Hubert's eyes closed peacefully, lying in a fetal position, blanketed by the endless darkness. Asleep after all the exhaustion was pulled out of him by the voice. The voice of comfiness that provided him sanctuary from the unforgiving world.
"Hmm…" he hummed as he opened his sleepy eyes, greeted by the embracing darkness around him.
He sat up, supporting himself. His eyes, barely open, searched, as his heart longed for the voice.
"Voice…" he called, hoping.
"Where are you?" he asked, like a child searching for his mother.
Though relieved from his exhaustion, emptiness lingered in his heart.
The voice was nowhere to be seen, felt, or heard anywhere in the endless void.
Hubert knew it was gone.
—
Hubert opened his eyes to the familiar and uncomfortable stiffness of a bed. Supporting himself up, he realized he had returned to the real world, welcomed by the sight of the infirmary.
The place was lonely, unlike before.
"Ah, you're awake?" the ginger haired nurse, the only one in the room beside him, greeted. Her voice was soft and vibrant, welcoming Hubert's presence. She was bringing her steel cart full of equipment onto the side of his bed.
"Ah, yes, nurse," Hubert responded. His stare was distant, and his cheeks remained pale, unaffected of the nurse's presence, unlike before.
"Just call me Ivanna!" the nurse said, grabbing a chair and placing it beside his bed.
"Yes, Ivanna," Hubert replied, his tone remaining still.
Ivanna kept her friendly smile despite Hubert's relentless barrage of uncaringness and coldness toward her. Her pupils dilated slightly in reaction to Hubert's bitterness.
"Besides, what happened to you? You've been admitted to this place twice in the period of one month," Ivanna said while her hand moved, grabbing a bandage from the tray of equipment.
"What do you mean?" Hubert asked, confused. He then turned his face to her, only to be met by a sharp jolt of pain.
"UGH!" he groaned, enduring the pain in his neck, especially his muscles.
"Don't move your head too much. Vinc said you sprained your neck when falling unconscious to the floor," Ivanna mentioned.
"Ah, thank you, nurse," Hubert muttered, returning his neck to its intended position, facing the front. Though it was soon obvious that he felt his neck in a sensation of hotness, like being burnt.
She then cut off the bandage into a lengthy portion.
"What…?" Hubert asked. His face unmoving, his eyes glanced right at her, questioning.
"What else? Your neck, be still," the nurse answered. She stood up from her chair and leaned forward to Hubert.
Her scent struck Hubert's nose. Like the sweetest flower that bloomed in spring, her scent was sweet and refreshing, addicting, and attractive. Only then was he reminded of her beauty, forgetting all the solace he had gotten from the voice in his mind before.
"I-I-I'm…" Hubert stuttered. Words were yearning of escaping his mouth, yet none even had the chance.
"Shh… Be quiet," Ivanna commanded, a slight blush appeared on her soft, white cheeks.
As Hubert was struck by her scent, she too was not in a much different predicament.
"..." Hubert obeyed and remained silent.
Ivanna moved slowly and carefully, taking care of each wrapping motion of the bandages around his neck.
It was a way of restricting Hubert's neck.
"And… we're done," Ivanna said, cutting the last part of the bandages with the metal scissor and rolling the rest away, then placing them onto her cart.
"Than-thank you," Hubert said back, his tone grateful. The feeling of coldness seemed to be spreading around his neck, it provided a halt to the burning sensation of his neck.
His neck may be cold, but his face wasn't as it slowly turned bright red.
"I spread some southern ointment on the bandage!" Ivanna explained her genius solution as she organized her equipment.
"Southern ointment?" Hubert asked, unfamiliar with such an item.
"Yeah, I heard it works wonders for aching! Wait…" Ivanna said, noticing the redness on Hubert's face. She then leaned forward once again, now facing Hubert, inquiring of the reason for his redness.
Face-to-face and eyes-to-eyes, they met.
Hubert's redness grew brighter, at the same time, infecting Ivanna with the same symptom. The two quickly faced away, with Ivanna on her tray and Hubert on the empty left side.
"Aw!" he shrieked in pain, the sharp pain surprising again. The redness in his face was gone in an instant.
"Hey, are you okay?!" Ivanna asked, hurriedly and worriedly of his condition.
Her hand was swift, grabbing Hubert's face and turning them forward, fixing it.
"AWW!" Hubert's shriek grew louder. The movement was sudden, the pain he felt, like being struck by a sword.
