Silence

Chapter 12

Adalina helped him over to the bed, and he collapsed on top of it with a pained groan. She quickly left the room and ran to the bathroom to retrieve some water, alcohol, cloths and bandages. When she returned, Sebastian's breathing was labored, and he hadn't moved an inch from when she had left.

She lifted her hands to his coat and slowly undid the buttons. He looked like he was uncomfortable with the action, but he didn't stop her. She then loosened his tie before moving it out of the way and unbuttoned his vest and white shirt exposing his very pale skin drenched in red blood. She had half-expected him to be covered in black blood, but it was definitely red albeit a bit darker than normal.

Her stomach did a flip when she saw just how deep the two gashes were, and she let out a small puff of air as she tried to figure out how she was supposed to help him. How was she supposed to take care of injuries on a person who had never gotten injured before? What could she do to heal a demon who always healed himself?

With nothing else to do, she dipped one of the cloths into the water. Then she slowly rubbed the wet fabric across his injured chest. The cloth quickly turned to a deep red color as it soaked up some of the blood.

"It was a Grim Reaper who did this," Sebastian mustered out, sensing her confusion as to how he had gotten injured. "While demons cannot be killed easily, they can be extremely weakened and even killed by Death Scythes especially when dealt multiple blows such as I have endured." Sebastian groaned in pain. "I've never seen a Reaper so fast before. I couldn't even make out his face, but he was definitely the one killing off the criminals. He came at me from behind and stabbed me twice with his Death Scythe. These wounds will heal, but it will take a couple of days rather than a couple of minutes like it normally would."

Adalina put down the now-ruined wet cloth. She picked up another one and began working on the other gash. It was strange to Sebastian so...in pain. She had always assumed him to be unbreakable in a way. But even demons had their limits it seemed.

Adalina gave him an apologetic look before gently rubbing his wound with alcohol to clean it. Sebastian couldn't stop the pained grunt from leaving his lips as his whole body tensed up.

The young woman felt terrible that she had to put him through something so painful, but it wouldn't do anyone any good if his wounds got infected. That is, if they even could get infected.

Once she had cleaned his wounds as best she could, she knew she had to get his back as well seeing as the gashes she had just cleaned were the exit wounds if he had indeed been stabbed from behind. She ever so gently helped Sebastian sit up on his bed. His sheets had turned a very dark red beneath him. She would have to clean those very soon or the stains would never come out, and she could only imagine how Sebastian would feel about that once he was well again.

Very carefully so as not to cause him even more pain, she removed his coat from his shoulders. He winced, but he made no sound. It was so strange to see the normally calm and collected butler in such a state. She didn't even know if she was helping by doing all this for him. Was she causing him more pain for nothing?

She then took his tie off his neck and removed his white shirt and gloves to expose his black nails and contract mark. She could not stop herself from blushing at the complete improperness of this whole situation. But her master had ordered her to care for Sebastian and she was not going to disobey him. She also didn't trust the other servants to care for him. Mey-Rin would explode upon seeing Sebastian shirtless, Finnian might accidently break a bone or two, and Baldroy would rush the whole thing and hurt him more.

She blushed harder when she saw that...Sebastian was much more muscular than she had expected. He had such a lean and slender figure that she was certainly not prepared for the sight that greeted her. Even with the large gashes and cuts, his muscles were still quite defined.