I groaned and reached for the soft blanket that was covering me as I felt the sun's rays shining on me. My eyes remained closed as I tucked back to the soft cloth and smiled since the bright light was not hitting my eyes anymore. I was about to let myself fall into oblivion when I felt the hair at the back of my neck standing, warning me of something dangerous.
And as if on cue, the memories of what happened played inside my head in just a few seconds, making me flinch and rise up from the soft bed.
My vision was still a little blurry and I also felt a little headache from moving so suddenly, but I didn't miss the shade of silver that was a few meters in front of me. On reflex, I immediately gripped the soft blanket tightly and with every strength that I can muster, I quickly threw it to his direction.
However, the strength that I was able to get was nowhere near enough as the blanket simply landed a few inches from me, not even a tip of it reaching him.
Shit.
My vision already cleared up and I could see how his cold amber eyes were staring straight to mine, as if he's trying to decipher what's going on with my head. I tried to go down the bed but before I could even move another inch, an excruciating pain penetrated every fiber of my being. Without further ado, my body felt numb and limp, making the upper part of my body fall forwards the bed.
I closed my eyes as I already knew that my face would be the first to hit the surface. However, instead of the bed, I felt a pair of arms holding my shoulders, supporting it so that my upper body would stay leaning in mid-air. I tried to tilt my head to look up, but the pain worsened, so I just stopped and sighed.
There's no use trying to get away from here. Not in this pathetic state.
I tried to talk but my throat felt too hoarse, making me cough loudly. Every vibration and movement while I coughed worsened the pain that was already coursing through my body, so I bit my lip to stop myself from coughing. I took deep and slow breaths to calm myself, and at the same time, I could also hear him sighing.
"Don't try to move or talk. Your body's too beat up to do anything right now." He said and he slowly guided my upper body to lay me down again. Even with a slow and supported movement, the pain was nowhere near being alleviated and I can't help but sigh mentally.
When my head was finally placed on the pillow, I saw his face clearly at last. His facial expressions and body language looked passive and uncaring, but the gentleness in his assist somewhat tells otherwise.
I stared directly at his eyes, trying my best to relay the questions I have in mind. His amber eyes looked back to me for a few second before he sighed and turned his gaze to the bed.
"You fainted and I brought you here. The doctor looked at you 2 days ago and said that you lost too much blood, along with fatigue." He explained and although I wanted to nod, the excruciating pain would not let me, so I simply blinked my eyes twice to acknowledge his words.
So that's what happened.
Wait, two days?
I almost rose up again when the thought finally processed to me, but he must have noticed my shock as he held my shoulders lightly and stopped me from moving.
"Yes, two days, but please rest for now. It seems you still haven't fully recovered." He said and covered my eyes with his right hand. I admit I was quite surprised, but knowing that I really can't do anything in this condition, I closed my eyes and let my mind take time to process the other things.
Now that I think about it, the room smells like citrus, fresh and light to the nose. Especially him. I could also smell the slight hint of sweet honey around.
Considering his strong figure in the battlefield, one would have expected that he would reek of a wilder and deeper scent, maybe like sandalwood or musk, but I guess that's not the case.
Well, he's also an angel descendant, so I guess a soothing scents like this would also suit him a lot.
Wait, why the fuck am I taking notice of his scent though?
Ugh, now's not the time to think of that. Focus, Zeshia.
I retraced my thoughts back to what might have happened.
Since I fainted, he probably brought me here, though I really can't pinpoint what this place is, and I've been sleeping for two days. As he said, a doctor came and probably just diagnosed me with lack of blood and exhaustion.
I guess they also didn't figure out that I was a demon or anything, considering that I'm being tended here and I wasn't decapitated or anything.
Well, it's quite impossible to figure out that I have demon or witch blood in this form.
The amethyst-eyed Zeshia is someone who takes the form and the characteristics of a human. One where I cannot be figured out as a different being unless I use my magic. I don't know how that happened, but in this form, which is also my original appearance, no one can sense that I am not a human, even this powerful angel descendant beside me.
In this form, I can freely yield magic that has a combination of my blood and element control.
On the other hand, my demon form, which is a dark blue-eyed Zeshia, is one where my demon blood dominates my body. Although there is still a remaining portion of witch blood which makes me able to use elements, my forte in that form lies on my skill to cast curses or spells, just like what I did in the fight with the demon Grazin.
I am heavily reliant on my blood for to use magic and I usually use my fans to fight in that form since it's easier for me to perform blood spells when the enemies are far away from me.
But of course, there is a limitation for that.
I can't always maintain my demon form as the more blood I draw from myself and from my enemies, the more the savage nature of demons engulf me. It's also more tiring to switch into that form since I mostly use my blood as a catalyst for spells and if not for my special constitution, I would have died already a few times before.
But since I'm a being who is cursed of not dying until I turn 18, losing blood is not much of a big deal.
