DSMBL Chapter 88

Chapter 88

Lorencia stepped outside and Charlotte wiped her face. Maybe she used too much holy power this time—it left her feeling more tired than usual. She really hoped to recover quickly. Or better yet, wouldn’t it be nice if her power didn’t come with all these side effects?

She stood up slowly. She had heard that little Theo and Stephanie had been looking all worried for days.

‘Normally, Theo would have come running by now…’

<“Duchess, I think he believes you’re sick because of him…”> the head maid had told her.

That was just like sweet Theo. She looked in the mirror—still looked sickly.

“Maybe I should make my lips redder…”

She usually didn’t care about makeup, but today, she put on a bit more before finally leaving the bedroom. She walked to Theo’s room and knocked gently.

“…Who is it?”
Theo’s voice was small and sad.

“Who do you think? It’s Charlotte!”
From beside him, Stephanie shouted cheerfully. Right, Stephanie had apparently stayed glued to Theo’s side. Not even Theo could win against her stubbornness.

The door swung open. Stephanie’s eyes sparkled like stars, and she gave a wide grin.

“You’re better now, right? Look, Theo! Charlotte isn’t dead!”

“I never said she died! I said she was sick because of me!”

Theo’s voice whined from inside. He was half-buried in bed with a puffy face, and when he glanced at her, he quickly hid again. His shoulders shook. He was crying again.

Stephanie furrowed her brow and pouted.
“I don’t get it. Humans are too hard to understand. Especially Theo.”

She giggled when Charlotte ruffled her hair.
“Theo’s just really worried. But you stayed with him the whole time, didn’t you? You did great, Stephanie.”

“Of course! Dragons are great at everything! I hope Theo gets up soon so we can all play again! I want to eat roasted sweet potatoes with Ilia and Mia again! And turkey! It was so good!”

With an excited smile, Stephanie followed Charlotte, clutching her skirt as they walked over to Theo’s bed. Charlotte carefully laid down beside Theo, and Stephanie climbed in too.

Theo sniffled.
“It hurts to see him cry like this. Oh no, I think I might get sick again.”

“Sniff! Theo no cry!”

Charlotte gently looked down at Theo, who had his eyes covered and lips pushed out in a pout. She patted his tiny back. He was just a little boy—handling fear must have been so hard for him.

There were many things Charlotte had to take care of—checking on Ilia and Mia, talking to their families, making sure the kids weren’t traumatized. She also needed to deal with Count Solovis, who she’d heard was being held somewhere. Yes, she remembered seeing him before she collapsed—Cassius had said he would feed the Count to the monsters, but now wasn’t the time for that.

They were already on thin ice with the emperor. With war against the monsters nearing, they couldn’t afford more enemies.  Soldiers were training in the forest, but they couldn’t predict how many monsters would come through the gate.

They had Lorencia to help close it—but could that woman really do her part? She seemed so clueless. At least Baroness Rubella had assigned people to secretly watch Lorencia and Janice.

But for now, none of that was more important than comforting Theo.

“I’m fine, Theo. See? Completely okay.”

Theo peeked up at her with swollen eyes.
“I’ll never get sick because of you two. Never.”

“I-I didn’t say you’d die…”

She stroked his little face as he mumbled.
“That was Stephanie’s fault.”

“Haha, really? Well, see? I’m right here, alive and healthy. Let’s stop crying now. Your face is so puffy, Ilia and Mia might not even recognize you!”

Theo scrubbed his face and buried his head in her chest. Stephanie clung to her too.

She could feel their warmth, their soft breathing. If her power ever cost her life, she hoped it wouldn’t happen in a way that left these children scarred.

Theo rubbed his face on her again.
“Don’t get sick, Charlotte… not because of me…”

“I won’t, I promise.”

She gently stroked his back.

“Humans are too fragile. Stephanie will protect you.”

“Thank you, Stephanie.”
She stroked Stephanie’s back too.

She could hear the kids’ sleepy breaths.

“Like Stephanie said, let’s invite Mia and Ilia and roast sweet potatoes again. We’ll ask Cassius to roast turkey too. Doesn’t that sound delicious?”

“…Yeah. I’d love that,” Theo mumbled.

“And we can roast potatoes, eggplant—eggplant is so tasty when roasted! Even pumpkin—”

“Yuck! No pumpkin!”

Theo sat up with a puff of air.

“Oh come on, it’s really tasty. You’ll be surprised!”

“But…”

Theo rolled his eyes.

“Stephanie can eat anything! Stephanie’s not a baby like Theo!”

“I’m not a baby!”

The two kids bickered over Charlotte. She smiled. Kids could be hurt so easily, but they could heal just as fast. She rubbed their cheeks with the back of her hand.

She hoped she could protect them, Cassius, and the North—all the way to the end.

***

The Next Day

“It’s so good to see you well again,” said Baroness Rubella gently.

“I’m really glad you’re back,” Selua added with teary eyes.

“I heard you both did so much while I was gone. Rubella, thank you for looking after the kids—especially with everything that happened with Ilia and Mia.”

“Don’t thank me. The real villains are the ones who caused all this. Your family was so worried about your health.”

“Well, I’m fine now. So I want to get a few things done. First, I want to invite Ilia and Mia for another barbecue. Is that okay? And I’d like to meet their parents and apologize.”

“I’ll arrange it,” said Rubella.

“Thank you.”

Charlotte turned to Selua next. Selua looked a little nervous.

“What about the people I asked you to watch—Lorencia and Janice?”

“Janice is hard to track. They think she’s using some kind of magic. Lorencia hasn’t done much, but Janice is constantly going out.”

“Strange?”

“Yeah… sometimes her trail just vanishes. Like she disappears into thin air.”

“…That is strange. We need to dig deeper.”

“Yes, Duchess.”

“And look into Count Solovis too. I’m sure he’s tied to Janice somehow.”

Charlotte had no intention of letting them get away with hurting the children. They would pay—and more.