The Web of Knightspur-Chapter 192

Nia observed Doctor Raul as he made the potion. The steady and slow boiling of the flower stems made the sap come out and mix with the oil as the carrier.

"Is this right?" Doctor Raul asked as he looked to the side. His eyes narrowed as he stared at Nia who was silent. "It is not that I am doubting you, but I just want to be sure of this."

Nia was lost in her thoughts but listening to Doctor Raul’s words, snapped her back to her senses. "Princess Eleanor had taught me this method... It always works."

Doctor Raul smiled, "As I said, I am not doubting you. But can I ask you something?" Doctor Raul asked as he looked at Nia with emotion. He was aware of what was happening in her mind. He was not ignorant of the fact and also knew why Princess Eleanor wanted her to come here and help him. It was to give something for her to be distracted with.

"Do you still love the man?" Doctor Raul blinked his eyes as he asked. He could see the wide eyes of Princess Eleanor’s lady-in-waiting. "Your eyes look a little dull."

"Princess Eleanor has always been there for me. The one that has been my family after I lost my noble status." Nia said as she took a deep breath. "So it doesn’t matter who it is who has bad intentions towards her, I will not think twice to cut them out of my life."

"Even if that man is the love of your life?" Doctor Raul asked as he looked straight at Nia.

"He was." Nia answered curtly before nodding her head. "And yes, even if it was the man I loved." Nia stared down at the things boiling in the pot as she said in a high tone. "I have known Princess Eleanor for a really long time. To be honest, I know who will be suffering in the end and I do not want to suffer. I still remember Princess Eleanor’s eyes when she asked me of my choice? Whom did I choose?"

Nia shivered as she thought back to that time. The incident had occurred twice. The first time was when Princess Eleanor had asked her to decide whether she would be following her to the Roulux Empire while they were still in the Angevin Kingdom and the second time was when Nia decided to come clear to Princess Eleanor about what Prince Edwin asked her to do.

Nia could see the situation still clear in front of her eyes. The fear she felt was so real. It was as if a wrong move would rewrite her destiny. It will push her to the depths of hell and when Nia made a decision, the relief she felt was real and invigorating! She knew that she had survived to live for another day.

"I had made a decision way back to follow Princess Eleanor and I will keep to it." Nia said as she took a deep breath.

"You are a strong lady, Nia." Doctor Raul complimented her as he could see the sadness and suffering in Nia’s eyes. He too felt that it was necessary to distract Nia a little. "So you knew about the poisonous plant all along?"

Nia looked at Doctor Raul who had suddenly switched to a different topic in a second. He moved on to the next subject really quickly. Understanding what he was doing, Nia smiled in appreciation before nodding.

"Well, I did know about it. And I knew that Princess Eleanor would use it at some point. After all, what she had been suffering from was not light." Nia walked to the boiling pot as she looked at Doctor Raul, "...this is done."

Doctor Raul nodded his head as he walked towards Nia and closely followed her instructions and started straining the mixture.

"So you decided to help the Princess? Have you ever thought of leaving her side? What if you suffered?" Doctor Raul asked as his hands continued working. He was getting curious too. He wanted to know a little more about Princess Eleanor. What made her so determined to come to a new Empire and get her revenge?

Doctor Raul thinks that it was a brave move. There was so much that could go wrong, and yet the Princess still made that choice. Seeing her now, it was clear that the Princess was here with a plan. But what surprised him was the fact that Princess was not alone. Her lady-in-waiting was brave too.

"When I was at my lowest, Princess Eleanor had a chance to ignore me and live her life as it was. My family had long fallen. I could be a maid and make a living, but Princess Eleanor supported me and made me her lady-in-waiting. I got the title and respect when I had long lost it, but it was not easy."

Nia smiled bitterly as she continued, "Princess Eleanor was told by everyone that she should have left me a long time ago. But what she did was the exact opposite. She stayed with me. It was then that I had thought to always support the Princess. So even if she decides to kill someone, I will support her and stand by her side."

Doctor Raul smiled as he nodded his head. It was the same with him. If the Grand Duke wanted it, he was ready to make the poison for him to kill someone.

"I understand the sentiment." Doctor Raul said as he nodded his head. "I am not trying to be condescending, but if I was in your place, I would do the same."

Nia nodded her head, "But I never knew that it was related to Duke Felix. Now that I know he is involved in this somehow, I just feel sad that I could not see it clearly in the beginning. I blame myself for this."

Nia’s voice was trembling as she rubbed her eyes. This is really something that she had not seen coming. Knowing that it was the current King, Princess Eleanor’s uncle, who had made the move to kill the Princess’s father was bad enough. But now when the Princess’s best friend, her past lover, was also involved, it made it even worse.

It was a sad truth that she was facing but she had to accept that. ’Maybe if I had paid more attention to Prince Edwin then the situation would have been different.’

Nia thought so but she did not voice it out. The tears started flowing down her cheeks as she angrily wiped them away. They were handling the poison and Princess Eleanor had made sure to embed in her mind that she should not touch anything else while she was working on it.

"Why are you crying?" Doctor Raul panicked. He had seen many people crying before him. As a doctor, he had seen it all. But all he usually felt was regret and nothing else. He was regretful for their pain and their loss, nothing more or nothing less. This was the first time when he did not know how to handle this situation where Princess Eleanor’s lady-in-waiting was suffering.

"I don’t know what to do..." Doctor Raul said as he looked helplessly at Nia. He wanted to touch her shoulders, but before he could, Nia had already taken a step back.

Doctor Raul’s hand hung in the air awkwardly as he blinked his eyes nervously. It was then that he realised what he was about to do. He was about to show his care for someone that he did not know. When did that happen?

"Poison..." Nia said as she looked at Doctor Raul’s hand that still had the gloves on. Doctor Raul’s blank gaze moved down as he looked at his hand. There was a slight tint of purple and blue on it. It looked really poisonous and he knew that what he was about to do would put Princess Eleanor’s lady-in-waiting’s life in mortal danger.

"I apologise." Doctor Raul said in a rush. Soon a loud voice came their way. There was an uneasiness that spread through the air as both Nia and Doctor Raul looked at one another.

They were in the underground dungeon hiding and preparing their things in secret. Doctor Raul did not want the chief healer to find anything suspicious and question him.

The sound of footsteps could be heard getting louder and faster as it approached them. Nia’s eyes widened as she swallowed hard. Her gaze was fixed on the door as she said, "Someone is coming this way."

Doctor Raul nodded his head as he gathered all the things in his hand. He then removed the gloves and indicated Nia to do the same which she followed without any questions.

Doctor Raul walked towards the water basin as he washed his hands thoroughly as he helped Nia to do the same. He knew that it was a long passageway for anyone to come here and there were only a few who knew about this place.

"Let’s hide for now and wait to see who it is." Doctor Raul whispered into Nia’s ears as she nodded her head. But her eyes moved towards the side as she saw the liquid on the table. No matter who it was - even if they did not see her - they would not find it difficult to spot the unique coloured liquid. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Nia was about to say something when the door suddenly swung open, and both Doctor Raul and Nia’s eyes widened.