"The venom of those claws is indeed deadly, most of my body was temporarily paralysed by it. Thanks to Ben's superb medical skill, more than half of the venom had been successfully removed, if not, I don't think I would even be able to move my fingers for a single bit not to say sitting up like this." said the King.
"Ah... So... Would you be able to fully recover from it?" Rei asked, with a worried look.
"Well... I can't give you an exact answer but for the very least, I should be able to walk on my legs within two weeks if without any uncertainties." said the King in a casual manner as he took another piece of the dragon beard candy from the box.
Rei nodded without saying anything, her eyes were filled with remorse. Seeing Rei's remorseful look, the King put the dragon beard candy back into the box and patted Rei's head after he properly cleaned his hand.
"It's okay, don't worry, I will be fine." said the King with a gentle and reassuring tone, his eyes filled with care and emotions.
At that moment, both of them are having their own thoughts.
Rei is blaming herself for the King's current condition, after all, she was the primary reason that he was gravely injured. If the King is unable to fully recover, she will blame herself for a lifetime. And the King noticed those negative thoughts from Rei, thus, he is concerned and in dilemma.
"*knock* *knock*"
Just as the two continued sinking into their deep thoughts, someone knocked on the door, it's Ben.
"It's time for your acupuncture treatment," said Ben with a slightly awkward tone as he walked in with his work trunk, a young male servant was following his back.
"Ah... Right, I totally forgot about it... Uhm... Byako, can you escort Rei back to her room?" said the King, who suddenly sounds slightly unnatural.
"Meow." The white striped cat meowed, probably said yes.
"Ah... Yes... Holly must be looking for me right now, I shall take my leave." said Rei who carefully stood up with the support of her walking cane, despite no one mentioning anything, she caught a subtle strangeness from everyone's behaviour.
"Rei, I have left your medicine on your table, I will be seeing you later," said Ben as Rei walked passed him.
Rei nodded without saying anything, she was somewhat able to catch a slight fatigue from his tone. After slightly bowing to the King as well as Ben, Rei walked out of the room with Byako following her at her side...
***
After ensuring Rei had left the room, the King stared at the young male servant with a serious look.
"Go ahead, report everything you need to." said the King with a brief yet clear command.
"Yes, My Lord. First of all, please have a look at these." said the young servant as he pulled out a stack of papers from his sleeve.
"Ah... Although I am interested to know how the heck are you able to keep that whole stack of papers under your sleeve, but I shall keep it for next time. Hmm... If I am not mistaken, those are ledgers, right?" The King asked as he glanced at that stack of papers the young servant just placed on the tea table at his bedside.
"Yes, My Lord. These are the copies of the bookkeeping records from Prince Ya's palace for the previous three years." said the young servant.
"Hmm... I see. But don't you think that for three years of bookkeeping records, these are a bit too thin? If these are the bookkeeping records for a small store, this thickness is acceptable, but for a palace of a renowned and highly ranked Prince, who is the elder brother of the emperor as well as the diplomatic ambassador for the empire, this is just a bit too unacceptable." said the King as he started flipping that stack of ledgers.
"Yes, My Lord, I am indeed aware of that, which is why I decided I should copy down the whole thing and hope that it will provide any useful information." said the young servant.
"You did the right thing. A poorly recorded ledger is always a good source of all sorts of hidden information." said the King as he continued flipping through that stack of ledgers.
"Yes, indeed. So, have you briefly checked the record before presenting everything to us?" Ben asked.
"Yes, My Lord, I briefly saw through it and found a rather interesting detail." said the young servant.
"Oh? Tell us everything you found." said the King as he stopped flipping the ledgers.
"Yes, My Lord."
...
***
According to the young servant, he noticed a very weird detail from the bookkeeping records. For those three whole years, there isn't a single record of money spent on gifts or presents for the Emperor's and the Empress Dowager's birthday. By right, according to the etiquette of the Qin Empire, everyone from the royal family needs to attend the birthday banquet of the emperor and empress dowager, although there isn't a written rule that they need to gifts presents or whatsoever, but it is just kind of unusual and not making any sense to not prepare any present for those important events.
Yes, it is somewhat understandable that Prince Ya doesn't want to get himself involved in such a high-sounding yet meaningless royal family's matters or is too stingy to spend any money on these meaningless events, but from the bookkeeping records, he spent quite an amount of money to buy a pair of pure jadeite **baby boy and baby girl sculptures for Commandery Prince Shao's betrothal, which doesn't makes sense at all.
**Gifting baby boy and baby girl sculptures to newly betrothed or newly married couples is a form of blessing, wishing them to have children soon, which doesn't make sense for Prince Ya who yearned for the throne.
***
"Hmm? He bought a pair of baby sculptures for Commandery Prince Shao's betrothal? That's kind of unexpected. Did he not know that the Emperor had the intention to pass his throne to Commandery Prince Shao at that moment?" The King asked with a thoughtful look.
"No, My Lord, by right, that decision of the emperor should be quite recent. Thus I believe he would not know about it at that moment." said the young servant.
"Tsk... This makes things even weirder..." The King murmured...
Wondering what is wrong with that piece of information regarding the gifting and Prince Ya's attitude? Refer back to the first book. Haha.
