38 A Favor (2)

Princess Leping's hands were visibly shaking as they grasped tightly onto the limps ones of her daughter, her knuckles ghostly white.

The girl had slumped into the grass, her face turned sideways as she gasped for air. Her mouth was wide open, gaping with her every futile attempt to breathe. Her eyelids were drooping, and the hand she pressed to her chest threatened to fall.

Seeing no imperial physician in sight, I blindly pressed forward, the former Youshi temporarily replacing the Fourth Princess of Liang. Each hurried step I took toward her was steady, planted firmly into the group without apparent hesitation.

If you cannot save her, then all the blame would be placed on you, an internal voice nagged. I quickly brushed away the idea, knowing that now was not the time to consider such politics. There was a young life in front of me, and if I let her suffer alone without offering a lending hand, I would be a shame to have ever said myself to be an apothecarist.

"I trained as an apothecarist for seven years. Everyone back off!" My words were firm, and they slipped out of my mouth with ease. There was no attempted fabrication or pleasing, and my body moved on its own without having to be told. "If you wait for an imperial physician, the best time for treatment will be missed!"

For the first time in weeks, though there was a life at stake, I felt as if I could be in control of the situation.

"I said back off! Do not stay withing two meter's radius of the princess," I repeated, more forcefully than before, and hesitantly, the maids shuffled backward.

"And fetch me a kettle of hot tea! The more concentrated, the better!" I added.

Princess Leping cast me a look of doubt, but the convulsing coughs from her daughter soon convinced her otherwise. The imperial physicians were still nowhere in sight.

"Faster!" Princess Leping commanded, something snapping from within. She glared at everyone, making sure that they were in the far distance. Then turning to her daughter, she whispered softly, "Mother is here with you… Mother is here…" before locking her eyes with mine.

"Empress Dowager of Zhou, you must leave as well." If there were more people, the airflow would be only further restricted. I could only hope that she wouldn't find offense with me, but even if she did, I had to make my claims clear.

There was a life in my hands.

"If she…" Princess Leping couldn't bear to say the word of death in relation to her precious daughter. "If anything happens to my daughter, I will make sure that you and your family will all join her."

Without looking up from the girl, I nodded, simultaneously trying to straighten her back up. Princess Leping hesitantly untangled her hands from her daughter's, but as soon as she stood up, she nearly dashed away to the distance.

The girl was still a writhing tangle on the floor, her chest heaving and falling in dissonant rhythm. But already, her actions were less energetic from before, a thin vein protruding from her forehead.

"Princess, it's time to sit up," I muttered, knowing that she could still hear me. She shook her head slightly from side to side, not even completing the action before falling to another fit of coughs.

"My apologies," I whispered before forcibly near-dragging her from the ground. My actions were unrestrained, not the most delicate of measures. She fell limply onto my lap, but I mustered all the energy I had to sit her up straight, supporting her with one hand while rubbing her back with the other.

Whenever she starting leaning and bending, I did my best to keep her utterly straight.

"Better, sitting up will allow the air to come better to you," I reminded, offering a strong smile. Blinking groggily, her head tilted in the slightest nod.

"Now follow my count," I steadied her again.

"Breath in," I paused, and her body sagged forward.

"Breath out." Although I caught her just in time, with the breathing out portion of the exercise, she broke down into a fit of coughs.

Asking her to continue the exercise, I dug into my inner robes for my personal needles, realizing that now wasn't the time to conceal myself.

Lightly applying a few to certain acupoints, I breathed out a small sigh of relief as her violent fits of coughs were slightly appeased, shifting instead to a single standalone here and there.

"Princess, you're already much better," I coaxed, continually patting her back softly. "Now relax as you breathe in and breathe out. You'll be alright."

In the heat of the moment, I didn't even have time to observe Princess Leping's emotions.

"The tea is here!" A court servant hurried over with a white porcelain pot, falling to her knees aside me, setting the set by me, and then immediately hurrying back to her original position.

After asking the princess whether she could sit up by herself, I immediately poured a cup and nudged it towards her mouth.

But just when I was about to ask the young princess to drink, dissonance sound in the background.

"Your Humble Servants apologize for arriving so late," a crowd of elderly men shuffled into view, their long cloaks dragging from behind them. "As soon as Your Highness had called, we—"

Princess Leping cut them off, asking them to instead treat her daughter and avoid the formalities. After exchanging a few hesitant looks, they obliged and began to slowly unpack their heavy medicinal cases.

"What is that?" One immediately pointed to the cup of steaming tea. "How dare you use something like that on the most royal Young Highness!" Another immediately chimed in, claiming that such treatments were foolish tricks of the commoners and should not be even considered in the palace, where better herbs could be found.

But as they bickered and crowded towards us, the young princess's eyes widened before nearly slumping over once again. Her semi-pacified breathing from before took yet another horrible turn for the worse, and a fit of coughs immediately followed.

If they were to all flood over at once, the young princess wouldn't even have air to inhale.

I glanced at the Princess Leping, seeing a look of utter torment across her face. Although I sought guidance, I instead found her clamping her hands together in prayer and her eyes closed.

But almost immediately, they blinked back open, more demanding of attention and following than ever before. "I had entrusted the Liang princess for my daughter's life. All back off."

Seeing the imperial physicians gape at her with dumbstruck expressions, she added with a new protective glare in her eyes, "Now!"