Sylvia’s POV
It was late at night, and the streets were mostly empty.
Still, in order not to draw any unnecessary attention, Harry and I took a secluded path. About half an hour later, we drew near the imperial palace and finally slowed down a little to catch our breaths.
I turned to check Rufus’ condition. He was still asleep.
Harry glanced at me questioningly and asked in confusion, “What’s wrong with Prince Rufus? Did Noreen put him under a curse?”
“No, it’s a long story. I’ll explain everything later.” I sighed helplessly. Now it was my turn to ask him a question. “Why’d you suddenly show up?”
Embarrassed, Harry scratched his head and faltered. “You… You’ve been avoiding me the past few days, and there’s a rumor going around that Joanna will be executed. I grew restless so I’ve been snooping around. Earlier, I saw soldiers escorting the prisoners out of the palace. I thought Joanna was one of them, so I followed them.”
“Without you, I wouldn’t have escaped from Noreen so easily.” I looked at Harry gratefully. If it weren’t for him, Noreen might’ve successfully taken me away.
“That’s what friends are for, right? No need to thank me.” Harry patted his puffed-out chest and smiled heartily.
I was moved by his kindness. “Don’t worry. I’ve figured out what happened to Joanna. She’ll be fine.”
“Are you serious? Oh, my God! That’s wonderful!” Harry’s eyes instantly lit up.
I smiled at him and promised, “Joanna will come back safe and sound, so stop worrying about her, okay?”
“Okay! Thank you so much, Sylvia!”
Just then, Rufus suddenly started coughing violently and his face was so pale that it turned slightly blue. Startled, I hurriedly called his name. “Rufus! Rufus, are you there? What’s going on?”
But Rufus didn’t respond, frowning tightly in his sleep. The next second, a mouthful of blood spurted out of his mouth. His eyes popped open and he called me in a panic, and then he closed his eyes and passed out again.
“Oh, God, what should I do? Why did he suddenly spit out blood?” I was scared out of my wits. I took out a handkerchief and tried to wipe the blood off Rufus’ face and then pulled his collar to check on him again. The black thorns, which had already retreated just now, had encroached on his neck again. In fact, the thorns almost pierced through Rufus’ neck!
Harry was also shocked, but he reacted quickly and held my hand to calm me down. “Deep breaths, Sylvia. Let’s go back now!”
“Yes, okay…” I was anxious, but Harry’s words jolted me back to reality.
Together, Harry and I carried Rufus and rushed to the imperial palace. As soon as we stepped foot past the palace gate, we were stopped by the guards. When they saw the weak and pale Rufus, they panicked and said that they were going to call the doctor, but I hurriedly stopped them.
“Don’t call anyone.” I looked at them seriously.
The guards exchanged wary glances, hesitating whether to obey me or not.
“You can’t alert anyone except the queen. Tell her to come to Prince Rufus’ palace,” I added urgently.
“But… But Prince Rufus looks seriously ill. Shouldn’t we call a doctor?” The guards were afraid that something bad would happen, so they insisted on calling the doctor.
Holding Rufus in my arms, I could feel his breath getting weaker and weaker. We were running out of time.
My expression darkened and I said to the guards in a cold voice, “This is the order of the prince’s wife. I’ll take responsibility if anything happens!”
Sylvia’s POV
Perhaps it was because of my imposing manner that the guards didn’t dare to delay any longer. They stopped protesting and hurried to report this to Laura.
“As for you two, I need you to go to the forbidden forest and find a specific kind of poisonous snake. It’s purple, about the length of a baby’s arm, and there are green scales above its eyes. Cutting the tail of the snake and smashing it. It can detoxify the lycan king.”
I turned to the two remaining two guards and ordered them to look for the snake Noreen had described. The two guards probably heard the rumor that the lycan king was dead, but the truth had been concealed. Now that they heard that the lycan king was still alive and there was even a cure, their eyes lit up and they hurried to the forbidden forest to look for the snake.
Meanwhile, I rushed inside the palace with Rufus as fast as I could.
Harry followed me in and asked worriedly, “Why don’t you want to call the doctor? Prince Rufus looks really unwell…”
I carefully laid Rufus on the bed and pulled the quilt over him. Then I turned to look at Harry and said, “Like I said, I’ll explain everything later. You should try to get some rest. I can tell you’re exhausted. You haven’t had proper sleep in days, am I right? Don’t worry about Joanna. She’ll be released from prison in a few days.”
Harry’s eyes darted from the unconscious Rufus in bed to me. “Are you sure you don’t need my help?”
“I’ll call if I need anything.”
“Well, alright then. I’ll go back first. Be sure to call me, okay?”
Harry decided against insisting and quickly left.
Minutes later, Laura arrived, breathless. She seemed to have just been awakened, looking both worried and groggy.
“Sylvia, what happened?” Laura grabbed my hand anxiously.
Before I could answer, her eyes landed on Rufus, who was lying in bed, unconscious. She rushed to his side in a panic and asked, “What… What’s wrong with Rufus? Is he hurt?”
I waved my hand, motioning for the others to leave the room silently. Then I closed the door and walked over to the bed.
Laura’s eyes were filled with worry. “Sylvia, why haven’t you called a doctor?
“Your Majesty, a doctor will be of no use to us. Can’t you see? There are no wounds on Rufus’ body.” I lowered my eyes and tried to keep my breath steady. Even if everything had gone to shit now, I had to keep cool and level-headed.
Laura frowned in disbelief. “Then why is there blood on his collar? There’s also some blood at the corners of his mouth. Is it an internal injury?”
I kept silent for a while to gather my bearings. “I suppose you could call it that, but it can’t be cured medically.”
Laura was stunned and looked up at me expectantly, waiting for me to explain.
“Rufus is cursed,” I said through gritted teeth, clenching my fists so tightly my knuckles turned white.
Laura’s lips parted slightly and she slumped into the chair, as though her soul had left her body. “Cursed? But I thought the curse on him was already removed…”
I took a deep breath and reached up to bit the tip of my finger until it bled. Then I unbuttoned Rufus’ collar and let the blood trickle onto the back of his neck.
Now, Laura could also see the pattern of black thorns on Rufus’ back. I had learned about this method when I received my mother’s inheritance book previously, but it was only a temporary remedy. In fact, it could only last three minutes.
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