Chapter 26
The Killing of Vanessa Richardson
After hearing the response about her character, Hans kept looking down and said,
I hope she will recover soon.
It surprised Benedict to see how calm Hans was after witnessing the gruesome state of Vanessa. After his peculiar entrance, he thought the boy had a weak stomach, but his demeanour took a very different turn as he ordered him to tell everything.
Hans said to him,
Mr Head Butler, I am hungry.
Benedict pointed at a servant stationed near him and ordered,
Go to the kitchen and ask them to prepare some snacks for the young Lord.
Then he turned to Hans and said,
Please follow me, young Lord.
He led the child to the living room where they had gathered previously. Hans didn't get the chance to see the mansion before, but this time, he thoroughly enjoyed the wall work and decor of the new home. It was as grand and beautiful as he could imagine, and one more time he felt thankful to Samwell for making them come back.
Soon, some light refreshments were brought to the table. Hans saw pastries and macaroons for the first time, and when he placed a spoonful of cake in his mouth, everyone there could see a visible happiness in his face. It was his first time tasting something like this. In the ghost Isles, all Sierra cooked was meat and meat and meat, so he never got to try anything like these. This was the day that Hans found out that he has a sweet tooth.
The chef who was waiting for his response got happy by seeing Hans’s giddying expression and excited legs that swung alternatively. He resolved himself to prepare more delicious things for him.
After a few hours, Sierra came back from Vanessa's room. Hans expected her to be fully well by now, but the expressions of others were betraying his expectation. He was fully confident in Sierra’s ability, and it was his sole reason to remain calm even he saw something a bit strange in the room, but at this point everything seemed unique to him.
When she was treating her, Hans had already toured the whole mansion and was excited to talk about things with his grandma, but the atmosphere did not warrant that. Aldrich looked like he had lost several years of her life and Sierra was full of sadness. Rudolf was angry that the situation which could not be dealt with. Hans wanted to enjoy his life here, but everyone was behaving like their world has ended.
He was far from understanding the feeling of loss since he did not know human relationships, so it was hard for him to figure out what was going on, but he knew it was not his place to say something. Head butler urged Hans to follow him to his room, but he wanted to understand why everyone was this sad so he stayed for a moment.
Aldrich cried in agony.
Now it looks like we have to let her go. I can't see her in more pain. She was fighting this for two years.
The tears that did not suit this knight kept coming out of his eyes. Sierra had no words for him. Losing a child was the most painful thing for a parent.She could understand what Aldrich was going through, but his situation was way cruller than hers. After all, her daughter was in torment, and there was nothing he could do except let her go.
Hans never saw her Grandma like this and everyone's disheartening mood was making the atmosphere more sullen. Hans could feel a pricking pain in his chest with his heart beating violently and not knowing why his eyes were welling up, too. The one thing he could tell was that this elevation in his heart rate was not because of the excitement he had felt while hunting.
Hans walked quickly to the sick girl room and opened the door with a bang. The sound attracted the attention of others. Hans’s eyes gleamed with light and he extended a hand while covering his nose with another.
He tightened his control over the mana around her and grabbed something from inside Vanessa. There was a lump of dense dark red mana inside around her heart, which was visible from his ManaVision. As Hans grasped that mana from the distance, Vanessa cried in pain.
Aldrich moved as fast as he could. He just talked about euthanizing her, but he was not ready to lose her. She was all he had. He grabbed Hans's shoulder to stop whatever he was doing. Hans was angry at this new emotion, which was pissing him off on a deep scale, and Aldrich’s meddling tipped the balance further. He turned his head back a little and shouted, "let go".
Hans did not direct his words at Aldrich, but the resisting lump of mana he was trying to pull. But the knight felt the immense chill, like if he hesitated a little, he would lose his hand. He instinctively pulled his hand back, and with a loud screech, Vanessa finally silenced.
Others arrive just a moment later and saw Aldrich on his knees. In front of them, Vanessa rested peacefully, but the pain was not the only thing she was missing. She rested breathless, and it was no big question whether she was alive or not. The servants also witnessed Hans killing Vanessa and started whispering.
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Rudolf had taught Hans from the beginning to deliver a swift death instead of letting the beasts suffer in pain. He was shivering on realising that Hans might have done it to end the child's sufferings, but this was a way out of the line.
