Chapter 4

As time went by, Callyx concentrated on guiding Astraea to help manifest her mana into her heart. It was a long process and he knew it would take more than a day.

Suddenly, he heard a groan and his eyes snapped open. With tears in her eyes, Astraea clawed at her chest, frantically looking around.

"Hurts! It burns!" she panted as she scratched where her heart was.

Alarmed, Nesrin rushed to her daughter to calm her down so she could not harm herself.

"It's okay baby. It's okay. Mummy and daddy are here."

Callyx wanted to run to her but Evander shook his head. If he let go now, then his hard work would disappear in vain.

Astraea screamed as the pain engulfed her small body. Nesrin hugged her body close as she felt her tears pricking her eyes. She couldn't take her screams. She felt Astraea muffle her screams against her body and she had to remind herself to keep herself together.

"It's okay. It's okay," she gently soothed.

The few maids that were present in the room looked at the Princess with tears in their eyes. Their lovely Princess was in pain and they could not do anything but watch as she screamed.

Trying to distract himself, Callyx tried not to focus on her voice and only on her mana instead.

Eventually, her screams quieted down, and she slipped back into unconsciousness.

Nesrin sniffled as she hugged her daughter.

"It appears you will have to be here for the majority of the day," Evander informed them.

Time went by and the maids entered and left the Princess's chamber. Nesrin ordered Lloyd to stop the search for any poison in Astraea's food since it was confirmed that she was not poisoned. Instead, she ordered to make sure no news escaped about the Princess's condition.

As both the Empress and Emperor were worried for their daughter, Galen – Callyx's aide – took the role of sorting out all national affairs for the day. Although it was on short notice, he was informed about the situation and immediately responded. Years of experience helped him perfectly finish all duties and meetings.

The sun slipped away from the sky and the stars appeared. Callyx's cape was off, and he sat there, with his eyes closed and Astraea's small hand in his grasp.

Since he used his mana the whole day, he started feeling the aftereffects. Although he had monstrous mana and could fight more than the average human, he had to make a narrow channel and help in various areas of the body – which required precision and concentration. That alone was difficult. Injecting his mana freely through her body was another. Also, letting her mana flow through him was another experience. Too many things were happening at once, which was why he felt the fatigue quite severely.

But he didn't back down. He was desperate to make sure Astraea would not feel any more pain.

"Your Majesty, that's enough," Evander told him.

At the sound of his voice, Callyx opened his eyes and looked at him.

"Her Highness's mana seems stable at the moment. You should continue tomorrow."

"No, I will continue."

"Your Majesty, you need to stop now. Even though you have a lot of mana, you're dealing with your own mana as well as hers, so your body needs to be in the best condition for you to continue. Any more would be too much for her body to take and fatal. She's safe now, so you can continue tomorrow. I suspect it will take a few more days," Evander persuaded Callyx.

Callyx wanted to protest, but he knew he was right. The stress and concentration were weighing on him.

Reluctantly, he nodded and then looked at his wife, who sat by Astraea's side. There were too many things to do so he needed to decide to deal with the situation as soon as possible.

"Lloyd," Callyx called.

"Tell Galen that I will be unavailable for the next few days. Instead, the Empress would be my proxy for the time being," he ordered.

Nesrin made eye contact with him and nodded in understanding.

"Nesrin will take my place in all the important meetings and I will let her make all final decisions since I trust her and her judgement. Whenever I'm free, I will do some paperwork but the majority of the time, I will be beside Astraea," he informed everyone.

"Kaine, we will transfer Astraea to our chambers so we can monitor her more closely," he ordered and Kaine bowed before carefully picking up Astraea.

It felt like he was lifting a doll. Astraea was light as a feather and he was sad to see his master in pain.

Following Kaine, Callyx and Nesrin walked hand in hand. Callyx squeezed their joint hands out of comfort, telling her Astraea would be fine.

When they reached the Empress and Emperor's resting chambers, the doors opened quickly and Kaine laid the Princess in the middle of the gigantic bed.

Immediately, the room was emptied and Callyx and Nesrin both sat on either side of Astraea. Delicately, Nesrin traced her daughter's face.

"Wake up soon my baby," she whispered before planting a kiss on her cheek.