Chapter 477 - Employee (7) - Alex's POV

"I'm still monitoring Rika's condition. She thinks that she can leave the bed since she can walk. But she won't be able to survive without the machines making sure to perfectly regulate her body," Luke's hands shook.

"I'll make sure she'll never leave the room," I tried to comfort my cousin.

"She's not reacting well to the small doses of poison and drugs," he trembled in fear, worrying about Rika's health.

I knew that Luke was afraid that Rika's food may get drugged again, seeing how her kidnappers tried to do something to her. Even deadly poison was on the list of possibilities inside the most dangerous organization comprising the cruelest of criminals she escaped from. With Rika confined to his room from her injuries, it was the chance to increase her tolerance to the drugs and poison. But Luke couldn't do this at the infirmary, the school not allowing anyone to increase their tolerance through this way since there were very high risks of them dying from it.

"I'll come visit during the nights," I tried to console him.

Opening the door to his bedroom, Rika curled up in pain, covered in her sweat. Tussling inside the blankets, her body was burning at an extremely high temperature, more than her usual fevers. The machines weren't that helpful, only showing her condition worsening. Coughing to get some air in her lungs, she was on the edge of vomiting all her food again. With her pulse getting fainter, she struggled to breathe. And whenever she felt like she was able to speak again, she didn't stop crying, "it hurts, it really hurts."

"I'm here Rika," Luke rubbed her back to comfort her.

"I know it hurts," he sighed while getting out a wet cloth to wipe some of her sweat.

I pitied my cousin, looking after her. She had one of the worst reactions to the tiniest doses that usually wouldn't affect anyone. Luke had diluted the poison and drugs in water to the point they were almost non-existent. Putting up a sound barrier so that Sienna wouldn't be able to hear Rika's cries, I helped Luke in trying to bring her temperature down. But no matter what we did, her condition never improved until Luke used heal on her.

"I can use heal on her next time," I offered, noticing Luke was extremely tired.

Luke nodded his head, wanting more sleep after not getting any from taking care of Rika. Giving him a chance to rest during the daytime, I watched over the sleeping Rika, making sure the machines were working properly. She appeared like an angel when things were this peaceful, opposite of when she was half-conscious, desperately pleading for anyone to help her with the pain. Luke didn't take a break when she made him feel heartbroken from seeing her suffer so much. Mostly raising Rika on his own, she was almost like his own child.

It was hard not to feel like your heart was tearing apart when she looked like she was close to dying. Whenever Luke couldn't push himself to watch over her when she got sick, I took his place. Watching over her for years, she grew up spoiled under Luke's generosity. This was where I disagreed with Luke's method of trying to protect her by hiding things from her until she got a little older.

Since she didn't know that the organization that kidnapped her was the most dangerous in the first district, excluding monsters and fairies, she took the danger very lightly. Used to being the target all the time, she didn't know that she was still alive from Luke's desperate efforts. Helping Luke in raising Rika recently, I couldn't help but be stricter towards her. After increasing the doses each night, Rika was wailing all the time, barely hanging on. I let her squeeze my hand as Luke slept on the chair to attend classes tomorrow.

I frowned when the last dose was a bit too much for her. It was the first time Luke didn't dilute the various poison and drugs. Both of us had to attend class, but Rika couldn't stop screaming and crying. We already exhausted as much mana as we could, but her condition didn't improve from anything. Checking the settings on the machine again, Luke started to get nervous, not wanting to leave her alone more than ever.

"We can check up on her during the breaks," I hid how I felt she may not be alive by the time we came back.

Luke nodded his head, hesitant to leave his bedroom. As soon as each break came, we teleported to the entrance to his dorms. We sighed in relief when her condition was about the same as when we left her. I could tell Delia was getting more worried for her friend as I sneaked out of our dorms in the middle of the night. Wondering why she was almost anxious as much as Luke, I soon found out we were too tired to remember to place the sound-proof barrier every night and during the breaks.

Sienna must have heard everything from the other side of the wall and told her friends about it. But I was glad they weren't digging into the details, leaving us alone. When Luke found Rika gone from the bed one day, I was stunned how the windows were open when we kept them shut to help maintain her temperature.

"What? Rika got kidnapped again?" Sienna shouted inside her bedroom.