They didn't need to use any sleeping medicine since she had fallen into an unconscious state shortly afterwards. But for her unstable breathing, an oxygen mask was required. The doctor was told to have the same healing magic as Helio, so Aefia had her hopes that the doctor knew what needed to be done.
She was completely strapped down on the bed with many black elastic bands, as multiple nurses and surgeons helped with keeping her organs from weakening or worse, fully failing. The last moment visit had added enough stress against her body, and the way she was still able to walk, surprised much of the crew.
Not really knowing her blood type, a seperate group of scientist were forced to conduct experiments with her blood and then install a bag of that into her wrist. While also doing that, they gathered records of her health and issues onto a small folder filled with papers. Her name was not written due to the lack of her presence around the palace. She barely knew how many servants were here, so nor did they.
A few servants were called in right after that, just to wash her hair and all of the stains away from her hands and face. One of them was the maid who had wiped the sides of her eyes just a few days ago. She dyed her hands red with Aefia's blood as there was a struggle found on her face while trying to clean every redness out of her dark hair.
An entire sleepless night was spent, just to have one person alive and treated. The next day, more than three quaters of the nurse and doctors had taken a leave. Only the maid servants stayed next to her, watching over the machines and their data. A few others came in and went away during those days, just so they could tell the duchess something, and not return empty-handed.
Even when there were signs that she was about to wake up, the next moment would just worsen and leave the servant hoping for the best. It wasn't certain whether that was sincerity or loyalty, but it helped to ward off the loneliness in the room. From time to time, there a requirement for checking in on the medicines and ointments, which was done properly too.
It took a week or so for Aefia to wake up, but when she did, she stared with confusion at the sleeping servant beside her. Immediately getting off from the bed and landing on her feet, walked over to her while poking at her shoulder. But there was already a water bottle present beside her, so it wasn't a problem that urgent that needed her to be awake.
While grabbing the water bottle, she noticed the catheter on her wrist and pulled the stand closer with the long rod. This made movement slightly easier because the far distance it was, restricted her from sitting up. Suddenly aware of the movement around her, the servant woke with her eyes scanning the room.
"Oh well...you are awake." The maid spoke with a very fragile tone. Whether it was because she had just heard her sound or that she has just woken up and imagined that, the voice seemed to Aefia like the sound of ringing bells. The entire atmosphere around the room turned silent, leaving a long awkward moment.
Aefia unscrewed the water bottle and drank more than half of it, before setting it aside and looking at the maid who stood up with tired eyes. She pointed a finger at herself and suddenly spoke, "I am hungry...isn't there anything that I can eat as a snack or something? I am not looking forward to having a big meal just yet." With her blank eyes, she seemed like a souless child.
The maid looked at the pocket watch right next to her, set on the table and clicked it open without lifting it. "It's quite late at night, so I will have to sneak around the corners of the palace to check for any leftovers." She closed the lid and bowed before walking towards the door. Noticing this, Aefia stood up and wore her heels.
"Hold on, I will go get them. You should stay here and have some rest, there has been enough work down from your side. I am actually grateful for your help and supervision until now, but I actually want to be alone for a few moments." She smiled while holding her catheter and walking towards the door while tieing her hair with the long strand of ribbon beside her bed.
"Are you firing me?" The maid spoke with scared eyes. With that realization, she quickly added, "no, no, that's not what I meant! I just told you to rest up because you might have to assist me around starting morning. There must be still around four hours left till six, am I right?" Her fingers wrapped around the handle of the door while her eyes glanced at the maid's direction.
Relieved, the maid sat back on her chair and leaned against the table. She is...a very indescribable person. She watched the girl leave and then slowly fell asleep with her hands on her chin. The pocket watch beside her ticked ahead as it echoed through the absurdly quiet room.
***
Aefia wandered out of the room with a mind full of thoughts. But the most loudest of them all was the voice of hunger. Just how long has it been? It can't have been this long that I woke up extremely hungry and thirsty. I only know I became unconcious around the time I lay down on the bed.
She used her free hand to scratch her eyes, and realized her left hand was hurting incredibly when it came into contact with just any objects. Not only that, the bandage stopped her from freely moving her fingers and instinctly she took it off while disposing it in a nearby dust bin which was at the dining hall.
The kitchen was a floor below into the basement of the palace. Right around this time, no one was expected to be there so she slowly creeped inside the large doors. Her light blue knee-length vest glowed when she passed through the dark corridors, with her white sleeves visible which glowed brighter than the vest itself. If she had at least worn the coat, it would have been less radiant. The only things dark were her shoes and socks.
While passing through the long passageway, she realized that there was a skill that allowed her to turn invisible. Upon remembering, she entered her stealth form and flicked open her screen. Multiple notifications came in, it seemed that Puppet learned how to send messages through the screen.
[New message (two hours ago): Hey Aefia! I don't know whether you are dead or still alive, but you haven't come to the office in a week. Are you that injured? That you propably died upon reaching the palace? Didn't you heal yourself?]
[New message (three days ago): Hey? How is it so that I can't reach you? You have suddenly dissapeared into nothingness, no response no sight? I have been frantically trying to reach you through teleportation, but you seem to be sleeping or something.]
