Chapter 2 - The Loss of His

It's been two weeks since that day. His body started to heal. Users with mana would always heal faster than normal people. So Drake never made his injury a concern. The one and only fear was coming from the recovery of this old lady laying beside him. 

The swollen red on her check started fading days ago. But the most unacceptable thing for him is that her heart attack relapsed again after one year. The last time he found her grandma relapsing, he almost lost his sanity. And now, after two weeks without waking up, her body looked thinner and thinner. Drake's moist eyes never left her. He sat beside her everyday.

Grabbing her hand, he said those repeated spoken words. "I'm sorry, Please wake up.." 

Outside the door, the duty guard had already arrived. The knocks on the wooden door sounded so loud in that small room. 

Drake knew the time was coming. He opened the door and would not even cower before anyone. 

After Hugo brought his wrecked body into the trial and in front of the councils, His Majesty decided to ban him from the capital. All of his family possessions would be stored into royal stash. 

His family might not have enough money. But there was a small piece of land beside the border. It was given from the late emperor to Drake's grandfather. He was a great emperor. But what his grandfather accomplished for the nation, easily forgotten by the people. Until now, his grandma let people come and go freely through his land if they needed to cross the border. 

In other words, Hugo and their man knew about this long ago. But this kind of scenario, never realized by Drake. Hugo easily manipulated Drake without him knowing. And now, holding a cup of his favorite red wine, he smiled out of his victory. 

"What a stupid people." It was coming from his heart. "Now that the land came to the Emperor, I will gain more of his trust." 

"You seem happy today," Said the lady beside him. 

Venus, one of his favorite mistresses, was always there beside him every time. It was not a secret that Hugo was known as a lecherous man. And with the figure of Venus, rare purple eyes with long black hair, no one could deny her beauty. 

He tossed her on to his lap, and laughed. "That's right, you don't know what I just accomplished. Now that I have His Majesty's support, the best candidate for second leader of the gold knight would be me."

 "Oh! so great for you, I like a man and his ambitions." With a seduced smile, she slowly creased his hair and whispered, "Can't wait for me to move into the main mansion."

"Now now, don't you ask more from what you can handle? I like women who know her place," With his cold gaze, he asked.

Those kinds of eyes were what made people afraid of him. It took a while, but that intimidation wouldn't work for her anymore. She giggled, "Oh, you don't intend to make me stay here forever right? Later you'll be busy, and coming here from your office will take a longer time. Either way, you spend more time with me than your wife. " 

He laughed, "Hmph, you're the only one that fits me the most. Never bore me with your boldness."

She smiled, "Back again, who's this stupid person?"

Hugo told everything to her, from the bottom of his plan, and until what would happen later with Drake. He trusted her completely. But behind it, her beautiful gaze was filled with hatred and rage when he turned his back. 

Venus was a Sora. Nobody knew about this, only her dead mother knew her identity. Her beloved mother who was a Sora who got brutally murdered by the current Emperor. 

She hid her daughter's identity so well before her end. Users could be recognized by other users. But her mother, who was brilliant enough, used half of her life's mana to make her daughter power invisible. She is one of the high tier Sora who could manipulate potions to repress the mana visibility. But by doing that, she gives half the core mana of her life to create that potion before the emperor could murder her.

Shaking her head, Venus tried to remove that unfit feeling from the past, because if her agenda was going well, Hugo would never be able to know about her power, even until his last breath! That was the promise she made long ago, when she saw his father lead the execution of her mother. 

Later that night, when the bright moonlight peeked through the curtains, she made sure that despicable man was deeply asleep.

After the sureness that he won't awake, she got up from the bed. Holding a small lamp in her left hand, she walked into the backside of the mansion. Servants should be at their place on the side of the mansion, and the knight on duty already checked this place before midnight. So little possibility she would run into one of them. 

There was only one person who knew about this. And when she knocked on the door of the store room, a young man opened for her. 

"Jack.." She looked at him.

"I got your message Venus, and it was not a wise choice to do this while he was around." That man said, letting her enter the room.

