Things They Didn't Say Out Loud

Chapter 11: His Departure

She felt the sudden sharp pain piercing her heart for a moment, and then, she felt nothing.

When she opened her eyes, she could see the yellowish evening sky outside the window.

"What... happened?" Athy rubbed her eyes and tried to sit up. She could feel a faint throbbing headache, but it was bearable. She finally awoke and came to her senses; then she realized that she wasn't alone in her room.

Lucas was there, fallen asleep at her bedside in a sitting position. His breathing was slow and faint, indicating that he was in a deep slumber.

He must be very tired...

A pang of guilt eventually hit her. It was her fault, after all. She was being careless and ignored Lucas' warning, she misjudged the consequences of her actions, and then she made everyone suffers the impact. She wondered if her father had already been informed about this incident. Her heart broke when she imagined how her father must have been very angry at everyone, meanwhile it was entirely her mistake. If only she had ignored Raven that night and did not let her magical beast in...

It also pained her heart to remember how Raven was violently thrown away by Lucas. That good boy wasn't at fault at all... She was the one to blame. For the love of God, she was the one who should have more consciousness over her own condition and stop making it difficult for others.

And then, there was Lucas. Athy stared at his sleeping form with sad eyes.

"If only I could let her be for the next hour, I won't be coming all the way here when I was just coming back from a mission without a wink of sleep,"

It was the first time she saw Lucas appear that ragged. Seemed like he had some rough days in his journey back to the Palace, only to find out that she had been ignoring his very warning when he was gone.

Tears started welling up in her eyes, she just couldn't wait to apologize to everyone.

"Lucas...," she reached out to hold his hand, touching it gently. The moment she touched his palm, she could feel his blistered fingers and saw the darkened flesh. Those were clearly some fresh burnt wounds.

"Oh, Lucas... I'm really sorry," she couldn't hold back her tears anymore and started sobbing uncontrollably. It distressed her to see Lucas was worn out and wounded, because of her.

He always looked so invincible, so dependable... that she started to take it for granted. At the end of the day, Lucas had his limitations, too. He could get hurt and tired, just like everyone else...

Upon feeling Athy's touch on his hand, Lucas flinched and awoke from his sleep. After draining out her mana and (forcefully) taming some of her tangled mana flow, he waited for the princess to wake up; however, he unconsciously fell asleep due to his fatigue. He didn't even have enough energy to heal his hands just yet because he had used up too much of his mana.

"Why are you crying?"

Athy wiped her tears and looked up, finding that Lucas had awakened already, staring at her with an unreadable expression.

"Lucas! Please forgive me!"

For a while there, Lucas was startled. The Princess suddenly pulled him into a tight hug. "I'm sorry—sob—for ignoring your warning," she tried to apologize in between her weeping. "I made you—sob—overwork yourself again, didn't I? And your hands..."

He swore he had determined to scold the Princess the moment she woke up. He had thought about all the things he wanted to say, all the fury, frustration, and worry he felt when he found out that the Princess had let her magical beast stay with her overnight. He was ready to tell and yell at her how stupid she was for treating her magical beast as a pet, ready to threaten her once again about his ability to eat up that thing, and yet...