67 Boundless Anger (1/2)
His Majesty and his retinue entered the camp almost running. The soldiers who were on night watch duty at the time were baffled by the scene they saw.
How come there seemed to be an injured person in one of the shadow guard's arms?
More importantly, when they had tried to go forward to pay their respects to the king, he had given all of them a withering glare, freezing them in their path and left hurriedly.
Su Li could see her tent in front of her and ran towards it. She wanted Li Rong to be settled in bed before the Imperial Physician came.
When the Head Commander saw where His Majesty was leading them, he stopped of his own accord, with trepidation he said, ”Your Majesty, that is the imperial tent.”
His Majesty turned towards him with a perplexed look on his face and replied, ”Yes, Zhen knows. Now, hurry up.”
The Head Commander didn't want to take any hasty actions that might be used against their liege in the long run.
He had seen how furious the monarch had been to see all the blood loss and that the emperor might know the boy in his arms.
However, how could a conscript and at that a common man be allowed entry into the Imperial rooms?
He hesitated for a second but still soldiered on with his concerns, ”Your Majesty, forgive this lowly one but it isn't advisable to allow anyone other than the empress to spend the night in your rooms.”
Su Li instantly understood what the other person was trying to say. Nevertheless, she couldn't care about societal norms and imperial rules at the moment. All she cared about was to have Li Rong looked at by a competent physician and have him recover as soon as possible.
She felt impatient but she knew she couldn't lose her temper on someone who was trying to look out for her.
Therefore, she spoke in a soft but commanding tone, ”Zhen understands but Zhen cannot allow this child to be treated somewhere else. If someone tried to make an issue out of it, Zhen will quash them all.”
Nodding at the monarch's response, Head Commander pulled the boy into his own arms and carried him inside the imperial tent.
Before he could question His Majesty as to where to place the child, the monarch turned down the covers on the bed and asked him to place the child there.
The Head Commander baulked at such a major breach in etiquette and rules. Yet, with the emperor giving him the stink eye for dithering too much, he kept his mouth shut and did as he was told.
Anyways, he'll ask the other shadow guards to be at full alert tonight and not allow anyone within ten paces of the tent so as to contain this horrendous breach in etiquette.
Otherwise, they might just have saved the child from a beating to push him towards beheading.
The Imperial Physician came running when he was informed that it was an imperial summon for him. Huffing and puffing he reached the imperial tent and was given leave to enter it.
Now, a curious coincident was that it was the same Imperial Physician who had diagnosed Su Li with a broken and bleeding heart a few weeks ago.
The physician's eyes almost bulged out at the scene in front of him.
Well, he was one smart cookie so he kept his mouth shut, greeted the monarch and then began to work on the boy lying on the imperial bed.
His face regained its professional calmness while inside he was thinking that what wouldn't the other imperial clan members do to lie down on this bed and this unknown child, a military recruit from the looks of it, had gained such luck without breaking a sweat.
Well, without breaking a sweat but all the while breaking two of his ribs and a lot of lacerations along with all the other bumps and bruises. It wasn't much, in the grand scheme of things, if the child had fought as a revolutionary to reach this exalted position.
Peh! Peh!
What utter nonsense was he thinking?
Had he gone dotty with his age to let his mind wander to such treacherous thoughts?
The physician looked around himself, afraid that the monarch or the watchdog might have caught on to his errant thoughts.
Thankfully, the monarch was still pacing around the room, worrying his lips, fidgeting his hands.
With an annoyed look, the physician thought: had nobody ever told this exalted existence not to walk ceaselessly when a healer was looking after their patient?
It was distracting and bothersome.
Still, the imperial physician wanted his head screwed on the top of his body so he kept his mouth shut and willed his hands to work faster.
When he was finished with closing the smaller lacerations and cuts and had bandaged the ribs in the proper order, both his hands were covered with the child's blood.
The larger wounds and the ribs would take several more weeks to heal but for now, his work was done.
”How is he?” His Majesty asked in concern.
Su Li was worried since Li Rong still hadn't regained consciousness all the while.
The Imperial Physician didn't know how to answer that question.
A person might ask:
Why? Is Li Rong in grave danger?
The Imperial Physician will counter the said person with a question of his own :
Why don't you try being beaten up so badly, losing such copious amounts of blood and then have military personnel who didn't take care of their strength while holding you and bring you to a physician?