Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 102: A Special Seat

Chapter 102: A Special Seat

Back in Lord Ivan’s chamber, Lucy stayed with Samantha to monitor her health.

The physician had arrived as per Lord Ivan’s orders to check on Samantha, and although the royal physician had been caught off guard by the sight of a maid, he failed to decipher why Lord Ivan would send for a royal physician to treat a mere servant when he could have sent for one of those village doctors, but then, he could not refuse, neither could he argue over the orders of his Lordship and immediately checked on her health with Lucy monitoring behind like a hawk.

When he was done, he changed the bandages on Samantha’s wrist, and after confirming she was in no critical condition, he handed Lucy a list of herbal medicine soup that she needed to prepare for Samantha once she woke up, and Lucy nodded politely to the royal physician before seeing him out.

"I will inform his Lordship that you came." Lucy said to the physician who nodded as if he was confused before taking his leave. As he made it to the Palace exit, he couldn’t believe he got called overnight just to check on a servant - not that he had a problem with it, but that was so unlike His Lordship to do, and it made him wonder - was that actually a servant or a lover disguised as one???

He didn’t know.

Meanwhile, in Lord Ivan’s chamber, Samantha stirred once more in her sleep. Her frail body felt weighed down by a heavy fatigue, but due to the warmth of her blanket, she kept drifting in and out of consciousness. As her fevered mind began to resurface, Samantha felt a soothing sensation on her forehead, a coolness that offered a respite from the heat that had plagued her for many hours.

Groggily, she opened her eyes, and her blurry vision drifted to the burning candlelight that had been lit on the candleholder. Blinking away the remnants of sleep that blurred her vision, her cleared gaze settled on Lucy who sat attentively on her bedside. Lucy’s gentle touch was revealed to be a wet towel she had placed on Samantha’s forehead so she could regulate her temperature, and the look on Samantha’s bleary eyes softened at the mere sight of her.

"Lucy..?" She murmured weakly, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Lucy, who noticed her friend was finally awake, smiled tenderly as she leaned close, whilst she gently held the uninjured hand of Samantha.

"Thank goodness you’re awake." Lucy’s almond-shaped eyes were filled with relief and concern. "How are you feeling now? No, what are you doing? You don’t have to sit up." Lucy had stopped the sick maiden when she made an attempt to push her weak self into a sitting position.

"You’re not feeling well, I don’t want you getting out of bed in this condition." Lucy softly admonished as she pulled the blanket up to cover Samantha properly, but she had stopped upon noticing how strangely her friend was gazing at her, and then her lips trembled as though she had something to say.

"What?"

"I..I can’t believe you’re still here, did I keep you here?"

Lucy’s expression softened after listening to her worried friend. Her hands reached out to brush a strand of sweat-soaked hair from Samantha’s face, and then she said. "Do not worry, I’m not in any trouble. I seeked permission from the head maid to stay so I can take care of you. You’re unwell as it is, and I couldn’t let you suffer alone. Thankfully, your body temperature is dropping slowly, I’ll have to make that herbal soup before it shoots up again."

"Thank you." Samantha had managed to say, throwing Lucy off guard, and when she looked into the eyes of Samantha that were now glazed with appreciation, she held Samantha’s hand and shook her head gently.

"Stop being so formal, we’re not just fellow servants you know, we’re friends, and friend’s take care of each other, especially during their time of need, so this is nothing. I only need you to get better, okay?" She uttered softly and noticed the way Samantha’s eyes welled up with tears.

Samantha, who felt touched by Lucy’s action and words, couldn’t remember the last time someone grew this concerned about her health. Samantha had known Lucy to be kind-hearted, but what she has done for her so far, her genuine selflessness had stirred a deep sense of appreciation within her.

"What will I do without you?"

"Absolutely nothing, you need me sweetheart." Lucy confidently quoted, a proud glimmer shimmering in her eyes, and her playfulness had brought a smile to Samantha’s lips. It was as if Lucy’s presence alone could chase the illness that had plagued her without notice.

Sitting up since she felt incredibly tired of lying down, Samantha’s searching gaze scrutinized the room before returning to Lucy, and she asked weakly.

"Is Lord Ivan back yet?"

"Yes, he is." Lucy answered, and then her eyes shook eagerly as though she just recalled something interesting. "I have been meaning to gist with you about it. My God, you need to see how worried His Lordship was when he stepped into his chamber to find you under the weather. He always wears this expression of someone who has no emotions, someone who wouldn’t care if he finds a whole village burning, but what I witnessed tonight was so rare. He stayed by your side and you, my sweet little friend, kept hugging his arm like it was one of your favorite pillows, like this!"

