The Hunting of Snow White: A Grim Tale - Chapter 31

“Dinner…”

He mumbled something incomprehensible.

Having come through that downpour, there was no way his condition could be good. The moment she touched him, she felt how damp and burning hot he was. His whole body was trembling, his temperature high like a burning coal.

His lips were bloodless and bluish, and his breathing was short and rough.

Each time he drew a breath, his shoulders heaved with the effort.

Each time she felt something seeping out, Prina lifted her palm from where it had been holding his shoulder and saw bloodstains. There was a cut on the top of his shoulder, as if it had been slashed by a blade.

“M-Mr. Hunter…”

“…Haa.”

Only then did their eyes meet. The bright yellow eyes that normally looked directly at her now seemed clouded, like a candle before the wind, like the patients in the infirmary whose breath was fading away. A suffocating sense of dread rushed in.

She couldn’t just stand there trembling in shock. She had to save him. No matter what… she had to save him. She had cared for many people before, and for Lucky and Happy too… She could do this. She had to keep her head clear, and treatment had to begin now.

“I’ll help you. This… This way…”

A caregiver must never falter in front of a patient. Calming the patient came first.

Struggling to keep her composure, Prina guided Hunter to the inside of the room. First, she needed to take off his wet clothes to maintain his body temperature.

She laid the man down on a bed that was far too spacious for her alone. Blood was gradually soaking into the bedding. When she tried to take off the clothes that clung to his skin, wet and stuck from blood, he furrowed his brow.

“Ugh.”

“I’m sorry. It’ll sting, but please bear with it for a little while.”

Working as quickly as she could, she removed his clothes without deepening the wound, then wrapped his body, except for the injured area, in a dry blanket. His skin was pale but hot with fever. He needed urgent care.

“Please stay here for just a moment. I’ll be right back.”

Prina quickly went to the kitchen and gathered the tools she needed for treatment.

There were medical supplies in the room as well, but they were meant for tending small animals, so the materials weren’t enough.

“Could you try sitting up for a moment?”

When Prina tried to lift Hunter’s upper body to treat him, he managed to raise himself. The wound was fairly large. If left untreated, it could become infected or cause strain to his body from blood loss.

“How did this happen? Don’t tell me… a knight…”

Prina asked, but he didn’t seem in any condition to answer. That could wait. Right now she had to focus on treatment.

Before lowering his fever, she had to stop the bleeding and prevent further infection.

First, she wiped the wound with a cloth soaked in boiled water, then disinfected it with high-proof alcohol.

The man endured it surprisingly well. Normally, when patients suffered severe pain, she would roll up a piece of cloth and have them bite it, but he refused, saying he didn’t need it. More than the sight of the strong liquor being poured into the wound, it was Prina’s expression that looked like it hurt more.

Since he was enduring it so well, she had to treat him thoroughly. Prina quickly pressed the wound to stop the bleeding, then bound it with a clean linen cloth.

Once the gash was firmly wrapped, the blood that had been seeping out stopped.

With the first aid for the wound finished, she moved on to lowering his fever.

Perhaps because of the high temperature, sweat was pouring from his forehead and nape.

Prina laid him on her bed and carefully wiped him down with a wet towel.

Then she brewed an herbal tea effective for reducing fever and relieving pain. She had asked him to buy it in case he ever got sick, but she hadn’t expected to use it so soon, or to use it for such a deep wound.

The voice of Mr. Lawrence, who had once called her a grim reaper in fear, came to mind.

Could this have happened because she had asked him to buy that tea? Even such unpleasant thoughts crossed her mind.

No, this wasn’t the time for that. She had to focus entirely on saving him.

She quickly gave him the tea to drink, then constantly moistened his lips with a wet cloth so they wouldn’t dry out.

Whether from the medicine or the fever, Hunter closed his eyes, seeming to drift into sleep.

Back at the monastery’s infirmary, she had often cared for patients with high fevers. Patients with severe injuries, or those nearing the end of their lives, often suffered fevers.

But even though she had done everything she could as a healer, Hunter’s fever refused to go down.

What if… something happens to him like this?