His Highness's Second Wife
His Highness’s Second Wife Chapter 90

“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” Raena sighed as she watched Marden grimace while trying to replace a more comfortable position on the sofa next to her.

He just waved his hand dismissively, trying not to show his pain but failing miserably. He looked better than the last time she saw him – some of the color had returned to his face and his cheeks weren’t as hollow. He still needed help standing and walking – which he was advised not to do at all – but it seemed like the danger for his life was over at least.

They had ended up at his mansion after riding out of the Imperial Palace on Gerrin’s horse land contemplating where to go. They couldn’t go back to Kassian’s residency and the Prime Minister’s one was probably being watched. Going to the restaurant was a big no-no and when she suggested renting a room at an inn, Gerrin shook his head like she just offered him poison. At the mention of Marden’s name he perked up and even before she was done, the horse was galloping in the direction of Count Rubick’s house. The fact that it wasn’t a well-known location and there were already soldiers on site to watch over Marden seemed to be a good enough reason for Kassian’s second-in-command.

That was, until Marden decided not to stay in bed and keep her company when she refused to rest. Gerrin almost jumped him when he heard the familiar way he was speaking to her, even calling her by her name, but quickly resorted to sulking and glaring when she threatened to kick him out of the room.

Now the three of them sat in Marden’s parlor – Gerrin in a chair by the door with a weapon in his lap and Raena and Marden in one of the sofas, next to a table the surly butler had loaded with sandwiches, cookies, and “I’m fine.” Marden finally said. “It’s almost dawn, anyway. I’m sure the damn butler will insist on changing my bandages any moment.” As if hearing his words, the door opened, and said butler walked in with a tray holding a load of fresh, clean bandages and two small bowls, one filled with water and the other with some nasty smelling paste. Marden made a disgruntled face.

“I’ll do it,” Raena said readily, getting to her feet and reaching for the tray.

“No way.” Gerrin said at the same time the butler shook his head, pulling the tray out of her reach. Raena frowned with annoyance.

“Do I need to remind all of you who is the highest-ranking person here? Shut up.” She said coldly. The butler’s scowl turned into a hesitant expression, and she took the chance to grab the tray from his hands. She needed something to keep her hands and mind occupied until they got some news. Gerrin had sent someone to the residence to wait for news of Kassian or Blaine’s return – and someone else back to the Imperial Palace to replace out what else had happened through the night.

None had returned yet.

“Raena, I can’t let you do that,” Marden said awkwardly, glancing nervously towards Gerrin, whose glare had intensified. “As much as I would prefer a woman’s hands touching me than that old fart’s, I value my life more.”

“I won’t kill you. Take your robe off.” She commanded, putting the tray on the table.

“It’s not you l’m worried about.” Marden sighed in defeat and slowly shrugged his robe off, wincing and moaning until he was sitting just in his pajamas pants. Raena took the scissors from the tray and cut the old bandage, swiftly unfurling it.

Gerrin cleared his throat a few times as she leaned closer to Marden so she could unfold it from behind his back, but she ignored it. Once all the cloth was off, she frowned at the sight of the wound. There were a lot of stitches and the skin around them was a mix of purple, black, red, and green. Raena took the wet cloth that was lying in another bowl full of water, and carefully pressed it against Marden’s chest. He winced, gritting his teeth, and for a few minutes, the only sound in the room was Marden’s groaning and more of Gerrin’s throat-clearing.

When Raena finally put the water bowl down and picked the one with the medicine, dipping her fingers in it, both Marden and Gerrin perked up.

“Wait a minute!” Both shouted, with Gerrin going as far as jumping off his seat. “You can’t do that! “‘H do it! Give me that!” He added angrily, striding to the table and extending his hand.

“Let’s just call the butler…” Marden murmured awkwardly, looking at the door with hope while Raena locked her eyes on Gerrin. He didn’t look like the gentle and caring type, so even if she didn’t want to do it, she wouldn’t have trusted him with it

“What’s the problem now?” She sighed, putting the bowl in her lap.

