SWNOVELS Chapter 74 - Princess Peyton Has Just Fainted!
Tanya's POV.
Once we arrive to the doctor's house, I immediately get started on the garden, rolling up my sleeves and putting on gloves I found in one of the sheds. Although I asked Marco to accompany me, I don't wish to burden him, telling him he can relax on one of the garden chairs.
With the sun high in the sky, I can get on my hands and knees by the soil. One by one, with meticulous effort, I pull out the weeds that taint the garden grounds. I dump each one I extract into a wheelbarrow. And then once I've filled up the wheelbarrow, with great exertion I roll it over to the garden bin to empty it.
I maintain this systematic routine, pulling out the weeds, dumping them into the bin, and then starting all over again, going in rows and horizontally making my way across the large expanse of garden space. I'm of course mainly focused on weeding, but every now and then I spare a glance at Marco. He sits quietly, but his leg bounces subtly, almost as if he's impatiently waiting for something.
Finally, he breaks the silence. He clears his throat loudly, forcing me to look up as he stands abruptly. "Why don't you ask me for help? You could really use m help you know? I'm pretty good with tough work," he says, as if almost trying to convince me, whilst I already knew of his capability. Without me asking, he strides over and bends down beside me, and starts pulling the weeds.
Unable to help the smile that bares itself on my face, I chuckle. "I didn't ask because you've already said you didn't want to be here to begin with," I say with all honesty. "But thank you for still doing it for me."
I don't know if it's the fact that I thanked him, or something else, but he immediately shoots down my appreciation. "I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for the Blue Moon Tree. We need to do this to get the doctor's special ingredient, and only then can we gain the princess's reward that will help fund the Blue Moon Pack, and save the Blue Moon Tree. That's why I'm doing this."
His long, drawn out, logical explanation only confirms my suspicions even more. But I withhold my giggle, and don't try poke holes in his logical thought process. Instead, I choose to just appreciate the fact that he is here with me and savor the time I have with him.
And so, we work all day, and all through the night. Marco helps me remove all the weeds, to which I'm now completely forbidden from carrying anything heavy or doing any form of hard labor. He rolls the wheelbarrow to the bin each time. He heaves each bag of soil we need. And at one point he stops me from shoveling the old soil, using the excuse that he could do it quicker on his own.
Despite his brashness, I must refrain myself from giggling out loud with every excuse he finds to help me more and more. Nevertheless, what he does let me do is trim the bushes and tame the overgrown vines. I get to plant all the pretty flowers he picks up from one of the shops. And I water each and every one.
***
I don't remember when I fell asleep, but the next time I open my eyes, the sun is rising in the distance, illuminating, and glorifying the gorgeous garden with all its fresh pretty colors. My head has been resting on a shoulder and I realize that it's Marco's.
I quietly lift my head, and my movement wakes him. His eyes flicker open to look at me, the blue of his irises contrasting with the pinkish sky. His blonde locks are shiny with sweat, and curly as usual. It's been so long since I've been so physically close to Marco, close enough to study the elegant yet strong structure of his face. The thickness of his brows, the curve of his lips, the sharpness of his cheekbones. All exactly as I remembered.
I'm silent as I stare, and so is he, the two of us just sitting unmoving as the sun rises, neither of us able to utter everything we wanted to say to one another. "Oh wow! You actually did it!"
The presence of the doctor startles us both, and we quickly pull away and take a stand. Marco turns away, and I pretend like I'm adjusting my dress before we walk up to the doctor. I see a little girl standing beside him, who he introduces as his granddaughter.
"You got rid of the weeds?" the doctor hurries down the steps and strolls over to take a look.
"Mhmm, and we changed the soil," I say softly, still a little tired after working all night.
"Oh goodness. And you trimmed the bushes too. And oh wow, all new flowers!" the excitement in his voice makes me smile, and finally he turns to me. "Alright. You've made your point; you deserve to be given a chance. Now tell me about this idea of yours."
I'm beaming with pride. I hurry to grab Margret's notebook and bring it over to him with it open on the page about the perfume I wanted to use. "It's this one Doctor, I actually think Princess Peyton's been poisoned."
He scans the page, and hope within me grows as he nods his head in agreement. "Okay.... Yes, yes, this all makes sense," he runs his pointer finger down the text, but suddenly pauses on a certain line. "Hold on. Wait. This is an antidote." Confusion invades my expression. "And?"
"And the ingredients of this antidote are very irritating, which means this perfume in this context is another 'poison' to Peyton. So, you're basically using one poison to kill another. It's very risky. Too risky."
I frown. "But I think it's necessary in this case. Princess Peyton's illness is very serious. And this is the best method of curing her. The illness she has is already very harsh, so it's understandable that the method of curing her will also be harsh on her body."
He still shakes his head. "Sorry, no. I cannot allow this. I refuse to be responsible for giving you the ingredient if this somehow fails. I can't take that risk."
And just like that, all my efforts are in complete vain. The doctor only thanks me for mending his garden before walking off without another word. However, I can tell his granddaughter has taken a liking to me, she hands me a candy without realizing that the sweet does little to mend the major problems I'm having. But I thank her with a smile nevertheless and watch as she skips off after the doctor with childish innocence.
***
I'm devastated that I wasn't able to retrieve the special ingredient from the doctor. But I can't give up. So, I head back to the palace to see Princess Peyton. Somehow, I feel like she knows that she's been poisoned. And I have to wonder why she's using the powder puff to cover up the signs of poisoning.
But before I can see Peyton, I encounter the maid I met earlier. She's escorting a nobleman out of the house. When he leaves, I turn to her. "Hi, um, who was that?"
She gives me a wrinkly smile. "That's the fated mate of Princess Peyton. Such a gentleman, he comes in often to take care of Princess Peyton. And he even helps Princess Isabella with political affairs," the maid does her cleaning duties while talking to me. I follow her into Princess Peyton's old room and ask her a few more questions about the princess whilst she fluffs the pillows, vacuums and wipes down the surfaces.
As she cleans and speaks to me, she opens one of the cupboards. It obviously hasn't been touched in a long time as it looks very cluttered and overflows with things. As the maid swings one of the doors open, out falls a small box. She and I both look down at the little item curiously.
From the fall, the lid of the box comes undone, and a few torn pieces of paper spill out onto the floor. I instinctually kneel down to help the maid pick up the pieces, and we both notice that one of the torn pages has a man's name written on it.
The maid suddenly expresses her revelation. "I know this name. It's the name of a gentleman from another kingdom that came to visit about a year ago, but... I don't know why his signature is here."
I take a look at it curiously, and something nags me in my gut, forcing me to say. "Could I take this? Just for a little while. I promise I'll keep it safe. I don't know why, but I really believe in my heart, that this might be the key to solving the mystery."
The maid nods her head in understanding. But just before I'm about to get up to leave, another maid rushes to the room we're in. She yells frantically. "Princess Peyton has just fainted!"