138 Feeding the Sick

Sometime later, Leon return to Lilith's room with a food tray with 3 dishes; a bowl of congee, a plate of perfectly cooked venison from a deer beast and a bowl of nutritional soup. 

Lilith could immediately smell the sweet aroma of food and involuntarily gulp as she eyed the items Leon carried on the tray. 

Leon placed the food tray on the tea table and said, "Alright, quickly come over and eat, before it goes cold." 

Lilith looked at him with another wronged expression and pouted, "You're bullying me. I'm too weak and hungry to move. Hmph hmph!"

How can it be as bad as she says? The girl was clearly exaggerating her condition, but since she was acting cute, he didn't mind not pointing it out and embarrass her. 

Leon smiled lightly and pick up the bowl of congee with a spoon and brought to the bedside, before saying, "Open your mouth, I'll feed you." 

She threw her tantrum to see how tolerant the human was, but she hadn't expect the human to willingly feed her. Lilith stared at Leon with her deep black eyes in a daze and asked, "Why are you so good to me?" 

Leon scooped a spoonful of congee and brought it to her mouth and said, "Do you want to hear the truth or the lie?"

"Why so mysterious? Of course, I want to hear the truth. Why would I want to hear a lie?" Said Lilith as she gulped the congee down obediently. The congee was slightly too hot and made her wince in pain. "Ahh!"

"Sorry." Leon blew on the next spoonful carefully to cool it down, before he continued, "The truth is I am a doctor and you are my patient. Nursing you back to health is my responsibility." 

He refrained from telling the whole truth and only revealed part of it. He had to build up their relationship, before he could reveal this kind of truth. If it was revealed too early, it would run counter to his plans. She would never open up to him and tell him the secrets of the Wildlands such as their power structure and strengths, if that was to happen.

"Che! Such a boring answer. Never mind, I want to hear the lie now." Lilith said with dissatisfaction.

She carefully gulped down the second spoonful but realized it had been cooled to a perfect temperature. The human was meticulous in his actions. She was able to enjoy the taste of congee this second time. It had a distinctive taste of rice, enriched with subtle pieces of tender meat and near-perfect seasoning. It was quite delicious. Very mellow and easy to eat. 

She wasn't sure if it was because of her hunger  or the chef was an expert, but it compelled her to crave for more with each spoonful.

At the same time, she was touched and enjoyed the wonderful feeling of being cared for. Her black wing made small flaps in contentment.

Leon continued to feed her as he put on a mischievous smile and whispered, "I want you." 

Hearing her response, he smiled and said, "Since you have the energy to curse, you should have to problem feeding yourself." 

"No!" Lilith immediately reject and said coyly, "I want you to keep feeding me." 

"So unreasonable." Leon said, but found it hard the reject the wishes of a pretty lady.

Women were the most incomprehensible being known to men, a complete enigma. They can be the most unreasonable of creatures, but the are also the most understanding.

Lilith continue to flap her wing in delight with each spoonful. Human food was such a pleasurable experience and the person feeding her is nice too. Lilith sneaked a glance, while Leon was quietly blowing on the congee.

...

At the other end of the wall, Lilith was leaning against on the bed, it was coincidentally connected to Aria's room in the other Guest Court. 

Aria and Lynne were seen plastering their ears on the walls trying to eavesdrop on the other side. 

"Can you hear anything? I think I heard Leon and another female's voice." Lynne said with a pout. 

Aria shook her head and gave up, "I can't hear anything." 

... 

A while ago, after Leon had just left them. 

"Which one of these are your room, let's go there and talk." Lynne suggested. Aria nodded and pointed, "It's this one."

"Okay, let's go." Aria was pulled into her room by Lynne. 

Since they were told to get along, they had to deepen their understanding of each other. None of them want to make Leon unhappy. When their happiness is also someone else's happiness, that was love.

Sitting on the bed, they did a quick introduction of each, before Lynne asked curiously, "You have a really nice voice, why do you cover your face?"

