The Prince's Fiance

Chapter Twelve

"Are you well, Lady Lilith?" "Yes, thank you for your concerns, your Highness." She politely bowed while Raito watched her with honest concerns. As soon as the maids reported that she almost collapsed from exhaustion in such a short time, he had to rethink his one-week time limit. To his relieve she seemed rather fine now but it was just a matter of time till it would happen again. "I heard you're overworking yourself with the healing. It's there anything I can do to help you?" He stepped closer to her and examined her with his gaze. "Yes I think there is. Bring me mana stones, they will be helpful." Before Lilith would start to rely on her cousin she would rather receive them as compensation from the Palace. "Okay, I will send someone to bring you as much as you need." After that an awkward silence pulled itself into the length between those two.
"Is there anything else, your Highness?" "Yes, call me Raito." "How could I dare to address your Highness by your name." "I don't want to be called Highness by you." "Very well, I will respect your wish, Sir Raito." Lilith acted very distant towards him. This made him think back to the fist time they met and he would invite her to a dance. On that evening he felt strangely captatived by her but since she became the 'palace Magican' there was an ever growing wall between them. Was he that attracted only because he wanted to seize the opportunity of using her power? While being in thought his gaze wandered to the necklace which had first caught his attention this evening and he noticed now that the stone was broke and dull grey coloured. "What happened to your necklace?" Once again he stepped closer and thoughtlessly reached out to analyze the pendant. "Nothing to be concerned about. The magical power is merely exhausted." Lilith turned her head away as he came closer. She clearly was holding back to snap at him for being this rude but in the end he was still the crown prince. "If this is all, I'd like to rest alone." Raito let go of the pedant and stepped away. "Yes, of course. Rest well Lady Lilith."

As soon as the doors to the room closed, the closet doors bursted open again. The two mages wordlessly looked at each other again like so many times before. "This was indeed interesting to watch. I'll leave for now but I will come back." "Of course you will." She answered not the slightest impressed. With that her cousin left to thin air.

Another two days had passed since then. Like promised Lilith received more mana stones as she could manage to use up. Jisoo on the other hand grew more impatient since she never received any information from Solomon. He hasn't shown up at the Ayers manor since that day anymore.
"ARG! Just where did that sneaky bastard disappeared to?!" "Calm down, my Lady." Rosalie sweat dropped and tried to calm her Lady down while Jisoo began to smack a pillow she previously declared to be Solomon.

While Jisoo let all her anger out on defenseless cushions, Akito worried walked up and down in his office again. "Damnit.. it's soon my father's birthday... All nobles will come to the yearly celebration and he is still bedridden!" He was practically shouting at his aide in frustration. "Don't worry your Highness, our Magican is making good progress. As I supervised her last evening it was clearly visible that his Majesty is looking a lot better than the day he collapsed. I'm positive that he will in a good state till the celebration." "It's only one week left Raito!" His aide frowned since he understood his concerns. "Could it be.. that you haven't visited your father since he was poisoned?" The question shot into black and the prince dropped his head. "No.. How? There was no time since I had to take over a lot more work with this attack on him." "You should go and visit him once." Raito gave his cousin a pat on his shoulder and left the office for his own load of work to finish.

Today was the first day Lilith would tend to his Majesty without the prince watching him. The mood in the bedroom felt immediately less tense and she could concentrate better without him staring holes into her. Since everyone in the palace saw the recovering progress of the King, they started to trust her so much that she was almost left alone to heal beside of a guard standing on the entrance. But those guards were always standing there, no matter if he was alone or with someone.

She started her new established routine by checking his health before continuing to repair his damaged cells with soft magic imbument. A too strong magic flow would work toxic, for this reason the healing might take longer as the prince wished for. As Lilith concentrated the door suddenly opened. Who ever has entered, they were permitted since no guard gave a single sound. She noticed the presence of that person right behind her what made concentration hard again. She finished the checkup and turned with a sigh. "Sir Raito, if you gape at me like this again I ca-" her words stopped as she saw that the person standing there wasn't the prince but his aide Akito. "Oh pardon-"
The mage felt stupid now and tried to hide her embarrassed but she soon noticed Akito's gaze. His eyes looked weak and had a deep sadness in them as he looked down on the bedridden King. It was a mystery to Lilith what connection he had with the King, especially since he seemed more emotional about his Majesty as Raito, his son. Maybe Akito was generally more emotional so that he even felt that sad about an uncle.

She decided that it would be a good idea to try to cheer him up. "Sir Frazer, you mustn't feel sad. I've made a huge progress on healing his Majesty. You can watch if you like." A solemn nod came from Akito and Lilith turned back to proceed with her treatment. Since the healing process had already reached a certain point, it was now with each time more visible what impact the magic had on his Majesty. With passing time a slight rosy colour came to his face which had a calming effect for Akito. "Thank you, Lady Lilith." "I'm only fulfilling my duty."

As the session was over and her power exhausted she stood up and gave a quick bow to the still watching aide so she could leave, but before she made her way to the door a groan was heard from the bed. "!" Both Lilith and Akito rushed closer to the bed as the King dryly coughed and tried to open his eyes. His lips mouthed words but no sound would come out. "Lilith, go and immediately call for the Royal doctor!" "B-but I'm a doctor too..?" "You're the magican and I order you to rest after calling the doctor over!" 'excuse me, what?' Akito's sudden sharp gaze allowed no excuses and Lilith decided to hurry off before she would get into trouble.

Little extra from Solomon in the closet (cuz why not):
"What is that good for nothing prince thinking he is doing? Get your dirty hands off of her, she is a mighty Arden Magican like me!"
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