Rosalie

It took two days for the fever to break. The princess was adamant that it was the physician's concoction that had cured her but he knew otherwise. His main focus was ensuring that she returned to full health, however, so his desire to learn more about the princess and her guard fell to the back of his mind. The rash grew smaller each day that passed and there had only been two cloths covered in spots of blood. It was the small things that indicated that she was healing, and once he was fully certain that she would not gain an infection, he wrote to the Queen and told her how the fever had broken and that he would remain until all trace of Liympin was gone.

Lord Bastian had ordered each member of his household to be checked over, to which the physician complied. There was no point in curing the princess of the disease if she would just catch it again from a member of staff or even her own lady. They had been in contact with her before they were aware of the disease being present which meant that it would be likely that at least one other person would have it, with the lady being the one the physician had been certain of. To his complete surprise, not a single member of the lord's household had any of the beginning symptoms.

When it came time to examine the household members the princess had travelled with, he was not surprised to find that the guard he had caught in the chamber with the princess proved difficult to find. He examined the other guards and then the princess's lady entered the small room he had acquired to examine each person.

"I can't see the princess until I know I am not stricken with this disease," she said, perching on the stool that was in the centre of the room.

"No such precaution is necessary," he assured her.

She shook her head. "I cannot see her if I might infect her once more."

"Rest assured that will not happen."

"It might," she protested. "It is my fault that she left court with the disease. I should have known that she was not well."

The physician then realised what the lady was doing. "Forgive my boldness, but the princess becoming infected with Liympin was not your fault. When I last examined her, I had suspected that she might be frail in the sense of becoming infected with any disease she came into contact with, and this has just confirmed my suspicions. If she was able to conceal her symptoms then it was not all that noticeable, regardless of what you may think. Even I might not have discovered she had the beginnings of the disease while at court."

"I am supposed to keep her safe and well. The Queen is sure to be angry!"

"With how arduous the princess is, no blame ought to be placed on you. It is well known that she is often quite unpleasant to be around, of which I must confess I discovered when I first arrived."

The lady frowned and toyed with the lace on her sleeve. "What do you mean?"

"I encountered her with a guard at her bedside." Those words seemed to make the lady pale, and the physician was sure he knew why. "You know which guard I am speaking of."

"I am her confidant, bound to secrecy for my service."

He studied her for a moment before picking up her wrist and feeling for a pulse, counting the steady beats to ensure it was regular. "I have some theories and though you cannot tell me, perhaps you might be inclined to indicate subtly whether I am correct," he suggested. "If you are worried about the Queen, you might be relieved to know that I am not in any way bound to her; I only attend when there are dire illnesses."

The girl looked reluctant but remained silent. The physician continued her examination, and once he had inspected the beds of her nails, he declared her of full health. Despite her hesitation, she did not move from her seat once it was over.

"Do you know when the guard came into her service?" he asked.

"The same day I came to court."

"Was he the only one?"

She shook her head. "There were several, each of whom were also welcomed into her service."

The physician nodded and laced his fingers together, letting the sleeves of his robe cover his hands. "But they were familiar?"

The lady looked away, remaining silent. She was bound to the princess and yet there was a sense of relief with how the physician was asking questions about the secret she was carrying alone. The princess had reiterated the severity of it being exposed, claiming that she was sure the guard would be harmed in some way, but physicians were trustworthy. They had to be for they cured patients of their sickness and at times become familiar with parts of their bodies which are reserved only to those they marry.

"What do you know of him?" he said after a few moments had passed.

"I don't," she confessed, raising her head. "I only know him by features. I do not even know his name, oddly enough. It has never arisen."

That made the physician curious. "Are you aware of how they are familiar?"

"I assume they met sometime before I came to court. Their familiarity is a secret, though, which I presume means they met in perhaps an unsavoury manner, or during a time she was doing something that she should not have been."

Though her answers did not provide him with all the information he desired, he came to the conclusion that whatever secret that lay between the princess and her guard was one that not even her closest companion was privy to. However, he had come to realise that the princess was a very private person. Even when lulled into a false slumber, she spoke very little of the man who had been her saviour, an oddity if there was ever one. She would not even give forth his name, as if the hypnosis could not penetrate her privacy. But surely there was no correlation between the two?

After the lady had been dismissed, he took a walk around the manor in an attempt to find the guard in question, unsure whether he wanted to find him for an examination or interrogation. When he could not be found in the servants' quarters, the physician wandered to the room the princess was still in and paused outside the door. For a moment he toyed with the idea of covering his mouth, just to be safe, but dismissed the notion and entered the room, disappointment overwhelming him at the empty room.

