Her Trail

22

Waking up from my deep slumber, I immediately went out of the bed with only one thing on my mind; how is Donovan?

I noticed that it is already bright outside. Is it morning? Afternoon perhaps? I do not know how long I was sleeping! Oh gosh!

When I run the stairs of the building and opening each door to see where he is, I realized that he is not residing along with other patients. The Healers must have put him in a private room, priority, like a Crown Prince he is.

True to what I am thinking, he is really laying inside a private chamber. When I saw him, I noticed that he is already awake and just staring at the ceiling, or rather, he is looking at nothing.

He became aware of my presence when I got near, and his gaze immediately went to me. Our eyes met.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Good, they did a good job."

I nodded, and suddenly, we were embraced by silence again.

I cleared my throat to initiate a conversation.

"How did you... How did you end up looking like that?"

He reverts his eyes away, "Enemies already infiltrate our land just like how some of us manage to go inside theirs to spy."

That made me nervous. That just means, everyone's safety is at risk right now.

"So they are near here."

His eyes went to me right away, it seems like he realized something and I can see clearly how that bothered him.

"Go away from here, I will escort you myself away from this kingdom, Elora."

"No! Of course, I would not escape this place, that is so selfish!"

He tried to sit from his bed, still pissed off of my stubbornness.

"You know that they can do everything to eliminate our defense, you are at great risk! It will be very hard to win the war when the healers and everyone in this place dies."

"And that means, all of us need a saving, not only me!"

"I know, Elora. But you should go away first and I will lead them to a better hiding base."

"No, Crown Prince, I am sorry but my conscience can not push myself to do such a thing. I am happy to help here, I know the risk of my decisions, of course, I am scared as well, I also fear for my life. But that does not mean those overpowered my willingness to help here, and to do my passion and save people."

He sighed, we fell into silence again, and it is good that he already give up on that topic.

"Your wounds are fully healed now, am I right?"

He nodded as he lick his lower lip, still pissed.

"You told me something yesterday night, I was half-conscious but I heard you."

That made me nervous. I was so scared last night to the point that I do not remember what I just mumbled about. Did I tell him something bad? Or good? Or a promise, perhaps?

"W-What did I say?"

It seems like he became madder because I did not even know what he is pertaining to.

"You told me that you would not treat me indifferently."

That made me blink.

"I did?"

"Yes!"

I pouted a bit to hide my smile. He is older than me, or my body but he acts like a cute toddler right now.

I almost laugh because he is really sulking! Goodness gracious, the Crown Prince of the Empire of Vanzelion!

"You think it's funny?" he frowned.

I shake my head right away.

"Of course not, of course not, your Royal Highness," I said defensively, which made him frown more.

Because of that, I bark out of laughter in front of him, and his mouth gape as he looks at me in disbelief, but I stopped laughing when his expression turns into an amused one. He smirked, and he stare at me with emotions in the eyes I could not name.

"Was that a promise?"

And suddenly the atmosphere became serious around us when he told me that.

"Was not—"

"Why, then? You were so worried about me and yet you treated me so different."

I, then, realized that he is far from the Donovan I knew from my past. Although he seems strong, the Donovan here, the Crown Prince is such a softie. He speaks his mind, he is honest, his eyes are expressive, and although we do not really encounter each other that much throughout the years that passed, he never treated me wrong, he has been kind, cold looking, but soft. And like this now, he is such a baby.

Far from the Donovan, I knew from the past. He is not showing any weaknesses, he owns his problems, and he does not let anyone meddle with them. He is family-oriented, and he is viewed as a strong man. He is literally a cold person, just like Papa, I did not even know why he end up liking me. But through our relationship, I was the expressive one, and he is also a workaholic. Sometimes, we used to fight because I do not really felt that he cares, but that did not last long because he explained to me that that is how he is. Being drown in the sea of love, of making love, of embracing each others flaws, I was blinded by all of it, to the point that I thought his sudden coldness was just part of him, until he suddenly broke up with me, and broke my heart as well.

From then on, I came to realize, he is not cold, he is heartless. He can just dispose of someone he does not care about anymore, after all, the love we gave for each other... or was it really love that he felt? Or just pure lust and infatuation?

It is scary, until now, and to see his face again, but in a different soul and personality this time.

But they are different, way too different, this Donovan now, is someone who craves my attention, the other was not.

"You are drifting off from reality, Elora Ember."

