Chapter 6 - Sharing of Bed.

Ben's farmhouse, the King's room...

"Ben... I have been spotting some abnormalities in your breath and heartbeats... Have you been using that drug again?" The King asked.

"Mmm..."

"I see..."

"Hmm? Don't you have anything else to say regarding that?" Ben asked, in a slightly confused tone.

"Nope... At least not at this moment." said the King.

"Mmm... I see... By the way... When you were still in coma, Rei confessed something to me." said Ben, switching topics all of a sudden.

"What?! Confess?!" The King exclaimed as he immediately sat up from his bed

As soon as the King heard the word 'confess', he immediately thought of something else. Something romance-related, and thus the slightly astonished reaction.

"Yes, she confessed something to me, and no, it's not like whatever that floated out in your dirty mind," said Ben as he rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Ah... Sorry about that. Please continue whatever you were going to tell me just now." said the King with an awkward smile as he laid back on his bed.

"Well... I don't know if you realized it or not but I do notice that she had been using you for her own benefits for at least twice, and she confessed that to me," said Ben.

"Hmm... I see. Did she tell you anything else?" The King asked with a thoughtful look.

"Yes. There are more," said Ben, who looks equally thoughtful.

"Mmm... Tell me everything." said the King.

***

After the King had that long conversation with Ben, the two men took a short nap together sharing a bed, and shortly after both of them had fallen asleep, the King's cat, Byako jumped up to the bed, joining them in their nap.

However, none of them seem to notice or care to notice that there was someone peeking at them from outside through a tiny slit of the window...

***

In Rei's room.

Rei is practising walking on her two legs without the help of her walking cane. Enduring the great discomfort from her slightly shaky left leg, sweat dripped down from Rei's forehead to the floor as Rei stepped out her tenth step. With her face covered in sweat, Rei smiled. This is the first time ever that she is able to walk so many steps without the help of her walking cane or any other form of support ever since she injured her left ankle in the snow mountain a few weeks ago.

However, just as Rei was about to step out her eleventh step, her left leg suddenly felt weak and gave in, thus causing her to lose balance.

"Ah..."

"Watch out!"

Just as Rei was about to fall, a lady rushed in and held her in hand preventing Rei from falling down.

"Ah... Holly... Thanks."

Yup, it's Holly, Ben's personal assistant.

"Tsk... Seriously, Rei, don't you even listen to my words for once? I clearly remembered that I told you to stay in your bed before leaving this room just now." Holly nagged as she immediately dragged over a chair with her free hand and let Rei sit on the chair.

"I am sorry... I was just a bit too eager to try walking on my own," said Rei.

"Tsk... I understand your eagerness to be able to walk on both your feet again, but you could easily sprain your ankle again like last time when your idiotic ex-fiancé made you walk on your own into the hall with only some useless minimum supports. If it's not that stupid ex-fiancé of yours, your ankle should have been recovered by now." Holly continued to nag as she crouched down and carefully touched Rei's injured ankle to see if her ankle is alright or not.

"Mmm... He is indeed an idiot. But in the mentioned case, he was not the main party to blame, it's the fault of those court ladies whose jobs were supposed to make sure that I would not have to overuse my injured leg while maintaining my elegance and gracefulness, I believe that, in their opinion, elegance and gracefulness were way more important than my injury." said Rei as she shrugged.

"Hah... What do you sound like it was not a big deal? Tsk... Seriously, if I was you, I would never want to return to that awful place which treated me like crap even if I was promised with the Empress throne." said Holly as she sighed.

Then, Holly stood up and walked out without further saying anything.

"But... It has nothing to do with the Empress throne..." Rei murmured with a slightly aggrieved look.

After a short while, Holly walked back in with a small basin of water in her hand.

"Anyway, it's time to wash your legs and go to bed."

Said so, Holly placed the basin down in front of Rei.

Rei nodded without saying anything.

.

.

.

With soft and gentle moves, Holly carefully helped Rei wash her feet with the warm herb water she prepared.

Uncertain of when and how it started but Holly has been treating this 'slightly troublesome noble lady from Qin Empire' sincerely as her best friend which she doesn't even mind to help her with such matters. Furthermore, she even stopped addressing Rei as 'Lady Rei' or 'Miss Rei', right now, she addressed Rei directly with her name like a friend would do. Not only Holly, Rei as well have considered Holly as one of her friends that she talked more carefreely to Holly compared to any other person she knows in the Kingdom.

And so, we have the following conversation...

.

.

.

"Ah... Holly..."

"Yes?"

"I just remembered that you told me you were going to get something for Dr Ben in the King's place, how are things going? If I was not mistaken, I vaguely caught your blushed face just now when you rushed into the room to help me..."

"Ah..."

"Is there anything..."

"No! Not a big deal!"

And yes, the one who peeked into the King's room is no one but Holly, and obviously, she is kind of excited to see the King sharing a bed with Ben...