Julius approached her confused and worried. “What’s wrong Countess?” he said.
“S…s…sav…” the countess struggled.
“Shot?” he tried helpfully.
“please… save…help…me..”
Her hands trembled. She was so skinny and frail it was pitiful and painful to look at her. Before he could respond, she fell unconscious. He touched her shoulder lightly to try to wake her. There was no response. He turned her pale face to the side. He felt as though she might have stopped breathing. Her lips had turned blue. A black liquid flowed out of her lips.
He remembered that he had encountered a dead person who had been poisoned before. This was no different. Was she poisoned? He wondered. Julius hesitated. It didn’t make sense. He brought his index finger under her nose to check for breath. She was not dead yet. Her breathing was faint, but it was there. But how did this happen? Julius wondered in bewilderment.
Did Kaichen do this? Julius thought. Was Kaichen so angry that he couldn’t forget his old memories and he…? Julius suddenly remembered why he had come here in the first place. He shouted for kaichen.
“Kaichen! Kaichen!”
Such a quick-tempered man! There is still information to be gathered from her. Why did he kill her off? Contrary to his frustration and urgency, Kaichen descended down the stairs in his own pace appearing calm for all the world to see.
“You are here.”
“This person…. Isn’t she Countess Alshine?”
“That’s right.”
“Why is she…. Did you try to kill her?”
“No. She has seizures like that several times a day.”
“Seizure?” said Julius in surprise.
Kaichen walked to where Countess Alshine had collapsed and gathered her in his arms, as though he was used to this by now.
He is lifting her himself… not even with magic. Even though it looked normal in such a circumstance, Julius’ mouth was opened in shock. Kaichen lifted Countess Alshine in his arms and made his way up the stairs again.
“What is this… Kaichen? What the hell happened? Why is the Countess like this?” Julius followed him up the stairs. Kaichen didn’t respond. He was someone who spoke only when he felt like it. It was frustrating. Especially at times like this.
Kaichen laid the Countess on the bed and covered her with a blanket. If it wasn’t for his cold, hard expression, someone would have mistaken him for a friendly man who was taking care of the sick Countess.
That can’t be true. Julius was confident that he knew Kaichen better than everyone else. Julius looked around the room with a serious face. He saw a desk full of tools for making potions and a few books scattered across the desk and the floor. There was a smaller desk full of herbs and other magical ingredients.
This room used to be the room where Julius used to sleep whenever he came to visit Kaichen. Is this the Countess’ room? Why are magical herbs and ingredients and tools for potions scattered everywhere? Julius was usually a good-natured and friendly man, but his curiosity was making him impatient and the lack of answers from kaichen was making him very annoyed.
“Let’s go out. I’ll explain,” said Kaichen finally as though he had noticed Julius reaching the limits of his patience. He led Julius out of the room to the living room. They sat down, facing each other. But Kaichen didn’t start with an explanation immediately, he seemed to be deep in thought. Julius couldn’t wait any longer, so he asked whatever was on his mind.
“Does the Countess know how to use magic?”
“Yes.”
“That’s… Did she learn it while she was trapped?”
“Yes.”
Julius looked shocked. “Did she… how did she awaken her mana all by herself? I didn’t even think it was possible.”
Julius, like Kaichen, was a student of Matabju. He was a genius in swordplay and although he wasn’t as gifted in magic as Kaichen, he was still fairly versatile in it. Having learned magic, he knew how difficult it was to awaken one’s mana even under the tutelage of a mage. It was very shocking to learn that the Countess had awakened her mana alone. He had never heard about it being done before.
“It is shocking,” said Kaichen, nodding slowly. “Really shocking. I think it wasn’t a lie when she said she had been trapped in the time magic for a hundred years.”
Julius thought Kaichen would explain some more. But kaichen suddenly got up and headed to the kitchen as though he suddenly remembered something important to do. This was an even bigger shock for Julius. He had never imagined Kaichen in the kitchen, ever. He stared at Kaichen in disbelief, but he seemed quite familiar with using a ladle.
Now that’s just plain crazy…. Julius got up and walked to the kitchen. He watched Kaichen plop something in the large bowl. He walked closer to inspect it and made a serious face.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“It’s porridge,” said Kaichen.
“Is this a new poison porridge you are making? Indeed, just looking at it, I can feel the lethal energy.” Julius maintained a very serious face. The thing in the bowl looked terrifying. Julius wondered if he would drop dead at an instant if he ever tasted it. What the hell did he put in it?
“Maybe you… ah…. Did you feed this abomination to the Countess? No wonder she collapsed.”
Julius couldn’t see Kaichen’s jaw clench. “Sorry friend, but this experiment is a failure,” said Julius, glancing at the black liquid sloshing around in the pot. “Anyone can tell it looks poisonous. I would never ever eat it if I can help it. If you were going to kill an enemy, perhaps this lethal thing would do its job. But… if you are cooking this for people to eat it, you need to pay more attention and learn basic dishes.”