Many smaller messages came in that she hadn't read. All spanning from different time durations, making her wonder whether it was really Puppet the one who sent the messages. The notifications kept her occupied in the lonely corridor to the kitchen. Usually, the food was delivered through a much more shorter route, but to take that way was going to cast suspicion among the guards since they are always there to stop anyone from entering.
There was a fear that some sorts of assassin would get in and poison every single ingredients in the cabinet and get a member of the royalty sick. And since Aefia was a suspicious figure at the castle, there was a high chance they would see her as a threatening being. The way to the kitchen was not an easy one, where she had to use her free hand as a source of light.
Her fingertips flared with small amounts of fire as the cold air tried to dim it, but unknowingly the fire casted with magic was already in its feeble state, so she left the last bits of flames to die out. In this part of the palace, it was already bright with another source of fire glowing at the end. That didn't last long and soon faded.
Thinking it was just a few candles going out, she reached for the door handle which twisted on itself and pushed outwards. Not being able to run with the catheter, she pulled off the needle and leaped a couple steps back, with her heels causing the loud noises, she was found out. The first time I wake up and I guess I was really meant to die that day.
The conditions for stealth was that she couldn't make a noise, nor could she move anything. But her shoes had revealed her and her invisibility was turned off, she had prepared herself to run at the last second as soon as she saw the person's face. The door only opened slightly as she took another step back and noticed the person exiting.
"Oh, hi!" Henry quietly laughed with a handful of snacks that he might have stolen from the pantry. "I haven't seen you in a while, I heard you were sick, have you recovered just yet? He spoke while craddling the packets of chips.
"Aren't you supposed to be asleep? It's too late in the night, and you might want to watch out for the guards in night shift." Aefia spoke while helping him pick up the fallen packet of biscuits. A sudden thought struck her mind, why would the guards work to catch him if they already know he is a little kid and it was alright for him to go throguh and sneak a few bags worth of candies or so. He is just a child at the end, an innocent soul who just wanted to eat something.
"Yes it is late in the night, but Lewis and I always stay awake around this time watching movies on his laptop." The child chuckled, as he stroded back towards the long corridor and on the way, he turned around as if to say something. "I have a few questions if you don't mind?"
By then, Aefia had made the catheter dissapear and held the handle of the half closed door. She glanced back to see what the child had to say, and nodded. "Why are you awake around this hour? And if you are not busy, you can come and join us, we are family after all." Henry smiled. "It will be fun if you came along. Lewis is at the end of the corridor so you don't need to worry about mom."
"Actually, I just came to get a glass of water. Don't worry, just for today, I won't be able to join you since I am still sick. Maybe another time when I am feeling better, I will come along." A reply came back as she hesitated her grab against the door handle. "And mom will somehow still find out. I am not allowed to get along with you guys, even when we are family."
"Oh..." The child spoke while turning to continue his walk. "Alright, we will meet in the morning then." He seemed upset with the unexpected reply as a guilty feeling settled onto her mind as she chased behind the child and held his shoulder. "Hold on, I will go along with you." She spoke while following behind the child.
His face finally brightened up as he leaped along the small space, while having Aefia hold onto the snacks. She didn't mind, since her younger brother from Earth would have done the same and they would steal snacks at midnight just like how Henry was doing. There house was fully packed with servants, so they too had to walk while checking the surroundings.
"Just so you know, I am not going to follow along to watch movies, I have be somewhere so please don't be mad about it." She finally spoke about the fact that she was trying best to hide from him thinking it might hurt his feelings. Afterall, he was still a child and didn't understand much.
"As long as you promise that you would tomorrow." The child continued leaping as he glanced at Aefia and noticed the stitches on her hand and the tape with a needle stuck from her wrist of the same hand. "Just to be sure, did you get hurt?" He immediately spoke while slowing his steps and walked over to inspect the wound.
"It looks bad, did you fall?" He asked a little concerned. Not knowing how to reply, she just nodded her head and crouched down to pull out a small basket from her inventory and filled it with the bags of biscuits and chips. She had the child climb her back as she held the basket with her right hand and dashed towards the door.
With a light step, she landed without dropping anything and let the child climb down and glanced back. Those footsteps were nearing again, and they seemed to be heavy ones of the guards who were probably looking out for the commotion caused. Henry seemed to notice too, and held her hand while running towards the end.
Her heels were loud, so she had no other option but to hold them while running. The hand where her catheter was supposed to be, hurt as the needle pierced her veins a little too many times. They reached the door by only a few steps away from the following group and a light bulb switched on inside her mind.
"You go ahead and inform Lewis to head back to your rooms immediately. Have the snacks snuck somewhere far from your rooms and don't share your room, pretend to be asleep in your own particular spaces and only after ten minutes of their checking, you may get to hang out again. Remember these things and tell your brother about it too." She spoke while watching the child leave through a small gap in the door.
Now...I guess I will have to creep them out in this passageway. I hate trouble, one especially after I wake up. She dashed, leaped into the air and avoided the oncoming guards as they felt the air move above them. They glanced up, and held their weapons high, but Aefia was already behind the rest of them.