“Master August!”
August had risen with the dawn and was getting dressed when his butler burst into the room in a panic, not even bothering to knock.
“What’s wrong?!”
The usually calm butler’s face was paler than he had ever seen, the man overcome with grief.
“Please come quickly! His Highness Prince Gravis is here! …Master Leorino is very badly injured and needs Madame Maia’s Power!”
“…What?”
August immediately halted what he had been doing and knocked on the door leading to Maia’s room. She must have still been asleep. The loud noise roused her.
“Yes, dear…?”
“Maia, please come. Leorino and His Highness are here. Leorino is injured. He needs your Power.”
Maia leaped out of bed. She donned a thick winter coat over her nightgown and held out her hand to her husband.
“I’m too slow on my own, so please carry me.”
“Hold on.”
Maia was even smaller than Leorino, slender and light as a twig. August may have been approaching old age, but even he was able to carry Maia with ease.
August was led by the butler as they sped through the castle.
“Where are His Highness and Leorino?!”
“In Leorino’s bedroom! I have already summoned Dr. Willy.”
“Call Auriano, too!”
August ran at a speed that belied his age and burst into the bedroom with Maia in his arms.
“Leorino?!”
He was hidden behind Gravis’s large body, but August could see Leorino’s platinum hair fanned out on the bed. He rushed to his side.
The moment they beheld his body, Maia let out a bloodcurdling scream.
“No!”
“Leorino…!”
August was speechless.
Leorino appeared virtually lifeless. Nothing about his appearance suggested a living human being.
Maia rolled out of August’s arms and crawled over to Leorino.
The beloved youngest son of the margrave and his wife lay on his bed, his face white, perfectly still.
His whole body was covered in blood and mud.
“Arghhhhh… Ahhhh. Rino, Leorino…”
Sasha spoke to the butler in a low voice while holding Leorino’s head and stomach. “Where’s Dr. Willy?!”
“He resides in the castle. He will arrive shortly!”
“Madame Maia, please pour your Power into Lord Leorino as you did that day. His heart won’t last much longer!”
Shedding tears, Maia took Leorino’s hand and pressed it against her forehead. When she noticed that his hand was stained with blood and that the nails on his pinkie and ring fingers were gone, Maia released another horrified shriek.
August also looked at Leorino’s hand and found himself unable to say anything at all. This was how he learned his son had been tortured.
“Oh… Oh my god, my baby… What have they done to you…?”
“Madame Maia, please be strong! If we lose you now, Lord Leorino will not survive!”
“Who could do such a terrible thing to my child… God…” Maia was so distraught that she nearly collapsed.
“Maia, please! Stay with us!”
August steadied Maia and gave her a firm shake. Maia nodded bravely even as tears streamed down her cheeks. She took Leorino’s hand and placed it against her forehead as if in prayer, and began to pour her Power into it.
That was when Auriano burst into the room. He was so horrified at the sight of Leorino that he nearly collapsed, just like his parents.
“Who…who did this to Leorino…?!”
No one responded to Auriano’s wail echoing through the room. They were all desperate to save Leorino.
Sasha instructed the men to remove Leorino’s wet clothes. As Gravis and Auriano carefully lifted Leorino’s wounded body, August cut his clothing with his dagger.
Leorino’s body, now fully exposed, bore marks, likely from being punched or kicked, spreading across his chest. Blood still trickled from the stab wound in his abdomen. The bleeding from the side of his head had not stopped either.
Clutching her son’s hand, Maia began to sob.
Remnants of horrible violence covered Leorino’s body. It was not a sight a woman should be forced to behold.
Sasha and Willy cleaned the wounds in Leorino’s head and abdomen, tended to his fingers, and treated him to the best of their ability. There was nothing they could do about his broken ribs now.
Leorino’s body was chilled to the bone.
Heated stones were prepared, and firewood was stoked in the fireplace. After wiping the dirt from his body with a cloth dipped in warm water and wrapping him in clean bandages, Leorino was laid down on a fur-lined bed and the hot stones were placed around his body.
Maia held Leorino’s hand the entire time, hanging her head as if in prayer, murmuring in a hoarse voice.
“Wh-who could do something so awful to my son…?”
Gravis replied quietly. “Last night, while he was in the Brungwurt estate in the royal capital, he was kidnapped by the enemy’s henchman.”
“…From our estate? How could that be?”
“A man from a merchant family who frequented the estate was the kidnapper. That man possessed the same gift as me, and took Leorino to Zweilink.”
The entire Cassieux family was shocked.
It must have been Erina who had invited the merchant into their home.
“Erina… No, she would never do such a thing.”
When Auriano denied his wife’s involvement, Gravis met his gaze and nodded.
“Your wife is equally a victim. They were almost kidnapped together, but Leorino protected her.”
And this was the result?
Auriano was stunned speechless.
But even though he wanted to hear more about what had happened, Gravis made no further eye contact with anyone.
He only kept silently rubbing Leorino’s uninjured hand.
By the time the two doctors had done all they could, it had been nearly an hour since Leorino had been brought to Brungwurt.
More wood was actively added to the fireplace, turning the room hot. The two doctors were sweating despite the season.
“…His body temperature may be improving a little,” the doctor said, but Leorino’s face was still sheet-white. His lips were purple.
He had lost both blood and body heat.
Raising his temperature too quickly would also prove dangerous. Sasha knew he had to take measures to raise it gradually, even if it frustrated him to no end.
“Now, as long as his heart keeps beating…once he regains consciousness, he will live. Until then, we must keep him in this state…”
Listening to the doctors’ words, Gravis continued to stroke Leorino’s hand.
He stroked it over and over, as if attempting to warm him up. The warmth returning to Leorino’s cold body ignited the fire of hope in Gravis’s despair-chilled heart.
But the time had come for Gravis to return to the battlefield.
Sasha could tell.
“…Sir, you should be heading back.” Sasha addressed Gravis.
He intended to inform everyone present why Gravis had to leave when his significant other was on the brink of death.
“…I know. Thank you, Sasha.”
Gravis’s complexion was also pale as a dead man’s, giving him a ghastly appearance.
Sasha did not miss the slight sway in Gravis’s muscular body as he rose from the bed.
“Your Excellency…I realize you must go, but I’m concerned about your wellbeing.”
“…I’ll be fine.”
Sasha was about to say something when Gravis stopped him with his hand.
Gravis stood in front of Leorino’s family.
“Lord August, Madame Maia, I must return to the front. The battle against the Gdaniraque army has already begun at Zweilink.”
August bowed his head in silence. He understood the weight of responsibility of a man in charge of countless lives.
“…I’m sorry I failed to protect Leorino, Madame Maia.”
Maia’s eyes, red and swollen from crying, glared at Gravis with reproach.
Maia, of course, understood Gravis’s position. If anything, Leorino’s kidnapping was caused by an oversight of the Cassieux family.
And yet, Gravis still apologized to Maia.
In doing so, he became the emotional outlet for a mother whose son had been tortured and who was fighting for his life.
“Zweilink will soon be in full-scale combat. I will not be able to return here until the battle against Gdaniraque forces is over… Please take care of Leorino.”
Until then, please keep Leorino alive.
The man’s unspoken words were heard by everyone present.
At that moment, Auriano spoke up.