Free Web NovelChapter 149: Missing Servant
Fragrance soothed Kai’s mind.
He’d been skeptical of the flowers at first—but after taking in their fragrance and seeing how lovely they looked, he was quietly glad he’d followed the receptionist’s advice. Bree was still angry with him, but surely a gift like this would soften her mood, even if only a little.
In fact, he wanted to go to her room and give it to her right now.
But he refrained from doing so. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
As excited as he was, the flower wasn’t for his own satisfaction.
It was for her.
"Some of the flowers are dented," Kai muttered—seeing a few flowers on the right side of the bucket had their petals dented. But it doesn’t really matter. Only those who looked at it closely would notice. "Carrying two buckets of flowers like these—must be awkward for Talitha. I’ll have to thank her properly."
Just then, his fingers grazed something warm.
It was liquid on the bucket’s base.
Kai raised the bucket to take a look at what it was and froze almost completely.
He saw a stain of red.
From the moment he passed the Blood Rite, he wasn’t a normal person anymore. Willingly or not, he had become a killer, as killing was required for him to pass that rite. And due to that— his eyes could tell that this red stain was blood.
Kai’s eyes darted around the room.
His senses were flared to the maximum, knowing that something was wrong.
"Talitha...?"
Kai set the bucket down and rose to his feet, his gaze slicing left and right with a sharpness far beyond his earlier sweep. His search didn’t take long—droplets of blood stood out against the staircase, dark and unmistakable.
It blended with the wood, making it hard to see.
And since he was excited earlier, he hadn’t seen these blood stains.
As Talitha was the only one who had the key to his room, this blood could only belong to her.
"Did something happen?"
Kai rushed out of the room; there was dread climbing inside his throat.
Like a mama bear realizing that her cub went missing, he frantically looked around the entire dormitory and then traversed through the entire
Like a mama bear realizing that her cub went missing, he frantically looked around the entire dormitory. His eyes raked the dormitory’s common room and corridors with wild, unblinking intensity of a predator scenting danger.
Dark corners; the alcove by the storage closet; the narrow space behind the staircase.
Nothing.
His heart kicked against his ribs as his rational thoughts leaked out from his head.
Talitha was carrying the buckets of flowers and seeds, visible to anyone who glanced her way.
And as a servant of a Lesser Angel, she would also suffer the same fate as him. His own mind went to the worst. Someone had cornered her, picked on her, or even made an example of her like the servant she was.
Or the grey-masked Angels had simply grabbed her and dragged her away.
Furious that a mere servant dared to bring beautiful things to this supposedly bleak world.
Kai’s hands were shaking.
He didn’t remember leaving the dormitory; he simply found himself outside, boots pounding against the cobblestones as the world passed in streaks of muted color. Students turned to stare as he barreled through the streets.
But Kai didn’t see them.
Even if he did, he wouldn’t care.
His eyes darted left, right, left again—desperate to find any clues of Talitha’s whereabouts.
"Have you seen a servant with a... a..." Kai stood before a grey-masked Angel and stuttered, trying to describe Talitha despite the panic. "Very long blue hair. Blue eyes. And was carrying buckets of flowers."
All he got from the grey-masked Angels was a blank gaze.
Not treating him seriously.
Or perhaps annoyed that a Lesser Angel dared to talk to him.
Kai gritted his teeth and grabbed another Angel nearby, asking the same thing, but it was the same exact answer. Just a confused stare. He understood then that nobody would help him, and asking the people around would be wasting his breath.
So, he kept running.
Sweat plastered his hair to his forehead. His breaths were now laboured—the academy was a maze of buildings, and every corner he checked only revealed more emptiness. More absence. More silence where Talitha should’ve been.
Kai reached the main square and stumbled to a halt.
His chest heaved up and down, and the muscles in his legs were screaming.
As he stood there, the fountain burbled its useless, cheerful song that seemed louder now that night had decreased the activities within the academy. A few students loitered near the notice board and on the street chairs.
None of them were Talitha.
None of them were small and light-blue-haired with a posture of a girl—who refused to be a burden. Kai filled his lungs and called her name. He spun in a full circle, eyes still searching for her, begging the world to spit her back.
But the square offered nothing but stares.
Kai could feel his stomach lurched; vomit was threatening to break out.
He dropped to his knees on the cold stone, one hand pressed flat against the ground as if the clouds might tell him where she had gone. In that panic, Kai closed his eyes and gulped down the vomit as he forced himself to breathe.
To think.
Panicking like this would do nothing for him but cloud his mind.
