My Vengeful Former Lover

Evening came and the house gradually became noisy. Deatrice instinctively recognized that Lucius had returned.

When she got up so suddenly, her legs which had been kneeling for a long period of time did not cooperate with her. Unstable and a bit weakened, she walked down the stairs with Atkins’ assistance and saw Lucius at the front door.

Although he was covered in dust, blood, and grime; she breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw no missing limbs and that it was fortunate that he was still able to walk on his own.

“Lucius!” She ran to him immediately.

What happened? Why are you so late?

A faint grudge surfaced inside her heart for letting her worry, but the words she had wanted to say vanished into thin hair when she saw a small smile on his face.

“I’m sorry for being late.” He whispered.

She grabbed him to examine his face and body, “Are you alright? Does it hurt somewhere?”

“I didn’t want to get hurt because you told me not to. But… I did get hurt, just a bit though…”

“You’re hurt?”

He nodded slightly at the urgency in her tone.

“’Where? Let me see.” She commanded him, but his eyes closed shut.

“Sorry… you even gave me a handkerchief…”

Deatrice was perplexed by his apology, but before she could ask what he was sorry for, he fell directly over her.

The knights flocked them and supported the commander into a lying position. She then noticed that the handkerchief she had given him was utterly drenched in blood as it fell onto her hand.

As he was being carried away, Deatrice was startled by her unwillingness to be apart from him. She clenched her fist, and the blood-soaked handkerchief stained the ground with inauspicious drops of crimson.

***

Lucius appeared unaffected on the outside, but once he was undressed, they realized he was badly injured.

The sight of those large wounds stung her eyes as she stood rooted in a corner of the room, frowning the whole time the doctors bandaged him.

All they did was put a hemostatic candle around the bleeding.

They reasoned that his injuries weren’t so simple because the poison had already penetrated deep into his muscle fibers and organs. They had to proceed carefully to not aggravate it any further and had to identify the kind of poison it was before they could administer the proper treatment.

“Then where are the priests?!” Deatrice heatedly questioned, but everyone just vaguely shook their heads.

“The priests’ powers are exhausted from treating all the other knights. They didn’t realize the commander was hurt until he collapsed.”

She glared, “Then bring a priest from somewhere else!”

“Yes, madam.” someone hastily answered, “I’ve already sent someone to fetch them, but it might take some time.”

“To Irinel, tell them my name. It’ll shorten the process.”

“Yes, madam!”

Lucius was no longer in such a life-or-death situation, but they could only slow the spread of the poison for a short while, so he was still in a critical condition.

Deatrice sat beside Lucius and looked into his face. His eyelashes cast a shadow over his cheek, looking as if he were simply asleep rather than a wounded one with his face appearing so peaceful.

“Lucius.” She whispered, slowly reaching out and grabbing his hand that lay limp by his side. His body was starting to go cold from losing blood, the candle already showing signs of being ineffective.

Bringing his hand closer, she whispered as she pressed her lips to the back of his hand.

“Lucy.”

She held her breath and her heart almost leaped out of her chest as she hoped to hear a response from him.

Deatrice knew she could heal him and relieve his suffering as she had done in the past. Even though she was only a half-being, she still has her power, and it was better than nothing.

However, she hesitated because the fact that she has divine power was a secret that the outside world should never know.

A person with divine power, regardless of status, had to become a priest or a priestess. But Deatrice didn’t, and it wasn’t because of her flawed power but because she was the only child of the duke.

Would her father still be able to keep her secret if she…

“Sorry… you even gave me a handkerchief…” He had whispered to her and then fell on top of her.

It may have been her mere coincidence, but it felt as if he had been concentrating on telling her he was sorry that he was unable to keep his promise of remaining unhurt and it stayed on her mind.

Why would he say such words?

Deatrice thought as she looked at his sleeping figure, thinking about how sometimes he was friendly, and other times, sensitive and out of control.

“Leave us.”

She commanded. Everyone looked at her, puzzled, but the master was stable in the meantime, so they thought it was okay to give the couple some alone time for a few minutes.

Once they left, she instructed a maid who was also about to go out.

“Never let anyone in this room, unless they’re a priest.”

It was a strange command, but the maid bowed her knees slightly without asking any questions. After the sound of the door closing, a deeper silence fell in the quiet room. After praying, Deatrice removed the hemostatic candle from Lucius’ body and gently wiped his back clean of the blue-colored medicinal herbs applied to his body.