“The problem is that you’re a married woman who is sitting next to a half-naked man and planning to rub her fingers over his chest. If His Highness was here, he would have killed us all!”

Gerrin said angrily. “Please give me the medicine! I’ll do it. Just go sit somewhere else.”

“No,” Raena said stubbornly, picking up the paste and dipping her fingers in it again. She raised her hand and reached towards Marden’s chest, who gave her a pleading look. “I’m surprised you managed to become a soldier with such terrible eyesight, Gerrin. You miss such simple things like the fact that this half-naked man is a patient with a serious injury, which he received because of me.

This makes me responsible for him. And I am not touching his chest. I am treating his wound like any doctor or nurse would do. It’s not like my hands are in his pants or anything”

Raena, please stop talking or I feel like you’ll get another wound to treat.” Marden squirmed, covering his face with his hands. Gerrin looked so indignant that she was afraid he might actually do something stupid, like picking her up and throwing her in the other room, then locking the door. In the end, he just balled his fists and said: “I’m reporting all of this to His Highness.”

“Go ahead.” Raena shrugged. “I’ll tell him how you sat beside us, watching, and did absolutely nothing to stop me.” She looked away from Gerrin, pressing her fingers gently against Marden’s wound. The paste was cool to the touch, but the smell was even worse up close. She finished applying it on his front and back without another interruption, but she could feel a pair of eyes following every movement and shooting daggers at her head. Soon after she tightened the new bandage around Marden’s chest, finishing her work with a satisfied sigh. She had done it all without – hurting Marden or throwing up – that was definitely a huge accomplishment.

Marden leaned back on the sofa, closing his eyes as if preparing to take a nap. Raena focused on cleaning her hands from the reddish-brown substance using the wet cloth the butler had brought a few minutes prior. She stared down at the white fabric that quickly turned red, memories of last night flashing in front of her eyes.

Despite the confident smile that Kassian gave them, he hadn’t looked that well. She was sure he was hurt, his movements had been different from usual, and he held the sword Gerrin gave him with the wrong hand, which meant there was something wrong with the other one.

What if he got hurt? What if he got killed?

The rebels’ initial plan might have been to blame everything on him, but they had adjusted their own strategy to make that impossible. Nobody was going to believe Kassian would ever work with the rebels, not even the Emperor. But if Yulien died, there were a thousand ways to twist the truth and make the relationship between the two brothers seem like something that it was not.

Yulien had to live. He was the only one that could save Kassian now.

“Ahem.” The butler cleared his throat loudly and Raena snapped to attention, raising her head. “There is a gentleman here to see you,” he said, staring at Raena. “He said his name is Blaine Alathic. Should I let him in?”

“Yes, yes, please do,” Raena said excitedly, getting to her feet. Gerrin got up as well, his hand still squeezing the sheath of the sword he had borrowed from one of the other soldiers.

The butler returneda couple of minutes later with Blaine in tow. His glasses were missing and he had an ugly, but superficial gash on his forehead. He greeted them with a wary smile and a stiff bow, his eyes glancing at Gerrin before settling on Raena.

“Are you alright? What happened to you?” she asked.

“Nothing serious, just a few minor injuries. l am glad you’re not hurt, Your Highness.” He said with a hoarse voice, as if he had been shouting all night. “We were a bit worried when you didn’t come back to the residence last night, but it might have been for the best since the guards got into a fight with several intruders. All were repelled though, so the residence is now secured.”

“Kara?” Raena asked, her throat tightening.

“She is fine. Nobody in your residence was hurt.” He assured her and Raena gave him a thankful nod. A second later, she tensed again.

“Do you have any news? Is Kassian alright? Is the crown prince alive?” Blaine raised his hand to stop the flow of questions, his eyes stopping on Marden who had twisted himself just enough to see the newcomer.

Blaine’s wary look returned. “I would leave the room, but that might take half an hour…” Marden said awkwardly. “The rest of the house is at your disposal.”

