In the wooden house, a female centaur lay on her side on a hospital bed. The magic instrument for measuring heartbeat was connected to her wrist and kept making a beeping sound.
Rolf sat aside and untied the white gauze from Nymeria's chest. He found that instead of showing signs of healing, the wound began to fester.
This is not a good sign.
Rolf sighed softly, changed Nymeria's dressing, and covered her body with a soft blanket.
Shirley stood in the corner of the room, holding a bamboo basket on her arm filled with the potion she had just brewed.
In front of her was a huge wooden shelf with an astonishing number of medicines:
Dozens of wax-sealed jars, hundreds of corked vials, an equal number of white glass bottles, and countless jars of dried herbs.
Each container also has a precise label written by the girl in neat handwriting.
Shirley placed the potions in the baskets on the wooden shelves one by one according to their categories. It was only the highest level. She had to stand on tiptoes to put the potions on them.
Luofu came over, hugged the ponytail girl's soft waist from behind, and gently lifted her up so that she could easily touch the top.
After setting up the potion, Rolf put Shirley back on the ground. She turned around, glanced at Nymeria on the hospital bed, and asked, "How is she?"
"The situation is not optimistic." Rolf shook his head, "Nymeria's wound has suppurated. Soon, the flesh and blood will deteriorate and turn into rot."
"Then we can only give her unicorn blood." Shirley said.
"That's right." There was a hint of sadness on Luo Fu's handsome face, and he said with a wry smile:
"But I don't know if I am saving Nymeria or harming her."
Shirley looked at the boy doubtfully, and he explained:
"Although unicorn blood can extend your life, you will become addicted after drinking it.
At the beginning, a cup of blood can last for several days, but later on, the amount of blood must be continuously increased, and in the end, the blood of a unicorn may only be enough to last for a day."
"What if I don't drink?" Shirley asked.
"If you don't drink, you will feel cold and shivering all over, and you won't even have the strength to walk." Rove described:
"The whole body will feel as uncomfortable as ants gnawing on bones. The feeling is simply worse than death... This is what wizards often call the unicorn's curse."
Rolf looked at Nymeria on the hospital bed and said in a low voice:
"So, I always feel that I may not be saving people, but more like harming them, causing Nymeria to become neither a human nor a ghost."
"Rolf, of course you are saving people!"
Shirley looked into the boy's eyes and said softly:
"Nymeria is about to die. You saved her from the centaurs regardless of the danger. This is an extremely noble act.
Nymeria has always wanted revenge, and she will not be reconciled if she dies like this. She will not blame you for giving her unicorn blood, but will only be grateful to you for saving her."
The girl with the ponytail stretched out her hand, gently stroked Luo Fu's cheek, and comforted:
"As for addiction, it's not your fault, and there's no way to cure it. Didn't Myrcella say that the spring water on Avalon Island can lift the curse?
As long as you live, there is hope, and what you do is giving Nymeria hope."
Luofu's expression was relieved, and there was no longer any sadness in his eyebrows. He stared into Shirley's clean eyes, took her slightly cold slender hand, held it in his palm, rubbed it gently to warm it up, and murmured:
"Thank you, Shirley."
The girl with the ponytail smiled brightly.
At this moment, the steady beeping sound suddenly slowed down, and the magic item measuring the heartbeat sounded an alarm.
Rolf and Shirley walked quickly to the hospital bed and saw Nymeria's chest rising and falling violently with the rhythm of her rapid breathing.
She looked like a fragile leaf that could be blown away by a strong wind.
Rolf looked at Shirley, she nodded, put her fingers between her lips, and blew a crisp whistle.
A moment later, a white magical creature ran from a distance and jumped happily to Shirley.
The magical creature had silver-white hair, which was so dazzlingly white that it seemed to emit a holy light, dispersing the smell of alcohol in the air.
Shirley gently stroked the unicorn's head and asked softly:
"Arrietty, I need to take some of your blood to save this centaur, is that okay?"
The unicorn looked at Nymeria with eyes that were like molten gold. It walked forward slowly, walked over to the centaur and took a sniff.
It smells of death.
The unicorn turned back to Shirley, it neighed loudly, and then fell to its knees.
"Thank you, Arrietty." A short knife appeared in Shirley's hand, made of obsidian, and the blade was engraved with ancient charms.
She raised the knife and slashed the unicorn's back, and silver-white blood flowed out of the wound like a spring of water.
Rolf caught the blood in a cup and poured it into Nymeria's mouth. The silver-white liquid flowed from the corner of her mouth.
After an unknown amount of time, Nymeria finally slowly opened her eyes. When she stood up, she found herself lying naked on her side on a bed.
Nymeria felt bursts of pain in her abdomen, the kind of heart-breaking pain.
She lowered her head carefully and saw a wound on her abdomen, with pus and blood continuing to flow out.
"You're finally awake, Nymeria." A familiar voice said.
Nymeria looked up in horror and saw Rolf and Shirley standing not far away looking at her, and a unicorn lying on the ground, licking her back.
Nymeria remembered that she was still naked, so she immediately grabbed the blanket and covered her upper body, blocking the spring light that had been flowing for a long time.
After she calmed down her mind, she widened her misty eyes and asked:
"You...why are you here?!"
Rolf did not answer, but asked: "Nymeria, do you still remember what happened before?"
Nymeria closed her eyes and racked her brains to remember what happened. After a moment, she suddenly opened her eyes and said:
"I encountered an ambush and was shot by Bain with an arrow. Then I ran towards the top of the mountain and fainted there. I don't know what happened next... Did you save me?"
"Yes." Shirley nodded, "Rolf and I arrived at the top of the mountain in time and rescued you from the group of centaurs... You were unconscious for three days."
Nymeria could imagine how dangerous it was to save her from a group of centaurs. She said gratefully: "Thank you... thank you for saving me."
"You're welcome." Rolf said, "By the way, Nymeria, I have a question for you."
"what is the problem?"
"Ronan said... Bain used the forbidden power in the tribe to ambush you. Do you know what it is?" Rolf asked curiously.
"Forbidden power." Nymeria heard this, remained silent for a long time, and said with cold eyes:
"It must be the wooden coffin containing the remains of the ancient wizard hidden in the sacrificial hall."