"Old habits. A pretty face brings endless troubles." Aria answered quietly.

'How pretty can she be that she had to hide her face?' Lynne thought simply. Because of her upbringing and background, she didn't understand the danger and suffering of beautiful women living in the Lower Districts.

Especially, someone with unparalleled beauty like Aria, who was a mute back then. If someone with wicked intentions forced themselves on her, she wouldn't have been able to scream even if she wanted to. 

"Can I see?" Lynne asked. 

There was a pause in Aria's response, before she nodded and removed her hair cover. 

"*Gasp* So beautiful." Lynne exclaimed with astonishment and admiration. She had to admit, she was inferior in terms of beauty. 

But beauty was relative. With the mystical beautifying effect of divine cultivation, she believes her beauty wouldn't be any less with time. 

The two girls talked about how they met Leon and Aria brought how she already knew him since middle school and would always watch of him study. 

"So, you were a stalker girl." Lynne exclaimed with surprise. 

Aria wanted to spurt blood after suffering a second blow. She quickly covered up her face to hide her embarrassment. 

"Ah! I'm so sorry... I didn't mean that in a bad way..." Lynne quickly apologized, but secretly she was jealous that Aria got to know Leon from such a young age.

However, after learning the rest of the story, Lynne felt guilty for her petty actions. She only had good will towards Aria afterwards. Aria was quite pitiful until she met Leon. Compared with Aria's story, her own story was considered shallow. 

After learning about each other's backstory, they have become closer like sisters as Leon had hoped. They held hands and began to talk about random things. 

"Hmm? Did you hear that? I think I heard Leon on the other side of this wall..." Lynne suddenly said, before adding with squinted eyes, "And another woman." 

Aria was surprised, but she didn't express any opinions. 

"Come, let's hear what they are talking about." Lynne suggested as she plastered her ear on the wall to eavesdrop. 

Taken aback for a moment, Aria said, "It's not good to eavesdrop. We have to respect his privacy." 

"But aren't you curious?" Lynne persuaded. 

Indeed, Aria was curious. It didn't take much effort on Lynne's part to convince her. Aria soon let go of her reservation and also plastered herself on the wall to listen. 

Unfortunately, the walls were too thick. They couldn't understand anything being discussed on the other side. 

... 

After Leon finished feeding Lilith, he tucked into bed and said, "I'll come back another time to check on your recovery." 

Lilith nodded unwillingly. Leon was the only nice human she knew so far. It was also boring by holed up in the room all day by herself, but she understands that she couldn't possibly take up all of his time for herself.

When Leon returned to his courtyard, the personal guards were all sitting in one corner staring up at the skies and pondering on life. They couldn't keep up with the prince and  gave up, resigning themselves to their fate if something happened to the prince. 

But in any case, there shouldn't be anyone in the Capital that could harm the prince now. 

Leon had sparred countless times with the guards by now and also learnt the Military Arts from them. 

It was a good close combat technique, but it had its limitation. There was a limit to how much strength above the user can handle. 

For example; a person may not be able to lift a steel beam, but they can still divert the direction of a falling beam. However, if it was a falling iron fortress, they would still have to jump out of the way in fear of their lives. They would only be crushed to death if they tried to deflect it.

However, having a close combat technique was better than none.

"Your highness." Howard and his brothers greeted.

Leon acknowledged their greeting with a nod and found himself a spot on the floor. He was just a thin line from reaching the 9th layer of Body Tempering Realm. 

With a bit of cultivating, he would be able to reach it. He closed his eyes and began circulating his energy, while absorbing the 5 elements from the heaven and earth according to the [Hegemon of Primal Chaos].

As he had predicted, two hours later, he successfully achieved his breakthrough and reached the 9th Layer Body Tempering Realm.

Leon smiled with satisfaction. If this was in the past, he would not even spare a thought for such an insignificant achievement. But this was the world of Gaia, where spirit energy was sparse and divine cultivation was difficult to thrive. Every successful step forward should be celebrated.