Chapter 70 - Mischiefs

"What happened to you?" Von whispered to Gem who was now whimpering from the sudden pain in her stomach.

"H-Help." a squeak escaped her voice but Von's attention was quickly shifted to Lei when he suddenly held Von's shoulder from behind.

"Von. Your mom saw you faking your sickness. What are you planning to do now?" he said and pulled Von away from Gem to close the curtains between them immediately, leaving the poor girl alone and unattended behind that thick white curtain for privacy.

"Right," Von said, seemingly speechless from the shock of not expecting the unexpected.

"Since Gem is in some sort of trouble, I'm guessing Venedette will focus on her first before confronting you-"

"Which gives me more time to run away from them in the meantime!" Von said exasperatedly, following Lei's ideas in his sentence before.

But that was not what Lei was trying to say..

"No, that's not what I-" 

"And you will help me again, okay?" Von said restlessly, walking back and forth in front of Lei who, on the other hand, was having an internal conflict between his thoughts of what is right and what is wrong to do in this situation.

He didn't want another problem to arise between Von and his family again, but the more he tried to help, the more tricky their situation got. 

It was as if falling into a one-way deep trap of lying and never being able to make things right again after just doing one mistake.

It first happened when he agreed to help Von kill Gem at the manor. And now, he couldn't even say no to Von's petty requests anymore. Or else he would probably feel alone in this world again just like what he told him before about how he's feeling sad and lonely whenever he's around Venedette and the others in this castle lately.

Surrounded by people but still lonely. And he was the only one there for him. 

But Lei hoped, for the first time in his life, that he could convince Von to turn around before everything turns into a mess that he wouldn't be able to fix anymore. 

He knew the consequences of tolerating Von's lies and wrongdoings, but he also thought about his position as Von's best friend and bodyguard, and the things that he should do for him because of this position no matter what.

"Tell them someone scary in a flying vehicle took me, like an alien but don't tell them it was an alien. Just describe the flying saucer and the laser lights." Von said with matching hand movements, seemingly more excited than worried for his life after this mischievous plan of his again.

"Wait, Von. Are you seriously telling me to lie to them and let you leave this castle alone?"

"Yes. You can't fly. Are you suggesting I should carry you with me while I escape?"

"And where are you going? Why couldn't you just come clean to them and tell them that you're sorry?" 

"Because I know what they're going to say to me after all of that. Besides, they won't be able to understand why I had to do it anyway, so what's the point?"

"No. I am not letting you leave this place alone." Lei said and moved to the window where he was stopped by Von from closing it.

"Fine, I'll take you with me," Von said and flew outside the window, waiting for Lei to jump to him but the boy was just staring at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"I really think you should just go and come clean to Venedette. I'm sure she would understand you the most even if Sir Grand or Halma doesn't."

"Well, you're wrong. All Venedette cares about is Gem right now so if you won't go with me then just explain to them what happened to me okay?" Von said impatiently and was really ready to leave now when suddenly, Halma and the others came rushing in through the door, attending to Gem about her sudden stomach ache.

Thankfully, the curtains were thick enough to hide what Von and Lei were doing, so when Lei decided to go with Von, no one saw him jumping off the window in the middle of the night and being carried by Von along the way into a place where they think no one would be able to find them for at least several days.

"The sensors will sense us, you know?" Lei tried to make Von go back for the last time but the boy was already set on running away.

"They won't be able to know where we're going anyway," Von said and completely took off with Lei outside of the castle in the middle of the night.

***

"Gem!" Fily let out a deep sigh of relief after finally finding the room where Venedette brought Gem amongst the twenty empty rooms that she opened inside of this whole hospital wing.

And after her was Halma, Petunia, and Sir Grand who all came worriedly to her.

"Wait, isn't this the room where Von and Lei are staying in?" Sir Grand recognized the room the more he looked around it.

"But where are they?" Petunia stressed the question even more after seeing the wrinkled bed filled with toys that most likely belonged to Von and it looked as if he was just there a minute ago.

"He just probably went to the bathroom." Halma shrugged.

"Right." Petunia agreed with her but Sir Grand was not convinced. He felt uneasy after seeing the window wide open and the fact that Venedette just left them alone with Gem in this room made him worry even more.

Especially since Von was really sensitive against Gem these days. So he checked the bathroom and found no one there.

"He's not here," he announced to them, getting more worried about it now.

But since everyone's attention was directed to Gem, he just silently took off to look for them on his own instead.