Every single person at the glade seemed to be in a panic now. The royal guards had trouble explaining that the guests wouldn''t be targeted when the goal was only the emperor and rushing into the forest to search for the danger at the same time.


    Maybe the empress should have calmed the situation down more, but she had already given her best. Blanche herself was more shaken than most here since her husband was in danger, and yet, she managed to instruct the guards and calm her sobbing daughter. She was in a much better state than Lucille was still.


    Ever since the horn had sounded, Lucille had been frozen in place while staring at the forest. There was no way that Camille would try to harm Cedar, right? Surely, even that woman had some sort of boundaries. Cedar had always been Camille''s favorite, so she wouldn''t ask someone to hurt him, would she? Lucille already knew that the honest answer wouldn''t calm her here, but she refused to accept that. If she seriously thought about the worst-case scenario, she would break down.


    As if that wasn''t bad enough, two royal guards came back with blood on their clothes and announced that there had been an assassination attempt on the members of the royal family. Then more knights had rushed into the forest, and the guests were encouraged to stay in the center of the venue, where the remaining guards could watch them.


    Blanche gave one short speech telling everyone that it would be fine since they weren''t in danger. After that, the dukes and duchesses had been kind enough to deal with the guests so that the empress could focus on the guards. It was nice to see that all of them could still think clearly. Blanche was so pale that it looked like she was about to faint, but she didn''t.


    Lucille was about to. She felt like her brain didn''t get enough oxygen to work properly, which might have been the case because her breathing was too shallow and quick. She would love to regulate that a bit, but she didn''t have the nerve to do that. She was much too tense. For the last few minutes, she had walked around in circles, but that hadn''t helped her. She had begun chewing on her fingernails too, and neither her father nor Fiona had been able to get her to stop. Hugs and calm words could only do so much.


    The mood was horrible.


    Lady Peril had lost her usual playful attitude completely ever since the horn had sounded and genuinely seemed concerned, if she could even feel that emotion. “His Royal Highness is a good fighter. I would say that he even is the best one we have in all of Artias. He will surely win against anyone that would attack him. His Majesty is impressive too, so no one will defeat them when Sir Maillont is with them as well. We just need to wait a little, and they will return while their enemies are lying in the dirt.”


    Lucille wasn''t sure if Jenna tried to calm her, but she accepted it for now.


    Apparently, Jenna saw that as a cue to continue in a low volume. “I only know one person who would send assassins into the royal estate during the hunt. She never wished for His Royal Highness'' death, so we do not need to worry about that. His Majesty is in greater danger, and even he will get out of this unharmed. During the hunting festival two years ago, His Majesty was attacked too, and he killed the intruder with a single motion of his sword. That proves that he is capable. His Royal Highness has trained for longer and is much better than his brother, so he will return safely as well. You are the one who insisted that a prince couldn''t lie. He said that he will come back as the victor, so he will do just that.” Was she telling that Lucille or herself?


    Lucille wasn''t sure what to say, and she assumed that being quiet was better anyway. After all, she could barely focus on anything, and biting her tongue wasn''t a good idea now. So, she just nodded while she began to play with the skin next to her fingernails again.


    Lady Peril gently but firmly grabbed Lucille''s hands and made her stop, which was probably for the better since the skin on Lucille''s fingers was already sore. Then she wordlessly instructed one of her maids to bring her some cream and handed that to the other woman.


    Lucille assumed that this was supposed to distract her, and she accepted that but didn''t use the cream. Instead, she allowed Fiona to hug her again. She could barely register what was going around her, so she only noticed that her friend slowly led her to a chair. Her father pulled it back for her so that she could sit, but she didn''t want to take a seat. Lucille needed to run around and get rid of her unneeded energy. But she was pretty sure that she didn''t have a choice here.


    Stumbling now could make it much worse than it had to be. So, Lucille gave in and allowed Fiona to make her sit. She only noticed how shaky her legs and hands were now. She couldn''t even look at her fingers without them trembling a bit too much. But she was worrying about her lover, so her reaction was very much justified. For a moment, she just sat there and considered the worst that could happen. Then she was snapped out of it by her father.


    Raymond had crouched down in front of her and carefully reached up to wipe away tears she hadn''t known about before. His expression was unusually soft when he whispered to her. “Everything will be fine. That prince is the one who beat up adult men when he was fourteen. You can rest assured that he won''t go easy on anyone.”


