A few minutes later, Aquila, who was kneeling in front of the crying William, noticed that the space near her was disturbed.
She raised an eyebrow as she watched the space a few feet away from her crack and tear. The space tear had an ominous purple energy bordering it as Ophiscus walked out of the space tear.
Ophiscus glanced at his wife and then turned toward William and the girls. His face turned grim the moment his eyes landed on Seraphina, who was barely alive.
He immediately walked over to the group while asking, "What happened?"
"The girls fought someone more powerful than they could handle," Aquila replied; she didn't explicitly mention that they were protecting William and hurting her already emotional son.
Ophiscus nodded his head solemnly as he inspected Seraphina. "We should take her to the mansion," he muttered as he wrapped his aura around Seraphina.
A purplish-gray aura engulfed Seraphina as she slowly floated out of William's embrace.
"Huh!" William exclaimed as he noticed Seraphina leaving his embrace. "W-What?" He quickly turned around to see his father using his aura to make Achlys float in the air.
"F-Father—" William, who was about to say something, felt a pain in the back of his neck.
Aquila caught her son falling to the ground and looked at him with conflicting eyes. Ophiscus too didn't say anything as he could imagine what had happened from his wife's answer.
The couple nodded at each other and began to walk toward the space tear. Seraphina and Achlys were the first ones to enter the tear; Aquila went in next, and she was carrying her son on her shoulders.
Ophiscus, who was about to enter the tear, stopped and turned around toward the forest.
His eyes turned cold as the golden irises were swallowed by the purple obsidian; it devoured his entire eyes as the space began to fluctuate around him.
WRRON
The space tear in front swayed heavily as some dark-colored runes began to snake around Ophiscus's skin. "You'd better wish that nothing happens to them." With that, he entered the space tear, which closed after he went in.
Far away, deep inside the forest. The green winged python, which was shivering due to fright at seeing Aquila, almost shit itself when it heard Ophiscus's warning.
"Shit, why did those have to come to my forest!?" It cursed its fate as it swore to annihilate all the cannibal tribes in the forest.
......
Aquila and the group immediately went to the mansion's infirmary. They called in the healer there, and Ophiscus called in his butler, Sebastian.
"Call the family," Ophiscus ordered Sebastian as he took a star-shaped artifact and sent some mana into it.
"Lady Gaia, we need your help urgently. It's about William's fiances," Ophiscus said as soon as the gem in the middle of the artifact shone in light.
He didn't wait for any response as he knew that Gaia would come soon since this had something to do with William.
He then turned toward the healer, who was an old woman with a hunched back. She was now examining Seraphina using her skills as a healer.
Ophiscus watched as her hand, which was holding a long wooden cane, shook while she finished her inspection.
The old woman then turned toward Ophiscus and informed him, "Master, the second young master is fine and just had a little trauma that will heal itself in due time. The vampire princess is fine too since the first mistress has given her mana pills that made her regeneration kick in and cure her. She will be fine after a few days of rest."
"What about Seraphina?" Ophiscus questioned as he frowned. He was relieved that there were no injuries to his son and that Achlys was fine. But he worried about what might have happened to Seraphina since, while her condition isn't getting any worse, it isn't getting any better, either.
"Ah! Lady Seraphina's condition might be a little tricky." The healer replied as he fidgeted with her old cane, hesitating to tell Ophiscus something.
"Tell me in detail," Ophisucs ordered as he narrowed his eyes; nothing should happen to Seraphina during this crucial time.
GULP
The old lady gulped as she answered, "Lady Seraphina's life force is dwindling fast; whatever attack she might have used was too powerful for her core and was now on the brink of collapse. if it goes on...."
The old woman didn't continue as she saw Ophiscus raising his hand to stop her. He got the full picture from the old woman's explanation. 'Lady Gaia needs to come here fast!' he mumbled inwardly as his eyes darted around the infirmary.
'Should I call her once more?' Ophiscus questioned and was about to take his artifact once again to contact Gaia and tell her to hurry since Seraphina might lose her life when he saw his son waking up from the corner of his eyes.
"Mhmm," William grumbled as he slowly woke up from his sleep. He felt a slight pain at the back of his neck as she gently rubbed it.
He slowly sat upright and glanced around the room. His eyes immediately drooped when his gaze fell on Achlys and Seraphina.
Tears began to form in his eyes while he clenched the bed sheets tightly, 'I am sorry, I was the cause of all this.' He blamed himself.
If only he hadn't insisted on going to that forest and training in the mansion, this wouldn't have happened.
SNIFF
He sniffed as he began to cry, closing his eyes. His mind began to break down due to all the pressure that he put on his shoulders.
Just as he was about to fall into the abyss of self-deprecation, he felt a hand firmly grip his shoulders.
He opened his eyes to see his father looking at him. "Fat—"
SLAP
A crisp slap echoed through the infirmary as Ophiscus, for the first time in his life, had hit any of his children. He didn't like it, but he had to do it. Otherwise, 'My son would become a failure. I cannot let that happen.'
The room turned dead silent as William was too shocked to react. The old hear too, acted as if she saw and heard nothing; she knew that her head would roll if any of this was leaked out and slowly began to walk out of the infirmary.
William's eyes widened as he held his cheek. His father had never hit him before; heck, he hadn't even scolded him once.
'E-Even Father thinks of me as a failure!' he said to himself as he began to cry more when another slap hit him right across his other cheek.
"HUSBAND! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!" Ara asked as she saw her husband hitting their son. Carina and Aquila, too, frowned as they gazed at her husband.
"SHUT UP!" Ophiscus yelled at his wife for the first time. He turned around to his wives, glaring at them as he hardened his face, "You are the reason he has turned out like this!" he said, "You have spoiled him too much."
He then turned toward William, who was shivering while he held both his cheeks. He was too astonished to even cry, as his father scolded his mothers.
"This is between me and my son; leave. I will call you after talking to him."
Ara and her sisters widened their eyes as they were scolded by their husband. Ara clenched her fist as she turned toward her husband and was about to say something when Carina placed her hand on Ara's shoulder.
Ara turned toward Carina, who shook her head and gestured for her sisters to leave the infirmary and to leave this to her husband.
Ara bit her lip in frustration; she wanted to ask what was wrong with spoiling her son, but she knew that it would anger her husband and probably her sisters, too. She then slowly followed her sisters while turning to William for one last look.
Ophiscus sat behind his son and placed his hand on William's head. "I am sorry, son. But I had no choice." He apologised; he was going to use the carrot-and-stick method to manipulate his son out of depression.
'My father used it on me. And I have to say it worked pretty well. I hope it works on him,' he mumbled inwardly as he slightly ruffled his second son's silver hair.
William turned to his father, who was apologizing to him. He could see it was genuine since he could see some hesitation in his father's face. He watched as his stern golden eyes turned a little soft.
"Your mothers have spoiled you a little too much. Let me tell you something, William. What you were about to do was running away like a coward." His father started.
When William heard his father, his heart felt like it was pierced with a sword; it hurt; he didn't know or understand why, but his father's words hurt.
Ophiscus watched his son's expression carefully. 'I have to navigate this carefully, or I might end up hurting him more,' he thought as he continued.
"Let me tell you a story...."