PeaceMaker

Desilva exchanged nods of greetings with Axel and then turned her focus back to Dominic. His stares were clearly hostile but she tried her best to ignore them. She had time to clear whatever misunderstandings he had of her, but right now her main focus was on Dominic.

"Why don't you just hire me as a personal guard, your highness," Axel teased, "that's the job I've been doing this whole time after all. Guarding and healing."

"Hmm," Dominic thought to himself, considering his offer.

"Haha, that is true," Desilva chuckled, "he's been protecting you ever since you got sick… I don't even think he got the chance to sleep."

"No, he did," Dominic retorted with a smirk, "I heard snoring a while ago. He did get sleep for the first time in a while and it was only for a few hours."

"No need to out me like that, your highness," Axel blushed, his cheeks hot for a second before a question popped into his mind, 'a few hours? He laid awake in the early hours of the morning staring at the ceiling for hours?'

"Proves my point even more," Desilva nodded.

"True, but no," Dominic refused.

"No? Why?" Axel asked, turning to glance at Dominic as he began to make Dominic's tonic.

"Because someone else already had that position," Dominic replied, a slight smile on his face. 'How could I forget?' he asked himself.

"Do I know this person?" Axel asked.

"Why?" Dominic retorted, his eyebrows raising slightly in confusion, "you'd like to battle it out for the position?"

"OF COURSE!" Axel proudly stated puffing his chest slightly to show his resolve, "I don't know who they are but I've definitely helped you a lot more than they have these months!"

"Hahaha, you have," Dominic snickered, "but not as much as he has."

"Oh..."Axel stared at Dominic's melancholic expression blankly before lifting up the tonic and walking to his side.

"That's a shame…" Desilva added, noticing the sudden dive in Dominic's mood.

"But! You can battle with him when we get back though," Dominic teased, "I'm not going to give you the title even if you win, but you can get the satisfying feeling of being called junior assistant guard and giving me entertainment."

"Is that even that much of a deal?" Axel rolled his eyes as he mixed the tonic for the last time.

"Of course! His position and presence are basically irreplaceable to me so being an assistant isn't that bad either," Dominic shrugged, flinching slightly when he felt someone's hand on his shoulder.

"Ah, sorry your highness, we have to lift you up to give you the tonic," Desilva apologized after she felt Dominic's shudder.

"Sorry if I misheard but I did recall his highness wanting to give me the position of 'JUNIOR assistant guard' why am I junior?" Axel huffed playfully as he helped Desilva lift Dominic up.

"Litian is the senior assistant guard, of course, skills also have to be taken into consideration," Domini smirked.

"Ahh, how great for his highness to consider that criteria," Axel sarcastically praised Dominic.

"Was that sarcasm I heard?" Dominic frowned.

"Of course not!" Axel refused immediately, suddenly remembering his place.

"Just joking!" Dominic grinned.

"... please open your mouth for the tonic, your highness," Axel growled, "I'm afraid my hands might slip and pour this all over your precious body, staining it badly."

"Violence is not the right way Axel," Dominic shook his head mockingly.

"I'm afraid my head was still in war-time your highness," Axel retorted sarcastically, "seeing as we are on the battlefield."

"May I ask about your personal guard?" Desilva interrupted, wanting to move along the conversation.

Axel slowly lifted the tonic up to Dominic's lips and held his head up gingerly as he fed Dominic the tonic, careful not to let a single drop fall.

"Hmphh whafiffer uo waft," Dominic replied as he drank down the tonic.

"Please speak after you finish the tonic, your highness. I'm afraid no one understood the words that came out of your mouth," Axel advised gently as he maintained focus on feeding Dominic.

A few seconds passed before Dominic finished it and although Axel had tried to keep things clean, a few drops had rolled down Dominic's chin.

"Pass me the handkerchief," Axel turned to Desilva, nodding in the direction of a small intricately sewn cloth.

"...sure," Desilva replied reluctantly, a bit put off by Axel's hostility.

Nevertheless, she passed him the handkerchief and continued to support Dominic as he carefully wiped his chin.

"Call me Desilva," Desilva commented. She hated feeling insignificant and unnoticed whether it was on purpose or not. She especially hated it when the person who did it to her seemed arrogant.

"Desilva?" Axel asked nonchalantly without even bothering to look at her.

"Yes," Desilva muttered in reply, with a low growl in her voice, "your's was?"

"I believe his highness mentioned it before," Axel replied bluntly.

"I wasn't paying attention," Desilva retorted, "mind refreshing my memory...sir?"

Axel's hand froze in the middle of a gentle swipe on Dominic's chin. He began again after directing a wide smile at Desilva, the edges of his lips itching to drop into a scowl, "Sir? Maybe my mature aura might be a bit deceiving in your innocent, naive eyes, but I'm not that old."

Desilva held back the need to roll her eyes.

"You," Axel continued, placing down the damp handkerchief in Desilva's lap, "can call me Physician Xicheng."

"Xicheng?" Dominic interrupted, "your name is Axel Lewis though."

"Xicheng is the original last name of my family," Axel explained, "one that the traders in our field refer to us as."

"Oh...ok," Desilva mumbled in reply. 'Wow… the level of- can't even allow me to address you as most people do,' Desilva pondered, 'I have to address you as the people your family work with and then abandon?'

Dominic didn't need to see to be able to know the strained smiles on their faces were starting to fade. The mood was already tipping over to the stifling side and was begging for a change of topic.

He cleared his throat, "You asked about my personal guard?"