The General's Wife Wants to Leave-Chapter 40: Quenching the thirst

When Joanna opened her eyes from her slumber, the sight of the room was exactly the same as when she opened her eyes the last time.

The room was blanketed with orange-red light that was emitted by the candles and oil lamps. It was indeed nighttime.

Did she not sleep well? Was that why she slept only for a while? But why did it feel like she had taken a very long slumber as she felt her body much lighter now?

Something suddenly popped up in her head, cutting off the whirlwind of questions in her mind. Joanna looked around her room but she found no one. He was not in her room this time, which was good. Joanna took a sigh of relief.

She then remembered that she had heard him greet her good night before she lost consciousness, drowning deep into slumber. Hence, she did not know whether he left her room or not after that.

With the calmness taking over her, she planned to continue to sleep. However, before she managed to close her eyes, a sound of growling coming from her stomach broke the silence of the room.

As the sleepiness went away due to the call of her growling stomach, she now could feel the emptiness of her stomach. She felt very hungry, a hungry feeling that had never hit her before.

Holding her growling stomach, Joanna tried to think why she was feeling this hungry while fixing her gaze on the ceiling above her.

The only meal she had today was the meal that she had for her breakfast this morning. It was the meal that filled her stomach before the General gave her an unexpected surprise of an unannounced visitation. No other meal came to her stomach after that.

Of course, the potion and the antidote that she took were not counted as meals. No wonder her stomach was crying in protest like this.

Pushing her body up to sit on the bed, Joanna reached her hand out to pull the cord to summon Bianca to her room.

Not long later, there was a soft knocking sound coming from the other side of the door and Bianca entered Joanna’s room after she gave a response to let her in.

Smiling while walking across the room toward the bed, Bianca said, "Good evening, my lady. You indeed look much better now."

It was the first impression that Bianca caught when she stepped inside the young lady’s room, finding her sitting on the bed with a more radiant look, at which she felt relieved.

"Is there anything that you need, my lady?" asked Bianca in a polite tone.

Joanna nodded her head with a smile on her face. "Water. I am very thirsty, Bianca," she replied the senior maid. Her voice was hoarse, implying that she indeed needed to rehydrate her throat.

When she saw the senior maid pour water from the jug into the glass, the smile on her lips faded away as she suddenly recalled a certain event when she asked for the General’s help to pour her some water to drink.

Joanna bit inside her cheek as the memory surfaced. She really wished not to remember that event forever as she still felt uncomfortable inside her heart. She really did not want him to have a different perception of her actions.

"Please drink this water, my lady." And Joanna was brought back from her trance by the voice of the senior maid and the glass of fresh water that appeared in her sight.

Taking the glass of water that was served by the senior maid, Joanna gulped it down in a fleeting moment and she breathed a sigh of relief as the water quenched her thirst.

Joanna then handed over the empty glass to the senior maid and said, "Please prepare some meals for me to eat, Bianca."

Bianca let out a sigh upon hearing the request of the young lady. "You must feel very hungry right now, my lady. But it is normal for you to feel that hungry as you have slept the whole day since yesterday," informed Bianca, placing the empty glass back on the tray.

"I will ask the cook to prepare something for you to eat, my lady. Please wait for a moment," Bianca said, taking the tray of the jug of water and the glass to be changed with a new one.

As Bianca was about to move her body to get out of the room in order to do what was asked by the young lady, she heard the young lady speak to her, making her turn back to see her.

"Sleeping the whole day since yesterday?" Joanna asked with a bewildered look, seeming not to believe what was informed by the senior maid.

"Yes, my lady. I came to check on you a few times today, only to find you sleeping very peacefully. And it is a relief to see you in better condition compared to yesterday," replied Bianca, a warm smile appearing on her lips.

Upon hearing the words conveyed by the senior maid, Joanna’s mouth agape as if she was astounded by the surprising fact that she had slept that long. Furthermore, it was the longest sleep that she had until now in her life.

It seemed that the antidote had reacted well in her body as it interacted with the potion that she had taken, for which to be weakened and removed from her body later.

It was a different effect that she felt compared to when she took the antidote the first time after leaving the General’s mansion. She remembered well that she did not sleep as long as this time when the antidote reacted in her body.

It might be caused by the shock that she had after having that dream which made her restless. Aside from that, at that time, she was in the carriage where she could not lie on a comfortable, soft, warm bed like this time with a thick blanket covering her body.

Finding the young lady still in a daze, Bianca thought about letting her be as she needed to prepare the food for her to eat as quickly as possible. But she was stopped once again when she was about to turn around, as the young lady spoke to her once again.

"And... Where is Sir Canillas, Bianca?" Joanna trailed in her question.