No...
No...
Almost instantly, he slammed both of his fists into the water in an attempt to contain the unbearable pain.
Though Adeline didn't even flinch or let out the tiniest moan, Theodore was feeling how much she was suffering.
The whole fountain turned red with Adeline's blood after Theodore pulled out the very thing that was stopping Adeline's bleeding to some extent.
Theodore wanted to see the progress of Adeline's healing. So he gritted through his pain and protruded the claw of his index finger. He cut the straps of Adeline's armor, took off the upper layer, and put it aside.
He then tore her cloth just enough to see the wound clearly.
"Oh god!" Theodore clasped his mouth in terror upon seeing the state of Adeline's wound. The cut in her chest was so large and bluish that Theodore's eyes were immediately filled with tears. He felt a sore lump in his throat and his stomach hurled badly.
Her wound was healing, but Theodore felt as if the time was moving too slowly. He felt as if the wound was taking too long to heal.
So Theodore closed his eyes and crossed his fingers. And he prayed to his father while sobbing silently, "Father, please look after my Adeline. Please heal her faster. I don't want to lose her. Please…" Theodore bent down and pressed his head against his hands and whispered, "Save her."
---
"Can't you see the pain that your son and daughter-in-law are going through? Can't you hear his prayer? Or have you gone blind and deaf for real?" The Goddess shouted to her husband in rage. "Why aren't you doing anything? Our daughter-in-law is dying down there!"
Her hair was floating behind her as if they were also furious at God. She gulped her tears and shouted again, "You said that you would look after Adeline and Theodore and asked me not to interfere. But here you are… resting under your tree! When are you going to save her? After she dies?"
God was sitting cross-legged under the shade of a huge Banyan tree in his own garden.
He glanced at his furious wife and replied in a calm tone as though he wasn't keeping up with the events happening on Earth, "I don't need to save her. Our son will."
---
Juniper was holding Edwin's head on her lap. Her palms were covered in his blood from the time when she tried to stop the blood that was gushing out like a flood.
Raphael had taken Joyce away from there so that she wouldn't see the state that her father was in.
Juniper was horrified to see the wound on her husband's chest. "What's wrong with Edwin?" she asked the High Priestess who was sweating in that winter.
"How did he get this wound? Is that dark witch not gone? Wasn't she taken by that beast?" Juniper asked question after question to Tabitha.
However, Tabitha was busy doing everything in her power to stop the bleeding.
So instead of her, another witch answered Juniper, "His Highness had taken our Queen's name before he became unconscious. So my guess is that something bad happened to the Queen. His Highness's life force is bonded with Her Majesty."
Juniper knew that the two of them were bonded in some way. But she didn't know that the bond was this severe. Edwin had never shared how he would get hurt exactly the same way Adeline would.
Juniper wiped her tears and asked that witch, "Why isn't he healing? Does it also have something to do with Adeline?"
No matter what Tabitha did, the wound wasn't closing, and even the bleeding wasn't stopping.
The other witch answered Juniper, "I think so." She furrowed her brows and stared at Edwin. He looked as though he only had a minute or so left to live, which meant that Adeline was also going through something similar.
Juniper lightly touched the cheek of her husband and silently prayed, "Is no one there to heal Adeline? Please someone… save her…"
---
Theodore opened his eyes hoping to see Adeline fully healed.
But her wound was far away from healing completely.
Theodore placed his hands on his knees and held his breath. His eyes were glued to Adeline's wound. He could even see the tissues in her heart regenerating. But for him, the speed at which she was healing felt too slow.
Every second felt like an hour to him.
Every second became torture for him.
He was running out of patience. He felt like flying to heaven and demanding the healing pill from his mother or demanding a blessing from his father. But at the same time, he was unable to leave Adeline's side. He was not even blinking in fear that something would happen to her when he blinked.
Theodore suddenly narrowed his eyes and focused on the tissues around Adeline's wound. He wasn't sure if it was his eyes or if her tissues weren't regenerating anymore.
"Prince Theodore," he heard Agnes's whisper and turned to look at her.
She was looking at him with teary eyes. She was trying to say something but the words refused to come out of her mouth.
Theodore glared at her and scolded her, "Agnes! Why did you stop? If both you and the fountain work together then maybe she will heal faster." He took a deep breath in and ordered her in a more polite voice, "Please continue with your spell."
But instead of continuing with the incantation, Agnes looked at Adeline's pale face. Agnes instantly covered her mouth with both of her palms. And she immediately burst into tears.
Arion had been observing Adeline very closely until now. But the moment Agnes started to cry, he could not bear to keep on looking. He turned away from the fountain and walked towards one corner of the garden.
Theodore's eyes were also filled with tears. But before they could roll down his cheeks, he wiped his tears and shook his head in denial.
"No… stop it, Agnes!" Theodore sniffled and held Adeline's hand.
He gently caressed Adeline's wet hair. He sniffled again and said, "She is healing. She will wake up soon. So, don't cry and make her worry about us. You know how worried she gets about everyone. So don't…"
Theodore aggressively wiped his tears again and held his breath in an attempt to stop the nasty tears that were not leaving him alone.
---
"I'm sorry! He is…" Tabitha clenched her teeth and struggled to complete her sentence. She inhaled through her mouth and then blurted out to Juniper, "He is no more."
"Wh-What?" Juniper stared at Tabitha and sat there unmoving like a statue. Warm tears rolled down both of her eyes but she still didn't make a sound nor did she make a movement.
She was not ready to accept that her husband had died… just like that…
More than that, she could not accept that the wife of the Devil would die so easily.
"Your Highness," Tabitha held Juniper's shoulder and shook her to prevent her from going into shock.
But instead, Juniper went into denial just like Theodore, "No, he's not! My husband is very much alive. He just… he just needs to wait until Adeline gets well."
Juniper frantically nodded her head and grabbed her husband's clothes, "Yes, all he needs is a little more time. He will be alright. Adeline will be alright. She is going to be okay. She is going to…"
Juniper rolled up her eyes and flopped backward. She lost her consciousness.
As the witches had predicted, she did go into shock by the news of her husband's death.
---
Inside Adeline and Theodore's room, a soft rattling noise could be heard.
It was coming from one of the drawers on Adeline's dressing table.
The rattling sound became louder and louder and louder… until it suddenly went silent.