Chapter 46 - 45

Gideon saw Kaiden's serious expression. A wave of worry suddenly hits him and he immediately yelled out "What happened to him?!". Kaiden's expression did not change and he motioned for Gideon to sit down on the bed. Gideon was shaking a little bit but he still reluctantly obeyed Kaiden's order.

"What happened to him Kaiden?" Gideon asks again slowly. He was trying his best not to get angry or think of the worst but he could not help it.

"Calm down first. Just know that I did not have any intentions of hiding this from you but I kind of knew that you would react like this"

Gideon did not respond and only waited for what Kaiden needed to say. The other person sighed and began explaining.

"During the attack, Stephen got heavily injured. His arm got bitten off and he had several wounds on his chest"

It was as if a bucket of ice-cold water got dumped onto Gideon. His words were stuck in his throat. He was hoping that there was a miracle right now. That his wounds could be healed. They both promised Aunt Theodora that they will stay safe and wait for her return.

"As you know that the abilities of those monsters are constantly changing and we can't exactly pinpoint its weaknesses other than decapitating it. But another fact we know is that its fangs secrete this liquid that nullifies our powers. Both holy powers and demonic powers have nothing against what we call their venom"

"S-so what you're saying is that he cannot heal himself nor anyone can?"

"That is correct"

"Haha..." Gideon started to sob. Did this mean that Stephen is dead?

"Since Lady Kassandra insisted, she would use her power as well as other angels to try and experiment. For now, he's still breathing but I can't necessarily say he's alive"

So Stephen is now in a vegetative state with no hope of waking up. Because of Kassandra's promise to Theodora to take care of her husband while she fights, the best she could do is keep him alive until she returns. Even if it means that he won't wake up or that she constantly drains her energy, she'll still try to save him.

Gideon was still crying and Kaiden hesitated to comfort his old friend. He reached out and patted his shoulder. To his surprise, Gideon suddenly clung to him and cried even more. Kaiden placed his hand on his back and began patting it, trying to soothe Gideon.

"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner" Kaiden said in a hushed tone and Gideon shakes his head.

"n-no it's hic- not your fault" Gideon continued to cry.

Kaiden moved away and began wiping away his tears. This action reminded him of when they were kids. Back then it was Kaiden who cried a lot and Gideon would be the one rubbing his tears away. He even remembered the time Gideon sang to him that made him fall asleep and have good dreams.

'If only I could do the same to you right now'

"Steady your breathing Gideon. You might faint at this rate"

Gideon nodded and sniffed a lot as he tried to calm down. His vision blurred earlier due to his tears but right now he can see Kaiden's face more clearly. Kaiden also had a solemn expression. Gideon was thankful right now that Kaiden was here.

"Are you feeling slightly better now that you got that out?"

Gideon knew Kaiden was treating him like a child right now by coaxing him. But he wouldn't dare admit that it was actually working. He nodded and Kaiden smiled sadly at him.

"You can visit him once you feel better. For now, you should just rest more. You also got injured remember?"

Gideon remembers that but his injuries weren't as bad compared to Kaiden's. On that topic, Gideon immediately checks Kaiden's arm and saw that it barely had a mark.

"I only got scratched at that time, I wasn't bitten but I wouldn't say that my arm doesn't hurt"

"I'm sorry"

"Why are you apologizing- haist... You should wash up. You can use my old shirt, hold on" Kaiden walked up to several drawers looking for the smallest clothes he owns.

"Here you go, there's also clean towels in the bathroom. Just use one of them, after that you can rest more"

Gideon took the spare clothes and did what Kaiden told him to. That really did help him feel better.

.

.

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"Theo?" Emilia called out to Theodora.

Theodora refused to leave the tent unless she was going to meetings. She initially wanted to join the fights but by Kassandra's orders, she is to remain in camp.

"What?" Theodora asks Emilia who now came into her view.

Right now, to Theodora, her powers are a curse. She kept trying to hurt herself, hoping that she would just die but her powers kept healing her. As if it was telling her, you can't die just yet you are bound by a contract. She devoted her life to her Lady Kassandra but meeting Stephen gave her life another purpose. And even having Gideon as her adopted son added more bliss to her long life than she had for the past hundreds of years.

To hear what had happened during the ball was enough to scare her. But hearing that Gideon fell into a coma and will face consequences later on when he wakes up for hiding his identity as well as her Husband slowly withering away? It was enough to drive her insane.

This was why Kassandra forced her to stay, even resorting to using the binding spell of the contract that she had never used in a long time.

"Lady Kassandra wante-"

"To hell what Kassandra wants. She broke the one promise I begged her to keep. And now she can't even give me the mercy of dying?"

"Theodora!"

"EMILIA WHAT'S THE POINT OF LIVING RIGHT NOW?"

Emilia felt a pang of pain in her chest when she heard Theodora's voice crack as she asked those words. Indeed what's the point of living? After hundreds of years, she still had yet to find her purpose. Theodora found hers and lost it.

"I don't know the answer to that but I knew Stephen"

Seeing that Theodora wasn't saying anything meant that she was listening.

"I knew that he only wants to see Theodora happy. And that if he knew he was the reason why you're like this, he would be upset"

"heh" Theodora lets out a small laugh because Emilia was correct. Stephen was that kind of guy.

"What I was trying to say earlier was that Gideon is now awake" Hearing this gave hope to Theodora.

"And that you are to return to the Capital. Lady Kassandra ordered this and that you are off duty until further notice"

And here Theodora was just cursing Lady Kassandra earlier. Now that she calmed down, she could see that this was the best thing Lady Kassandra could do for her.

"Please don't blame Lady Kassandra, she's trying her best to save Stephen but right now you need to be there with him and Gideon" Emilia walked closer to Theodora and hugged her friend. Theodora was like her older sister and she can't handle seeing her in this state.

"What about the mission here?" Theodora asks Emilia and she only smiled. She tucks away the scarlet hair strands from Theodora's face. Such a pretty face like hers shouldn't cry like this.

"There will be a change in the plans so a few groups will remain here while the rest, especially those injured, will return to the Capital for further orders. I'll be staying here since I am the next in command after you and Lady Kassandra"

"But won't it be lonely?" Theodora frowned and Emilia continued to smile.

"I have Colin to bother, go off now and pack up. I'll help if you need me to?"

"No need, Thank you Emilia"

Emilia left the tent and speak of the devil! Colin appeared in front of her.

"Colin"

"Emi"

"Why are you here?"

Emilia glanced down at the letter he had been holding. It had Lady Kassandra's seal and seeing Theodora was still unfit for briefing, she'll take over once more.

"Our old master is conscious"

"Yohann?"

Colin nodded and Emilia smiled at him.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

Colin looked like he wanted to say something else but he ultimately decided not to. He put away the letter into his pocket and took out another note.

"Ever since the attack, there had not been any sightings. But more and more people are disappearing and some are showing up deflated without blood or organs..."

Emilia could tell what Colin was trying to imply and that's the reason why he was holding an informal meeting right now.

Their faction was under suspicion of the murders of these humans. I mean who else needed blood to survive in this world?

"This is a dangerous accusation Colin" Her blood-red eyes stared at him as if they were glowing.