As Grim continued to struggle against her, each wave of resistance was enough to harm her internally as she coughed and vomited up the warm crimson blood from her lips staining them a ruby red color. However, despite the pain, she refuses to back down. If she was to truly save Grim, she must forge this contract. It's fine if one bares the pain and setbacks from gaining too much in such a short amount of time, but she will do anything that can keep the two from disappearing altogether!
Seeing her in such a critical condition, the two ghosts wants to call her back, but a large white butterfly appeared before them keeping them at bay as her solemn voice spoke, "Don't interrupt master's spell! If you do, he may suffer greater injury from failing the contract."
"What?!" The lean ghost cried out in horror once he heard this.
"Who are you?" The fat ghost responded with a look of surprise.
"I am one of master's familiars as you call it. Normally, I would not appear before others, but interfering with his spell will put his life in danger. So, I cannot permit you to interfere."
"But, he's getting hurt!" The lean ghost cried out in fear, "Is there really nothing that we can do to help?"
The butterfly remained silent before responding solemnly, "I'm afraid not... Not even I can provide master much support but keep the area clear from disturbances..."
"Is he always suffering like this?" The lean ghost questioned hesitantly seeing her cough up more blood.
The butterfly hesitated to respond, but it wasn't long before he finally responded, "Yes... For the majority of the time. Due to an unfortunate incident when he first came into the world, whenever he grows stronger, he will also suffer great pains internally. This condition made him suffer whenever the environment around him becomes colder and make his body internally cold as well."
"Such a horrible condition..."
They looked up as the ghosts cried out in shock, "Princes-"
"Shush!" The female ghost in a white wedding dress hushed them as she glanced over to Lotus struggling to tame Grim, "We can't disturb him..."
"Yes..."
She stared at the guy as she watched him smirking through the sweat, "It looks like it's finally working..."
She turned to the guys and frowned, "Explain. What is going on here?"
"This..."
They shared a glance to the butterfly as Lotus finally managed to form the contract with Grim making him take a tiny taste of her blood and an ancient marking forming over his chest and forehead. Lotus could feel the markings being carved into a part of her soul as she grimaced in pain from the incoming demonic energy in her body. She finally keeled over as the ghosts hurriedly caught her in time.
"Allow me to explain this." The butterfly responded, "However, this is not a safe place to discuss what has occurred here. Would you be willing to follow us? Of course, you may bring any guards to accompany you."
"It is all right." the beautiful blue ghost in white looked to the other two ghosts and responded, "I trust in my people. So I will come alone with you. Come. I know the quickest and quietest way out of this forest."
"Very well."
As they hurried back to the dorm leaving Grim outside to awaken in his wild state, nobody said a word as they hurried quietly past the other dorm leaders who are in search of the blue flame cat.
Once they were back in her room, the butterfly then explained everything of today's incident to the ghost princess as the ghosts brought a chair into the room before leaving to meet with Yuu who was ready to go up and see her after hearing the door open. The Ghost Princess sniffled tearfully before she scowled, "But this isn't fair!"
Suddenly, the butterfly flew back into her ring as she whispered in a hushed tone, "The prefect is here... Hide!"
Outside, Yuu was making his way to her room as the ghosts tried to stop him.
"Wait, Yuu. He's just returned." The fat ghost spoke up hurriedly.
"But, that's why I want to go see how he's doing." Yuu questioned in confusion and with a look of suspicion, "You said that you saw Grim and were chased. So, I want to be sure that he's all right."
"But-!"
There was a knock on the door as Yuu called out, "Lotus? Is everything all right?"
The two ghosts were alarmed as he called out again opening the door.
"The door!" The fat ghost gasped in horror and whispered, "I forgot to lock it!"
"W-what?!" The lean ghost cried out in alarm once he heard this.
"Brother Yuu?"
They looked up in surprise as they saw that Lotus was up and standing before them with her usual look of confusion.
"Are you all right?" Yuu asked her as a sense of relief washed over him, "You seen a little pale..."
"If you call getting chased around for half an hour straight then getting thrown onto the bed and hit the bedframe with the head as fine, then sure." Lotus grumbled in dismay as she glared at the fat ghost.
Left with a sense of disbelief and confusion, the fat ghost was left with a loss for words before the lean ghost quickly caught on and continued, "Ah! Well, we can't help it if we were in a panic!"
"Ah, well, whatever." Lotus sighed in disappointment and continued, "I saw Grim earlier, but he was too out of it to recognize who I was. We naturally outran him, but the ghosts were caught off guard and surprised to stay for long. Naturally, the moment he sprint my way on all fours, I had to make a break for it too and you know climbing a tree from a cat won't work."
"I see. Are you hurt anywhere?" Yuu questioned worriedly.
Lotus shook her head, "There's no need to worry. Aside from my head and need a rest, I'm all right. I saw the dorm leaders go search for Grim earlier, but we couldn't stay to tell them where he is."
"I see." Yuu sighed in relief, "That's all right. Deuce, Ace and I will be going to look for Grim right now. According to the headmaster, he will have to lock up Grim before he harms someone else and ruins the cultural festival. So, the three of us must find him before they do. Where did you last saw him?"
"In the forest close to the Main Street." Lotus responded, "If you're going to catch him, you should hurry, the dorm leaders were already dispatched."
She sighed and continued, "I need a break. My head feels really dizzy..."
"Yes. Go rest, then. Just leave the rest to us." Yuu responded, "If you feel any worse, you must call me right away."
"Okay."
Yuu turned to the ghosts and sighed, "Next time, you just need to apologize. Please don't hide things like this from me again. He's also someone from our dorm. Next time, please be more careful... Uh... Are you sure you don't want to go to the nurse's office?"
"Yeah..." Lotus heaved a heavy sigh, "What about you? It looked like you had a nightmare or something? Your hair's a mess. Did you fall asleep or something?"
"Ahem." Yuu blushed as he cleared his throat, "Don't worry about me. I'm not the one visiting the nurse's office every single day."
Lotus bit back a chuckle before she responded, "All right. Go find Grim before it's too late."
"All right." Yuu sighed in relief figuring that she won't be causing any trouble since she was so tired.
After Yuu left with the two, Lotus returned to her room and sat up on the bed.
"Sorry..."The fat ghost muttered pitifully once he heard this.
"Nobody blames you." Lotus responded as she greeted the princess, "Crystal spoke of a ghost the ghosts referred to as 'princess'. Good evening. My apologies to make the princess run around with us."
"Greetings." The princess responded with a bright smile, "It's quite all right. It's been so long since I last had so much fun! More importantly, how are you feeling?"
Hearing this, Lotus smiled bitterly, "I won't lie to the princess. I'm still injured, but I'm well enough to sit up and move for a bit."
"Really?!" The princess responded hesitantly, "Your contract beast explained your condition to me. You've suffered a lot during your life. Why not become a ghost and join us instead?"
Hearing this, Lotus raised a brow, "Becoming a ghost?"
The princess nodded with a bright smile, "By becoming a ghost, you don't feel pain as easily and you get to live for a long time."
She hesitated, "You'll feel a brief pain, but... With me around, you won't suffer any other pain or grievances. I'll protect you with my status as princess!"
Lotus looked to her with a look of surprise. This girl... was truly too naive! By asking others to become a ghost with her, it means that they need to die!