Aefia was simply stroding through the entire hallway, trying to learn the structure of the house on her way out. She didn't have the necessary energy to jump off the window. So she had made a decision to meet him on her way it.
To think, such a large house has only one person staying in it. Doesn't he feel afraid sometimes? And how long did it take him to make it?
She cluntched her cloak while walking down the dim hallway. Her eyes diverted towards the high ceiling—which was a good thing to keep cool air vented when summer comes around. She smiled at the creativity, the pillars looked hand-crafted and had very pretty details, which she used her fingers to trace.
As she progressed, she felt a sudden shift in air.
Aefia slammed against the same wall that she was just sliding her fingers across. A hand blocked her beside her shoulder while she shut her eyes and held out her palms to protect her face. But her left one was handicapped by another hand against the wall.
"You aren't supposed to be moving around in that condition. Why did you get up?" Helio asked while narrowing his eyes at her, holding an angered gaze. Then, he made an expression as if he had realized something after seeing her face properly. "Like I thought... The drug's aftereffects have run out. Anyways, where are you going?"
"Back to the capital?" She answered while shrugging. "And sheesh! What the heck made you do whatever this is?!" A flush creeped up her cheek to the tip of her ears.
"And you are confident that you will be alright when you return instantly? Whose permission did you take?" He asked again, rather calmly.
"I was going to ask for your permission! But now that I have found you, may I return?!"
Helio clicked his tongue retracting his hands to fold them in front of him. He had blood stains across his white shirt, and it seemed to be hers. She felt sorry for being a burden like that for him. Since he may have been busy with other things at the same time.
"You don't have my permission."
"Sorry?!" She reflected while looking up at him with an awkward smile. "So was it because I am still in debt to you?! For your help? Or is it because you suspect me of being a beast?"
"Neither. Although you still have an unpaid debt, my real reason is because you are still too ill to move like that."
"What do mean?! I am alright."
"Then what about the toxin, poison and venom at the same time? It is all just miracle you are still alive."
"What? How—"
"Doesn't matter. You are going back straight to bed."
"Wait—!"
Before she knew it, he had already lifted her like a sack and tossed her over his shoulder.
"Let me go! I can walk!"
"Can you though?"
"Of course I can! Just put me down! I have been walking this whole time!"
"What if I set you down? Will you walk towards the bedroom?"
"No—yes! I will!"
"Oh really? You expect me to believe that?"
"Alright fine! But if you accompany me there, won't you be able to get the proof yourself that I won't leave?!"
"I know you too well already. You will trick me and then run away."
"No! No I won't! Just put me down!"
"Not until I can confirm you are really alright."
"That's unfair!"
She thrashed around while slamming her fist into his back, then going completely exhausted. "Alright... I give up. If you are to carry me back... Just adjust me a bit. My breathe is not that strong and I may pass out... Which I most definitely hate in a situation like this."
"Sure. However, we are almost there. Is there a point though? But fine I guess... Since you are having difficulty breathing." He smiled while dropping her to the ground completely. "If you are so strong, get up by yourself and walk your way back."
"Ow! This is embarrasing for a combatant!"
"There is no one though." He laughed while moving forward. Truth be told, Aefia had a loyal ghost of hers that followed her everywhere she went. So it was very much embarrasing for her. It felt like an empty room filled with cameras.
"The next time you do that, remember I am not a kid."
"But your behaviours are like a kid's. I feel like I am babysitting one of my favourite ones right now." He spoke while looking at her cleaned face, void of the blood stains from earlier.
"For the sake of god! I am—wait what?!" Her mind flared up, as she stood up and clenched the shoulders of his shirt before leaning forward. "What does that mean?!"
"Oh... I forgot to mention that the aftereffects of the drug includes a temporary amnesia. You will remember it sooner or later." He smiled at her while continuing his walk forward. "But you did do something... Different in the meantime that you were hazy minded. I will not mention it now."
"What did I do?! Just spit it out already!"
"Find it out yourself. It was pretty interesting..." He opened the door to her room, allowing her to walk in first. "If you are curious as to why Puppet is gone, it said it had some work of its own to take care of. In the meantime, it wants me to take care of you."
"Hey! That is outrageous now! Why would it put you in charge of me?! Someone who treats me like a goddamn kid." Aefia shouted in response as she stomped behind him towards the bed. She watched, as he sat right beside, with furious eyes considering what had happened earlier.
"I don't know. But it is worried since you have been taking toxins for eight months. I figured that maybe lines up exactly with your 'jumped to death'. However, that is not the only thing I had in mind. Since you had handled toxins, poison and venom at the same time, you should at least have done unrecoverable damage."
"How?" Aefia folded her arms.
"Right away, aren't you going to ignore my advices and go straight into carelessly ruining your health? Have you even placed a single ounce of thought to your health until now? It's simply a weapon to you."
"Well that is true... However, I have got some work to do. Also, weren't you supposed to find the cure?" Her voice turned an octave higher, in curiousity and suspicion.
"Well, I used it up on you. It worked quite well—about fourty percent of your body has been neutralized overall, from the toxins. The poison and the venom though, has been wiped clean. I can say it is effective—"
"Here. Try dimenthylmercury then."
Aefia held out her palms, where a small vile with dark blood rested. "I collected it from a rampant patient. Since dimenthylmercury is a chemical, you should double-check it at least once." She spoke while tilting her head slightly.
He didn't accept the vile, but still smiled. Then, he pointed to the empty golden glass container on the floor that Aefia had bled on. "I used it up unfortunately."
