Chapter 195 Hospital Gathering

A few minutes later Beck showed up with Carl by his side. Carl, in particular, was very anxious to hear about Dora’s condition. Upon seeing Bella standing in the corridor he rushed up to her only to come to a sudden halt due to Charles’s menacing presence. Carl stood there frozen, unsure about whether he should talk to Bella.

“And who may you be?” asked Charles. He was standing in such a way it blocked Carl’s view of Bella. To conceal his sense of embarrassment, Carl stuttered a few unintelligible syllables. Luckily, Beck came to the rescue.

“Please forgive him for his ignorance,” he said to Charles before turning to Carl. “This is Duke Charles crowned by the Queen of Vancouver Island.”

Carl gave a slight bow to show his respect. “I’m sorry if I have offended you, King of the Sea.” 

“Stand up and introduce yourself,” said Charles with an elegant and gorgeous tone in his voice.

Carl gave a slight glance to Beck who gave him a nod of approval.

“Go ahead. Don't be nervous.”

Still, Carl had a problem opening his mouth in front of royalty. Bella stared at him with pity. She could obviously feel his nervousness.

“Can you tell us about yourself?” asked Charles. His attitude and tone were full of kindness.

“I’m a friend of Dora’s,” said Carl and lowered his head in a respectful manner.

Carl’s response disappointed Bella. She was expecting him to announce that he was Dora’s boyfriend and that he was deeply in love with her. Why was he so reluctant to admit he was in a relationship with her?

Bella felt a trace of regret in her heart for calling Carl and asking him to come here. What would Dora say if she found out that Carl was too much of a coward to admit their relationship?

At that moment, the door of the surgery room swung wide open and the doctor appeared. Carl immediately rushed to him to ask about Dora’s condition.

The doctor refused to give a straight reply giving Carl a stern look instead. Carl turned his head to Bella as if he wanted to ask what this was about. He soon found out the reason. The doctor was only allowed to talk about the result of the surgical procedures to Charles.

Charles made a gesture with his hand to the doctor to show that it was okay for him to speak in front of everybody. The doctor cleared his throat and gave a slight cough before starting. Whatever he was going to say it was going to be difficult.

“We managed to stop the bleeding. However, there are signs of gangrene in her left leg and there is only one way to prevent it from spreading.”

Bella almost fainted upon hearing those words. Charles took her in his arms and tried to calm her down.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “Artificial limbs nowadays are better than the real thing.”

It was hard for Carl to accept the fact. He was deeply shaken by the possibility of Dora losing a leg. His fingers were trembling and his face was a mask of despair and fear.

“You got to do something better than that,” said Bella to the doctor. “If Dora loses a leg, she is as good as dead. You see, she doesn’t have any close family members to take care of her.”

The doctor let a low sigh escape his chest.

“Sorry miss, we are doctors. We can’t work miracles.”

“Then how about I cut off your legs?”

It was Charles who had said the last sentence and judging by the tone, he meant them. The doctor’s face turned pale upon hearing these words.

“My Lord, you must understand…”

“If we wanted someone to cut off her leg we would have taken her to a butcher,” said Charles with an unbearable cruel tone. “We want you to save the girl and to save her leg as well.”

“Yes, my Lord,” said the doctor. “We'll try our best to save her.”

The doctor turned around and hurried back to the surgery room.

Bella suddenly felt relieved. She looked at Charles with eyes full of gratitude. If it wasn’t for him and the power he yielded they would certainly have sawed off Dora’s leg.

“Thank you, Charles.”

“What do you think, you silly girl?” said Charles and ruffled her hair. “That I would let your best friend lose her leg?”

Carl was amazed by this display of kindness and generosity. Fifty years ago when he had first seen the Ruler of the Sea, he remembered him as a humorless and stern figure. He would never have believed that he was now standing right next to the same person.

“Lord, this is the phone you asked for.”

Those last words came out of the mouth of Ziv, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“Give me your mobile phone,” he said to Bella.

“What for?”

“Just give it to me.”

She reluctantly did what he asked and watched him as he took out the sim card and re-inserted it into the brand new phone.

He turned the power on and waited until the screen was bright. Then he handed it to Bella.

“Here you are.”

“Is this phone for me?”

“Of course.”

“My older phone works very well. I don’t need a new phone.”

“This is a much better model. I want you to have it.”

“Will the price be deducted from my salary?”

Beck laughed aloud upon hearing those words. “It seems that the Lord is stingy with his wife.”

Charles looked at him and put his arm around Bella’s shoulder. “Nobody is able to understand our relationship.” His lips fell on Bella’s ear and he licked her earlobe. “Take it,” he whispered.

Bella silently lowered her head and accepted Charles’s gift.