Chapter 200 - Recovering (1)

"Where will he go after this mess is sorted out?" I asked, hopeful he would be placed in a safer place.

"He will be reported and will be returned to the orphanage," Alex broke my expectations.

My heart panged with guilt as I remembered his eyes desperately crying out for help. Didn't they promise him that he wouldn't be reported? I narrowed my eyes to question him about keeping his word to the poor boy.

"It was Luke's promise, not mine," Alex shrugged before pressing more buttons on the IV machine.

"And we'll only be sending him once he recovers," Shelly tried to console me.

I started to feel really bad for the boy since we were about the same age. At most, he appeared like he was three years younger than us. He took all that effort in escaping the orphanage to be returned to the same miserable place soon. Although our situations were similar, he had it worse since he was being trained to fight those monsters.

I tried to send my energy towards my fingers to help myself to get up. However, they stood still, strangely not responding like the rest of my body. It was like my entire body was paralyzed from all the medicine sinking inside, overwhelming it. My unstable mind confirmed that this was different from when I got injured last time.

Although the pain was the same, I always felt completely sane and was able to think clearly at all times last time. But this time, everything looked fuzzy and resembled a nightmare with all the machines and potions surrounding me. I could barely feel all the liquid that Luke was emptying with Shelly.

It was a cooling sensation while making my body feel hot like it was inside a blazing fire. I glared at Luke if he really needed to use all those bottles piled into the size of a mountain. But he ignored me as he took more medicine off from the shelves.

"Luke is just trying to disinfect you as much as possible. The monster's nail inside your hand contains lethal poison," Shelly explained in his place.

"Usually people die within a day from a single scratch," Sienna quietly muttered, knowing that I would want to know.

Luke shot her a glare to warn her to say no more. Of course Luke wouldn't want me to know about it. He didn't even let me look at a single page in the medical report before. It also explained why Shelly was being choosy with her words. I guessed this was why they were desperately pouring all the medicine they had.

I had all five nails dug into my hand instead of a single scratch. It had to be much worse for me compared to others who died from a scratch. Instead of feeling terrified that I might die soon, I felt extremely calm. Maybe because it was nothing compared to dying by falling down the stairs.

This time I was slowly approaching my death rather than a sudden cut to the string of my life. I noticed Sienna's puffy red eyes as she nodded to Luke, indicating that she would say no more. Thinking that it was strange their voices couldn't be heard anymore; I rapidly blinked my eyes to search for their defining shapes.

But the next time my vision properly returned; everyone had left the room except for Luke. When he noticed me staring at him for a long time, he affectionately caressed my hair, "I know how much you dislike me."

It wasn't exactly disliking him but being annoyed at the circ.u.mstances. I knew that Luke wasn't a bad person. If I wasn't engaged to him, I was sure we would have a better relationship. Maybe we could have been friends. I almost gasped in the middle of my thoughts when I realized being close to death really made you think differently.

"I think it's more like a communication problem," I went through my memories with him without any emotions.

Luke nodded to agree, "I don't intentionally try to cut off your freedom Rika. I try to give into you when I can like going to that orphanage. As long as you don't harm the Roselia family name with your odd actions, I do try to give you as much space as I can."

Why was Luke being so nice today? He usually wasn't like this. But at the same time, what he was saying didn't make much sense. It was like he was subtly saying that it was my fault that we had this horribly entangled relationship we had today. Because I wanted more freedom that he couldn't give me.

"But you're not making any sense. No one would have noticed if I read my manga and light novels while I was recovering in one of your mansions. Plus, your precious family name wouldn't have been ruined as well, but you still didn't let me read them. What are you trying to imply?" I narrowed my eyes.

Even in the dorms, most of my hobbies had to be hidden, or else it would be gone the next second. And whenever someone offered me anything like food, he didn't let me touch them without his permission. This was beyond what I could tolerate, he wanted me to act like his perfect puppet.

Luke stayed silent as I continued, "I'm not a selfish person. As long as you don't interfere with my private space, I'm willing to listen to you and fulfil your family's responsibilities and whatnot. So why do you try to control everything from what I can wear to what I eat?"