Royal AU: Yellow Jessamine

Bitter Truth

Durant the following weeks, Flora's conditions only kept worsening, and for a good while she ended up having to do all her duties from her room and was assigned some medicines to soothe the pain although they mostly didn't work as the cause was mostly emotional and only partially physical. During the last few days, she had been feeling pretty awful but kept the gift sent by Sky constantly on her night table, often glancing up to look at it but feeling bad and coughing from time to time, forced to turn on her side to ignore it. It was about evening already and she did not have enough peace to sleep either, gripping onto the blankets and letting out shaky exhales. When asked about it or generally doing the day she tried her best to act healthy, but the nights and mornings were the moments where she felt the worse because she was mostly alone and left to think without work distracting her.

As the time had passed Das decided to check on her again eventually, walking up to her room and knocking at the door. He waited for a moment until he'd get an answer from her before opening the door and walking in, closing it behind himself gently "...Good day to you. And? How are you feeling today?" He asked, looking towards her from the doorway

Flora kept her back towards the door while on the bed but turned her head to briefly peek, sighing tiredly. "The same." She simply said, turning around again and closing her eyes briefly. "But at least I managed to do every task today... Now I just need to sleep through the night and repeat the routine tomorrow...and the day after... and after." She mumbled, huffing and covering herself a bit more.

The man listened to her and sighed quietly about the answer, slightly shaking his head before stepping forward "It's a start" he commented and walked towards her desk nearby her bed and took the chair to sit close to her, yet keep some distance. After taking a seat Das faced her but briefly noticed the inkwell on top of the night table. "..Say, how long how long has it been standing here?" He asked briefly

She seemed a bit confused at first but finally decided to fully turn to him and glanced at the inkwell, then at the floor. "Ever since Michael brought it along. I haven't even used it or anything" she mumbled, going quiet for a while. "I hate to see it, but at the same, it's a bit comforting I guess" she admitted

He furrowed his eyebrows a little at the answer, looking at the gift before facing her again "Quite.. confusing. But at least it fits your aesthetic in a way." He added before he had gotten out a small glass bottle, shut with a cork and containing some substance in it. "Regardless. I've got something that might help you this time." He set it down on the night table next to her before he tangled his hands together and leaned back a little "It might or might not have a real bitter aftertaste but I'm sure it'll help you get back on track more, leaving you with a problem less in fact" he proposed

"What...?" Flora mumbled weakly before she looked at the glass bottle, furrowing her eyebrows a little and following his movements as he set it down. She simply sighed heavily and looked away. "Look, I don't understand why you keep giving me these... most just make me even sicker, plus I don't even know what you're trying to heal when not even medicines have any effects." She mumbled, looking away and seeming like she didn't want it for now although she kept looking at it briefly as if she wanted to try. "...What if It makes me more sick again?"

He observed her for a moment, hearing her refuse to consume the antidote but tried to stay patient with her as he listened. Only when she asked him the question he fixed his posture and spoke "I do try to avoid the components that had made you even sicker the past days. I've even taken a further step to ask Michael for help as well...if that might reassure you in a way" he admitted

Flora kept staring at him tiredly before she once again looked towards the glass bottle. She sighed deeply and slowly sat up, reaching for it and looking at it quietly. "Fine..." she said, removing the cork with a pop and bringing the antidote to her mouth. She furrowed her eyebrows a little at the smell already but shut her eyes and quickly drank it up without trying to think too much about it, gulping it all at once. He exhaled and quickly set the glass aside, opening her eyes again while breathing slowly as she waited for the effects.

Das watched her eventually take the little glass bottle to drink and tilted his head slightly before taking the glass, closing it shut with the cork again. "It should only take a moment to work." He looked back at her "But tell me, how do you feel right now compared to before?"

Flora furrowed her eyebrows a little again as she brought a hand to her throat. "I feel...-" She suddenly flinched and tensed up, pressing her hand a little more against her throat and using her other hand to cover her mouth as she let out a painful noise. "Mph-" she seemed to try to retrain it but slowly brought her knees up to her torso, curling up on herself while sitting and twitching slightly in pain, especially coughing a lot more. "Water-" she mumbled, coughing a bit more and trying to catch her breath although some blood drops ended up falling from her mouth into the white sheets.

He kept observing her but widened his eyes slightly when heard the painful noise she let out as well as her coughing. Das sat up and walked up to the table in her room, pouring her a glass of water and making his way back to her a bit in a hurry. "Here" he handed her the drink and set the bottle of water on the night table, in case she needed more

She shakily reached for the glass and forced herself to look up, bringing it to her mouth and quickly drinking. After doing so, she managed to take a few deep exhales and wiped her hand against her mouth to clean the slight trail of blood. She took a moment to relax while she tried to think if she was any different but shook her head. "...I still feel pain" she mumbled, since the Hanahaki was still there although she hadn't thought of Skylar yet and therefore could not tell the hypnosis was over at first.

He furrowed his eyebrows in slight concern and exhaled deeply when he'd see that she slowly began to relax. "Alright. That aside for a moment, what exactly made you isolate yourself for so long again? You've been quite unwell ever since you returned from your visit to the blue kingdom" he asked, wanting to see whether the poison might've snapped her out of the hypnosis after all

When asked that, the queen blinked briefly before pulling herself up a bit more. "Because of Skylar... Well, Caroline told me...-" she paused, thinking for a moment as if she was visibly confused. "...Doesn't Skylar hate me?" She asked hesitantly, now not sounding sure herself as she brought a hand to her head. "He didn't want to see me... or did he?" She mumbled

"Aha" he raised his eyebrows as he listened to her, briefly smiling as well "It did work after all" he leaned back and crossed his arms "According to Michael, King Skylar seemed to have missed you and hoped to speak to you soon again. And as anyone would, he was also worried" he shrugged slightly and glanced at the inkwell before looking back at the Queen "Plus, I don't think he'd make the effort to get you a gift if he hated you, now would he? You know him better than me, you could tell" he added

The ruler still seemed a little disoriented and confused but she slowly turned to the inkwell, tilting her head. "Yeah...I guess..." she mumbled to agree hesitantly, then looked back at Das. "But that doesn't make sense..." she rubbed her head "I was certain m and without a doubt that he hated my guts and never wanted to see me again, that /no one/ ever wanted to see me around again..." she said quietly, glancing down. "That I was gonna..." she stopped herself from finishing the sentence, gripping the blankets slowly. "How did this happen? Why do I feel so awful?" She asked, setting a hand on her chest since she still clearly felt the stabbing pain in her lungs.

He listened to her for a moment, watching her grip the blankets and set a hand on her chest due to the pain. "It's probably something involving feelings, I don't know yet" he shrugged again briefly "But what I can say for sure is that someone might've manipulated you into thinking certain things. Mostly likely from the Blue Kingdom itself" he explained

Flora stayed quiet and rubbed her head, now beginning to feel a headache. "You think so...? I have hardly any memories of the last time..." she said, furrowing her eyebrows and sighing. "Well, whatever you did, I guess thank you. Although everything aches..." she mumbled, slowly laying back down and holding the blankets. "May I rest now?" She asked with a chuckle

"Probably, yes." He answered as he listened to her and smiled slightly at hearing her chuckle again after so long "Of course" he stood up at her request and set the chair back to its desk "Rest well today, hopefully, things might get better for you from now" he walked up to the door and glanced back at her before leaving the room for her to rest peacefully.