Eli felt like her body was being torn into pieces.
She did not know what happened after she closed her eyes, but the moment she opened her eyes, she was already in Leon's bed chamber in the Third Prince's palace.
"Uh…" Her vision was still blurry, but she could make out the familiar features in her surroundings.
"Eli…" Leon did not take a wink of sleep and watched Eli until she came to.
Eli heard someone calling out to her but it seemed muffled and distant, the surge of heaviness from her limbs and chest area also made her weak.
Leon knew that Eli would have a hard time responding and so he immediately rang the bell to notify everyone in the palace that she was already awake.
While waiting for Kayden and the crew, Leon worriedly bent on Eli's bedside. His heart broke and felt very helpless. Seeing her in pain like this, he was filled with self-blame.
He thought that everything was going well when he saw that the entire time, the tides were on their side and everything was smooth. However, they all underestimated the power of Eli's opponent, the fake paladin.
According to Kayden, although Eli did not receive a direct attack from her opponent, she sustained a significant amount of internal injuries due to the shockwave caused by the clashing of three different powers.
"Three different powers?" When they heard Kayden's diagnosis, Leon and the team thought that he was saying something ridiculous.
"We are there and we only felt two powers going at each other. The holy powers and the curse power… So how come there are three?" Leon, who was close to Eli at that time asked, extremely puzzled.
"I also do not know how it became like this. All I can do right now is feed Eli slow healing potions because the clash of mana into her body was aggressive. She can't be fed with any strong medication or potion. She can only slowly heal." Kayden took away his glasses while having a deep sigh.
It was the first time he had seen this kind of phenomenon, and he is as clueless as the rest. "I suggest that before you face that fake paladin once again, we have to know what was the nature of her powers.
Because from what I can see, her power is the natural archenemy of Eli's power. It was like it was made to defeat Eli… I could not help but be scared for her."
Hearing Kayden's words, the faces of the team darkened with worry. They were now realizing that the enemy was not someone they can view as ordinary curse users.
"Don't blame yourself… It was your first encounter and she is in a safe condition now. Unfortunately, we could only have her suffer with the pain for a while because her body might crumble if we fed her some painkillers." As soon as Kayden entered the room, he saw his friend Leon guiltily kneeling beside Eli.
He was whispering his words of apology while he could only lightly fix the hair on her face. He looked like he had no care about what was going around, his eyes were unfocused and he could only see Eli struggling in pain.
Leon was awakened in his trance when he heard Kayden's voice and he was pulled back to the present time.
"You should go home and check Little Han. Now that Eli is still healing, it will only be you who could look after my poor nephew…" Seeing that Leon had no plans on taking a rest himself, he used Little Han to straighten up his thoughts.
He could not blame Leon though, but he knew that Leon must be the one who has to step up and show resilience for their little family. If not, he would see the family of three crumble with just a hurdle like this.
Upon hearing Little Han's name, the light came back to Leon's crystal blue eyes.
'Kayden is right…'
The image of Little Han back then who became sick because of his non-stop crying flashed in Leon's mind. He immediately stood up and nodded at Kayden, asking his friend to look after Eli while he checked on Little Han.
It was only a few hours before the morning light came. Leon arrived at the cottage and saw that it was peacefully quiet and dark.
He slowly headed towards the bedroom and saw Baobao guarding the sleeping Little Han.
"Prince Master…" Baobao lifted his head and softly acknowledged Leon's presence.
"You've done well." Leon nodded and gently answered.
Baobao's round eyes flashed with worry and concern as he asked Leon before he exited the room, "Prince Master… how is my master's condition?"
Leon knew that Baobao could feel that his master was in danger during that time, but he could not go and help her because he was assigned to protect Little Han. And so he could only ask Leon about his master's condition while he stayed in the cottage to accompany Little Han.
"She's still in pain, but she is no longer in a dangerous condition. The mission today was a success, however, we did not anticipate that the power of the enemy had that kind of effect on Eli's body." Leon truthfully answered Baobao.
There is a trace of guilt in the way he spoke which even Baobao felt. So, Baobao no longer probed about what happened and carefully walked to exit the room.
"Alright… Prince Master, please also retire for the night. I am sure that Little Master will also feel at ease the moment he sees you in the morning."
Leon heaved a heavy sigh once again and looked at his son's sleeping figure. There was a frown on his head and he was sleeping in a fetal position signaling his extreme uneasiness and worry.
He immediately went to the bathroom to clean himself, washing all traces of the battlefield. Fortunately, Kayden also checked him up before he went home to see if he also carried a dangerous mana residue that could also affect Little Han.
After ensuring that he is clean and safe to approach the little one, he gently scooped his son out of his little crib and carried him onto his own bed.
Sensing his daddy's presence, Little Han snuggled deeper into his father's embrace and let out a soft hum. Afraid that his son would wake up, He stretched out his hands and gently patted Little Han's back until he fell into a deep sleep once again.
Leon watched his little son finally relax and he also calmed down. He finally felt his body's exhaustion which he purposely ignored when Eli collapsed.
This weariness and Eli diving into danger are only for the purpose of ensuring that his little son could sleep peacefully like this at night.
His eyes heated up, remembering how hard it is for him and Eli to deal with these enemies, even sacrificing their time with their son.
It was hard, painfully hard.
While he can ignore the physical weariness in his body which they can regain with a few hours of rest, he knew that this stage of their battle was even more taxing to their mental state.
Eli and he were on constant alert, staying vigilant should there be an attack from the enemy.
He could no longer deny that this was also wearing him out too. That he just wanted to throw away all of these responsibilities and take his fiancee and son to a remote place and live quietly, not minding the spread of evil in the rest of the land.
However, that is too good to be true. He knew that even if they run, the claws of the evil will continue to linger and reach the farthest of the lands and harm their lives if they do not do anything.
All this work was for that peace Eli and he was hoping for Little Han's future.
And seeing his son peacefully laying beside him like this, he felt that it was all worth it.
It might be a painful sight for him to see Eli in danger, a traumatic one at that. But he knew that there might be instances like this as long as they were not able to defeat the root of all this evil.
He did not know when, but as he deeply thought of these things, his body finally screamed rest and fell into a deep sleep.
While he wanted to stay alert in case there would be news on the other side, his consciousness drifted away as he closed his eyes and covered Little Han in his embrace.
The image of the father and son peacefully sleeping in the bedroom was a beautiful sight. Especially when the moon was slowly drifting and its gentle light crept onto their faces.
It was too bad that they were missing Eli, whose conscious state was currently in a bizarre situation.