"What is your reason for helping me?"
"Isn't it simple, you said it yourself, I'm helping." I said as I gave a smile.
"And what's your reason behind helping?" Reena asked.
"... Is there anyone reason for one to lend a hand of help?" I tilted my head.
"Don't act like that?! I know you must have your own reasons or purpose to help me definitely!" She was getting annoyed as Reena forced me to answer.
𝘏𝘢𝘶𝘩... 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘰𝘳. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵...
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴.
𝘕𝘰, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘴.
𝘈𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘢...
I sighed as I looked over Reena, then said,
"I think you are misunderstanding things,"
"Misunderstanding, whatever do you mean?" She was getting pissed.
"Yeah, you simply can't differentiate between business and help."
"Hunh?!"
"Helping someone means that you are willing to support them in something that they wanted to achieve. Simply saying, one help someone out of their goodwill."
"So?" She asked and stared at me as if saying, "I know that already."
"On the other hand, favour or business or owe or whatever else you say them are done due to certain purposes. There are particular reasons behind them, motives behind them. When you do a favour you expect others to return by doing same, or showing gratitude."
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘸𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦...
𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺, 𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝘖𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝙄 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙤𝙬𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚.
𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘪𝘵.
This is where people get wrong. They don't know what's the actual meaning of help.
Day by day, the actual meaning of help, doing something out of good will, is vanishing and is replaced my favours and owes, or simply putting, by business. They use help as camouflage and do business behind it.
Reena stared at me silently, as if there was nothing to say. But she was dissatisfied.
Heh, what's the matter? Speechless!
"I know you can't trust me, since I'm an outsider... But believe me, I don't have any alter motives."
I said.
"Hmph, how can I?"
"Well, if there is something, I am appointed as the personal knight of Lucia, the princess of this kingdom. I am the man of my words and I wouldn't do something that brings down the name of Lucia, and mine."
As Reena hear my words, she become surprised.
"What? Are you the rumoured knight of Lucia who they are talking about?!" She then asked.
"You know me?" She knew about me, that's a surprise.
"Of course I do. You destroyed the whole army of demons single handedly, right?! How strong."
What!? She even know about that? But how.
"How do you know me? And did you know about that demon army matter."
Wasn't that supposed to be a secret. King promised me that no one will know that it was me who destroyed that army of demons and he even helped to step up Laren as the one who accomplish that.
"Well you see, I heard my uncle, that is the king, and father talking about you? Though I seem to be unconscious I was awake that time. I heard everything, uncle was tell everything with such excitement that even I was surprised, though I wasn't able to know your name but they said that they appointed you as Lucia's knight... But still, able to defeat a whole army, you are strong. What was your name again, Allan, right?"
Oh, so that explains everything. There is no way King and Duke would have know that Reena was awake since she look pretty half dead.
"So, do you believe me now?" I asked.
"Yep, I believe you." Reena replied with a smile.
Wow, what's with that, mood changed pretty fast. Just now she was annoyed and now, look at her, believed me so easily.
"So... what are you going to do next?" Reena asked.
Suddenly, her expression become dense and gloomy.
"What do you want?" I returned the question.
Why was she asking something like that, thought.
"If I say that... I don't want you to cure me. What will you do?"
That was an unexpected question.
"If you are not willing, then also I will force fully cure you and save you." I answered.
She seemed to be shocked by my answer.
Rather then asking, 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘦?
I said that I will cure her.
I knew this type of reaction was obvious so even if she didn't want to be cure, saved... live anymore, I will save her cuz I have already given my words to Duke.
I can ask them that Reena don't want to be saved, but I don't think they are the type of people who will simply let her die, even if it's her choice.
"I promised that I'll save you so I can't go back. I'm not that kind of a person."
"Bu-But... I told you that I don't want you to save me! I don't want to be cure! Even if you do insist, I refuse to co-operate!" Her reactions were getting more and more aggressive.
"Whether you co-operate or not I none of my concern. I will treat you no matter what." I replied forcefully.
"Y-You... You are not going to back off right, then... then I will bit my tongue if you force me!" She tried to threatened me.
"Can you? Do you have enough courage?" I asked her as I close the distance between us.
"S-Stay away. I am serious! I will bit my tongue!" She took a back slightly, trying to maintain distance between us.
"Really, then go ahead." I said in emotionless tone.
"...!" She was shocked by my answer as if she didn't expect me to say that. She must have thought that I will lower my guard if she try to threatened me.
"Even if you didn't bit you tongue to commi suicide and avoided treatment, you will eventually die sooner or later with the curse. No matter what choice you make, outcome will be same."
"Ugh... Y-You... Then wouldn't you be in trouble if I killed myself in your presence. Since their is no one here to witness, I don't think my father will let you easily!" She said with an villainous yet troubled smile.
"Hmm... So you say, I might get into to a huge trouble,"
"Right—?!"
"But, since there is no solid proof or any witness here, I don't think it would be that trouble. Moreover, it would be much better if you try to kill yourself. That would make things easy for me." I smiled.
"Wh-What?! What do you mean?"
"Heh, if you bit your tongue, all I have to do is to wait for you to lose consciousness again. I'll make sure that you lose consciousness due to loss of blood but I will apply healing magic to stop bleeding once you started to lose your consciousness. With that you may lose to much blood but I will make sure that it wouldn't be that much to make I seriously dangerous... After that, I will cure you with ease!" Listening to my explanation, Reena was lost of words.
"You... You are quite something." She muttered while facing down.
"Now, give up resistance and let me treat you."
"...You don't understand. You can't... No one can..."
. . . . .