Henry looked at Xavier, for a second it seemed like he was going to fight back but then Damien saw him deflate as he turned and looked at him begrudgingly. "What should we do then?"
'Will you look at this?'
'When I said that I can treat our mother he reacted like I have said a string of foul words and when Xavier said it—he's willing to listen. Tsk, tsk, is this the authority of the elder brother in this house?' Damien clicked his tongue with an annoyed expression while inwardly complaining.
Damien searched through the information that was surging in his head before replying, "We can brew Kineclove for the time being. It has pain relieving properties and is on the warmer side, it can soothe the pain that mother is experiencing for the time being."
However, that wasn't enough. If they wanted to treat Lady Cecil and get her back to her feet then —
"What's the point of just soothing the pain?" Henry said, clenching his fingers angrily. "We need to treat the pulsating bulbs properly for Mother to live if not—if not those things will.." he trailed off but everyone knew what he was trying to say.
If the pulsating plasma cells were not taken out they would grow into vine-like tendrils and eventually squash the internal organs of Lady Cecil.
A slow death which would leave Lady Cecil begging for everything to end.
Damien hesitated but his hesitation only lasted for two seconds before a look of determination flashed in his eyes. He raised his head and said to Henry and the rest, "Of course, if you want to save her then there is a way."
His words caused hope to surge in the two little children.
Their eyes lit up as Henry asked eagerly, "What way? Just tell me, I—I will look for a way to get things done." He would sell his treasured sword if it meant to save their mother.
A short pause and then —
"I have to cut open her stomach and take those pulsating bulbs out," replied Damien. He could almost see the light in the eyes of his two siblings vanish almost instantly and seriously speaking, he did not blame them.
In this era and world where people relied on magical spells and potions as a key to heal everyone and everything, his words must have sounded like —Hey, I am on a crazy crackpot and I want to take over the world. Yo.
Even Xavier was looking at him like he had lost a screw in his head.
For them, the very thought of cutting open a person's stomach was simply beyond their comprehension.
Honestly, their looks hurt a bit.
"But—but you cannot do that," said Priscilla in a soft voice. "If you open mother's stomach then—then she will die. That's how everyone dies on the battlefield."
She thought that cutting one's stomach open and stabbing them was the same thing.
"No, they won't," Damien tried to explain the process in a gentle way which would not scare the two kids off. "I will sew the skin back which will stop the bleeding and Mother will be fine."
"Sew the skin back?" Henry repeated with a shocked expression. He was eyeing Damien as if he had gone crazy and didn't know what to do first. Whether to lock him up or call a healer.
But he seemed to have thought it through and decided that neither of those things mattered. A second later he said angrily, "That's our mother you are talking about! How can you even say that you will cut her flesh open and then sew it back? She is not a sow you can use for your experiments, brother!"
"I am not treating her like one," Damien felt a bit upset over Henry's words. Thus, his tone became a tad bit less cordial. "I am just trying to save her life, you have already seen that the healers cannot do shit about her condition! But I can save her, if we leave her like this then she will just —she will just be waiting to die."
Not only did he feel a sort of close to Lady Cecil because of the bond she shared with his predecessor but he also felt a sense of responsibility. He wanted to repay the predecessor who had lost his life and left his body for him to take possession.
If not for him, he would have never gotten a chance to live another life.
Damien was still lost in thoughts when he heard Dan scream, "Watch out!"
There was a dull thud and Damien felt his right ear explode with pain. He raised his head and looked at Henry whose hand was still raised in the air, with a wild look in his eyes as if he was being chased by beasts for a thousand miles.
Damien didn't stop to think, he raised his hand and slapped the boy back on his face. His face contorted with rage, "You hit me? How dare you hit me when I am trying to save her!"
His slap caused the boy to stumble however, it was nowhere enough to stop Henry. He straightened up and shouted at Damien, "I will hit you! In fact, I want to kill you for even suggesting such a horrid treatment. You want to cut open our mother to do what? You don't know anything, you—just because you treated Lord Nicholas, you think you can do anything?"
"I always knew that you were selfish but I never thought that you thought so less of your family! Anything! Anything will do as long as you can get back the throne that you lost huh?" he screamed so loudly that his face turned red with the force with which he was shouting.
Henry believed that his brother was doing this because he wanted to gain a name, a title and status with which he could fight back Emiliano.
How could he not when he had seen his brother almost obsessing over his gallant and heroic return to the Imperial court?
He sometimes looked like he had gone crazy. If not, why would a child like him take care of everything?
"You want to use our mother, you still blame her right? You still think that she is the cause of your dethronement. But you know what brother, it was you who was useless and could not fight back against Emiliano, so stop blaming our mother," said Henry still red-faced with nerves bulging on his face. "I will not let you use our mother, never! Do you hear me, you incompetent useless fool!"
"Stop--Stop it," somewhere behind them Priscilla spoke in a tearful voice.
Damien and Henry ignored her, the argument had gotten so heated that they could no longer listen to sense anymore.
With his lips curling in a mocking sneer, Damien shot a mocking glare at Henry.
"Ah because you are so damn useful?" Damien couldn't stop himself. He who was killed because of a greedy bastard who wanted more power and control was now being blamed for the very same thing.
He was being accused as a murderer of his own mother, for the sake of power. Did he look like a filthy murderer? He did not know about his predecessor but he was no damn opportunist.
Being called one left a bad taste in his mouth. Henry could have said anything --anything and he would have taken it much better but not this!
And before he knew it, he was lashing right back. "You have been trying to save her right? But it turns out you are being fooled all along. I bet the healers at the temple were having a blast laughing at your stupidity. Using such a grand sum of money which even a six-year-old would have given you."
"Stop! Stop! Please stop fighting! Brother Henry! Brother Damien!"
Damien ignored her. Again.
"If anyone should be blamed for mother's condition to become worse it's you! You were the one who brought that prescription with blizzard bear bone powder. It gave the ideal condition for the pulsating bulbs to grow even faster!"
"Should I thank you for killing our mother faster? Mind you, it was I who thought of changing the healer and found the burrberries!"
"ENOUGH!"
Lady Cecil used all her strength in her body to shout such as to put an end to the quarrel. She coughed and sputtered with her chest heaving, that shout had taken all of her strength.
"Enough--cough --cough--cough," Lady Cecil spoke while coughing.
"Mother!" Priscilla cried as she rushed to her mother's side. She rubbed the back of Lady Priscilla and asked, "Do you want water, Mother?"
"No, darling. I am fine," Lady Cecil replied before turning to look at her two sons with a wooden expression. "This is not how I raised you two. You two are brothers and yet you are fighting like enemies, Emiliano has taken over the Royal Court..are you going to take over our family as well by doing what he wants?"