Come on, think. Where can she be?
Back in his room, the buckets of flowers and pouch of seeds were there safely, which meant she had made it back from the levy post. She had made it back to the dormitory. Back to his basement room.
If she had been hurt or taken, the buckets of flowers and seeds shouldn’t be in the room.
Since she had returned, the only reason he could think, based on Talitha’s personality, was that she had gone somewhere to treat her wound, as she didn’t want him to worry. That was her. She would rather do that than become a burden for him.
And almost instantly, he realized where she might be.
Kai was on his feet before the thought finished forming inside his head.
He ran again, back the way he had come; the dormitory’s entrance blurred past him. The stairs flew beneath his feet. The second floor was not as quiet as the first floor; the sound of students bantering was louder here, but he didn’t care.
Even as some students stared at him with an unfriendly gaze, he didn’t care.
Kai stopped in front of a door—Abigail’s door.
Right now, he had no patience to knock. He slammed his fist against the wood several times impatiently until the door creaked open and Abigail’s startled face appeared in the gap. She was surprised to see him standing right in front of the door.
"Kai, what ar—"
Before she could even finish her question, Kai pushed past her.
His shoulder forced the door wider, and he stepped into the room with his heart hammering so loud he could barely hear his own breath. As he stood by the door—his eyes almost naturally fixated on the figure sitting on the bed.
It was at that moment he finally felt like he could breathe again.
Talitha was sitting there on the edge of Abigail’s bed, small and pale and alive.
But her sleeve was torn and rolled, and beneath the fabric, there were dry stains of blood.
Kai placed both hands on his waist and simply breathed for a good moment.
"Master Kai..." Talitha stood up hesitantly, sensing that the heat coming from Kai was raging. He was furious, and she could tell even without asking. "What happened? Did you fail to create the group? Blocked again?"
Hearing this, Kai lifted his gaze and stared at her.
Even now, she thought that he was sweating and panting like this because of the group.
"Where were you?" He asked with a chilling-cold voice.
Behind, Abigail silently closed the door so that nobody could probe about their business.
"I-I was with Abigail," Talitha replied, forcing a small smile as she discreetly rolled her sleeves down, hoping Kai hadn’t noticed the dried blood stains. But he already had. "I was asking her whether she really didn’t want to be a member of your gro—"
"Don’t lie to me." Kai cut her lie short; his voice low and shaking with restrained fury. "I came back to find you gone and blood on the stairs." His nostrils flared; he had been running around like a madman, searching everywhere, and yet she still dared to lie. "Do you have any idea what I felt when I saw that?"
"I’m sorry..." She looked down in gloom—but her heart was racing inside. It had been quite some time since she saw Kai this angry; the last time was when he found her in his room after the Culling of Nonentity ceremony. "Just that I don’t want to be a burden t—"
"If something happened, then you talk to me!" Kai roared.
He didn’t mean to, but it came out of him anyway.
And on top of that, Talitha was startled to see his eyes turning pitch-black like balls of ink.
It didn’t help that his mana leaked a little bit, answering to his emotions; pressing over Talitha like a mountain settling onto her shoulders. As a normal human who has no mana inside of her—even the faintest wisp of focused mana could feel like a crushing weight.
Kai’s mana was anything but average, so the pressure was harsh.
Blood drizzled down from her nose.
"Kai..." Abigail stepped in, using her own mana to shield Talitha from his. "Your mana..."
For a second, Kai breathed heavily, not registering what Abigail was saying at all until he saw the blood drizzling down Talitha’s nose and touched her upper lip. He realized that his mana had gone out of control.
If they were in the main building, he would probably be tackled by the grey-masked Angels.
Kai recoiled back and exhaled roughly through his nose, letting out the anger.
Once he collected himself, he finally opened his mouth again, "What happened?"
Since it had come to this, Talitha told Kai about what happened earlier.
She was carrying the buckets of flowers and seeds, not forgetting to cover them with a blanket that the receptionist gave her so that she wouldn’t be too eye-catching, when she accidentally bumped into a student.
Naturally, she apologized fervently as to not make any problem.
But the student didn’t accept it well and tried to kick the buckets of flowers.
Talitha used her body to shield the buckets of flowers, and that’s how she got hurt badly.
Even an improperly thrown kick—from a Supernal could crack a rib or two in someone like Talitha—a normal human, fragile in ways Kai sometimes forgot. "I knew it was stupid," she admitted quietly. "But it’s so rare to see you happy. I didn’t... want to ruin it."