He shouted furiously at Hans,
even if there was no hope for her, you had no right to kill her.
Hans, who was feeling relieved after the pain in his chest finally got subsided but Rudolf’s words angered him more, he shouted back with a voice louder than him,
What are you? A moron, I took out the thing which was causing her pain. Why would I kill her? It will only make grandma more sad.
His words snapped Aldrich out, and he hurriedly went by her daughter’s side. It was shallow, but there was a pulse in her. Sierra immediately cast another spell.
God’sGrace
This time, her body did not reject the spell, and it worked like it meant to be. Her wounds were healing at a visible pace and within a few moments, she turned normal. She was quite skinny, like her bones barely had any meat on it, but it was still a relief that it cured her from the suffering.
Hans looked at Rudolf and repeated his words,
MORON.
Rudolf did not refute his words and asked,
What did you do?
Hans showed a gooey stuff on his hand, which was condensed in a wobbling sphere.
I told you stupid grandpa; I took this thing out of her. It was eating her while her mana was fighting against it.
Suddenly, that gooey sphere was trying to break out of his control, so Hans focused the raw mana around him and crushed the gooey ball into smithereens. No one was paying attention to these two but the girl who was recovering vigour by the spell.
Sierra concluded,
It's good. Her vitals are normal, and circles are still intact. With some nourishment, she will be back to normal.
She felt relieved, and didn't listen to what Hans said, but hugged him tightly. Aldrich was their long-term acquaintance, and she didn't want him to feel the same pain she suffered after losing Sam. Hans didn't know what she was thinking, but he could feel she was no longer sad.
He asked her,
So you are not sad anymore, right?
Yes, my sweet boy, but you should tell before you act, understand?
Yes, then, can we eat more cake from before? It is the best thing I ate till now. It is so sweet, like berries with a smooth…
She stopped him and said,
Yes yes, let's eat that.
Hans became happy and dragged her out of the sad room to the place where he had eaten sweets. the servants started gossiping about their young Lord succeeding in curing something that the greatest healer Sierra failed. it was not an accurate thing that transpired, but they didn't care for details.
This was bound to be excellent gossip material among the commoners, which was something that Hans had to worry about in the future. Some servants still remained in Vanessa's room and the rest of them followed Hans to know what exactly happened. Sierra asked Hans while he was happily waiting for the cake to be brought.
What happened back there?
Hans asked dumbfoundedly.
You didn't see with ManaVision.
The chief Butler interrupted them in surprise. He didn't know that he shouted those words,
MANAVISION,
Hans looked at him and said,
Are you a mage too, Mr Butler?
No, no young Lord, isn't it a mana technique used by world mages(8 circle). You, you are not a world mage, are you? It is impossible even in Madaruka.
Rudolf replied to the astounded Benedict,
No, he is not. That would be a world defying nonsense.
Hans turned to Sierra, who was surprised for a different reason. Hans had used ManaVision, but her ManaVision couldn't see anything like Hans's. He replied to her,
There was something inside her that was eating up her mana, and when you tried to heal her, your mana burned it, but that thing started eating it too. So I just plucked that thing out and blew it up.
Hans' words sounded like it was no big deal for him and people are exaggerating things, but the rest of them knew how much of a strange thing Hans had done. Aldrich kneeled in front of Hans and bowed with head on the ground. It was very disgraceful for him as a dominion knight, but he didn't care. The child in front of him was akin to his god, who saved her daughter.
Hans said to Aldrich,
You are supposed to be my guardian. My gramps will say I have no manners if you keep doing this.
Rudolf got an itch on his forehead. He sighed and said,
Oh, let it go squeaky.
How can I, a mannerless brat will let it go? It would conflict with the words of mighty Rudolf Alastor.
The atmosphere became light because Hans was making their lord speechless and the words and tone from the child were way cuter to ignore. Sierra asked Aldrich to lift his head up and said to him,
It's a servant’s duty to serve their lord, and it's their lord’s protecting them.
She said these words for Hans to hear, which he totally ignored because he was busy stuffing himself with macaroons and after realising everyone looking at him, he turned to her, asking if she said something. No one replied but chuckling sounds were coming from everywhere.
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