Chapter 8: Chapter 8 - That Doctor.

While Ben was listening to Rei's recount of her own story, he noticed the two identical small porcelain jars on the table, both empty with their lids wide open.

"Dr Ben, is there anything wrong?" Rei asked.

"Nope, I am just wondering what you are going to do with these two identical jars?" Ben asked.

"Oh! You mean these? I was trying to separate this jar of dried flowers into these two small jars." said Rei as she reached to a bigger jar on the table, open the lid and show the content to Ben.

"I see. But why are you separating it?" Ben asked, he sounds a bit curious.

"Well, His Majesty wants me to give him this jar of dried flowers, but I was thinking to keep some for myself," said Rei, who has absolutely no intention of hiding anything from Ben.

"Ah… I see. So that's the flower tea you made for him this morning." said Ben.

"Eh? Dr Ben, you know about that?" she asked, rather surprised.

"Well, almost everyone in the castle knows it. After all, it is very uncommon for a lady like you to have the courage to visit him in that room, needless to say bringing drinks for him," said Ben.

"Uhm… Dr Ben, can you tell me what exactly is that room? I was stopped by a group of palace guards this morning… So, I am wondering…" said Rei, a bit curious.

"Actually, that's his personal reading room as well as working space which is directly connected to his bedroom. Normally he does not allow anyone to get into that room. Firstly, he doesn't like people to disturb him when he is working. He is a working freak, for your information. And secondly, it's for his own safety, after all, it is connected directly to his bedroom." said Ben.

"Ah…"

"Hmm… I guess you are a special case. Anyway, can I have a look at that jar of dried flowers?" Ben asked.

Rei nodded and handed the porcelain jar with dried flowers to Ben. Ben took the jar, opened the lid and smelled the dried flower before taking out some dried petals. He stared at the flower petals, he looks a bit thoughtful. Then, he rubbed the petals with his fingers for a few seconds and frowned.

"Uhm… Dr Ben?" Rei is a bit confused and curious about Ben's reaction towards the dried flowers.

"Have you been consuming these dried flowers all this time?" Ben asked, out of the blue.

Rei sheepishly nodded.

"Hah… Whoever gifted this to a lady must be having some ill intentions," said Ben, as he put down the porcelain jar.

"Dr Ben, what's wrong with this jar of dried flower? Is it… poisoned?" Rei asked, she sounds a bit anxious.

"Well, I wouldn't really consider that as poisoned. To be more accurate, these flower petals have been processed with some additional ingredients that help to effectively relieve cough, but at the same time, those additional ingredients are not good for a lady's body," said Ben, in a serious tone as he briefly adjusted his glasses.

"Ah…"

Astonished by the words from Ben, Rei placed her hands over her mouth in shock.

"But don't worry, since you probably haven't consumed it in a huge amount, the effect would not be that bad. I will give you another prescription that will slowly clear the effect of those additional ingredients from your body. As for this jar of dried flower, I advise you to just give him all of it, I can give you some better replacement if you need it." said Ben.

Rei nodded sheepishly.

"Oh! By the way, the medicine I can make is not limited to those disgusting bitter stuff, I can make sweet herb tea too, just so that you know," said Ben, out of the blue, which successfully brought up a smile on the lady's face…

------------------------

The next morning, Rei once again reached the King's personal reading room, this time, palace guards did not block her path, they let her pass through directly.

However, as Rei entered the room, she is greeted by an unexpected scene. The King is playing chess with another person and that person is none of any others but Ben who just visited her the night before.

Just as Rei was a bit confused by the scene in front of her, Ben greeted her.

"Good morning, Miss Rei, what a coincident to meet you here at this timing," said Ben while turning his face to Rei.

Just as Ben's eyes are away from the chess board, the King sneakily tries to move one of Ben's chess pieces but got caught by Ben who softly slapped his hand away.

"Seriously? Are you a five-year-old?" Ben asked while giving the King a leer.

"No, you have got me wrong, I was just trying to clean some dust from that chess piece." said the King who is obviously giving a lame excuse.

This rather immature deed of the King once again caused Rei to laugh out a bit.

"Oh! Hey Rei! You may take a seat over there." The King briefly greeted Rei before continue focusing on the chess game.

Rei sat down as instructed by the King and watched their chess game from the side.

The chess game ended after about thirty minutes, despite the failed attempt of cheating, the King won the game by cornering Ben's main piece from all directions.

"See? I told you I was not trying to cheat. I won even without that move. Time to fulfil your bet." said the King, a bit carried away by his victory.

Despite being a bit annoyed by that childish attitude of the King, Ben proceeds to do a daily body check-up for the King. After the daily check-up, Ben took out a small jar of candied fruit and put it on the table.

"Now I have given you the sweets, make sure to take your medicine accordingly, don't just randomly smash everything down to the floor, as if I was trying to poison you with those prescriptions," said Ben, whose attitude seems to be slightly inappropriate towards a king…