The feeling of tiredness and exhaustion faded away. His eyelids shook and then he opened his eyes. He looked at the ceiling and then he felt something in his hand. He was holding something. He looked at his hand and saw a pair of long and beautiful well-defined fingers. For a moment, he was confused. Then he looked up at the face. His heart shook and he simultaneously withdrew his hand.
He sat up in an instant and made to come down. The door opened that moment and Elder Lorenzo walked in.
"Xavier, you still need to rest." He said.
"What is this? Why did you bring a human to me?" Xavier asked.
"She was the only option." Elder Lorenzo said.
"Only option? You should have let her die. I am a King. I do not need a human to survive." Xavier yelled.
"Xavier stop being stubborn."
"Do it." Xavier ordered.
"Xavier you have just recovered. It is best to leave the human for now."
Xavier was about to shout but he felt his chest tighten in pain.
"Uurghh!" He groaned.
"Huh-uhhh!" He gasped for breath and held his chest.
"You haven't recovered. Xavier you can't just do things so rashly next time. This is not the right way. Your connection with the human is very strong. You could die while trying to break it."
Xavier ignored him, gasping for breath.
"For now, the human must live." Elder Lorenzo finalized.
Xavier stood up from the bed but his chest was so tight, he had to hold on to something. His eyes reddened in an instant. He looked at Arianna. The veins on his forehead throbbed.
He was a very powerful demon. How could he have become this weak because of a human? If this continued, would he be able to rule his kingdom properly?
His bloodshot eyes stared at Arianna with hatred. He hated the gods for making him this weak. He hated this human for even existing. He hated seeing her.
"Xavier, it would be best if you lay down and rest."
"No! Take this human out of my sight!" He barked.
"Xavier you need her by your side to recover." Elder Lorenzo said. "The connection needs to be restored for the pain to go away."
"Lorenzo!" Xavier yelled and held his chest in pain.
"I'm sorry, but I will have to resort to force." Elder Lorenzo said and cast his powers on Xavier. Since Xavier was weak, he couldn't resist it.
"Lorenzo, if you dare..." Xavier felt his consciousness slowly slipping away.
"You..." His eyelids closed and he fell on the floor. Elder Lorenzo sighed.
"Such a stubborn brat." He said to himself and the events that occurred an hour ago replayed in his head.
The Royal Doctor made a deep incision on Xavier's hand. He transferred the blood into Arianna's body. He saw the blood flowing round her veins.
In an instant, all the wounds, scratches, bruises on her body started to heal and her ghastly pale appearance was restored.
Her eyelids shook and she opened her eyes. Her gaze unclear. After a while, maybe due to excess fatigue, her eyes closed shut again.
"This is absurd!" The Assistant Royal Doctor exclaimed again.
"That's enough." Ferlin said in a cold voice and his neck shrunk.
Ferlin bore great respect to this human whose will was so tough. She was probably the future queen of their kingdom. He sighed helplessly. He had stabbed her and she saw his face. If she became the queen, wouldn't she bear a grudge and distrust towards him?
"So what happens after she gets healed?" Ferlin asked.
"We wait. We wait for the rest to happen." He replied. He walked to them and brought their hands together.
...
Arianna's mind had been blank the entire time. She had been unconscious.
She lifted her heavy eyelids and looked up at the ceiling. It was in no way familiar to her. The smell of drugs filled her nose. Was she in an infirmary? It seemed someone had saved her and she hadn't died.
She felt a temperature on her hand. It did not belong to her. She turned and saw her hand padded in a big hand. She looked up at the face and saw him.
It was that Xavier. What was she doing in an infirmary with him?
She sat up and it was then she noticed that they were not the only ones in the room. There was a tall, seemingly strong man there. He seemed to be in his early thirties. Apart from him, there was another tall man wearing a black cloak. It seemed he was a doctor. The last person she saw was another tall man. With a very beautiful face. As handsome as Xavier. He was the man who had tried to kill her. He was here. Had he stabbed her and then brought her to the infirmary? Wasn't that weird? Why was she on a bed in a room with demons? She was confused.
That moment, the man who tried to kill her walked forward. He was coming towards her. She instinctively backed away. She pulled away her hand from Xavier's and was ready to run.
The man unsheathed his sword and Arianna quickly jumped off the bed, backing away. She did not know what was going on here, but she was ready to fight for her life to the very end.
