Her Unwanted Mate On The Throne

Chapter 131 So much sickness

Just a few hours left before Doris became a maid again, wasn’t it? It all became a giant blur as they

mounted their horses again and took off into the growing winds. An unsettling feeling shifted in her

stomach, more than it had before. Perhaps it was due to the fact that they were closer than before,

another half day or so and they’d be there. 4

The ride was silent and not as urgent, as if all of the energy had dissolved long ago and they were left

with the anticipation. They rode the horses in a normal gallop through the snow rather than push them as

they had been before. The fog had grown so much, she almost couldn’t see some of the guards that had

ridden ahead.

A shape blocked their path up ahead, they all slowed to a stop right before it. Doris squinted her eyes

and saw that it looked like a man bundled up-but that couldn’t be so. He would have been frozen to

death and she did not need to see another dead body. One of the rogues slid off their horse and went to

see what it was.

As soon as he touched the shape, it moved. The man rolled to his side and sat up quickly as if he was

startled. He looked… deathly. His skin was tinted an awful grey and sickly color and he could barely open

his eyes all the way. Doris tightened her grip on William. What happened to this man? Was he stuck out

here in the cold?

“Help… help me.” The man coughed. He tried to stand, but he collapsed on his knees again. Enzo slid

off his horse instantly to go help. She felt another uneasy feeling sink in her stomach.

“What happened?” Enzo asked. Doris had to strain just to hear him say anything over the sounds of

wind. It was starting to make her eyes water.

“I… the whole village, we’re sick. Something came over us all and we have all fallen ill” He coughed. “I

went to get help from the lords nearby, but got lost and couldn’t make it another step.”

William tensed under Doris’ grasp. “The whole village?” He called. The man looked over at William and

his eyes widened a little. He nodded eagerly as if he recognized him, perhaps he did.

“Y-yes. We’ve all gotten sick.” He stammered, his entire body started to tremble.

Doris knew exactly what William was thinking. The plague had already gotten here from the palace—how

was that so?

“Please, we need help.” He coughed again and tried to get closer to William. His guard gripped his

shoulder and pulled him back a bit.

“We don’t have time to pass—“

“Please!” He begged. The rogues and guards shared a few uneasy glances.

Enzo cleared his through and motioned for one of his men to come closer. They surrounded William’s

horse and lowered their voices. “We need to see if we can at least help this man and villagers.”

“We don’t have time—“ William started. “How will the rogues trust you if they heard you didn’t even try to

help?” Enzo said quietly. He gave him a look that made Doris nervous. The last thing they needed was

for William to get angry.

“I don’t think this is a wise—“ William inhaled and exhaled slowly. “Alright. We will pass through and see

if we can help. But we can not linger, we have to get back on the road soon.”

“We can at least give them a half day of our time.” Enzo clapped William on the knee and turned back to

the man who looked as if he was going to pass out any second.

“We will take you back to the village and see if there’s anything we can do to help you.” Enzo said. He

gestured to two of his guards to help the man on the horse as he crawled up on his own. The man

repeated his grateful praises the whole ride to his village.

They went off the road and opposite of where they were meant to be heading. It didn’t take long for Doris

to see a bit of a small village up ahead in another camp style that reminded her of Enzo’s. This one was

about half the size of his own. 1

The fog was still heavy and thick, she couldn’t tell if there were any people outside or if they were all

inside. They came to a stop at the stables, William slid off and helped Doris before he followed Enzo. His

shoulders were tense with his inner rage wanting to come out, but surprisingly he managed to contain

himself. Perhaps he was already back into his role as prince and wanted to make it stick.

“Just- just up here.” The man coughed. He staggered a little before he led them to one of the larger

cabins. Inside, it was worse than she expected. There were rows and rows of cots that had sick people in

them. Half of them looked like ghosts and the other half already looked dead.

“This isn’t all of them, two more cabins are full of the sick like this.” The man explained. He collapsed on

one of the empty beds and had another coughing fit. Doris cringed at the noise. It was wet and nasty,

she took a small step back.

“What can we do to help?” Doris asked. William shot her a look that she ignored.

“We need… medicine or something. Anything! Please, help us.” Someone else groaned in the corner of

the room. Doris looked over each person and saw them clenching their stomachs while others just

looked as if they wanted to die. Doris frowned and went to find an apron.

William gripped her arm to stop her. “What are you doing?”

“We’re here to help, aren’t we? I’m going to try and help them.” Doris shook his arm off and tied an apron

around her waist. She went to heat up some water and gather towels.

“We should try to see what medicine we brought.” Enzo said to his men. They hurried out the door and

slammed it closed behind her. William stared at the door as if he wanted to open it again just to let air in

this sick place.

“Come help me, please.” Doris said to the remaining guards. “Get some warm towels and clean up some

of the patients. I’m going to go make some tea.”

She headed to the small kitchen to brew some water while the men got to work. They looked a bit

confused at being asked to help out, she almost rolled her eyes at them. What did they expect? To sit

and watch?

William followed her into the kitchen and leaned against the counter as he watched her. “We shouldn’t be

near them, Doris.” 2

“If we don’t help them, they’re just going to die. I don’t know how to take care of them but I can at least

help.” She glanced back at him. “You can try to help too.” 2

William narrowed his eyes and pushed off the counter. He lined up a few cups for her to pour tea into

before he carried them out of the kitchen without another word. Doris sighed and carried the rest. 1

It wasn’t nearly enough to serve all of them, they didn’t even have enough cups. Doris watched them

helplessly. Guards wiped the warm clothes against their foreheads and looked just as clueless as she

did.

Her training at the palace never mentioned what to do when a plague fell upon the kingdom. How many

people would die from this? It looked like most them were already close to it.

“Perhaps I can try to make a soup or something,” Doris whispered to William. He stood in the far corner

with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Soup is not going to cure them, Doris. Just look at them.” William muttered.

“I don’t know what else we can do!” Doris said. She glanced out the window to see Enzo talking with his

guards and gesturing to a bag in his hand. They must not have brought as much medicine as they

expected.

A man from behind her started coughing so loud, she swore he was about to cough up all of his insides.

The sound made her sad and sick at the same time, she wanted to help him but she just didn’t know

how.

He rolled to his side and fell off the bed. Doris quickly hurried over to him and helped him up. When he

saw who was helping him, he clenched onto her tighter and

started coughing directly in her face.

William yanked her back away from him and she almost fell right into his chest. A guard hurried over and

handed her a towel, but something inside her told her it was too late.