his forehead still covered with sweat. “The poison has not been completely cleared, but the bleeding has stopped. She needs to take good care of herself.”
He handed Michael a package of medicine. “Take it three times a day. This is a life-saving medicine. You should take her to Pidence City as soon as possible.”
Michael took the medicine bag, his voice a little hoarse. “Thank you, doctor.”
“No need to thank me. This is what I should do.” The old doctor smiled, squinting. “Looking at you, you must be a loving husband. Keep a close eye on her in the future, and don’t let her suffer like this again.”
Michael’s face turned red again, but this time he didn’t refute it, just nodded blankly.
When he entered the back room, Elettra was still in a coma, but her lips looked better than before. The sunlight fell on her face through the window lattices, her long eyelashes like two small fans, so quiet that it made one’s heart soften.
The pharmacy assistant brought a basin of warm water and, seeing his expression, tactfully said nothing. He gently placed it by the table and retreated.
Michael picked up the cloth, dipped it in water, wrung it out, and carefully wiped Elettra’s face. When the cloth wiped across her jaw, she suddenly moved, a soft moan escaping her throat, as if she was saying something. Michael quickly moved closer, held his breath and listened carefully, but only caught a few vague syllables.
“General Osborne…”
He looked at Elettra in shock, never expecting that she would call out to him in her dreams.
Without delay, Michael took Elettra toward Pidence City. He did not choose to take the official road, but instead picked a closer mountain road. Although bumpy, it could arrive in Pidence City a day earlier.
As night fell, the carriage stopped at a broken church in the mountain depression. Michael started a fire. He took out the medicine bag from his bundle, propped up the pottery pot with stones, and carefully decocted the medicine. The fragrance of the medicine rose, curling and mixed with the smoke of pine firewood, diffused in the broken church.
Elettra was still in a coma, her breathing as weak as a candle flame in the wind. Michael cooled the medicinal juice and fed it to her little by little with a small spoon. He wiped away the medicine that trickled down the corners of her lips with a handkerchief. The dressing needed to be changed late at night. Michael unbuttoned Elettra’s shirt, and his hand still trembled when his fingertips touched her warm skin. He clumsily apologized while sprinkling medicinal powder.
The journey was exceptionally slow. During the day, Michael held the reins, keeping the carriage as steady as possible. At night, he guarded the carriage, listening to the movements inside, immediately lifting the curtain to check at the slightest sound.
On the morning of the seventh day, the carriage drove into Pidence City. Michael’s heart sank when he saw the city gate in the distance. Elettra’s high fever subsided, but she began to babble incoherently, repeatedly murmuring his name.
“Quick, to the Xander Manor!” He reined in his horse, turning it towards Prince Regent’s Manor.
The carriage stopped in front of the Xander Manor. The doorman was startled to see that the visitor was Michael. ‘Isn’t he supposed to be back at Ironfang Pass?’ Looking closer, they were even more startled to see him holding a seriously ill girl. They hurriedly opened the gates to allow Michael into the manor.
Athena was taking a walk in the courtyard when she saw this and her expression changed drastically. “What happened?”
“She’s been poisoned. The old doctor says only you can save her!” Michael’s voice was more panicked than ever before.
Elettra’s face was pale in his arms, her lips an eerie bluish-purple. Athena immediately had people carry Elettra into the inner chamber.
Seeing Michael’s arm was also injured, Athena said to him, “Go take care of your wound first. I’ll handle things here.”
Michael shook his head, stubbornly guarding the door. Athena knew he was stubborn, so she stopped trying to persuade him. Carrying the medicine box, she walked into the room and began to treat Elettra’s wound.
Half an hour later, Athena came out with a tired smile on her face. “She is fine now; the poison has been controlled.”
Looking at Michael’s bloodshot eyes, she asked, “You probably haven’t slept at all on this trip, have you?”
Michael finally breathed a sigh of relief, his legs went weak and he almost fell. He held onto the door frame, his voice hoarse. “I’m fine.”
“There’s no need to thank me.” Athena said with a smile, “You are so good to her. If she wakes up, she will definitely be grateful to you.”
Michael said a little embarrassedly, “Elettra was injured to save me. I am the one that should be grateful.”
Athena was surprised and widened her eyes. She didn’t expect that Elettra, a delicate lady, would dare to save Michael at the risk of her own life. ‘She must love him dearly!’
“The Huber Manor is going crazy. I’ll send someone to deliver a message to them.” At this point, Athena looked at Michael and said, “But you can’t meet people looking like this. Go clean yourself up first. When Mr. Huber arrives, you’ll have to endure his anger.”
Elettra was Giovanni’s only daughter, the apple of the Hubers’ eyes. Seeing their beloved daughter almost die, they wouldn’t let Michael off easily.