“Just pretend he is not there,” Raena said impatiently. “Marden is not going to tell anyone. He is one of us.”

Blaine didn’t seem entirely convinced of that, but nodded nonetheless, his shoulders slouching as if the weight on them had just doubled. Raena braced herself for the bad news, holding her breath as she waited.

“The Crown Prince is fine, he was not hurt last night. There was an attack on his quarters, but they pushed them off with the help of His Highness.” Blaine reported. “However..” he paused, glancing between the three of them and taking a deep breath, “Prince Rissen was murdered last night and His Highness was arrested for his death.”

“What?” Gerrin shouted while Raena was still searching for her voice. Blaine raised his hands again as if sensing another flood of questions coming.

“They have imprisoned him while the investigation is underway. The problem is, they saying that they found his sword in the second prince’s quarters and that they have witnesses claiming he killed him.”

“This is ridiculous!” Gerrin bellowed, his face turning red. “He dropped his sword in the banquet hall, which is nowhere near that stupid bastard’s room! And what kind of idiot would leave their weapon at the scene of the crime? It’s obvious this is a setup.”

“The Emperor doesn’t need much to lock him up. And he might decide to use this opportunity to get rid of him for good.” Blaine said carefuily. “

What worries me are the two witnesses. We can argue that a seasoned soldier like His Highness would never kill in such a sloppy manner, but the witnesses complicate things.”

“What’s the motive?” Raena frowned. “What are they saying – why did he do it?” Blaine hesitated, raising his hand and scratching his forehead around the wound.

“They are saying he was trying to make himself the heir. He always hated Rissen, which is not a secret, so he wanted to get rid of him. And he knew that his brother might die any moment because of his wounds from the attack, so he wanted to make sure he became crown prince instead.” Blaine’s expression was dark and thoughtful, bordering fear fora moment. Raena prepared to laugh at how ridiculous that sounded, but she noticed his serious expression and the smile froze on her lips.

“This is stupid. He never wanted anything to do with the crown.” She said, but even her voice sounded hesitant in her ears. Blaine threw his hands helplessly in the air. “All of this is circumstantial evidence, it can be easily disproved. And we have witnesses too.” She added, pointing at herself and Gerrin. “We were with him and we were fighting those rebels with the masks. We..” Raena paused, closing her eyes. With every next word, Blaine’s expression grew darker and darker. “We can’t testify, can we?”

“Why not?” Gerrin frowned.

“Because you’re His Highness’s most trusted man and anything you say will be considered biased by your loyalty to your commander. And she is…” Blaine glanced at Raena, who opened her eyes slowly. “Madam Lydia who wanted for conspiring with an enemy, crimes against the crown, and treason. If she shows up to testify, she will hang even before His Highness’s sentence is given. And if they replace out Madam Lydia is actually His Highness’s wife, nothing we say or do is going to change people’s minds that he is working with the rebels.”

Silence filled the room, heavy and foreboding, like the feeling in her stomach. She had hanged so many things in the storyline, all the events were jumbled or happened earlier. Then why did he have to be charged with treason again? Was this something like a fixed event? Was there really nothing she could do to save him? Was Yulien going to die too?

This was not how things were supposed to go. She had decided to change the story. They had to figure something out.

“Blaine,” she said, straightening her shoulders. “Did you bring me a change of clothes?”

“Yes, Your Highness, we can’t have you recognized.” He said readily. “Once you’re done changing, I’ll take you back to the residence. There is a group of soldiers waiting outside to escort you.

“Then I..”

“I’m not going back there yet.” Raena declared. “We’re going to the Imperial Palace.” Blaine’s face paled and he quickly shook his head.

“Forgive me, but I already spoke with His Highness and he forbade me from bringing you there. He left a list of instructions in case anything happened to him and..”

“Blaine.” Raena interrupted him. “You have to make a choice here. Would you loyally serve a dead master or would you disobey a living one for a chance to save him?”