Thirty minutes later, a sliver of normalcy had returned.

The room had been arranged, well as much as could be salvaged. Ray, Kai and Leon were still unconscious, but now they were all laid on the bed while Anna took a chair beside them. Behind her was Azul, and standing by her right was Bella with a plate of strawberries.

Anna’s spirits didn’t even brighten when she saw the strawberries. Instead, she let out a heavy sigh, her shoulders slumping forward. Once upon a time she would have eagerly munched on the red fruits but now, she feared she’d throw up if she tried to eat it.

"Shall I take Leon outside?" Azul asked.

Anna didn’t reply immediately. She knew what he was asking.

"If you do, what’ll happen?" She asked.

Azul moved out and stared down at Leon with an icy glower. Leon looked terrible, his skin pale and his hair almost blanched of all color. Not to mention the way it kept phasing in and out of existence, its edges glitching. Anyone could see that his corruption was getting worse by the second.

"He’ll die." Azul didn’t mince words. "He will not be missed."

Anna clenched her fist.

While she agreed with Azul, Leon would in fact die if she didn’t do anything, the second half of his statement was wrong.

Leon will be missed.

That was the problem. As much as Leon was a terrible husband, he was an excellent General. His men love him. Even the council gladly jumped in the chance to keep him alive because of how indispensable he is to the kingdom.

Anna knew, deep down, that if Leon wasn’t locked away, Tristan would have been discovered much faster.

At the thought of Tristan, her heart hardened and disgust rose in her throat. Don’t think about him at all.

But with the disgust came guilt. She was the one that ordered Leon locked up. It was by her doing.

"He’ll he missed," Anna confessed with a soft sigh.

Azul and Bella both turned to her, bewildered looks on their face.

"Not by me," she clarified. "My sister will miss him if she wakes up and he’s dead."

Azul nodded. "If she wakes up."

Anna didn’t want to think too much on his words, or the double edged meaning behind them. She didn’t want to entertain the thought that he could harm Lotus.

Instead, she thought about the plot. Princsss Lotus was the rightful female lead. Princess Orchid was the villainess. That was the plot. If Princess Lotus didn’t end up in coma, she would have married Leon. And Leon loves her too, so there’s that.

Anna still didn’t know what happened to Princess Lotus that lead to her coma. Her memories of it were all fuzzy, and even fuzzier the harder she tried to think about it.

If Princess Orchid put her in coma, then I’m sure I can do something about it.

Clearing her throat, Anna stretched out her hands and let her yellow spores flow. By now she’s was better at controlling them. But the battle with the Empath had taken a toll on her, turning her spores a pale and diluted yellow. Her arms grew tired in seconds.

"I’ll help!" Bella rushed forward, holding up both of Anna’s hands. "Is this okay?"

"Thank you Bella. It’s perfect."

"You can stop if it’s too much. They won’t die." Azul said.

Anna glanced at Kai and Ray. She thought about what a first time exposure to nanites would do to them. She couldnt risk it at all. So she shook her head and kept going.

A few minutes later, her spores stopped flowing.

Azul grabbed the glass of medicated water waiting on the table and gently doused her with it from head to toe. Then he took a strawberry and held it to her lips.

"You’re exhausted. You need to eat and rest, we’ll continue this tomorrow." He said.

Anna shook her head, refusing the strawberry. "I can’t. If I wait till tomorrow then—"

"Cutie?"

Anna gasped, turning to bed. Kai sat up, his eyes unfocused as he rubbed the back of his head and winced.

"Kai!" She cried out, launching herself into his arms.

He easily caught her, laughing to himself.

"You’re alright! Do you feel strange? Anything weird?"

He held her shoulders and pulled her back, his eyes scanning her face. "What happened here?"

Tears rushed to her eyes as she recalled everything. "Tristan...Empath. He’s gone."

Kai looked at Azul, then back at Anna. "Fuck."

"Yeah..."

"He fooled us all. I never would have...but how?"

"I noticed something," Ray sat up, his face grim and pale.

"You what?!" Kai rounded on him, grabbing him by his collar and yanking him over. Anna stepped to the side to avoid being hit. "Why didn’t you say anything?!"

"Calm down. I noticed he didn’t have any thoughts, that was all. He wasn’t thinking, not even about nothing."

"Huh?! How does a person not think about nothing?! That makes no sense!"

Ray smacked Kai’s hands off and immediately flapped his wings, moving to the other end of the room. With a loud huff, he smoothed his collar and folded his arms. "If you would let me explain!"