Anyway, if you like this book, please add it to your library collection, vote with Power Stone, leave a review and share it with your family and friends.
And thanks for liking my works.
"Tsk... This makes things even weirder..." The King murmured.
Hearing that murmur, Ben stared at the King for a while before switching his vision to the young servant.
"We will see through this whole ledger after this, please proceed with your reports," said Ben.
"Yes, My Lord." said the servant.
Then, he pulled out a thick envelope from his sleeve and handed the envelope to the King, but the King did not take it.
"This is the routine report from my colleague regarding the spying operations in the Empress Dowager's place." said the servant.
"If I remember correctly, I have given a command to halt the spying operation after the Empress Dowager was sent to the Imperial Nunnery, did the spying operations still continue regardless of the command given?" Ben asked as he took the envelope from the servant.
"My Lord, due to a special circumstance, the dispatched units are unable to retract safely at this moment, they have no choice but to follow the Empress Dowager to the Imperial Nunnery, thus, they decided to continue the spying operation while they are finding their way out." said the servant.
"I see... Is there anything else?" Ben asked as he neatly opened the envelope and pulled out a small stack of papers filled with words.
"No, My Lord, that's all for today." said the servant.
Ben nodded without saying anything, he took out a string of coins from a drawer and handed it to the servant.
"Here's your reward, if there's nothing else, you may take your leave," said Ben.
"Thank you for your generosity, My Lord, I shall be taking my leave." said the servant as he bowed at the King and Ben before leaving the room.
As soon as the young servant walked out of the door, Ben looked at the King with concerned eyes.
"You look really uncomfortable since just now, are you alright?" said Ben as he swiftly opened his work trunk.
The King slightly shook his head without saying anything and laid back down on the bed with his eyes closed, tiny droplets of sweat could be seen on his forehead.
Ben put on his stethoscope and started checking on the King's heartbeat, after a short while, he put down his stethoscope and grabbed the King's right wrist to check on his pulse. As Ben was checking on the King's pulses on the right wrist, he frowned. Then, Ben proceeded to test the pulses on both sides of the King's neck and legs, he frowned even more.
"Tsk... What a stubborn venom..." Ben murmured as he took out his acupuncture set.
After properly disinfecting his hands, Ben started the acupuncture process. With extra cautiousness, Ben carefully yet skillfully poked more than ten acupuncture needles into a few different spots on the King's body, Ben is particularly cautious with the last acupuncture needle that is gently poked into a spot in between the two brows.
Ben let the needles stay in place for a few minutes before carefully removing all of them one by one. With the last needle successfully removed, Ben slowly walked away with his work trunk to a square table a few metres away from the King's bed. With his back facing the King, Ben seems to be hiding something from the King...
----
**let's move the time back for a bit.
When the King was in the middle of listening to the report from the young servant, his ears started buzzing all of a sudden, and shortly after that, his vision turned blurry as well while his head started aching, where towards the end of the report, the King's headache got so bad that as if it is going to explode.
The King was fully conscious when Ben applied the acupuncture needles on him. The King can clearly feels it when each of the needles poked into his flesh, but due to Ben's superb skill, he can barely feel any pain from it.
The acupuncture treatment from Ben works effectively, the moment Ben applied the last acupuncture needle onto the King's forehead, the King can clearly feel that his headache slowly faded, and when Ben eventually removed all the needles, the headache was fully gone...
***
With his ears still somewhat buzzing, the King opened his eyes and saw Ben a few metres away from him, with his back facing him.
"Mhmm... At least my vision recovered."
That's what he thought, and yes, wrong point of focus as always.
Then, out of curiosity and probably mixed with a dash of boredom, the King stared at Ben, watching his every single move. Despite Ben being quite a distance from him, and is back facing him, the King is somewhat able to figure out what Ben is doing no matter how hard the latter trying to hide things from him.
"Mortar and pestle, and... Wow! That's quite a variety of herbs... Ugh... Is that a cricket? He can't be planning to... Hmm?... Hold on... What's that?... A syringe? What is he trying to do with that?"
He thought as he watched Ben from a distance.
.
.
.
Uncertain if Ben felt that passionate state from the King or what, he turned his head around and to his surprise, the King was lying still on the bed with his eyes closed.
"Am I just imagining things just now?" The doctor murmured in slight confusion.
Then, after double-confirming that the King's eyes were still closed, Ben turned back and continued with his work. What he doesn't know is that the moment when he turned his face away, the King opened his eyes, and doesn't look quite happy...
***
A short while later, Ben walked back to the King's bedside, in his hand was a small test tube of muddy brown concoction.
Seeing that the King's eyes are remained closed, Ben assumes that he has fallen asleep.
"I wonder if I can make him drink this without him realising it?" Ben murmured as he stared at the King's sleeping look.
Seeing that pale face of the King, Ben is uncertain of how should he feel about it. He can't remember how many times he had witnessed such a vulnerable state of the King, and by right, he should have gotten used to it but...
.
.
.
"You can't."
This is a really hard chapter to write, especially in a rush, but I would not give up on trying to upload once a day.
Anyway, if you like my story, please add it to your library collection, vote with power stones, leave a review and share it with your friends and family.
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