The bad thing about this form is the backlash I receive after turning back, just like what happened right now. This might be the worst one yet, considering that I slept for two days and can't even bear to stand because of the pain after waking up. Before, I would only have muscle strains and I would go into a deep sleep for around half a day, then wake up feeling refreshed.
Well, my state right now is justified, since I really overdid it.
I didn't get proper rest from my one job to another, took a complicated case, fought with a bastard of a demon, performed a complex ritual, then fought with a strong angel descendant right after.
Damn, I'm quite impressed that I did not die again from doing these things.
"Is she asleep?" I heard a door creak open from my far right and a man's voice emerged from it. I also felt the hand covering my eyes move away, so I made sure to keep my eyes closed. Although I can't see the man who just entered, I could smell the scent of paper and ink wafting through the air, along with the scent of strong coffee.
Hmm, is this his secretary or something?
"I think so, since she was writhing in pain a while ago." The voice beside me answered and I could hear a sigh from afar, probably the man who just entered the room and was staying beside the door.
"That demon must have really got her. She might have died if not for you." I almost opened my eyes when I heard the secretary say that. Huh, demon?
What does he mean?
What the fuck…
Don't tell me they knew that I was fighting with the demon?
And that I was the demon that fought with this angel descendant?
Shit.
Before I could even drown myself from overthinking, the voice beside me spoke once again.
"That demon must have rushed to get away upon sensing my presence, leaving this girl behind. It's a pity that she ran away." If I had my eyes opened, I would have blinked twice before realizing what these two meant. My overthinking mind was immediately put into a halt with his words and I felt a little calmer.
They thought that I was a victim of my demon form? That's quite an interesting view.
"Nevertheless, you were able to save her, and there's something more pressing right now." I could hear the other man's footsteps approaching us and within a few seconds, I could feel his presence beside my bed, around a meter away from this angel descendant beside me.
"Erilleian." One word made me remember what I planned to do for the aftermath of the incident, which poses a problem. It is likely that they already knew that the original members of the family died and was replaced by a demon for probably more than a year or two.
Considering that I was asleep for two days, I can't do anything about the spread of this issue anymore.
But that would be troublesome.
I may not be smart, but I'm not that dumb either.
The City of Luriya, hailed as the City of Light, is known to be the sanctuary of the Hayvyn Empire. For context, there are only two empires in this world, the Hayvyn Empire and the Fezerian Empire where the City of Avado is located.
Going back, it was referred as the sanctuary of Hayvyn Empire as this has been the place where most war heroes resided and due to that, their names became the shield of the people from other external threats like a sanctuary, though that is in the surface.
If I were to be frank, this city is shit.
Just like my old world.
The rich gets richer, while the poor gets poorer.
Fucking cliche, but that's the reality.
Because of the merchants' and business owners' greed, the fames of the renowned heroes were used to advertise their products, even if the heroes mentioned were not involved to them in any way.
This was proven to me by the scrawny children I saw in some narrow alleys as I passed through the bustling and bright streets of Luriya.
They had the money to sustain those colorful lights even when it's day, yet they can't fund anything for the children?
Hah!
Well, once the demon issue spreads through the city, everything will be damned.
As if the death of such a renowned war-hero family would be surprising enough, if the empire would know about the demon's involvement, there's a high possibility that the balance of powers between every noble families would be destroyed which would cause another series of havoc and wars between the beings who stand afoot in the same world.
I mean, the war hero family was killed by a demon who had been pretending as them since more than a year?
That would be unbelievable.
Unbelievable to the point that if one would doubt about the Erilleian's power, the people's faith in the emperor would wane, which may cause an internal chaos within the empire.
Hmm, now that I think about it, shouldn't I just let them fall?
Those noble bastards deserve it.
Ah, but those poor children don't.
Heck, why am I even contradicting myself?
But, what should I do now?
What was my plan before?
Ah, right.
I had to eliminate any signs of demon in the area, but I guess that's already impossible since I've been in bed for days.
Then next would be finding people who were in the same bloodline as them.
"How do you plan to break the news to her, knowing that she's still an Erilleian?" As if helping me, the other man's question made me stop thinking and I found myself listening to them. He was answered by a silence for a few seconds, followed by a sigh, then I could hear the troubled voice of the angel descendant beside me.
"Even if she is, her hate for her family will remain."
"But you know that she would need to inherit the Erilleian title. It's better to inform her sooner rather than later."
"..."
"She would definitely encounter problems just by being the head of the house and she would also bear the weight of her family being killed by demons, but we both know how capable she is."
"Yes, I know."
From their conversation, I could definitely hear the worry in both their voices, but the other man's tone seemed more frustrated about the situation, while the angel descendant's voice was quite hesitant.
Hmm, I wonder what their relationship is...
But now's not the time to think about that. What I needed more are names.
"Then I'll send a letter to Luriya Academy, okay?"
"Make sure only Audrina can read it."
I tried to suppress a smirk upon hearing the names that I needed the most from these two.
Audrina of Luriya Academy.
Found you.