Arthur placed a bowl of rice, soup, and a glass of water on the food tray before taking it to his bedroom. It's been a while since Emilia went up, and by now, she must've finished cleaning Claire up.
**Knock** **Knock**
Arthur knocked on the door while holding the food tray in his palm. Although he was sure she would've finished cleaning, he didn't want accidents to happen, at least not in front of his mother.
"Come in," Emilia said and Arthur entered the room.
He saw Emilia sitting on the wooden chair beside the bed, and Claire was now in the new dress. Claire was awake. Probably the water helped her regain consciousness.
Nonetheless, Claire's face was pale, her eyes puffy and she was still sniffing. Although Claire was quiet, sometimes Arthur would see tears rolling down from her eyes.
They turned around and looked at him. Emilia's lips curved into a mischievous smile and said," Aiyoo! My head hurts all of sudden. Kanha, can you go and bring me a coffee?"
Arthur didn't look at her face as he believed she had a headache, and said, "Ok, feed this to Claire, Mom and lemme fetch your favorite..."
He abruptly stopped words when he saw Emilia's teasing face. He placed his fingers on his chin and pretended to think hard. Then, he said, "Sorry Mum, I can't remember how to make coffee. Why don't you come and teach me?"
"You made coffee for me yesterday." Emilia insisted.
"...."
"In that case, I hit my head somewhere when I was coming upstairs and I lost my memory. Now I can't recall the procedure," Arthur said.
"Memory?" Emilia was amused at his reply.
"Yes. I can't recall how to make coffee at all," Arthur replied with the most innocent face.
"Hmph...You brat! See how I am gonna bring your memory back. They say that hitting the same place again brings back memories. Tell mum where you hit your head. Lemme find something hard. Hmm. How about this?" Emilia took the vase, which was standing by his bedside. She brandished it forward.
Arthur could escape from her if he wanted, but the food in his hands would spill, and that was not something he wanted.
He shrunk his neck and wished he could become invisible at will. Now he had nowhere to run. He could only hope that his mother wouldn't hit him hard. He closed his eyes and waited for a heavy beating from his mother.
After a long time, when he didn't get a beating, he opened one of his eyes slightly only to see Emilia reaching him and then turning right and leaving the room.
"Don't do anything silly. Claire's body is still weak." Arthur heard Emilia's suggestive voice from outside.
Arthur ignored her as he walked towards Claire. She had a slight smile on her slightly reddish face. No matter how sad she was, she still felt shy hearing Emilia's last few words.
Amidst the sea of sadness, that was the little happiness she felt. Although it was embarrassing, everything felt like family to her.
Claire kept looking at him with vacant eyes. Her purple pupils were still red and filled with sadness. Arthur placed the tray on the nightstand and dragged the chair close to the bed.
He knew at the times like these words wouldn't mend her wounds instead it would injure her more. So Arthur sat on the chair and propped his head on his hands and simply looked at her face without blinking.
Initially, Claire ignored Arthur's gaze as she shifted her eyes towards the ceiling but as time went by, she couldn't act oblivious to his gaze. Her face turned as red as a tomato from embarrassment.
Arthur curved his lips in victory and said, "Eat." He pointed at the bowl of soup on the nightstand.
Claire shot a glare at him, but he ignored her glare and stood up from the chair. Leaning onto the bed towards her, he slowly but gently adjusted her position and made her sit up.
He placed a few pillows at her back and helped her lean on them. He pulled the blanket and covered her.
Knowing that she was weak and he loved him, Claire didn't mind Arthur touching her body and let him do whatever he wanted. Arthur's every movement was too gentle when he was handling her.
After settling her properly, Arthur turned towards the nightstand and took the bowl and spoon.
Scooping a little soup with the spoon, he blew on it and carefully held it in front of her mouth. With his eyes, he implored her to open her mouth. She did so, albeit hesitantly.