"Ah! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Ivanna apologized, her voice shaking nervously.
"No, no! It's fine," Hubert replied quickly. The cooling sensation brought him comfort despite the sharp pain from before.
"It won't happen again, I promise!" Ivanna said, sweat trickling down her forehead.
Hubert's eyes glanced at her while the cooling and burning sensations duked against each other in his neck.
"Don't worry about it. It's nothing, I'm strong after all," Hubert responded, slightly bragging.
Upon hearing his words, she hid her mouth with her hand and let out a short chuckle. Her nervousness was gone in an instant, replaced by relief and friendliness.
"Hubert, right? Thank you," Ivanna said out of nowhere.
"For what?" Hubert, asked, in an awkward position, as he couldn't really see the nurse.
"For making my day," Ivanna replied back. Then quickly, she gripped the bar of the cart with both hands, sternly, and pushed it forward.
Hubert's head skipped a beat as the nurse swiftly left his side.
"Is this… lo-" he muttered before stopping midway, refusing.
"Beside, what happened in the headmaster's office," he asked himself in a low voice, unremembering as pieces of blurry visions were the only thing he made of from his memory.
—
"No way," Ivanna muttered, stopping her cart just outside the entrance.
She placed her hand on her chest, pressing it and feeling every beat of it getting faster and faster each second. She stood there, her white garb against the wall, her auburn eyes dilated, remembering her encounter.
"This can't be, no, I can't fall for him, not him," she murmured, rejecting the fact.
Then she closed her eyes, focusing. Slowly, she inhaled a large amount of air, in an attempt of calming herself down.
Sigh
Relieved, her heartbeat stabilized and she opened her eyelids, the blazing sun in the distance blessed her with its ray that poured into the hallway from the window.
"Yes, focus on your duty, just like the sun did," she said to herself, before strengthening her clench over the cart's bar again and continuing on her way.
She continued down the hallway, where then Ron passed her.
Ron's gray hair gleamed against the sunlight. His untidy facial hair from the time as a slave was gone, replaced by a clean shaven face. Wearing a suit and neatly mannered, he was quickly resembling that of a full fledged servant.
He stopped his steps, his feet covered by exquisite leather boots.
"..." his stoic and quiet eyes glanced at the person who had just passed him, the nurse.
Observing.
Then he too continued on his ways down the hallway and into the infirmary Hubert was in.
"Stop," Vinc appeared from a blur out of nowhere, stopping Ron dead right in his tracks.
"The infirmary is currently forbidden for everyone, except for the hall masters and the honorable headmaster," Javarius explained, appearing the same way as Vinc.
"..." Ron stared at both of them, his quietness the only response he gave.
For a moment, Vinc clenched his wooden staff, a blue gem attached on the end of it.
"Don't make us repeat our words, this place is forbi-" Vinc was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.
Ron, without any resistance, redirected his steps and returned to the way he came from.
Javarius and Vinc were left speechless, looking at each other.
"Ha… I thought he was about to fight us. Thank Goddess's I don't need to fight an old man today," Javarius said, his tone relieved.
"This is boring, research is way more entertaining than this. Do you want to hear some theory, Javarius?" Vinc asked, finding topics of interest.
"No thanks, I prefer talking about plants," Javarius answered, showing his true side as a nature lover.
"Ha… Hubert would definitely be interested in hearing me talk about the research on mana circle theory. I just found out about a new topic, after all," Vinc said, his back slouched, giving up on convincing his fellow instructor.
"Just endure it, Vinc. It's not as if we're the only ones tasked with guarding him," Javarius mentioned.
In the bushes, instructors guarded.
On the roofs, instructors guarded.
On the branches of trees, instructors guarded.
Under the infirmary beds, instructors guarded.
The various instructors readied themselves, weapons sharpened and spells memorized. All looked at Hubert from afar, hidden. Their eyes were cautious, but their hearts were nervous, hoping that the worst wouldn't happen.
—
Hubert sat on his bed. Moving his face very slowly from left to right and so on. The pain on each movement he made was now bearable with the help of the cooling sensation and the bandage on his neck.
Carefully, he turned his face to the left and fixed his attention there
A window, facing west, where the evening sun glowed brightly, giving out its last rays of light into the world while drowning into the horizon. Orangey and warm, the light felt familiar to him.
As he sat, mesmerized and admiring the disciplined sun.
"What will happen to me now?" Hubert asked himself.