Chapter 63. A Scar
"I am not crying, this is sweat." Lilly forced a smile, a smile Kai had only seen once before, when her father left three years ago. Though she had only been four, the moment triggered the memory.
"Don’t cry..." She ignored her mother’s blatant lie. She wasn’t a toddler to fall for it.
Her own tears fell with vengeance, her sobs reverberating through the room.
"Mother, finish him..." Alaric roared.
He felt restless seeing the little girl like that, a pang in his chest.
He had caused this.
Caused despair for a regular family.
A small, almost insignificant error had now snowballed into a threat to their lives.
Raika couldn’t get any information from Crow, the latter trying to burn her with the black flames, yet it was for naught.
The Amaterasu Clan was wiped out by the Raijin Clan after all, lightning its natural nemesis.
Lightning, a rapidly changing electrical discharge lasts only microseconds to milliseconds. When hellflames attach to it, they are extinguished almost immediately, as their fuel, the lightning itself, is fleeting.
No matter how many flames Crow threw at her, they barely flickered before seemingly extinguishing.
"You will explain later..." Thunder clapped in the small room as Raika conjured a lightning snake above her head, Crow’s eyes widening in fear.
"No..."
The snake fell, pain he had never felt before pulsing through his body. He foamed at the mouth, darkness filling his vision as his brain turned off all motor functions, his spinal cord severely damaged by Raika’s targeted attack.
He didn’t even get the chance to burst the poison hidden in his mouth.
Meant to kill himself if his identity was ever exposed.
He fell with a thud, the black flames extinguishing from his form.
Raika looked at him, a faint frown tugging at her lips, curiosity flickering in her eyes.
Alaric breathed a sigh of relief, the threat had been neutralized.
"See, the Thunder Prin..." Lilly’s voice choked as she felt a sharp pain in her chest, blood climbing up her throat.
"No..." Alaric saw it happen, fast, sudden, precise.
An earth spike rose from the tiles, instantly impaling the two.
Raika turned, lightning striking the base of the spike.
Her brows creased in rage.
Someone had gotten an attack in, in her presence.
How?
When?
Like a raging thunderstorm, lightning fell consecutively upon the spot, her red-golden eyes glowing a subtle hue.
She looked to the ground, sure the culprit was underground, her thermal vision catching a figure diving deeper underground.
"No, you don’t..." The rain of lightning intensified, breaking the tiles apart.
Meanwhile, Alaric had rushed to Lilly’s side, the latter’s gaze absent, her skin cold to the touch, her breaths so shallow they were barely noticeable.
"Mommy..." Kai cried out as she noticed her mother’s state, unaware of her own.
"No..." Alaric froze as he noticed the seven-year-old’s condition.
The tip of the spike had connected her to her mother, luckily penetrating only her shoulder, her complexion pale as blood trickled down like rushing rivers.
"... It hit her subclavian artery." Alaric’s pupils dilated, calmness quickly replacing the shock.
If he acted with emotion, he could make the situation worse. He had to calm his nerves and save the girl before she bled out.
Under normal circumstances, she should have been in intense pain, yet she felt nothing, her tear-clouded eyes staring at the spike in her mother’s chest.
"Mom..." She trembled visibly, her little hands shaking as she tightened her embrace, the spike digging further in.
"..." Alaric moved quickly. He tore off the towel around him, ignoring the shamefulness of his nakedness.
With it, he tied the wound to lessen the flow of blood.
"MOM..." Kai felt nothing, not even Alaric’s first aid. Her voice, though low, seemed louder than the crackling thunder digging through stone.
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"Don’t cry..." Lilly spoke, her voice barely a whisper, blood trickling down her lips.
"K-Kai..." Her trembling hand rose, cupping her daughter’s cheek.
"I am sorry..." Kai’s eyes widened at her mother’s words.
Sorry? Sorry for what?
Her little mind couldn’t comprehend what her mother meant.
She didn’t know her mother was apologizing for lacking the courage to stand against the nobility, even when she knew it would bring trouble.
"Don’t speak, Miss Lilly..." Alaric said from the side, his heart aching at her state. He was sure each syllable was excruciating, yet she still tried to speak one last time to her daughter.
"..." She turned to him, her vision blurry. Maybe her proximity to death, or simply his blue hair, made her see the illusion of her husband.
With a faint smile, she muttered, "Please, take care of her..." The light in her eyes faded.
Her hand slipping from Kai’s cheek.
"L...Lilly..." Alaric’s heart sank, her last words heavier than the weight of a mountain pressing against his chest.
Her body went limp, collapsing onto Kai’s small frame.
"No..." Kai’s trembling voice broke.
Already behind Lilly, Alaric caught her before she completely fell onto her daughter, pulling her body back.
He then turned his attention to Kai, the girl already unconscious, her body lying limp against the spike.
"No..." He rushed to her side. Her weight had pushed the spike further into her shoulder.
He pulled her off the spike and quickly uncorked a vial, pouring its contents over the wound before she could lose more blood.
His face and body covered in the little girl’s blood.
The wound closed rather slowly, though the bleeding had stopped.
He emptied vial after vial, low-rank potions, but he hoped quantity could substitute for quality.
The wound closed, leaving a gruesome crater-like scar on her shoulder. The potions were able to repair her blood vessels, but the hole in her flesh could only be crudely patched.
"..." He watched the little girl’s pale complexion, her breaths shallow. She was weak, but surely alive.
A clear liquid fell onto her face.
Alaric looked up for its source.
He hadn’t realized it, but tears had fallen from his eyes.
His old body wouldn’t have allowed him to cry, but he was a child now, the guilt of what had just transpired forcing the tears from his eyes.