"I have no time, Jack. And I'm glad you got my message at the dinner." 

"Of course I do." He said confidently, because there's no way a head butler would miss a piece of pepper under the plate. "And it wasn't another wise choice to give your sign under the dirty plate. What if.."

"You don't need to worry about that. Other servants know I don't like them getting near that person." She smirks, "Letting them know I was only a jealous bitch. Hugo placed their man everywhere, anyway."

He rubbed his brows, feeling ridiculous with her confidence. "And that's why you have to be careful. Never let go of your fear, Venus." 

"..." She bit her lips, "I know. "

"And, so what's the urgency?"

She looked at the sky through the small dusty window. "Another user victim. He had his grandma with him." 

"And the plan?"Jack asked

She took out the pocket money she hid well under her robe, "As usual, give him money and tell him to never come back to Wouster." 

It was a natural thing for them to do this. Every low tier user who got troubled, they will land them a sum of money. The feeling of getting abused, they know how bad it is to become a low tier user right now. 

Jack, too, was a User. He and Venus were childhood friends. But no one knew about this. And he was also the only one to know her secret. It's just two of them until now. 

He sighed, "I understand this is one of our purposes, Venus. But your safety comes first. What you did today is dangerous. You can't possibly risk your effort just for this." 

She reached him. "I know I know.. I'm sorry. But that boy doesn't have more time like us. They will move them out and kill him on the way. You give this money to him to escape before sunrise." 

Jack looked at his watch, and he realized how little time he had. "Four more hours."

He hurriedly put on his black robe. "I won't let what you did today become a waste. But please, no more taking what we can't do about it.."

Venus knew how risky her action was today. But somewhere in her heart, there's a voice that made her act to help that pitiful boy. "Call it my intuition, but you are right. This is the last time." 

Adjusting his hat, he looked back at her before going out. "Hurry back to your room. Who knows when that person will be awake."

She didn't know how right he was until what happened next. Because no more than five minutes after she went back to bed, Hugo completely woke up. He left her without saying anything. 

The relief feeling washed over her. She didn't ever think, what she did could really become her doomsday. Not again. This typical act of hers, should never be a concern in the future. She wouldn't harshly decide to act just because of what she felt. 

In another area, Jack using his mana, was running so fast toward the address. Every criminal would stay in the temporary jail inn before getting sent out. 

His confusion of what Venus did still linger in his head. She took this big risk, only to widen the possibility of getting caught. Because Jack knew, they might not be able to handle the repercussions.

At the same time, Drake, who was wide awake, could only see the night sky from the small round window in his room. This might be the last night of Wouster he could see. His head couldn't think right at that moment. His only matter right now is to get his grandma a treatment as fast as possible. It was his priority. 

Drake was full of courage, and he believed he could overcome everything as long as his grandma was safe.

Not long after, a little whisper from his grandma woke him to his senses. He grabbed her hand, and seeing how pain she is, made him blame himself even more. The tears that came out to wet her check, were softly wiped out by him. "I'm sorry."

That old lady's smile always filled him with warmth. Even if she's in pain right now, that warm feeling never left. 

With a shaky hand, she rubbed his hand which grabbed hers. "There's no need for you to be sorry." 

Another pain of taking breath came out from her. "I was the one who was wrong. That promises, you don't need to follow that anymore. Live for your life, it's my last request.." 

"No! You can't! Don't say that to me." 

She smiled, and her lids slowly closed. 

Deep down, Drake knew this time was coming. But before Drake could see her grandmother really gone, the sound of door slamming made him turn around. 

He was one of the Bismouth Knight. A middle tier one. 

Observing the situation, that knight, whom Drake never met before, mockingly laughed at the death of the old lady on the bed. "Well, at least I don't have to kill the other. It will be a shame to use my precious weapon just to kill that useless la…"

Drakk!! 

Before that knight finished his words, a strong punch landed on his jaw. His body was shockingly forced to take some steps back because of the impact. That pitiful weak boy could even make him lose some of his tooth. 

"Don't you ever dare finish that sentence!"