A Pet for the Dragons

178.

CHAPTER 178

IVRET

... a few days later...

I watched the witch like a hawk as she worked on Arika. After days of going back and forth with Radrox and Zorge, I finally gave in. I didn't trust a witch a bit. They were all conniving and had a long past with the elves, our natural enemies.

...yet, today I had to surrender to one because I had failed to treat Arika properly. There could be no shame greater than this. All my skills seemed useless. I had failed her, and this had been troubling me for a while. It'd take me a while before I could get over it.

Pushing aside my thoughts of incompetence, I focused on the procedure that the witch was doing on Arika. She was explaining everything to me at the same time.

"... one of her ovaries has ruptured and become infected. We need to take it out. Otherwise, the infection might spread to the rest of her organs. Hmmm... she seems to have haemorrhaged a lot as well, and there's too much blood outside her uterus. She seems to have endometriosis too... looks very complicated... her periods must be terrible. I pity her... what did you do to treat her?"

She asked me a lot of questions while she continued to check Arika's organs. Zorge and Radrox were in the room as well, but they were looking away. I could hardly force myself to look at what the witch was doing. Everything in me was screaming to stop her. It was too hard to watch, but... the witch had promised that she could save Arika.

It was the only thing stopping me from intervening.

The operation seemed to go on forever before she stitched the incision on Arika's abdomen and cleaned the nearby wounds.

"I've done my best to remove any source of infection from her body, but we still need to monitor her health closely for the next couple of weeks. We should continue with the blood transfusion. I've brought some human blood which would easily suit her," The witch explained to me calmly while cleaning up everything. She seemed very skilled by the way her movements were so precise.

There was an air of confidence in her, indicating that she seemed to know what she was doing. As much as I hated it, it relieved me a bit. Arika seemed to be in the right hands for now.

"What about that?" I asked, pointing at one of Arika's organs. It looked like a sack. The witch had called it an ovary. "Are you going to put it back in her?"

"No, that's destroyed, that's why I removed it. It was one of the reasons why her body wasn't healing properly. She should do fine now. You don't have to worry. Her other ovary is fine in case she wishes to have children. It would be harder for her to conceive, but she will be able to have children."

"When will she wake up?" Radrox demanded. It was the first time he had spoken up since the whole operation. Zorge was already at work, cleaning Arika and preparing to transfer her to her comfortable bed.

"It depends on when and how fast she heals, but I'm positive she might wake up in a day or two, but she'd be very weak. I can stay here for a couple of weeks to monitor her health closely," The witch offered with a thoughtful look in her eyes. I couldn't help but be a little bit suspicious of her eagerness.

However, Radrox and Zorge seemed to trust her easily.

"That would be wonderful. I appreciate your help, Raya. We can't be more grateful to you," Zorge said. He didn't seem to sense any malice or ill intention in her. It should help me trust her more, but I decided to trust my instincts here.

"I offer my thanks as well. Please inform me if you need anything during your stay. I will do my best to arrange it for you," Radrox added quickly. Raya's eyes glowed with a smile.

"Sure, I will," Raya nodded. "Thank you for employing me. It's the first work I've received after a long time." She sighed deeply with a rueful look. In that moment, she looked young. I noticed that she was younger than Arika... but very skilled in human medicine.

"You will teach me everything you did today during your stay," I told her, somewhat annoyed by her. I wanted her to be gone already, but she knew more than I did, and I needed to take advantage of that. I needed to learn as much as I could from her so I could help Arika.

"S-sure," Raya said, somewhat uncertain.

And that was how it was for the next week. During the day, Raya would teach me human medicine, and at night, I would sit beside Arika, hoping and praying that she would wake up.

She seemed to be doing somewhat well after Raya's treatment and more blood transfusions, but still, there was no sign of consciousness in her. This was making me increasingly restless each day.

One day, I got so annoyed at Raya that I ended up snapping at her, but Radrox stepped in and took her away for a while. This didn't help at all with my impatience.

I was starting to question Raya's ways. Arika only seemed to have gotten slightly better after being treated by Raya, and that wasn't enough for me. I wanted Arika to be awake already. I had almost exhausted all my patience, and it sent me spiralling even more.

I would spend more time in my study, trying to find ways to preserve one's consciousness if that was what ended up being needed in Arika's case. It was driving me crazy, but I was willing to push my boundaries. I felt like I hadn't pushed my boundaries enough in the past.

My predecessors at court were known to be borderline mad, but they were highly skilled. It was expected to go slightly mad while pursuing perfection. The fact that I was still entirely sane made me question my skills and efforts again.

I definitely hand't pushed my boundaries enough... Maybe this was my calling to go insane finally...

A sharp knock on my study door snapped me out of my thoughts. Annoyance filled me as I went to open the door. My annoyance grew when I found the witch standing outside my door. It was the first time I had seen her after I had snapped at her previously.

I was about to snap at her again, but the urgent look on her face stopped me.

"She's awake," The witch managed to speak, heaving. She was completely out of breath from climbing the stairs to my study. As soon as her words registered in my head, I rushed down the stairs with the witch hot on my tail.

~

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