The princess looked towards him, her eyes brighter than they had been in the past few days. "Surely it is not time for another examination?" she asked.

"It is not," he confirmed, closing the door and taking a look around the room. "I am in the middle of examining your household, to ensure that you cannot be struck with this disease once more, but I must confess I cannot find one of the members."

A smile appeared on her face. "That is the thing with men; they never are where you wish them to be."

"Is there someone you are wishing to see?"

She gave him a levelled look before turning her head to the side and coughing. Just as the physician went to approach her, she raised a hand and gave one last cough before looking back at him. To his relief, there were no blood droplets. "I was simply observing," she finally said.

"I am no fool, princess."

"And I am no fool, either. I know what you are asking and I am answering as I see fit. You really ought to leave, for I'm sure that you will find the guard you're seeking in the gardens. Many enjoy strolling amongst the flowers."

The physician was surprised at the tongue the girl had, but the realisation that she was not as a princess should be was crystal clear. The rumours he had heard were as true as ever, but it only intensified his intrigue.

True to her word, the guard that he wanted was indeed in the gardens; however, he was lurking close to the side of the manor rather than strolling amongst the flowers. When the physician attempted to lead him back inside, the guard tried to rebuff him until he threatened to proclaim him contaminated and have him isolated. Even then the guard was difficult as the physician brought him to the examination room.

He already knew that the man was not one that would talk, not like the lady did. Both he and the princess had refuted claims that he had given her something to cure her of the disease. The princess was going to die, that he was certain of, and yet a short while later, after a visit from the guard, her health had miraculously improved. If he would not falter in that, he certainly would not divulge any secrets.

Nonetheless, the physician still tried. He checked his pulse and felt the glands in his neck before he straightened up and studied him. "I have scoured my books in an attempt to find a concoction that might work as the one you gave the princess did, but so far my search has been futile," he said.

The guard did not even flinch. "I gave her nothing."

"It was not I who saved her life."

"Then perhaps she was not as ill as you presumed." Still the man did not look up at the physician. He kept his head facing forward and his eyes trained on the door.

The physician went over to his bag and looked inside, trying to think of something he could ask that might catch the man off-guard. His eye caught the stone that he had used when hypnotising the princess. "Have you ever heard of hypnosis?" he asked suddenly.

"I have not," the guard replied.

He picked up the stone and turned back to the man. "It is a complicated process that involves lulling a patient into a false slumber, so that memories that have been repressed can be drawn to the front of their mind. It can be damaging to the patient at times, if it does not go the right way. I suppose the Queen was certain that would not happen to her daughter when she summoned me," he explained, watching the man intently. For a moment he was sure his eyebrows had creased but other than that, he remained emotionless. "Naturally, this occurred not too long after the princess was returned from her captivity. The Queen wished to know what was troubling her daughter. She recalled the memory that one might have expected - the one where she was taken from her carriage - but she would not speak much about it."

"It was probably from fear."

"Ah, that's the thing," he continued, content that he was getting interrupted. "She spoke of being saved from the presumed bandits, by a man who she would not speak of. Even in a false slumber, in one that she is not even aware happened, the secrets of what occurred on that day were not forthcoming. Which begs the question of what happened exactly."

The guard suddenly rose to his feet and looked straight at the physician. "May I leave?" he said.

"Your familiarity with the princess is baffling," the physician said, ignoring his question.

"Then perhaps you are looking into it too much."

"I don't believe I am."

"What you believe and what is true can be two differing things," the guard retorted, brushing past him and approaching the door.

The physician tried one last thing. "I believe you know more about the princess's disappearance than you ought to."

Those words succeeded in stopping the man before he opened the door. He turned back to face the physician, his face still expressionless asides from a clenched jaw. "You truly sound mad," he replied.

"But that meant something, otherwise you would not have stopped."

"You have accused me of something that the Queen might deem as treason, and you wonder why I have stopped?" he asked.

"There is no shock, no outrage in your voice or on your features. Nothing I have said has provoked an ounce of emotion from you."

The two men remained looking at one another for a few moments. The physician knew he was hiding something and from this brief encounter, there was absolutely no chance he would ever get that information. The princess had proven to be difficult to speak with as well, always saying something bitter or sharp to counter a question she did not wish to answer. Her lady had been most forthcoming but she knew little about what he wished to find out.

Suddenly the guard righted his shoulders and took a step forward. "You are an old man," he said slowly, his eyes appearing to grow bright with each word, "who doesn't know what he is saying. You might want to be more careful otherwise one day in the future you might fall and be unable to get up."

With that, the man left the room, leaving the physician alone with the threat to slowly sink in.