Chapter 398: Departure from Arven

Elizabeth, Aria, and Ester waited in front of the mansion’s main entrance, surrounded by luggage, boxes of documents, and two servants who had already stopped pretending they were not listening to the conversation. The carriage to Mirath had been ready for almost half an hour. The horses had been fed, the guards positioned, and every formal farewell completed.

Only Damon was missing.

Elizabeth checked the small watch strapped to her wrist and then looked toward the upper-floor windows.

"He is late."

Aria sat on top of one of the trunks, eating the last honey starfruit she had found in the kitchen.

"Maybe he cannot walk."

Ester crossed her arms.

"Being able to walk stopped being guaranteed around the third hour."

Elizabeth slowly turned her face toward her.

"You counted?"

"I did not need to. The wall of my room counted for me."

One of the servants lowered his head to hide a smile. The other pretended to inspect the latch of a box that was already closed.

Aria bit off another piece of fruit.

"My room was on the opposite side of the corridor, and even I heard Morgana screaming his name."

"Everyone heard," Elizabeth replied. "I believe part of the city heard."

"The guards on the eastern wall asked whether the Heart had pulsed again," Ester added.

Aria stopped chewing.

"Seriously?"

"They sent two men to inspect the mines."

Elizabeth closed her eyes for a moment.

"Please tell me someone stopped them before they mobilized the rest of the garrison."

"Ingrivid explained that the vibration was coming from the mansion."

Aria choked on the fruit and began laughing.

"She said it like that?"

"No. She said the Duchess was dealing with a private matter and that any guard who went upstairs to the bedroom would lose his position."

"That probably confirmed everything."

"It confirmed far more than necessary," Elizabeth said.

The previous night should have been peaceful. After a month involving conspiracies, kidnapped children, ancient roots, and an enemy duchess, everyone had expected to finally sleep without the ground trembling or an agent crashing through a window.

No one had managed it.

At first, the sounds had been discreet. A few footsteps, a door closing, and something heavy being pushed against the wall. Aria assumed Damon and Morgana were merely talking about their farewell. Elizabeth had made no comment. Ester had tried to continue reviewing the medical instructions she intended to give Damon during the journey.

Then the bed began striking the wall.

Slowly at first.

Then fast enough to drag the furniture across the room.

"I truly thought the headboard was going to break," Aria commented.

"It did," Ester replied.

Aria looked at her.

"How do you know?"

"I heard the wood split."

Elizabeth maintained a controlled expression, but pressed her lips together.

"Perhaps it was another piece of furniture."

"After the headboard, it was the table."

"How do you know it was the table?"

"Because Morgana said, ’Not on the table, the documents are there.’"

Aria nearly fell from the trunk from laughing so hard.

Elizabeth released a long breath and looked toward the servants.

"You can take the boxes to the carriage."

Both obeyed quickly, clearly frustrated at missing part of the conversation.

Once only the three women remained, Aria leaned closer.

"Do you think they slept at any point?"

"No," Elizabeth and Ester answered simultaneously.

Aria raised her eyebrows.

"Not at all?"

Ester pulled a small notebook from her bag.

"Around the second hour, there were seven minutes of silence."

"Maybe they slept."

"Morgana was drinking water."

Aria started laughing again.

"You wrote it down?"

"I was trying to determine when I would need to intervene to prevent Damon from dying."

Elizabeth looked at the notebook.

"And what was your conclusion?"

"Around the fifth hour."

"Why did you not intervene?"

Ester put the notebook away.

"I knocked on the door."

Aria immediately became interested.

"And what happened?"

"Morgana told me to go away."

"And Damon?"

"He said he was fine."

Elizabeth frowned.

"Did he manage to form an entire sentence?"

"No."

Aria held her stomach, laughing.

"Then how do you know that was what he said?"

"I recognized two words between the moans."

Elizabeth rubbed a hand over her face.

"I would have preferred not to ask."

Aria wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and returned to eating.

"I just do not understand how they managed to continue for so long. Damon nearly died three times this month. His arm is still marked, his meridians are recovering, and Ester prohibited any excessive effort."

Ester nodded.

"He ignored every recommendation."

"That was expected."

"What was unexpected was Morgana surviving the warnings I gave her."

Elizabeth looked toward the windows again.

"She spent an entire month under pressure, took control of a duchy, faced the Council, and imprisoned Seraphine. Perhaps she needed to release some tension."

Aria pointed the fruit at her.

"She released plenty."

"You did not need to phrase it that way."

"You heard the same thing I did."

Elizabeth did not deny it.

The first major problem happened near midnight, when a maid ran through the corridor believing Morgana was being attacked. Ingrivid intercepted the woman before she could call the guards. After listening behind the door for several seconds, the knight understood the situation, became completely still, and ordered everyone to stay away from that floor.

Two hours later, a lamp fell.

During the fourth hour, something broke near the window.

During the sixth, Morgana apparently demanded that Damon not stop.

When the sun rose, the room finally became silent.

"Maybe he escaped through the window," Aria suggested.

"We are on the third floor," Elizabeth said.

"That has never stopped Damon."

Ester watched the mansion’s entrance.

"If he jumped from the window after that night, I will leave him on the ground."

Elizabeth checked the time again.

"We should leave before noon. The road to the first outpost becomes difficult after the rain."

"We can send someone to get him," Aria said.

"No one is entering that room," Ester replied.

"You are a doctor."

"Exactly."

Aria finished the starfruit and licked the juice from her fingers.

