Chapter 57 - Wrong

"W-What happened?" Von coughed aggressively and noticed Lei spacing out beside him while inhaling the cool substance of the said 'bomb' against his bare skin.

"Lei, are you okay?" he asked under the handkerchief he used to filter his nose from the mist.

Lei came back to his senses when Von tugged his arms a little bit. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I freaked out a little bit there. Are you okay?" he asked Von in a composed manner that Von couldn't help but feel that something was wrong with him.

When things like this happened before, Lei would usually carry him out of the area to keep him safe, but why was he acting so calm right now? He was not even protecting himself from the suspicious substance that was surrounding them!

"I guess? Aren't you supposed to keep me safe? And why are you not protecting yourself from this... weird thing." Von said while fanning the area around his face..

"Right," Lei said, seemingly contemplating about something- whether to tell Von about what he was thinking or to bring him out of there immediately. "But I don't think this mist is dangerous."

Von's permanent scowl was emphasized even more when he heard Lei say this. He even inhaled the substance in front of Von just to prove his point.

"See? Nothing. It even smells good like minted candy." Lei shrugged.

Von was still unconvinced. He had no plans of letting go of his handkerchief until he confirmed Lei's safety after a few minutes or until the fog subsided so he could finally see if his family was still safe whilst this mysterious fog.

Who knows where this thing came from and what kind of purpose does it serve for being unleashed inside the castle, right where the Queen was currently there.

"Is everyone alright?" Sir Grandoise suddenly said.

"We are fine," Lei said in place of Von who was still refusing to remove the cover in his mouth and nose.

"Same here." Petunia said in a calm voice instead of her emotionless voice that raised another suspicion to Von about the whole situation. 

He was expecting Petunia to freak out and be excited about the whole 'fog bomb' thing, especially since she was the most interested in potions and mixtures here, but there was none of those evident in her voice. Instead, she was calm. Like Lei, Sir Grandoise and even Venedette's cries disappeared completely.

Von shook the thought out of his head and focused on Halma instead when she did not respond to Sir Grand's question.

"Halma? Are you there? You alright?" he shouted impulsively which gave way for the fog's scent to reach his nose, ultimately sending him back to that time when he helped Lei cover-up Gem's sudden release of a foggy substance from her necklace.

"Wait, I think I remember this smell," he said to Lei, finally taking off the handkerchief from his nose.

Halma, on the other hand, was speechless when she saw Gem lying on the bed beside her.

She even jumped out of shock when Von called out to her. "I- uhhh. I'm fine," she answered with a shaky voice and came closer to inspect Gem.

She was stunned again when Gem suddenly held her hands, whispering, "Water, please." with a voice so weak, she immediately assumed it was the result of her going in and out of another dimension.

Halma was not completely unaware of their heirloom's powers. In fact, she was so curious about these powers that when Vendette started babbling about it, she decided to send Fily, the daughter of Riveth, her most trusted Adviser in the whole country, to spy for her without Venedette's knowledge.

"Can someone bring water here to Little Gem please?!" Halma said in a loud voice that was then followed by gasps, particularly from Venedette who was so relieved to hear about Gem that she immediately flew across the room and to Halma's side despite the blinding fog between them.

"Where is she?"

"She's lying on the bed," Halma said while touching Gem up. Somehow, she was able to recognize Gem because of her voice and the faint cyan glow around her fog.

Venedette took out a water bottle from her tool belt and tried to give it to Gem but was interrupted when Fily suddenly used her skill Super Puff. Consequently dispersing the thick fog around them and blowing it out of the window which Petunia opened up for her on the other side. 

When the fog disappeared, they were left with a clearer view of Gem laying flat on the bed. Her torn clothes and immense sweat gave them an idea of what might have happened to her all while she was gone.

"Here's your water Gem…" Venedette said gently, trying to get Gem's attention. 

But she was already fast asleep. 

The breeze from Fily's Super Puff was so comfortable that it became a hundred times easier for her to fall asleep even with her full body muscle cramps and dehydration.

When Venedette confirmed that Gem was just sleeping and not dead, her anger towards Halma lessened a bit and was replaced with the thankful thought of Gem coming back to her alive.

But Halma wouldn't just let everything go without a word.

"See, told you she's alive. And my experiment worked! She can now go to Solitude whenever she likes by just simply dying! Isn't that great!?" she clapped to humor herself but no one else was clapping alongside her.

"What you did was wrong, Halma," Von said out of nowhere.

Von's boldness was a shock to everyone, especially since his relationship with Gem was not exactly that great, it was unlikely of him to be the one to talk back to Halma about this thing.

But since he had the power to do so, he just let himself voice his own opinion regardless of what everyone would think of him.

"Oh? Did I? So this how Venedette's been raising you? Soft?"

"Halma. Stop it. Please." Sir Grandoise looked at them with pleading eyes. 

But Venedette was far from backing up. And neither was Von. His pride just got hurt for defending Gem and his mother but he's got to stick to his decision.

"I'm not soft, grandma. I just know the difference between what is right and what is not." Von answered with so much conviction that even Halma was taken aback by his words.