Ikigurushī no Ohimesama (The Breathless Princess)

Not Alone

{HIKARI'S POV}
It hasn't been an hour since I locked myself in my room. I hear new, heavier footsteps approaching.

"Hikari-sama?" An unfamiliar, thickly-accented female voice calls. "I brought ya soup."

"Leave it by the door." I whisper hoarsely, trying and failing to hold back a couple loud coughs. As if I need to sound even more pathetic.

I wait. Silence. It sounds like the lady who brought my food is gone. I crack open the door. My high-pitched scream prompts a coughing fit as a result.

A tall woman with muscular arms and a wide torso fills my vision. She has a piece of cloth tied around her face, covering her mouth like a bandit.

Did a Cojacan spy find their way into the fort like one snuck into the palace? Is there a hole in our security? My temporary relocation was supposed to be a secret. How did Cojaca find me?

The beefy woman shoves my door open and marches inside. She reaches for me.

I scramble back from the door and raise my arms to feebly to protect my face.

She pats me firmly on the back, helping to expel the gunk clogging my lungs. She... helped me? I slowly relax. It takes me a moment to realize that the giant lady really did bring soup.

"W-Who?" I wheeze.

"Pardon me, Princess. I'ma Bertia Ito. Ya already met ma husband, Isamu, an' ma son, Ren." She explains. "I used ta be a knight, but ma hand don' work no more. Now I run tha kitchens."

Bertia holds up her right hand, which appears to be horribly scarred from battle. Her fingers don't straighten fully, stuck bent in contractures.

She helps me to bed. I try to protest, but the older woman still has the strength of a knight.

Bertia sets the soup down on a bedside table and pushes it in front of me while I rest in bed. "Here. Sick kiddos need sustenance."

Her words grate me. I don't want to be seen as some sickly and frail child to be protected. I'm supposed to be a leader! I have to show that I'm strong.

"I can feed myself." I huff, grabbing the spoon from Bertia when she tries to lift it to my mouth. "I'm ill. You should leave."

"Rest assured, everybody in tha kitchen knows 'bout ya lung condition." Bertia points to the mask on her face. "We wore these ta prevent our breath from gettin' in tha soup an' makin' ya sicker."

"That must've been terribly uncomfortable, having cloth tied to your face in the hot kitchens." I look down at the soup, ashamed that they went through all that for me, yet touched that they thought to.

"Don' ya worry 'bout us, Hikari-sama! Ya only need ta focus on gettin' healthy!" Bertia beams.

She squishes me in a warm hug. Which would be nice, except every part of this woman is large. I find myself suffocating in her cleavage.

Bertia pulls back and I cough a lot, unable to catch my breath. I choke out between coughs, "L-Leave. Please. I'll g-get you sick t-too."

"As ya wish." Bertia bows and walks away, closing the door behind her.

I'm alone again. I cough, sigh in resignation, and sip a spoonful of soup. It's tasteless.

I leave it uneaten outside my door.

A few hours later, the sun is setting and the same heavy footsteps approach my room again. "Ya need ta eat ta get healthy, Princess."

"I'm fine."

"Ya talkin' like ma Ren when he don' feel well. Tryin' not ta be a bother ta nobody else. Ya only fourteen, Hikari-sama. Ya don' gotta carry tha world."

"I'm fine." I insist, and promptly cough.

"I'ma sit out here an' tell ya stories." Bertia insists. I here her sit down outside my door. "So ya aren' alone while ya recover."

Bertia tells me about her life.

How her family immigrated to Clarines from the east. How everyone else died from disease, leaving a ten-year-old girl to fend for herself on the streets.

How she stole to survive and eventually got caught by the knight circle protecting the area.

How she joined that knight circle and protected the kingdom for years. How they did a joint training with Taj knight circle, where she met and became the rival of then vice-commander Isamu Ito.

How her dominant hand got injured in the line of duty, so she couldn't hold a sword anymore.

How her rival was the one to pull her out of the dark depression that followed, and how his undying support made her fall for him.

How she wanted a big family. How she didn't think she would be able to carry a babe to term because of the harsh training she put her body through.

How she had seven miscarriages before finally giving birth to a healthy baby boy.

It feels nice not being lonely, even though Bertia is just sitting outside my door. I take my cough medicine and, before I know it, I fall asleep listening to her soothing thick eastern accent.
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Not me just casually making Bertia Ito one of my favorite OCs, hands down.