    Lucille could only sob at that. She extended her arms to her father and was more than relieved when he did her the favor and hugged her. She held onto him and could barely keep herself from crying even louder. If Cedar got seriously hurt here, she wouldn''t know what to do. He didn''t deserve to be injured because of a useless power struggle, a stupid grudge of one insane woman.


    At that thought, Lucille''s emotions changed a little. Her fear and panic remained, but pure and unfiltered hatred joined the mix.


    Lucille''s blood boiled when she realized what Camille had done to her son. For the first time in her life, she wished to murder someone. She had never hated someone so much. If she got closer to that woman, she would personally break Camille''s neck.


    Cedar had done so much for his mother. He had lived for her. He had hurt himself and put himself through so much pain just to be liked by her.


    And Camille paid it back by demanding more each time. By sending assassins to murder whom he liked and trying to destroy his happiness each time he grasped it. She was the reason why Cedar feared showing his emotions, why he thought that he needed to be invulnerable, why he was convinced that he wasn''t capable of feeling or receiving true love. That woman had traumatized her son in so many ways that one couldn''t list all of them. She deserved to feel all of the pain she had given to others herself.


    Lucille gritted her teeth while forcing herself to loosen her grip on her father. She didn''t need to cut off his air supply because she was filled with anger at the moment. She didn''t want to speak at all, but the words slipped out of her mouth. “That...that woman... That witch... If she hurt anyone today, I will-”If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The one who stopped her was Jenna. “Leave that to the people in charge. His Majesty will behead her for this. Maybe he will do it immediately after he comes back, or he will schedule an execution you can watch. In any way, he will be much more cruel than you could be, so leave this to him.” She was right about that.


    Lucille closed her mouth again and slumped her shoulders. She let her head fall forward while trying to focus on the floor. She noticed that her father had taken her hands in his and squeezed him to calm herself down, but it helped little. Lucille wasn''t sure how long she sat there in that odd state. She only knew that she was about to lose her mind when nothing happened. Just waiting made her feel horrible. She needed to hear about what was going on soon, or she might actually break down.


    Just when she was about to hug her father again, she heard yelling. That made her jump up, and she hectically looked around. Her eyes fell onto the group of royal guards that approached the glade on their horses.


    The emperor was with them. He jumped off his horse when he reached the venue and instructed the guards around him in a very harsh tone so that no one would dare to refuse. Theodore looked like he might as well have come to slaughter every single person here. His expression was terrifying, and the bloodstains on his clothes didn''t make him seem harmless either.


    That was the first warning.


    Lucille found herself running toward him. She vaguely noticed that Blanche did the same, but she wouldn''t follow the empress to talk to Theodore. She used every bit of energy that she had to sprint to the royal guards next to the emperor, who were carrying a man with hair in a familiar shade of blue. “Cedar!” She almost fell to her knees next to him and could just keep herself upright because she had to check whether he was awake. She put her hands onto his cheeks without any care for the guards by his side “Cedar!”


    He didn''t respond.


    The prince wasn''t smiling nor was he looking at her. He just hung limply in the others'' arms. He was covered in much more blood than the emperor.


    The dread in Lucille''s mind threatened to overwhelm her as she brought her hands to her lover''s neck. He had to have a pulse. He had to. It was useless to try to check when her own heart beat enough for the both of them, but she still tried it while holding her other hand in front of his mouth. She held on for the worst five seconds of her life before she felt a warm breath. She let out a whimper, and her legs almost gave in.


    Cedar was alive. He was definitely wounded and unconscious, but he was breathing steadily.


    Lucille almost hugged him. She only held herself back because she didn''t want to touch his wounds, but even that argument barely convinced her. She began crying again while she stared at her lover and cupped his face. For a few seconds, she remained in that position until a noise made her remember that she wasn''t alone here. She finally snapped out of it then and heard what was going on around them.


    Theodore said something to her, and she had only understood the second half. “A poisonous arrow, so we need to get him the antidote immediately. He lost a lot of blood, and both wounds are extremely deep. The doctor is preparing the tent. We''ll bring him there without further delay.”


    This made Lucille wake up. Her lover needed treatment. She jumped to the side to allow the guards to move Cedar.