That made me still, and suddenly all the bubbles of overthinking were gone, it was all his face that I see again.

He look really handsome and yet the worry in his eyes complimented his look so well, that he look like a good prince to me right now.

"Are you thinking of something, or just plainly staring at me?"

He then smirked.

That made me blink and I fake a cough because of embarrassment.

"I-I'm sorry, I just thought of something, but anyway, what are we going to do? What if those who infiltrate our land are now on their way here? They will take this chance to eliminate the healers!"

My heartbeat raced just by thinking of the possible things that may happen.

"Fret not, Elora," he stand up from the bed, "Let's go outside and tell them about the case, I have to talk to some strategist that was left here to plan things out."

I nodded and immediately went after them when he leave his private chamber.

Some of the healers who tried to talk to him and greet him were ignored because Donovan became so serious, it looks like he is on Crown Prince mode, the representative of the palace of the Emperor.

I rarely see him this serious and it made me nervous, I felt like he is really a novelty that needed to be respected and honored, how more if I am in the presence of the Emperor? I heard he is pretty strict and serious too.

That made me gulp. I hope I won't meet him, but that won't happen because of the status of my family and I am also aware of the friendship of Father and the Emperor.

We reach the building just beside where we came from and compared to the previous one, this is more clean and neat and silent.

Some of the people inside immediately went in our direction to greet the crown prince. Some of the strategists express their shock because of his sudden visit.

"Your highness! I was not informed that you will—"

"I have to talk to the strategists, it's an emergency."

Donovan cut off the guy who tried to speak but as soon as he heard the word "emergency," his face became hard and strict as if he is now ready for work and he is already anticipating that.

He called his fellow strategist and they set up boards, chairs, tables, and maps with real speed.

It made my mouth gape and I was stunned by what I just witnessed. I thought they were just a bunch of genius individuals, who would think that they work gracefully, with class yet fast?

Unlike my messy work, their main foundation is their great mind! Wow! Big respect!

"Elora, sit beside me."

"Eh?" I was confused but Donovan pointed the chair literally just beside him.

The good thing is; the people around us are too serious to think about something weird about the actions of the crown prince.

When the meeting started, Donovan told everyone about what happened. How the knights of other empires tried to harm him, to the point that he was covered by blood and discovered by me. He told them the possibilities that may come and the dangers of having those knights just around.

"Surely, they will target this place first, and if not, the camp not far away that has a lot of rookie soldiers, they will be in great danger, Crown Prince Donovan."

That made me really worried. What the hell, I can not believe I am experiencing things I won't likely to encounter in my past life, but that's not the point here, we have to do everything to prevent any dangers from coming. We can not afford a loss.

Some of the strategists told their opinions and calculations on the situation, some even provide strategies to do, and some told us about a possible solution to catch those knights, but it will take manpower and great effort.

In the middle of the meeting, Halo suddenly barges in, panting and looking around. When his eyes found me, he immediately went in front of my seat. I felt Donovan move on my side but my eyes were locked at Halo who obviously carries a piece of bad news.

"Elora. We need your hand now. Many knights are coming and they were attacked by swords, arrows, and spells. From their stories, enemies infiltrate their camp, and most were injured because of that—"

"It happened already?!" I can not help but to exclaimed and cover my mouth after.

We are just talking about that and now they already move, faster than expected.

The news startled the strategist and it seems like it made them stress yet I can see the excitement in their eyes as if they were provoked by something.

My eyes went to Halo who is waiting for me, and when I look on my side, Donovan is staring at me, it seems like he already knows what will I do and so he nodded, letting me go with Halo.

I stand up and run towards the other building with this man just beside me.

My mouth gape again when I saw how flooded the building is.

We have more patients than last days and weeks!

Blood is all over the hallways and they were a lot of cries, mewls because of pain, and sweats because of too much hurt.

I have no time to be shocked so I already guide three of the most wounded and almost dying knights towards the empty room I saw.

As soon as I got the three there, one of them suddenly had a heart attack so I performed CPR.

"Oh please! Stay with me!"

I tried to massage his heart again, I am already sweating bad, I feel his pulse and when I felt it beating, I almost collapse because of exhaustion. He needed treatment right away! But the other patients needed first aid also.

Oh goodness, Elora Ember Flyer! You have to do something!

I look at the clock and started calculating the things through that, when it's all completed in my head, I sighed deeply and readied myself for the war.