To His Hell and Back-Chapter 142: A Surprising Sight

It couldn’t be!

Renard didn’t want to believe it. He could see other civilians who were coughing for fresh air on the ground and the knights who had patrolled here, as shocked as him when they saw that the flames of the fire were green instead of the usual red or orange. Upon seeing him, they had yelled, "Captain Renard! Don’t go in-"

"His Highness is inside!" Renard answered. Disregarding the warning, he was about to enter the flame without a single hesitation when a tight yank caused him to choke. He briefly felt his body fall backward from the tight pull as if someone had pulled him by the collar. Once he gathered himself, coughing, he looked up to find Cassius who was looking at him with arms crossed.

"Why are you always so eager to follow me to death?" Cassius said with his lips pursed in annoyance, his eyebrows furrowed and at once Renard shot to his feet.

He jumped, almost like a rabbit, hopping beside Cassius before looking all over him, "This- You’re not wounded?" frёewebnoѵēl.com

Cassius shot him a look, "Do you want me to get hurt?"

"Of course not! But the fire-"

"-I don’t have time," he cut his retainer at once, before placing a key to his hand, "There should be a total of twenty four women- ah and twenty five if you count that old wench. Check their numbers, I didn’t have time to check them but all who were still alive before that disgusting filth exploded should be here now."

Surprised, Renard who had taken the key stared at him, "Did you save all of them?"

"Under a minute, even Voltaire couldn’t contain the explosion but if it wasn’t for it, perhaps the entire town would have been covered in this green flame," Cassius confirmed and ignored Renard’s eyes that had glittered in a deep respect, as if he was going to shoot star to Cassius’s face while admiring his master’s amazingness. Cassius pushed his face away and continued, "Three things to remember. There’s a man with black hair and green eyes, an enemy. Capture that one. Second: the fire that starts with this green flame can’t be extinguished don’t allow any foolish individuals to touch it-"

"OUCH THE FIRE TOUCHED ME!!!"

Cassius rolled his eyes to the side, clicking his tongue, "Except for that one. Then third: Check every girl’s belongings, make sure that they don’t have a potion with them, and bring the one named Courtez to the castle. I’m leaving."

"Yes, Your Highness!" Renard saluted to the empty air as in a moment of a second a black liquid had engulfed Cassius’s entire body, making him disappear in a blink to return to the castle.

He had rushed, summoning himself to his bed chamber as he knew he had left Arabella for far too long. He had deeply regretted having to be torn from his own duty as the Crown Prince or to quickly throw aside all his responsibility to prioritize her safety.

A gnawing regret tightened in his gut.

He shouldn’t have left Arabella. Not for this long. Not when she was in such a pain.

But he couldn’t regret what had occurred. And he hadn’t had a choice. All he could do now was administer the potion and hope it wasn’t too late.

His bed room was as silent as he had left it. Nothing was truly amiss to his eyes as he could hear Arabella’s heartbeat that was weakly thumping under her ribcage which should be all he should care for as no one else’s heartbeat matters to him.

He stepped further into the room, and his eyes locked instantly on the bed. Much to his relief, Arabella was still there. Although motionless and her eyes shut so tight it looked like she was bracing for a pain that hadn’t left her, she was still alive, breathing, and a little better than how he had last seen her.

He didn’t notice much difference as she was still high with a burning fever. Her body lay still against the tangled sheets but there was a single change that took his attention. And it was those strange, crawling letters that once pulsed across her skin that had disappeared, vanished like they had never been there at all.

A flicker of worry tugged at his chest as he approached. Those letters from the start was odd and his instinct told him it was not good yet now it had disappeared which he should be grateful of yet at the same time, it felt so odd that it worried him even more.

He sat at the edge of the bed, pushing his knees down the bedsheet toward her. Gently, he reached out, tilting her chin down with his fingers. Her skin was still warm, but not the kind of warmth he liked as the fever was burning her alive from her insides. Still, he parted her lips and tilted the vial, letting one drop fall into her pale lips and then another.

For a moment, nothing happened until a faint glow stirred in her throat, as if to show that the potion had finally worked in her and the heat beneath his fingers slowly began to cool. His shoulders dropped as a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding finally left him.

Arabella who had been curling in pain and her eyelashes that had fluttered had finally calmed itself down, meaning that the potion was truly nothing but a cure for the fever and pain she had felt from being injected by that very odd potion.

Relief washed over him but it was wrapped with something else which was guilt and regret. He had left her alone for too long, and even if it was due to the fight or the duty, it didn’t feel like a good enough excuse anymore. Not when she had to suffer so much.

But in a way they could finally understand that there was something inside of Arabella that she had never noticed before.

Cassius was about to walk down the bed when he saw something that captured his attention.

It was a bundle of clothing and a cold... corpse.

His expression cleared at once and as he moved toward the place, he had found a maid’s body, lifeless with her head that had turned to the side covered in such a horrific expression as though she had died from fright.