Grabbing one of the pillows beside Samantha, Lucy hugged it tight as if she was holding a beloved, demonstrating how Samantha had held onto Ivan’s arm.

"I...I did what?" Samantha blinked in bafflement, her face flushed, and Lucy continued since the sight had excited her to her bone marrow. "I can only ever dream, but you were able to hold such strong arms for hours, sigh... what a waste if you can’t even recall what it felt like, I was hoping to get the details."

"Where is he?"

"Presently dealing with a few servants, you don’t need to worry too much, just have some rest and eat this bowl of chicken soup. It was a special order from Lord Ivan himself, and now I’m confused." Lucy’s eyes suspiciously narrowed. "Am I missing something, or is there something you’re not telling me?"

—--

Back in the grand ornate room, horrific gasps filtered through the still air when Anaïs landed a hard punch to Gwen who dropped to her wobbly knees, spitting out blood. Obviously the four servants were taking out their anger on themselves, and they kept hitting until they had left serious bruises on each other, yet they couldn’t stop since Lord Ivan made it clear that they needed to keep hitting till Samantha came down to forgive them, which sounded impossible.

"Herbert, do you think I should get a new outfit for the royal court meeting tonight? I’d like to make a spectacular entrance with the word ’chaos’ written in Latin on the back, what do you think?" Ivan, who was hardly bothered about the bloody sight before him, had asked Herbert with interest, and his bodyguard had opened his mouth to speak when Ivan suddenly snapped his fingers, and he shook his head.

"Well It’s too late for that isn’t it? My whole day gets preoccupied that I’m starting to lose focus on my fashion sense." He quietly uttered with a hint of annoyance in his crimson eyes. The rest of the servants who were made to watch could hardly contain the sight of the four servants hitting each other relentlessly, without stopping, and they were even more terrified when Lord Ivan kept speaking like everything was alright, as if nothing life-threatening was happening right before his eyes.

"I’m thinking..." Ivan was forced to stop when one of the servants immediately dropped to her knees with her head on the ground in front of him.

"MY LORDSHIP PLEASE! I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE!! I BEG YOU TO HAVE MERCY!!"

The servant cried out as her body shook from the pain that had been inflicted on her from other servants. Ivan, who remained unfazed by her plea, looked down at the crying servant with a disappointed tsk.

"I accept that what I did was wrong, it was immoral and I deserve every punishment given, but why is she...why is she the one who gets your good favors?"

"And how dare you question me in the middle of your punishment?" Ivan’s voice turned cold as ice, and his steely gaze drifted to the three servants who could barely catch their breaths. They were wounded, even clawed themselves, they had impacted more damage on each other than Ivan realized, but then, he felt no mercy, not even a tiny bit of it.

"No one is done, until I say it’s done. You will keep hitting, and if you do die in the process..." a dark gleam caught his eyes, "it is your ill luck."

"But... but why her?" The servant was still adamant on knowing. This punishment was too severe, and all for another servant? She needed to understand why she was being punished so severely when she hadn’t hurt a royal.

"Why her?!" Ivan chuckled softly, it sounded like the calmness of an ocean before the raging of a tsunami, and then he stopped. "Keep hitting."

The servant, who felt wronged, turned to look at Gwen who had influenced her into spreading the rumors. "YOU CAUSED ALL OF THIS!! I SWEAR I’LL KILL YOU!!!" Aggrieved, the servant pounced on Gwen before she could speak, and to everyone’s horror, the servant kept hitting Gwen in the face with her fist till it was stained with blood. Meanwhile, Ivan’s eyes glinted with amusement at the sight, while Herbert appeared stunned by the sudden change.

Not too long after the punishment continued, the door to the hall suddenly opened, and when Ivan looked up to see who had walked in, a look of warmth replaced the iciness in his eyes upon seeing his little lamb walk in with Lucy by her side. Everyone’s gaze moved to the door as well, and a hush silence fell on the hall.

Samantha, who had noticed the bloody sight and didn’t dare look, moved her gaze to Ivan who let out his hand for her, beckoning her over.

"Come."

Glancing at Lucy who supported her with a nod, Samantha took unhurried strides to where Ivan sat, and everyone’s eyes nearly fell off their sockets when Samantha placed her hand upon his, and to her own disbelief, Ivan pulled her in so she could sit on his legs.

"You needn’t stand when you’re feeling unwell, you’re lucky I saved a special seat for you." he said, meeting her flustered face with a subtle click of his tongue, "but what bad timing...my little lamb has to bear this revolting sight for a little while."