"Alright. I will bring it along with me. Cedric has the remaining of the leaves." Aefia replied while placing the vile down and reaching for Spectrum at her inventory.
"Wha—Hold on!" Helio captured both her wrist and slammed it down flat on the bed. "I can just text Nada to deliver it. You are definitely not returning in the middle of all that chaos. You need rest, and as your caretaker, I am not allowing you to move on your own unless I think it right."
Aefia stared blankly at his face while seeming confused with his concern. Then, he slowly let her wrist go, and leaned backward.
"I will need those leaves for your treatment anyway. Although the leave can help purify a person's blood, but it also needs to be taken consistently for a short amount of time if the situation is too bad. But the leave can only purify the blood, not treat the organs. You get it?"
"But if you are going to treat me, do it while I work with the Countess to spread the cure. And I need to be fast of I want to keep the empress alive–"
"Empress this, empress that! Let that woman die! You are killing yourself to keep her alive!" Helio flashed her a stern look. "And trust me, that if you go down in health a little bit more than this, I will personally have that woman poisoned."
"Sheesh! Well that's a rebel! You want to go to prison or something?!"
"I was asked to take care of you! Not that woman for your information! And did I forget to mention?! Wasn't she supposed to look after you as a foster mother?! Then why did she fail to save you when you took your life?!"
"..."
"If you want to live your life with happiness just like you wish, then let me assist you for that." He added while leaning forward.
Her eyes widened, since she didn't remember anything from the time of the aftereffect, she found herself in a sort of shock.
"Is that... What I said? That I can't remember?" She asked with a low voice, as her head hung low. "Did I happen to cry?"
"If it doesn't mean offense to you, yes." He answered while looking away for a while. She lifted her head to look at him with a smile. "That shouldn't have been the only thing I did. I must have gone all out."
"What does that mean?"
"They say a kiss to the palm means affection, adoration and reverance." She added in a softer voice. "And to the back of the hand, it means respect or courtesy."
"..."
He moved his gaze away, while trying to hide his flustered face. "So you knew the meanings too."
"They taught me at the palace. Well, I had to learn it since I had to disguise myself as a member of their family." She muttered while looking away at the same time in complete silence—that grew more and more awkward. Then, "Dang... Did I actually do that?!"
Aefia swept her gaze away to the opposite side that he was facing.
"You actually did that. On my right palm."
"Yea—I know! Stop reminding me!" She spoke while still looking towards the otherside. "I must have lost my mind on the way."
"It was the drug's aftereffects. Don't mind it, it will just lay your thoughts transparent. However, I am simply surprised though."
Aefia finally looked at his direction while grabbing his jaw to look at her.
"And I am surprised that you can easily be this jealous!" She added while letting go. "Do you want to explain that?! You really think out loud!"
"Is that how much you heard?! Why didn't you tell me before?!"
"I was unconscious for the sake of god!" She added while furrowing her brows at him. "Anyways... If you are going to be my personal physician, then how about actually taking care of me?!"
"You are the one who doesn't want to cooperate!"
"Yeah whatever... I am agreeing to it now. I want my lung capacity fixed."
"I can see that." He spoke while leaning forward to open a drawer at his bedside table.
"And in the meantime, I have a few questions."
"Ask."
"Do you always carry me around like that? Like a sack of rice? How did you make this house?! It's fully furnished and everything!"
Helio frowned at her while holding a medical kit, then pulling it open to retrieve a small pair of scissors. Without asking, he took Aefia's palm onto his with a force that almost caused her to topple off the bed. He cut open the bandage where the white was stained red.
"Honestly speaking, this was the first time carrying you like that since you were being childish, and I have no trust that you would have actually listened to my words. And about this house, I had those unemployed human demons to do it for me. I do remember hearing you say you wanted to form an army using them, but then you changed your plans. So I used them in your stead."
Aefia stared with her mouth open at the way he spoke it all in just one breathe. "You have quite the brain of yours. Well I am fascinated." She added while looking towards the walls. "But then, if you are the only one who is going to stay here, then why did you make it this huge? It is a literal mansion."
"It is, and I planned on keeping the others in here then at the castle. It too big to take care of."
"This isn't small either."
"This one is less hassle. Not only that, the kids wanted to stay in a place which looked more like home."
Aefia turned silent for a moment, and stared at the way he had to restitch the stab at her palm. The ones at the edges were alright, but the ones at the centre had started to tear.
"By the way?"
"Hm?"
"Did the cursed sword let you go? Because your wound is starting to heal."
Aefia sighed while rolling up her sleeve a little bit more, revealing a loosely bandaged cut. "No. I changed locations. Don't mind it, I didn't go that deep."
"You really are an odd person." Helio smiled while continuing to stitching. Aefia stayed silent for quite the time following that, her eyes shutting due to tiredness as he finished wrapping the wound. She didn't know why, but the way he worked around wounds made her almost always fall asleep.
Aefia turned her hand back and forth to inspect the clean wrap. "Wow. It looks... Nice and clean. Thanks."
But then, he reluctantly looked at her and tilted his head to the side. Suddenly, he captured her wrist pulled forward until her head rested on his shoulder.
"Wha—"
"Aefia, I have a request to make." He spoke while placing his other hand on her hair. "If you want, I can get you the happiness that you lost. However, I can't guarantee it if your life is at risk. If it is possible, hand me your life at least until at least the competition ends." He spoke into her hair.
She found herself in a moment of shock. She didn't pushed herself off to sit up, finding herself completely frozen. But she did mutter one thing.