"Maybe Morgana drained the Heavenly Ice Body."

Elizabeth looked at her.

"That is not how it works."

"Are you certain?"

"No."

"Then perhaps it does."

Ester remained serious.

"His body continuously produces cold, but it still depends on physical endurance, blood circulation, and vital energy."

Aria leaned toward her.

"So sex can kill Damon?"

"Any activity can kill Damon when he decides to perform it in the stupidest possible way."

"That answer was strangely broad."

"It was intentional."

Elizabeth heard footsteps from inside the mansion and turned toward the door.

"Finally."

Damon appeared in the corridor.

The three women fell silent.

He walked slowly, using one hand to support himself against the wall and the other to hold the strap of a small bag. His white hair was completely disheveled, red marks covered his neck, and his face was so pale that, for an instant, Ester genuinely seemed to consider the possibility that his organs were failing.

Damon reached the entrance, stopped in front of them, and breathed as though he had just climbed a mountain.

Aria looked at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth looked at Ester.

Ester looked at Damon.

Then all three looked at Morgana, who followed several steps behind him.

The Duchess of Arven looked radiant.

Her hair had been tied carelessly, but her skin carried a healthy glow, her eyes looked rested, and a small smile remained on her lips. She walked normally, showing no sign of the exhaustion that had reduced Damon to something resembling a recently unearthed corpse.

Elizabeth looked back at him.

"Are you all right?"

Damon took several seconds to answer.

"I think my dick was torn off."

Morgana covered her mouth, but could not hide her smile.

Ester looked at her.

She asked nothing.

Made no comment.

She merely examined the duchess’s satisfied expression, then Damon’s miserable state, and seemed to abandon any attempt to understand the situation through medicine.

Aria had no such limitation.

"How many times did he come?" she asked Morgana directly.

The courtyard became completely silent.

One of the horses moved its head.

A guard near the gate quickly looked away.

Morgana answered without hesitation.

"One hundred and twenty-eight."

Aria dropped the fruit peel she was still holding.

Elizabeth blinked once.

Ester remained completely still.

Damon closed his eyes as though hearing the number spoken aloud had removed the last piece of his soul.

Aria was the first to recover her voice.

"One hundred and twenty-eight?"

Morgana nodded.

"You counted?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"After the tenth time, I became curious."

Elizabeth slowly turned her face toward Damon.

"Is that physically possible?"

"It should not be," Ester replied.

Damon raised one finger.

"I can confirm that."

Aria approached and examined his face with interest.

"Do you still have blood?"

"Very little."

"Vision?"

"Blurred."

"Will to live?"

Damon thought for several seconds.

"Difficult question."

Morgana approached from behind and placed one hand on his shoulder. Damon nearly fell from the touch alone.

Ester caught his arm before he struck the ground.

"Did you truly do it one hundred and twenty-eight times?"

Damon looked at her with what little dignity he had left.

"It was not planned."

"How does someone come one hundred and twenty-eight times without planning it?"

"Morgana kept going."

The duchess showed no embarrassment.

"He said I would miss him."

"Did you try to kill him so you would not have to miss him?" Elizabeth asked.

"No."

"Then what was the objective?"

Morgana looked at Damon and smiled.

"To create good memories."

Aria clapped once.

"It worked. The entire mansion will remember."

Damon tried to walk toward the carriage. After two steps, his leg trembled and he had to lean on Ester again.

She checked his pulse.

"Your blood pressure is low."

"I am empty."

"Do not say that."

"It is a diagnosis."

"It is not."

Aria walked beside him.

"By the hundredth time, could you still feel anything?"

Damon slowly turned his face.

"Aria."

"It is scientific curiosity."

"You were cutting fruit yesterday."

"And today I am studying the limits of the human body."

"Study someone else."

"I do not know anyone else who has come one hundred and twenty-eight times."

Elizabeth massaged her forehead.

"Can we stop repeating the number?"

"It is an impressive number," Morgana said.

"You are not helping."

Ester opened the carriage door and practically pushed Damon inside. He fell onto the bench, immediately lay down, and placed one arm over his eyes, assuming the same position he had occupied on the office sofa several hours earlier, though now without any appearance of relaxation.

Aria climbed in right after him.

"Can you manage one hundred and twenty-nine?"

Damon did not remove the arm from his face.

"I am going to throw you out of the carriage."

"You cannot stand."

"Elizabeth will do it for me."

Elizabeth entered and sat across from him.

"Do not involve me."

Ester was the last to climb aboard, carrying a bottle of water, mineral salts, two recovery potions, and the grim expression of someone who had never imagined her medical career would lead to this moment.

Morgana remained outside.

Damon moved the arm from his face and looked toward her. The exhaustion remained obvious, but his irritation faded.

Morgana rested one hand against the carriage door.

"Write when you reach Mirath."

"If I survive the journey."

"You will."

Ester handed Damon the first potion.

"He will, even if I have to put him back together along the way."

Morgana leaned inside and kissed Damon one final time.

Aria watched closely.

"One hundred and twenty-nine?"

Without looking, Damon raised one hand and tried to push her face in the opposite direction.

Morgana laughed, stepped away, and closed the door.

The carriage began to move.

Damon remained lying down while Arven slowly disappeared through the window. Elizabeth opened a document, Ester prepared another potion, and Aria continued staring at him as though she had just discovered a rare species.

"I have only one more question," she said.

"Ask."

"What was the position for the one hundred and twenty-eighth?"

"On all fours, in the ass."