39
~Lisa's POV
I took the medicine that night, my hands still shaking as I forced the bitter powder down my throat. It scratched the back of my mouth and clung to my tongue like dust, but I didn't care. I needed something, anything, to dull the ache burning through every inch of my body.
After that, I did the only thing my body could manage.
I slept.
And I slept hard.
There was no peace in it, just long stretches of darkness and a drifting numbness that wrapped around my bones like fog. Every time I stirred, the pain reminded me I was still here. Still alive. Still unwanted.
No one came.
Not the maids.
Not the guards.
Not even Maltida.
They left me alone like I was something diseased, a ghost shut in a room no one wanted to remember.
There was no food.
Not a single tray at my door. No knock. No scraps.