    Theodore had already wrapped an arm around his wife, but he still looked at his brother while moving forward. “Let''s hurry up. We need to get him ready for treatment.” With that, he led the royal guards toward the tent they needed to visit. He repeated his orders yet again. “Bring him to the doctor. We need to-” He cut himself off when he turned his head to the side. Then he raised his voice again to address his advisor, who came running toward him. “Leon! Cedar needs an antidote, and the wounds have to be sewn! He was shot with an arrow, and the poison began taking effect a minute after he was hit. The area around the injury is swollen. He got dizzy and tired first, then he lost his sense of balance, and after that, his sight blurred, and he could barely speak anymore. He fainted after getting attacked with a sword.” He said that so quickly that almost no one could have followed.


    Leonard seemed to have understood though. He came to a halt right next to the prince and put two fingers on his neck to confirm his pulse. He muttered something under his breath before gesturing to the guards to help carry Cedar to the tent next to them.


    Lucille ran after them immediately.


    Theodore followed as well with his wife, who carried their daughter, and hurried to get to the tent.


    Lucille walked close to Cedar and tried not to cry each time she saw that he was full of blood. She couldn''t help it as terror rose inside her. When she rushed into the doctor''s tent, she only got more scared.


    The doctor looked horrified upon seeing Cedar. He didn''t waste any time with pleasantries and immediately had the prince put on the small bed that stood there. He and his assistants began running around and picking up instruments and bandages to prepare for treatment.


    Lucille didn''t wait for anyone''s permission. She grabbed a chair and placed it behind the head part of the bed so that it wouldn''t disturb the doctors. She sat down there and put her hand on Cedar''s forehead in hopes that he might recover faster if he knew that his lover was waiting for him. He was burning up. But the huge amount of blood that flowed out of the makeshift bandages was much more concerning.


    By the gods, Lucille had never seen so much blood. She felt like the panic was slowly growing bigger than she could manage and forced herself to calm down. It wouldn''t help anyone if she broke down now. She needed to stay somewhat composed, or she would disturb the doctor. So, she told herself one thing over and over again.


    Cedar would survive this. He had to. He was stubborn, so he would recover. Lucille had survived being shot with an arrow under the doctor''s care too, and she was extremely weak. If she was fine now, Cedar would recover too. He had to. But...


    The wounds on his body looked horrible.


    As soon as the doctor and his assistants took away the bandage, Lucille almost had a heart attack. Cedar had not only been hit by an arrow, and the wound there was all swollen up. He also had been slashed with a sword again. This time, it wasn''t nearly as bad as the first time Lucille had found him bleeding in her garden, but it was still awful. She could barely look at the injuries, and yet, she found herself unable to turn away.


    Leon assisted the doctor and gave Cedar some kind of medicine, which was either supposed to help the wound recover or to serve as an antidote for the poison that had been on the arrow.


    Lucille wasn''t sure. She didn''t care as long as it helped. This all felt like a cruel joke. She could only wait for her lover to wake up.


    It was completely quiet while the doctor treated Cedar and tried to sew the wounds shut. Aurora''s occasional quiet crying was the only noise that sounded through the room. Apparently, the baby had realized that her parents were upset and was disturbed because of that as well. Blanche considered bringing her daughter away multiple times, but she didn''t want to leave, so she sat down behind the paravent so that Aurora wouldn''t be able to see anything that could scare her.


    Theodore was with his wife and daughter most of the time, but he often came back to check up on Cedar, and each time, he had a pained expression. He talked to Lucille to calm her occasionally. “That idiot saved my life, even though he was hurt. That just shows how stubborn he is. He will definitely recover. It''s hard to kill members of our family.” He said that while trying to sound confident, but in reality, he was scared too. Maybe that was why he and Blanche stayed inside the room too instead of dealing with the guests, which Leon took care of.


    Lucille herself refused to leave Cedar''s side for even a single second. During the treatment, she had been close to him, and as soon as the doctor had stepped away after a painful hour, she had grabbed Cedar''s hand. Ever since then, she had sat by his side and talked to him occasionally in hopes of waking him up. Her lover didn''t react, but she didn''t give in.


    The doctor had said that Cedar should recover thanks to the substance in the poison that had thickened his blood enough to keep him from bleeding out. Lucille relied on that and prayed for every second that she waited by Cedar''s side. She wouldn''t let go of his hand until he woke up.


    And he would wake up. He had promised her that he would marry her, and he wasn''t the type to break his promises.