He titled the spoon a little and she drank it obediently. Amidst all the darkness, Arthur was like a little ray of sunshine, which brought hope to her life. She looked at him and smiled.
Claire slightly raised her head and looked at Arthur before closing her eyes. Tears started rolling out from the corner of her eyes, trailing down her cheeks.
The delicious soup especially prepared by Arthur made her taste buds excited and swirled her thoughts. It reminded her of her mother Nora's cooking. It was just as delicious as Arthur's cooking. Sniffing lightly, she lunged into his embrace.
Arthur was startled at first, but holding the bowl tightly in one hand, he raised his hands a little to allow her to enter his embrace. He sighed in relief after confirming the soup was not spilled and placed the bowl on the table.
"What happened?" Arthur asked. If he were to know her thoughts, he would've facepalmed. He was trying his best to free her from the pain, however, she recalled her mother tasting the soup.
Seeing the unresponsive her, Arthur kept patting her back. A few minutes later, she collected her emotions and left his embrace. Then he fed all the food and coaxed her to sleep.
After confirming that she was asleep, he took the wooden sword and left the room. Walking downstairs, Arthur left the mansion through the main door and ambled towards the rear of the mansion.
A few moments later he arrived at an open place. The place was small and filled with different training instruments, mostly wooden dummies.
The wooden dummies stood side by side leaving some space. The space was wide enough for three people to walk side by side. There were a total of ten wooden dummies, numbered from one to ten.
The first dummy had a defense of 100 kilograms and the tenth dummy had 1000Kg defense.
Arthur arrived in front of the first wooden dummy and took the fighting stance. His sword was made from ash trees. It was lightweight and durable. He held the sword with his right hand and attacked the first dummy.
Even though he was strong, he was neither a manipulator nor an enhancer. Without special means, there was no way he could breach the 100kg difference.
However, Arthur didn't care. He kept brandishing his sword at the wooden dummy. The dummy oscillated back and forth without breaking.
More than an hour passed. The results were the same. He was exhausted. The beads of sweat on his forehead rolled down his porcelain skin down his cheeks, dampening his shirt collar.
Arthur then suddenly stopped attacking and stood straight, holding the sword with both hands. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A few seconds later, lightning emerged from his body and sparked around him.
It was the rainbow-colored lightning, which shimmered chaotically along with the mist. Lightning didn't harm him; instead, it excitedly bounced on his body. When the lightning released from his body, Arthur's relaxed expression disappeared. It was replaced with a solemn and dignified expression.
He looked otherworldly holy in this form. It was as if he was an immortal descended from the otherworld who dictated justice and eradicated the evil.
Lightning then moved from his body towards the wooden sword and covered it. As wood was a natural insulator, the lightning didn't harm it and gently covered it and sparked on its own.
Arthur moved. His movements were fluid. He was a few meters away from the dummies, but with the lightning supplementing his body, Arthur reached the dummy in less than a second and slashed the 100kg dummy horizontally.
**BOOM**
Dust rose and the previously clean training area became unbelievably chaotic. When the dust settled, it became clear and one could see a scene they would never believe.
The dummy he had hit was now charred wood. The remaining dummies served as the collateral damage.
"Still I can't control the strength of my lightning." Arthur shook his head and headed to the last dummy. The tenth dummy also broke and was charred in black. He ignored it and pulled the metal lever beside it.
After he pulled the level, destroyed wooden dummies vanished and exchanged with brand new dummies.
Arthur didn't mind the fact he destroyed the dummies and quickly took the fighting stance as he played again.
Few hours passed. He was sitting on the wooden log, cleaning the sweat with a towel. Beside him sat a young lady in a maid outfit.
He could only control the lightning for ten minutes. That was why most of the time he trained without using the lightning power. He had broken more than 10 sets of wooden dummies and was now resting.
When the maid saw Arthur finished cleaning himself, she stretched out her hand, taking the towel, and softly informed, "Young Master, Master is looking for you."