Wendy walked into the hospital with a dinner box in hand and there she saw Nana"s father Tigui Pine talking with a man and a woman. They bowed and then bent their knees, acting as if they were going to get down on their knees, but Viscount Tigui stopped them at once. This went on for quite a long while and then they bowed to him and left reluctantly.
When they got out of the hospital, Wendy came to him and asked curiously, "Who"re they?"
Tigui shrugged and said, "Who else could they be? They"re the parents of the new witch. They were worried about leaving her alone in the hospital and were asking whether they could take her home. After I told them it was the king who wanted her to stay here, they immediately changed their att.i.tude and expressed grat.i.tude to His Majesty." Wendy sensed a little disappointment and pride in his last sentence.
Wendy couldn"t stop herself from laughing, "You think every parent is like you, who dare to break into the lord"s castle for his daughter."
She knew why he felt disappointed. He believed that parents should never hand their kids over to anyone else, even if a king asked. When Nana had awakened, he had gone directly to Roland"s castle without a letter of introduction. Fortunately, the kind and merciful Prince Roland had never intended to do any harm to her, so this incident had ended up becoming a moving story. If he had intruded into the castle of Duke Ryan or any other great n.o.ble in the Western Region to save Nana, he would have never been able to get off so easily.
Although that story had happened before Wendy had come to Border Town, she had heard it from Nightingale repeatedly. That was why she naturally understood where Tigui"s pride came from.
"At least, they"re way better than Summer"s parents," Wendy sighed.
Summer"s parents had hurriedly sent her to the castle to get one gold royal when she awakened to be a witch. They had treated her like a slave they had sold to the king and the Witch Union and warned her not to refuse any of their requests. If it hadn"t been for the money they would"ve got, they probably would not let her return home.
Disappointed by her family, Summer did not return home as often as before once she got used to living with all the sisters in the Witch Building.
As a witch, she could be considered as lucky.
However, as a daughter, she had been abandoned by her parents.
Tigui nodded and agreed with Wendy. "Indeed, they are. One of them works in the Furnace Area and the other is a handyman in the construction team. They had no idea what happened to her until they finished their jobs, but as soon as they heard the news, they hurried here without even having dinner. I can tell from their faces, they do care about the girl."
Wendy smiled and said, "It looks like I was right to bring this dinner box with me. Could you take me to Sharon?"
Tigui touched his beard and said, "Of course, please follow me."
After the restructure and extension, this hospital now had an inpatient department, but only a few patients would stay here, as Nana and Lily could cure most of the patients in Neverwinter in a short time. They usually just needed to stay in the hall of the hospital for a while to fully recover.
Considering that the influence of the church might still exist, Roland had asked the hospital to let Sharon stay. He was not sure whether all the people who had immigrated from the other districts of Graycastle could accept the witches as one of them. By keeping her in the hospital, at least, he could ensure that she would not become homeless or get hurt by her family.
Tigui and Wendy came to the recovery ward. He gently pushed the door open and waved to Nana by the bed. "It"s time dinner. You can talk to your friend later."
"She"s not going to have dinner with us?" Nana asked surprised. She then saw Wendy and said, "Sister Wendy. You also came."
Wendy smiled and patted the dinner box in her hand, saying, "I brought her dinner."
Nana said, "Oh, I see. You guys talk first. I"ll come back later." She said goodbye to Sharon and left the ward with her father.
Wendy walked to the bed and put the dinner box on the bedside cupboard. She turned around and met Sharon"s eyes. The new witch was looking at her, her face curious. Wendy asked, "How do you feel about becoming a witch?"
The girl had a childish face and short rosy hair. It was a rare hair color in Graycastle and reminded her of a rosebud. Wendy knew for sure that she would become more beautiful after her awakening. She could already imagine how extraordinary she would look once she would enter adulthood.
Sharon replied, "I felt that something got into my body... Miss Nana told me that was the magic power." She pursed her lips and continued, "Are you a witch, too? Does it always hurt the first time?"
Though her second question could cause some ambiguity, she knew exactly what she was talking about. "Yes, I"m a witch. You can call me Wendy. As for your second question, not really... It"s not that important anyway. As long as you learn how to use the magic power, it"ll become part of you, like your arms and legs." With these words, she opened the iron dinner box and put the steaming food on the bedside cupboard.
Sharon swallowed twice to prevent herself from drooling, but she could not stop her stomach from growling.
She blushed with embarra.s.sment at once.
"Are you hungry?" Wendy smiled and immediately placed a Bird Beak Mushrooms soup in front of the little girl.
Some scallions ware floating in the light yellow soup. The oil on the surface was s.h.i.+mmering in the firelight. Compared to a light vegetable soup, the smell of the meat made this soup much more tempting.
Wendy had learned this trick of using nice food to rea.s.sure people from Roland who liked to hold a banquet to welcome new witches.
Sharon nodded vigorously.
Wendy said softly, "Drink some soup to warm your stomach first before you eat other food."
Soon the little girl started to gobble down her dinner, making even Wendy feel hungry, too.
She asked, "Where"s your friend? Did she go home?"
Sharon said while devouring her food, "I don"t know... probably yes."
Wendy was surprised. "Didn"t she come to see you?"
"No..." Sharon shook her head. " She probably did not trust me completely. After all, I also came from the Southern Territory like those students who bullied her."
Wendy was startled. "What? You"re from the Southern Territory?"
"Yeah." The little girl stuffed a piece of Bird Beak Mushroom into her mouth. "Mapleflower Town, a small town near Eagle City... but now it"s uninhabitable."
Wendy exclaimed, "I thought you"re from the east just like her. I thought that was why you helped her."
"I shouldn"t help her as we"re from different regions?" Sharon blinked her eyes and said seriously, "the disputes among the n.o.bles obviously have nothing to do with her. Those guys just wanted to find some excuse to bully her. No matter where we came from, wrong is wrong. If I didn"t stand out to stop them, n.o.body would correct such a mistake."
She remained speechless for a while, lost in her thoughts.
Your Majesty, you were worried about nothing. This girl doesn"t need me to comfort her.
I can tell from the expression in her eyes—She"s absolutely certain about her decision.