Lady To Queen Chapter 29 - I Had No Choice

Chapter 29 – I Had No Choice

If someone asked Lucio why he did what he did, it would take him a long time to find an answer. He himself did not know why. He would agonize for a long while, before choosing one of two answers. One answer would probably be, “My body just moved by itself.” The other answer would be…”To repay the debt I owe.”

They were both plausible reasons, but in truth they were not the real ones. Even he was confused about the true motivation for his actions. In a way, Lucio felt sorry for Patrizia. He left her alone for his concubine, Rosemond, who had also committed a sinful act against the wives of the envoys. But for complicated reasons, this was beyond his control.

Was that why he took the poisoned arrow on Patrizia's behalf? Or maybe he really didn't need such a complicated reason, and he just reacted reflexively?

Lucio was the only one who could answer the tangle of questions in his mind, but he himself could not think of any clear reasons. If anyone asked him the reason for his sacrifice, he would give the former two reasons externally, but internally, he intended to find out that answer. He liked riddles. Especially when it was related to himself.

He was not awake yet, perhaps because he still hadn't found the answer to his question. Why did he take an arrow and risk his life for Patrizia, his queen that he did not love? Perhaps he would have the answer by the time he woke up—or perhaps he would have no answer at all.

*

“That's right, go and drink.” Patrizia stroked Sally's mane, and Sally neighed contentedly. After Patrizia watered her horse, she gathered some grass for her to eat. It was after Sally had her fill that Patrizia tied her near the entrance of the cave. Of course, Sally had already demonstrated great loyalty and intelligence, and Patrizia didn't expect her horse to stray off.

Afterwards, Patrizia went in search of herbs for Lucio. She didn't have extensive knowledge of medicine, but she had some basic lessons from her queen education classes. It turned out that that information she learned was actually very useful, and she scoured the forest to find a medicine that could help. However, most of what she saw were poisonous plants, and the desired herb was not visible. It was about an hour of trudging through the forest growth when she finally spotted what she needed.

“Ah!” she exclaimed as she recognized a small purple flower. “Scula.” It was a rare flower that had the shortest blooming period in the Mavinous Empire. Many people desired the flower for its beauty, but it was prized for a different reason in medicine. The flower was of great medicinal value, as it could neutralize most poisons.

Patrizia ran towards where she spotted the flower, but she soon hit a wall of reality. The scula was blooming on a fairly high cliff. She measured the height of it with her eyes, and determined that if she were to fall from that height, she would most likely die.

Patrizia debated with herself for a few moments. Should she go pick the flower or not? However, her inner debate did not last long. She had to go and pick the flower. This was not a tearful sacrifice to save a lover. If Lucio died today from not receiving an antidote, and then Patrizia was as good as dead as well.

Patrizia's face set in determination, and she grabbed a protruding rock in front of her. She wasn't very athletic, but she was going to take her chances. Luck didn't often place a scula flower right in front of her.

“Haah, haah…”

Patrizia breathed hard from effort as she scaled the steep cliff wall. A slight fear of heights caused her feet to tremble as if she were electrified, but survival came first. She wanted to bury herself in her parents' arms and cry, but for the moment, she had to overcome this fear first. She bit her lip and mustered all her courage to secure another foothold. Live. Just live.

“Just a little…more!”

Patrizia held her breath as her cramped fingertips grabbed onto another rock. Tears pricked at the edge of her eyes, but it was not yet time to cry. She could do that after she picked the flower, or—if she truly did have bad luck—after she fell to her death.

The scula flower was now within reach. Patrizia focused all her might on stretching out her arm to grab the flower. Her body trembled to the point that tears pricked her eyes, but it didn't matter. If she could only get it—

“Ah!”

At that moment, a rock she was standing on with one foot broke and rolled down the cliff. Her foot scrabbled desperately in the empty air for one heart stopping moment, before quickly gaining footing on another rock. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest as she realized she was only inches from death. She sighed with relief, and once again reached out her hand to pick the scula.

“Ah…a little…!”

She was so close. She stretched her fingers with all her strength. Finally, the plant brushed against her hand, and she managed to grab it.

“Yes!” shouted Patrizia in triumph. Now that she had the flower, all she had to do now is climb down the cliff side. She clutched the scula flower tightly in her hand, and began to cautiously pick her way down the cliff. Fortunately, she was less anxious going down, as she had the satisfaction of achieving her goal.

When her feet finally stepped on solid ground, she thanked herself for being alive. She didn't have time to celebrate however, and hurried to the cave where she left Lucio.

*

In the meanwhile, Raphaella took to the hunt like a fish in water. She was exceptionally skilled with the bow, and she wasn't satisfied with her hunt until she emptied and refilled her quiver twice. The knights in her vicinity looked properly intimidated by her. They had heard she was skilled, but they didn't realize it was to this extent.

The female knight stood proudly at the pile of game behind her. Hmm, this would be enough to win, right? She counted her kills with excitement, but then her face turned serious when a sudden thought came to her.

“I hope Her Majesty is doing well.” Raphaella had offered to go with Patrizia, but her friend insisted on going alone. Raphaella knew how much Patrizia valued her time by herself.

“Sir Lasille, do you know where Her Majesty is?” Raphaella asked a knight beside her.

“I don't know.”

In retrospect, it was a pretty dumb question. Sir Lasille wouldn't know that, as he wasn't in Patrizia's guard. Raphaella scolded herself internally. She couldn't believe she let herself be so careless and let Patrizia go by herself.

With a look of dismay, Raphaella turned her horse set off on a run. She hoped that all of this worrying was just in her head.

*

Drinking an herbal tea was the best way to take in medicine, but Patrizia couldn't make such a luxury, not in a cave without any tools to boil the herbs. After she returned to their hiding place, she wondered how to feed the herb to Lucio. The best way would be for him to chew it himself, but he was still out cold. Time was short; she needed to figure out a way to give him the medicine as soon as possible.

A sudden, ridiculous thought struck her, and Patrizia wanted to laugh embarrassment. No, no, no. How could she do it with this man…

She shook her head. There was nothing else to be done. She looked down at him awkwardly. His eyes were still closed as if he were dead, and he almost looked it, save for the feeble breaths he took. She squeezed the scula flower in her hands.

“What are you doing, Patrizia?” she mumbled to herself. She was going crazy. After all the hard work that she did, she couldn't just give up now just because she didn't want to do something.

She steeled herself, then placed the scula flower in her mouth and began to chew. The plan was to squeeze out the juices, and then transfer it to Lucio's mouth. It was not the most pleasant way to administer medicine, but the surest and most efficient. More importantly, the small amount of juice could also be absorbed into her body, so they would both benefit from its healing effects.

Patrizia's mind was dazed as she methodically moved her jaw to squeeze out as much juice as possible. When she was done, she carefully brought her mouth close to Lucio's face and parted his lips with her hands. His mouth opened easily because he was unconscious. She overlapped his lips with hers, and delivered the paste into his mouth. The important thing next was for the antidote to pass through his throat, and she did not remove her lips from him until he swallowed it completely.

After that, Patrizia leaned back and breathed a sigh of relief. She licked the bitter taste from her lips, then sat and waited. She had done everything she could. Lucio's fate was up to Heaven now.

“…”

Patrizia stared levelly at the unconscious Lucio.

______________

Chapter end