"Is the head physician unoccupied at the moment?"

The maid sweeping near the infirmary looked up and saw the lovely Lady Sumner addressing her. Hastily, she curtsied and fixed her bonnet.

"Not at the moment, Your Highness, for I am afraid the head physician is by the Emperor's side for the while."

Yvonne smiled sweetly. "What for?"

The maid staggered, momentarily taken aback. "F-For His Royal Majesty's weekly check-up, Your Highness."

Yvonne nodded, thinking a bit before responding.

"Is any other physician available, then?" she asked as she absent-mindedly pulled her white lace gloves higher over her elbow.

The maid nodded. "I think Vance is still inside. Would you like me to go check, Your Highness?"

"No, thank you," Yvonne smiled as she proceeded towards the humongous double-doors and put a hand on large brass handles. "I'd rather check myself."

✿

Reynard asked me all sorts of questions about how I was faring under Mama Ruth's shelter.

"I keep telling you, I'm alright!" I exclaimed when he asked the nth time. For goodness' sake, I was happy to see him but this was getting on my nerves.

"But I can't help worrying, nonetheless," he cried as he threw his hands in the air. "You know how difficult Mama is!"

I gave a grunt as I folded my legs up on the bed and stared at him from afar. He raised his eyebrows helplessly and stared right back at me.

"Is Mister Verel still there?"

Reynard flinched at the sudden change of topic. "Mister...Verel?"

I nodded. "Yeah, the jeweler."

Reynard gave me 'The Look'. "What do you want from the jeweler? Weren't you poor-"

"NO! I don't want to buy anything, but I want him to examine an article for me since it seemed that he had much knowledge on the subject."

Reynard was very confused. I could tell because he had his eyebrows furrowed while squinting at me. "Is it something valuable?" he asked. "Can I see?"

I nodded and pulled the white lily brooch from my drawer. This one belonged to me, and I was sure that Reynard had seen it once before because he had been mostly by my side since the escape.

He took it tenderly from my hand and examined it. "This does look pretty valuable. And familiar, though I can't remember where I've seen it before. I'm sure Mister Verel, that old man, would be glad to take a nice and close look at it."

I nodded tensely. Thank god he didn't know that there was an exact same copy of it, but slightly in a worse condition, not 5 feet away from him. And it wasn't even mine.

"Alright then," Reynard grunted, standing up. "I'm gonna go have it examined. Do you have any questions you'd like to ask him about it?"

I clenched and unclenched my hands as I stared at the white brooch in his hand. "Ask him how old it is...and if he recognizes an article like this at all."

Reynard nodded and flipped the brooch high into the air before catching it with a flick of his wrist. I widened my eyes in alarm, looking at him with an expression that said: 'Dude, you could've dropped it!'

And he tilted his head with an expression: "But I didn't." Then he stuck his tongue out at me and disappeared out the door.

I waited to hear the soft thud of the main door downstairs and that's when I knew he was gone. I didn't ask him to stay longer because I could tell that he was embarrassed about crying in front of me. The way he kept avoiding my gaze and flinching at my every move, I knew it was best he left early.

I was about to get up to close the door so I could read a bit more of Mama's diary when Sven peeked in. Startled, I sat back down.

"He left?" Sven asked as he came to stand in the doorway.

I nodded, a tad bit confused. "Yes." Then I remembered how he had broken my hair without my consent and I got all huffy. "What do you want?"

He stood there awkwardly and scratched his neck as he scanned my room. I could tell that he was avoiding my gaze.

"Oh...erm..." he muttered quietly. "I'm sorry for...y'know..."

I raised my eyebrows. "For…?"

He shook his head. "You know..."

I folded my arms, waiting for him to continue. God, I was enjoying this.

"I'm sorry for hurting you," he mumbled, his eyes on the floor. "Y-Your Highness."

I burst out laughing and he turned beet red, probably wondering what was wrong with me. I tried to stifle my laughter, I really did, but I couldn't keep it in, hence ruining the seriousness of the moment.

"We're good if you don't do it again," I sighed as I wiped a tear off my bottom eyelid.

He nodded somberly and then shuffled back to his own room.

I laughed to myself as I replayed our conversation in my mind, going about my own tasks.

✿

"Vance? Is there someone named Vance here?"

Yvonne pushed away a large red curtain with golden tassels dangling at the bottom.

"Hello?" she called as she walked into a large hall with a lot of white sheeted beds against the two main opposite walls. "Anybody here...?"

It was all too silent in the infirmary. None of the beds were occupied at the moment; maybe that was why they were all so well made. Yvonne walked in over the pristine white floor, her silver stringed shoes clacking loudly inside the empty hall. Her regal purple evening gown slithered lightly over the floor as she proceeded to walk towards a large white wooden cabinet to her side.

It had a heavy stock of all kinds of medicines in vials and bottles. There were bandages and some metal instruments as well. Yvonne slid back the drawer she had been checking when she heard footsteps of someone other than herself.

"Ah, my lady," a blonde man gasped from afar as he made haste to come before her and bowed. "Are you injured? Please sit down and let me examine-"

"No, no!" Yvonne laughed at which the blonde man, presumably Vance, blushed. "I am not at all in pain. Rather, I came here to meet the physician for another reason."

The man, Yvonne noticed, dressed in an all white uniform, fidgeted with his fingers as he stood there.

"The head physician isn't here at the moment, if you were hoping to converse with him. Though I am available, if that is alright?"

Yvonne nodded, her gorgeous red waves bouncing on her head. "That's fine. Please sit, for I would like to talk comfortably."

Vance nodded and sat himself down on the bed closest to them. Yvonne, too, made herself home and lifted the folds of her dress before sitting down on the crisp white sheet.

"So," she said airily to a nervous Vance. "How long have you been working as a physician, say?"

Vance played with his fingers while he responded, "3 years, Your Highness."

Yvonne did the maths in her head and frowned. "Is there any physician who kept working at the palace since the princess's birth?"

Vance noticeably flinched at the question. The topic had become quite sensitive, especially after the princess's alleged death. Taboo, one would say. Yvonne pursed her lips and waited for Vance to gather himself to answer.

"One, Your Highness," he replied after a while. "The head physician, Iefyr."

"Iefyr..." Yvonne mumbled to nobody in particular. So that was his name, she thought. "Has Iefyr always been His Majesty, the Emperor's physician?"

Vance nodded. "Yes, Your Highness. According to what I know, Elder Iefyr has been working at the palace since 25 years. His Majesty values him very much."

Yvonne smiled sweetly, at which Vance blushed some more and averted his gaze.

"Alright, then!" Yvonne stood up with a jolt, for she had gathered the information she had come for. "I'll be off then. It was nice talking to you."

As Yvonne strode away, Vance looked on helplessly, confused and still nervous as he remembered his conversation with the lady and tried to weed out the lady's goal.

But oh dear, he could not.