He walked to her and went on one knee. He presented his sword to her.
"I have seen my queen." He said.
Elder Lorenzo and the Royal Doctor looked at him surprised.
"Ferlin!" Elder Lorenzo called in a warning tone but Ferlin ignored him.
On Arianna's end, she didn't understand what was going on. Queen? What queen?
"Please do to me as you wish." He said, presented the sword to her and bowed.
Did he want her to stab him? Arianna had never been this surprised in her life. She was just a human. What strength or right did she have to stab a demon?
"Ferlin! Get up on your feet now!" Elder Lorenzo ordered but Ferlin once again ignored him.
Since Ferlin was so adamant, Elder Lorenzo had to use forceful methods. He cast his powers on him and he disappeared. He had sent him to the Confinement Hall. He wouldn't be able to leave until Elder Lorenzo brought him out.
Arianna stood where she was, looking back and forth at everyone in the room. From the handsome man on the bed, to the two men standing at a corner. Even after thinking for a long time, she couldn't figure out what was going on.
"Good Sir..." She began.
"Human, lay down." Elder Lorenzo said in a very strange tone cutting her off. It seemed there were many voices in his throat.
She was compelled against her will, and like a robot, she lay down.
She looked at the man on the other bed. When she saw him, she couldn't really express her feelings. It was like she felt a sense of belonging. She then felt pain coming from him. He must be in so much pain. She instinctively wanted to reach out and hug him and tell him it'll be okay.
She didn't know how, but she managed to break through Elder Lorenzo's spell and sat up. She stood up and went to Xavier's bed. She squatted down and hugged him, patting his chest.
The other two people in the room stared in disbelief. A human with no magic core within her had managed to break through a compelling spell. And she did it so effortlessly. Her next actions left them even more shocked.
She actually hugged him. No woman had ever come in such close contact with him. Not even when he fought close range combat with women.
As she hugged him, she felt her sense of belonging increase. She hugged him even tighter and even started whispering words in his ears.
She had probably been beside Xavier for too long because that moment, the aura she exuded was so strong.
Elder Lorenzo and the Royal Doctor felt as if they were in a room with Queen Elena.
For nearly an hour, they stood and watched this display in disbelief. Arianna had eventually fallen asleep on his body.
The Royal Doctor walked to Xavier and examined his core.
"What she did... It worked. His strength has been completely restored." He said.
As soon as he finished speaking, Xavier's aura flared and the atmosphere became stifling even for Elder Lorenzo. It seemed he had broken through the barrier Elder Lorenzo put on him.
His eyelids lifted and looked around. He wanted to be angry but he realized that he couldn't be angry. It was like someone was pouring cold water on his heart to cool it off.
He suddenly felt weird. There was something on his body. There was a heat on his neck like someone was breathing on his neck. And something was tickling his face.
He looked at the strands of brown hair splayed all over his chest. The face was very close to his own and her body was on his. She was...hugging him.
That sense of belonging came and his heart started pounding at an unusual rhythm. When he listened, he realized that his heart was almost in resonance with that of the human. When her heart started beating fast, his would replicate and start beating fast too. And when it slowed down, his would slow down as well.
Her heart was very calm.
He had been too focused on this and momentarily forgot that she was a human. He frowned and pushed her away. He wasn't careful with women in any way.
Arianna felt her body hit the floor and she woke up. The man, Xavier had gotten up from the bed.
"Take this human out of my sight!" Xavier ordered.
She suddenly felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head. She was probably too stupid. How could she have actually gone to hug a demon? It was even a good thing he hadn't ended her life.
She stood up.
Her life had been too rough lately. She watched a man who had been so eager to kill her, kneel in front of her and ask to be stabbed. She hugged a man she had only met once just because she felt a sense of belonging. She needed to just sit somewhere alone for a while to sort out her thoughts.
She looked up at the man she knew as Xavier. Her curious mind couldn't help but wonder why he was in the Infirmary. Did it have anything to do with her?
"Lorenzo!"
Elder Lorenzo had been too focused on the fact that Arianna had helped Xavier wake up. He had been too oblivious of the situation. When he heard his name, he came back to his senses.
He walked to Arianna and bowed. Maybe he hadn't believed it before, but now he did. Arianna was not just a human, she was more than that. It was only a matter of time before her true self would be unmasked. He probably wasn't thinking properly.
"My queen."