Nateaser: Reborn As My Love Interest

Elder - Chapter Twenty Three

"My... Lady?"

The servant recognized my seal but seemed utterly confused and anxious. I crawled past the chamber's entrance, pushing him out of the way, then collapsed onto the pope's seat, my usual place in the council.

"Call for a healer for the gods' sake..." I ordered impatiently, but he just stared at me with his jaws dropped. I would have yelled at him, but barely breathed my words out. "Stop... Bumbling around."

"You heard the Elder, hurry up." The guard reprimanded him in my stead, entering not long after me. He must have run all this way, as he was out of breath too, and made the servant dash out of the chamber. He was still under a strange spell though. "He didn't recognize you. You look different, but your clothes are the same as always..."

He sized me up with a curious, calculating gaze. My story could have ended there, had he reached the wrong conclusions, but he smiled, hand resting on the pommel of his sword.

"No blackmail would have been needed if you always looked like this." He was spouting some nonsense. "I'd follow you everywhere like a puppy. So how did you end up like this, I wonder?"

"I was thoroughly beaten." I struggled talking so he had to come close to hear it. Regardless of what he said there wasn't a speck of empathy on his face, but that's not why I kept him. "Not in the mood for jokes, Stern."

"Tell me something I don't know." He said with an irritating grin, leaning against the table. "When I heard them talk about a badly injured maiden showing up with your seal, I knew you'd be a sight to behold."

"Screw you." That was all I could manage. While I was gone, his purple hair was cut short. The only sign of his heritage, making him valuable to me. His black stubble had more gray hairs mixed in, and his leather armor was shedding the red paint. It was strange, how I must have looked younger than him now, but I sure didn't feel like it.

Despite his ancestry, he was forced to serve a commander, half his age. Only as long as Catherine was still alive somewhere, of course.

"I was supposed to feel energized and all young again." I breathed weakly. "Instead, everything hurts. And things went so well too."

"You don't look like someone who did well, but not like the century-old hag I've got used to either." The old fox noted. "So the Twelve Champions are not to be trifled with after all?"

"Stop joking, they were completely useless. Led by some arrogant, inexperienced witch." I sifted the words through my teeth. Talking, and breathing in general got more and more difficult. "She was barely enough for a good warmup. Exhausted, uncoordinated... But they got lucky."

"Oh? It was down to luck then?" He asked, irritating me to no end.

"Yes, they were the Goddess of Luck suddenly appearing kind of lucky, Stern," I noted, and this seemed to have surprised him too. "She wasn't attacking me outright. An orc brute gave me a run for my money, but once I overwhelmed him, Alexandra shot me with something I had never seen before. It set me on fire, and did this to my shoulders..."

"So the Princess was right? That's quite unexpected." His annoying smile finally turned into a frown. "A noble that is not incompetent... And now you played your cards too early, lady Elder."

"Cut me some slack," I demanded. "It took all my strength to keep the gargoyle flying and put the flames out. Where is that cursed healer?"

I just had to ask. Multiple Kisserleng followers rushed into the council chamber to tend to my injuries. I could tell they didn't recognize me, but seeing the vice commander was enough to get them moving.

"The wound was already cauterized." The high priest commented, scratching his head. "It will take some time to heal such injury, but that must have prevented an excessive blood loss. A healing potion should ease your pain until our prayers reach the Smiling God."