Chapter 285: Athena
"Yes. Go now. It\'s late already," I said.
"Alright, I will go now," Luc nodded and left.
I placed the child on the bed and wiped the tears off her face. "Sweetie, I will call the doctor now. You can lie down if you want to. This is the grand bedroom. So, no one other than the King and I can come here without permission. No one will be able to hurt you here."
"How... how do you know that I\'m hurt?"
\'Seeing your bruises and your expression?\'
"And why are you helping me?"
"As I said before, you remind me of a certain someone. She needed help too. But there was no one for her. I don\'t wish that kind of fate on anyone. You see, a part of her heart is bruised because of being in an environment like that for a long time. No matter how much she tries, those nightmares keep haunting her even though she is in a different position now," I smiled.
"This is the reason I am helping you. I want you to have a happy childhood."
"T-Thank you..."
"You are welcome. Now, let me summon the doctor. Do you want something to eat? I can get that for you."
"Anything?"
"Hm, anything."
"But isn\'t it midnight?"
"It doesn\'t matter. You can still have anything."
"Then, can I have chocolate pudding?"
"Chocolate pudding? Sure, I will tell the maids to get it for you," I smiled. "But let me change into my nightgown real quick. Others don\'t know that I went out."
I went to the restroom and quickly changed into a nightgown. "Your Highness has beautiful skin...," she said.
"Is that so? Thank you.
I told the maids to get me a chocolate pudding right away. They were used to it since Dem sometimes ordered various things in the middle of the night. He did it primarily because of me when I was tired after a session of our exercise at night.
"Your Highness wants to eat chocolate pudding? That\'s amazing! Your Highness should eat well," a maid said happily.
"Is me asking for food such a thing to be happy about?" I asked.
"Of course! Since Your Highness is so thin, we are always worried. It will be great if Your Highness starts to eat properly."
"Haa... Anyway, bring it as soon as you can. And also, a glass of chocolate milk," I said. "Summon Doctor Dimitri as well. Tell him that he needs to come to the grand bedroom right away."
"Yes, Your Highness."
I closed the door and sat down beside the child. She was drinking the glass of water I gave her.
I touched her hair and gently combed it behind with my fingers. "You have beautiful hair, Amber," I said.
"Um... Please don\'t call me that."
"Call you what? Amber?" I asked and she nodded. "Then what should I call you?"
"I don\'t know. But not that... I don\'t like that name."
I did not ask her the reason. It did not seem like she wanted to talk about it either. "Then can I give you a name?"
She gave a nod. "Hm, then what about Athena?"
"Athena?"
"Yes," I nodded. "You know I am a human, right?"
"Everyone knows that. I heard it too."
"And I have come from a different world. In my world, there were many religions, unlike in this world where only the moon goddess is considered as the God. In one religion, there is a goddess named Athena. She is the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. She is also called the gray-eyed goddess. Your eyes are gray too.
I think this name fits you perfectly. If you don\'t like it, I can think of another name though..."
"No, I like it," she said quickly. "I like this name better."
"That\'s good. Ah, the doctor must be here."
I opened the door and found Doctor Dimitri standing there. He also brought the chocolate pudding and chocolate milk.
"Your Highness, do not eat these kinds of things in the middle of the night. It is not good for your health," he said.
"It\'s not for me. Come in first," I said and closed the door as soon as he came in.
"That..."
"It is for her," I said and took them from him.
I placed the pudding and the chocolate milk carefully in front of her. "Here. These are yours."
"Really? Can I have them?"
"Of course. Enjoy," I said.
"But how do you know I like chocolate milk?"
"I guessed, haha," I laughed.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," she smiled.
"You might have already guessed who this girl is. She has been abused. I did not ask her anything since it could trigger something. I can\'t risk that. It will be better if you are the one doing so since you are a doctor."
"I understand," he nodded. "And I have brought Your Highness\'s pills as well."
"Ah, yes, I was going to ask for them. Thank you," I said.
"No problem."
"Athena, this is Doctor Dimitri. He will take a look at you. He is a good person as well. So, he won\'t hurt you."
She nodded at me. Doctor Dimitri knew how to do his job. He talked to her soothingly so she would not panic and got her to agree so he could check her condition.
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I sat on the couch and relaxed my body while watching how it was going. "She fell asleep, Your Highness," the doctor said after a while.
"She did? Well, we woke her up in the middle of the night, after all."
"It\'s not that. She has been fed a sleeping potion actually. It is something that has been given to her for a long time. That\'s why she will fall asleep quickly even if she manages to wake up. It\'s not the only thing that I found. There is something else as well.
I need to check it first."
"I see... It must be something dangerous and the dose is also high since you recognized it so quickly."
"That\'s right. The dose is high for sure and should be a dangerous substance in her blood," he nodded. "I will check it. I will also make a potion for her bruises. There are lots of bruises on her body. It seems she has been abused physically and mentally.
Hopefully, it has not been that long. Or, her reactions would be more severe."
"It has been a month. She has been taken to the temple a month ago. I am currently looking for her parents. Those... I think they sold her to the temple, this little baby."
"I would like to check her condition for a few days. I have met another saint before. It was three years ago in Mazazine. She was not abused and it seemed she was pretty willing to carry out her duty as a saint. She got sick frequently and I was curious since it was not every day that you get to meet a saint and check her. After I checked her, even I did not find anything wrong with her body.
There was just nothing wrong with her. The environment around her was good. So, her mental condition was like a normal person\'s. She was eleven at that time. After two years, I found out that she improved naturally. My theory is that it has something to do with the power of a saint.
Perhaps her body could not handle that power at that time. But after she matured a bit, she could handle it. That\'s why I want to keep checking on this child. It can happen in her case as well."
"It\'s no problem. We should do what\'s best for her. Just keep it a secret. I know by now that I don\'t need to tell the doctor to keep something a secret."
"Yes, Your Highness. I will check her body a bit more then."
"Please do so. I am actually grateful that you agreed to see her even though our deal says that you will only treat me."
"I treat the person I find interesting. I agreed to the deal not because of money only. Your Highness is a human. So, I found Your Highness interesting. This child is also interesting because she is that so-called saint."
"Haha, even so, I am grateful," I chuckled.
I rested my head against the couch and closed my eyes for a while. It had been an exhausting day. The date was fun and I did not even realize that I was tired. But now I could feel how exhausted I was. It would be hard to work tomorrow morning. But there were a lot of things to do.
"I will close my eyes for a while..."