Luna rubbed her eyes and stared at the canopy over the bed. This isn’t my bed, she thought. Without looking, her hand searched for her phone, which she would usually put under her pillow or next to it. But she couldn’t find anything. Luna turned her body so her stomach would lie against the bed instead.

She frowned. This isn’t my pillow. Where’s my phone… Where did I put it last night?

The bedroom door opened and a lady dressed in a maid uniform came in smiling. ‘Good morning, Miss Luna,’ she beamed.

Ah. Right.

Luna marvelled at how she was able to forget the whole transmigration thing that happened to her. Smiling back, she greeted the cheerful maid, ‘Good morning, Helena.’

It all came back to her in an instant like a fast-flowing stream. She had fallen asleep while reading books and woke up because of a nightmare. Then while Elias was talking, she dozed off again. It was a peaceful slumber. That was probably why she thought she was still in her world.

Luna rubbed her eyes and looked around while Helena was preparing her bath. It seemed that the books were cleaned up and she had somehow been changed into a night dress last night while she was sleeping.

She climbed out of the bed and was about to head to the bathroom when a knock came on the door. Without waiting for a reply, the door was opened. 

In came a tall, armoured man with silver hair that would glisten in the sun and a pair of ocean blue eyes that would probably shine in the dark. Luna recognized him almost immediately. There was only one character in the book that had such blue eyes.

Archer von Eins, the strongest knight in Sirius and Lucilius’ most trusted man. 

He bowed when he saw her standing in the middle of the room, then with large strides, approached her. ‘Miss Healer, there has been an emergency,’ he said.

***

‘His Majesty was poisoned,’ Archer briefed her while they rushed to Orion. ‘He has tolerance towards the strongest poison, so this is a mystery.’

‘How’s he doing now?’ Luna asked.

‘Not so well,’ he said. They quickened their steps and finally arrived in His Majesty’s room. 

On the bed, Lucilius was sitting up, shoulders hunched forward. Several maids and butlers were lined up near his bed, unsure of what they should do. Sweats ran down his face and body and his face had turned pale. Luna noticed he also had difficulty breathing as he turned to look at the duo nearing him.

Luna nervously approached him. There was no sign of physical injury and his veins were beginning to surface against his pale skin. She was conflicted; it would be the first time she was going to purposely heal someone. The first time she did it was purely coincidental.

Since she had healed her wounded waist with just a touch, Luna figured that she should touch the entry point of the injury, but a poison? Where would the entry point of a poison be?

Slowly and hesitantly, she reached out for his face and touched his mouth. 

Nothing happened.

Lucilius was glaring at her, clearly perplexed. Luna tilted her head as her hand moved to his neck, his shoulders, his arms and fingers—but still, nothing happened. She began to panic. Why wasn’t her healing magic working? Did she fail to find the entry point? Was it really the entry point she should be looking for?

Lucilius was then on the verge of passing out; his breathing became more ragged.

‘Your Majesty!’ Archer clamoured worriedly as the emperor dropped his back to the bed, writhing in pain. 

Then, the door opened abruptly. They all turned to look. 

‘Sir Herald!’ Archer greeted and bowed his head. A guy in white robe lined with golden seams entered rushingly with a briefcase in his hand, bowing at Archer when he passed him, then pushed Luna away from Lucilius’ bed. She staggered to the side and watched him as he knelt and examined the emperor.

‘Symptoms seem to come from Strychnine,’ said Herald grimly, then reached for his bag that was on the floor and grabbed a syringe. ‘But there must be some kind of a modification. I hope this works.’

He injected Lucilius with whatever substance that was in there and waited. 

Within a minute or two, Lucilius was able to breathe normally and the colours returned to his face. 

‘Thank goodness!’ Herald smiled in relief, then bowed deeply. ‘Forgive me for my tardiness, Your Majesty. My old age is catching up to me.’

Archer knelt on one knee and bowed as well. 

Luna stood there silently, feeling dumbfounded and… silly. All sorts of thoughts ran across her head. What was she even doing in his chamber? She was appointed as a Healer, but all she did was stand and stare.

Then as if he could read her mind, Lucilius spoke grudgingly, ‘What a joke.’

Luna knew it was directed at her.

She didn’t dare to look up from her feet. Her sweating hands were behind her back, fists clenched nervously. She repeated his words in her head. 

What a joke... Yes, what a joke. I am the Healer, yet I only managed to watch as someone battled their life with poison. And a normal human being, bestowed with no power whatsoever, was able to heal him in seconds. 

Luna wanted to disappear. What a fucking joke. 

‘Get out,’ Lucilius spoke in a low grating voice.

Ashamed and baffled, Luna bowed her head. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said quietly and exited the room immediately.

***

It had been several days since the emperor was mysteriously poisoned. The Healer kept dreaming about him being sick and dying. She hadn't been eating and had not stepped out of her room since that day.

It was early in the morning and Luna couldn’t sleep a wink the night before. Helena entered her room with a tray of food for breakfast.

‘Good morning, Miss Luna,’ she spoke carefully, knowing Luna wasn’t in a good mood.

‘Morning,’ Luna replied, barely moving her lips.

She placed the tray on her master’s bed. ‘You haven’t been eating lately, so I thought I’d get something that’s easy for you to chew and digest,’ she said.

Luna glanced at the food and slowly sat up. 

‘Would you like to bathe first?’ Helena asked.

She shook her head.

‘Then, I’ll leave you to eat,’ she said, then bowed before heading to the door.

‘Helena.’

‘Yes?’ She stopped and turned to face Luna.

‘I… don’t like being useless.’

Helena blinked, unsure what Luna was talking about. Of course, she wasn’t aware of what had happened with the emperor the other day, so she had no idea why Luna was suddenly solemn.

‘You’re not useless, Miss Luna,’ said Helena reassuringly.

Luna exhaled sharply. She needed to do something. She needed to prove herself worthy of a Healer. Mostly because her ego wouldn’t let her be deemed incompetent. 

She was a corporate slave in her past life; excelled at every project she was in charge of, given praises (although without pay increment), and she considered herself to be one of the most hardworking employees. Being called a joke by your employer was a stab to her pride.