"Well go on!"

Ray glanced at Anna. His brows drew in together and his eyes clouded. "I thought it was strange at first, but there was nothing else. I didn’t sense any malice or bad intentions from him. He was...like an inanimate object. And then at the restaurant he—"

"That’s enough." Anna said. She pulled herself off the bed and rose to her feet. "I don’t want to hear anything about him anymore. Not his name. Not even a thought of his name. Am I clear?"

"Did something happen?" Kai asked, his eyes narrow, his aura turning dark and murderous. "Cutie, I swear, if he—"

"Am I clear, Kai?" Anna grit out, her eyes burning black with anger. Her spores, which were dimmed and low, suddenly flared up, turning a bright crimson.

Everyone in the room immediately nodded.

"Good." Anna said, returning her spores to pink. "Kai, can my sister heal corruption?"

Confused, he nodded. "Yes. It’s rumored that her healing abilities might be much greater compared to yours."

"Good. Once we get back to the palace, I’ll wake her up," her eyes cut to Leon and hardened. "She’ll take over his healing."

"Your highness," Azul touched her shoulder, making her turn to him. "That is not advised. The council itself mandated you to heal Leon for six months. There’s less than five months left. If you back off now, you will be punished. Severely."

Anna inhaled deeply, jutting her chin out. "I know that. I’m still going to wake my sister."

"You know, you can let me eat the council." Kai offered.

"Absolutely not!" Azul snapped.

"My parents are on the council, Kai. I don’t wish any harm to them. And doing so will make you guilty of treason, I can’t lose you either."

Ray felt hurt listening to that. She’s scared of losing him, that means she likes him. Not me.

Kai grinned, satisfied. He’d never admit out loud that he liked her worrying about him.

Azul hid his reactions behind a polished mask of calm.

Bella stared at the strawberries like they were the most interesting thing in the world, while wondering if she was intruding on a private matter.

"Your h-highness..." she spoke up softly, her cheeks flaming red with embarrassment. "I don’t think it’s okay for me to hear all of this,"

"It’s fine, Bella. I know you won’t betray me."

Bella’s heart felt all warm and fuzzy and she smiled to herself. She trusts me! My head is safe!

Meanwhile, Anna faced her husbands.

"There’s one more thing—" she started to say, but a deep groan cut her off.

In a flash, Ray was by Anna’s left side. Kai rushed to her right, and Azul stood behind them like a massive wall of muscle.

Leon sat up, looked around him, his eyes lingering on Azul before slowly falling on Anna. "Why are you all looking at me like that?" He cocked a brow.

Anna swallowed her anger. "Leon. Good morning. Did you enjoy your beauty sleep?" She asked. It was a great effort to look at him without recalling how he got hard against her body. Her insides twisted with repulsion, but she pinned her eyes on his face.

I’m not scared of you. I’ve handled monsters worse than you, Leon. I’ve experienced worse than a man’s filthy penis touching me. Fuck you.

Her internal thoughts got flooded with spite, giving her the courage to look him in the eye.

"With the army’s acting General out of commission, you shall be reinstated as the General. Your prison sentence is also called off."

Leon looked around at the thrashed room. "Why? Where’s Tristan?"

"Do not mention that name if you value your tongue present in your mouth, General." Azul spat coldly.

Leon raised both brows. "Okay. What the hell is going on here?"

Anna sighed. "You’ll figure it out in time. In the meantime, as per doctors orders, I will continue healing you thrice a day for fourteen days. After which your darling Lotus will be awake and take over."

At the mention of Lotus, Leon’s face changed. He got to his feet, walked over to Anna and glared down at her.

"What are you planning this time?" He growled.

Anna met his eyes defiantly. She knew he’d never hurt her, never. Not with Azul behind her. Not with Kai ready to bite his head off. Not with Ray holding her hand, ready to lift her out of harms way at any moment.

For the first time in a long time, Anna felt safe. Protected.

"Nothing," she smirked. "I’m fed up of seeing your ugly face."

Leon chuckled. "You need to work on your insults, Princess. Besides, you were the one who was desperate to heal me, desperate enough that you spared me from execution. So here’s what’ll happen."

Anna’s breath hitched and she grabbed Ray’s hand tightly.

"You will continue with the six month arrangement whether you like it or not. And you seem to forget, Princess, we owe the kindgom an heir. It’s time we start working on our affinity."