("I wonder how he'll react.") Elizabeth thought to herself. She finished peeling the fruit and started slicing and plating it on a nearby platter.
She handed it over to and he took it with his remaining hand. He picked up a slice. The flesh was whiter than any apple he had ever seen and the taste was oddly refreshing and closer to a melon than apple.
He looked at the hand before him and sighed.
"It feels like I've been on a bad streak of luck recently." He said as he looked at it.
It was unmistakable his.
"Bad luck wasn't the reason for losing that arm. It was carelessness." Elizabeth responded. She brought her hand over to it and picked it up as casually as a fruit.
She began examining it before putting it back down.
"After all, you did use that close-quarters fireball technique, didn't you?"
"I guess I did." He took another slice of the fruit and stared blankly before him. "Though, calling it a technique is a bit of a stretch."
"(He's taking this news pretty well…) Are you not mad? I thought you would have asked why I didn't help."
He looked at the bandages wrapped around his former hand.
"I mean, it makes sense logically. It'd probably be suspicious if an arm as damaged as mine was healed by you. My arm is probably a smaller price to pay than whatever scrutiny you'd come under for doing something like that. Besides having one arm doesn't mean I can't fight anymore."
He turned to Elizabeth and saw her face filled with shock before she quickly fixed it.
"Elizabeth?"
She put her hand on her face and started rubbing her eyes.
"I was honestly expecting you to throw a tantrum or something or at least reflect on your recklessness."
He wasn't sure what she was going on about.
"I'm sorry Elizabeth, but when it comes to a life and death fight, I'll do whatever it takes to walk away alive, even if it doesn't last long."
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"Shut up and stop trying to justify what you did."
She pinched his leg to alleviate the annoyance she was feeling right now.
He retracted his foot and yelped in pain.
"Ow, what the hell was that for? Wasn't losing a hand good enough punishment."
"You idiot, take that gauze off."
"What do me- Hey stop that!"
She grabbed his arm and quickly started ripping off the gauze.
"Hey, stop, I'm not ready to see it… what?"
She finally took it all off and he saw what lay under it. It was a hand. Now that he moved it, he realized the gauze had caused his hand to go numb which was the weird feeling he had under there. But this hand was better than ever. No bones were sticking nor was the flesh underneath showing.
"I went through all of that trouble to show off why you shouldn't be careless and yet you took it in stride. You're more of a danger to yourself than any enemy."
She commented while pouting.
"What's going on? I know that's my hand, so why do I have anyone?"
"I regenerated it. Do you really think my healing isn't powerful enough to do such a thing? As I've said before, as long as your brain isn't severely damaged and you're still alive, I can practically heal you from anything."
"Oh…cool"
"(This little sod) cool? That's all you have to say to that?" She had quickly gone from annoyed to angry with those two words.
"I mean, I appreciate it but you have shown everyone your ability, so I can't be that glad."
Elizabeth stopped and calmed herself.
"Don't worry about that, I was able to trick so it wasn't too much of a big deal."
Tibaut looked confused by what she was saying.
"What do you mean? Wait so why is my hand cut off? Was it easier to heal that way?"
"No, no, I did it simply to get a reaction out of you. I thought this would be a sobering moment for you but I underestimated how thick-headed you were."
"So you cut my hand only to throw it in front of me? That's it!?"
"I am sure that is what I just said."
Tibaut fell back into his bed unsure how to react to this.
"So how are you tricking them into believing this is normal? I'm pretty sure Grace said a potion wouldn't heal this."
"She was used to somewhat cheap potions so the idea that the Lord here would provide you with his potions didn't exactly inspire confidence in her."
"Wait, he has potions that can heal a hand that messed up."
"Well, yes but I suppose it'd be better if I told you what happened. But you really do need to stop that habit of yours."
"What habit?"
"Doing irreparable damage to your body. I'm surprised you still had all your limbs on your body when I met you."
"It wasn't even like that, I just used it because they were strong opponents."
"Sacrificing a limb shouldn't be a thought that comes into your head when you fight a strong opponent. Going into a fight ready to throw away a limb is the same as giving it away."
"Come on, don't be like that, it just means they were strong."
She punched him on the shoulder and for a split second he thought he saw his family in heaven.
"AAAAHHHAHH" He crumpled on the bed and rolled over in pain.
"That's it. I'm not letting you fight again until you learn how to do so without sacrificing one of your limbs."
She sounded finished with Tibaut's recklessness.
Tibaut weakly whimpered while rubbing his shoulder and muttered "whatever" with tears in his eyes.