"I need you to cooperate with me. For I am going to cure the Demon Burning Curse you are suffering from. Can you help me with that?"
Sir Albedo looks at Morpheus with a simplified expression before looking at the King, who is smiling at him. He then turns to Istan and Lia, who are also smiling before looking back at Morpheus.
"Can you repeat what you just said?" He asks as he gulps before preparing himself to hear Leader's next words.
Leader smiles at him before speaking, " We'll, I will need your cooperation to cure, or it would be more appropriate to say that I will cancel the Demon Burning curse with another similar effect. So, would you like me to proceed with it?"
Albedo turns his face to the King, who nods at him, then turns to Morpheus with a slightly teary but mostly delighted expression. It looks like he wants to say something, but his emotions are getting the best of him.
"All right, I will take that expression as a yes. So, let's go to the room that I have especially prepared for you okay," Leader says before moving outside the room. I along with others, move behind him to reach that room where a few more people are standing.
"Cirdan, Bailey, Yavanna and everyone else. Looks like it really is true and not just a dream," Albedo finally has a relaxed expression as he observes the other Alfheim Branches standing there.
"Looks like you are here too," another man with a similar delightful smile on his face arrives in the room.
"Lorenzo, you too, huh?" Albedo speaks as he looks at Sir Albedo. They both seem to suffer from the curse. Morpheus then asks Albedo to enter a particular circle drawn in the middle of the empty room. Then everyone takes a few steps back and Leader moves behind Albedo as he asks Sir Albedo to remove his top clothing. Once that is done, Leader draws a circle on his back.
After a few hours of waiting, Leader finally moves away from Sir Albedo and sighs in relief as he wipes his sweat away.
"All right, that does that. So Lorenzo, is it? You move here too. I wanna finish this job before I get back to teaching those children." Leader speaks nonchalantly as he plays with his dagger while looking at Lorenzo.
'Sigh...his casual remarks make it look so easy. Even I would have doubts about it being really hard to cure, if I hadn't suffered through the same scenario.' I think as I shake my head before looking at Albedo, who began laughing like crazy before shouting about killing all the demons of this world.
-Whoosh
Something then happens next. I see Leader standing in front of me with his back on my front. Looking ahead, he is stopping Albedo from punching me and a scary look forms on Leader's face before Leader speaks, "do you really want to die after gaining your freedom?"
Albedo turns stupefied at this situation before jumping a few steps back and then glaring at us before speaking.
"She is a Dhampir."
'As I thought, he knew about my identity. I am a half vampire-half human. Well, but it's fine today. It won't be like other days, because the person in front of me is not normal either, I guess. I would be an idiot to believe that he never knew about my true identity. Since that is the case, then he has already accepted me-'
"She is? Huh Lucy, you are a Dhampir?" Leader asked with a slightly surprised expression and I turned stupefied at his words but....
"That's so cool, you know? Well, I knew you weren't a complete human, but still a Dhampir? Damn, Lucy. You should have told me that earlier." He speaks with a bright smile as he looks at me. Stunned by his response, not only me, but everyone else looks at Morpheus with a surprised yet awkward expression. Honestly, nobody knew what to make of it anymore.
"In any case, Albedo was it? Since you might have your reasons, I will let you go this once. Next time...there will be no next time. Lorenzo, move into the damn circle, now." Leader speaks with an annoyed expression as he looks at Lorenzo, who moves into the circle after looking at the King, who nods at him.
After treating Lorenzo, Morpheus moves towards the King and calls Albedo and the other Branches towards him. Since I wasn't called, I stayed away from them. After talking for half an hour, which looked like it was mostly Leader and King talking while the others were listening, everyone except Zwain's face turns stunned and then gets serious.
After everything is over, everyone hurriedly leaves the room. Leader smiles at me before moving outside the room. After everyone left, only me and Albedo are standing in the room as Albedo awkwardly observes me with a dry smile.
"Please speak," I ask him to speak as it looked like it will take him eternity to do that. He nods at me before speaking, "first, I am sorry for my rude behaviour earlier. It was but a grave misunderstanding. I heard about your situation and I am really ashamed of my behaviour. Please forgive me for my rude glares and actions."
Albedo then moves to bow to me as he puts his head on the ground. I look at him and a sigh escapes my mouth before I speak,"if you were really wrong with your actions, Leader would have killed you by now but since you are still alive, that means Leader believes you are worth forgiving. So, I will forgive you, too."
He looks at me, slightly stunned. He then nods at me before speaking," The other thing was that you came to me to ask for guidance. If you don't mind, can you let me guide you in exchange for the rudeness I committed?"
A wide smile blossoms on my face as I realise the meaning of his words. ' I can save the money I earned all those months and still learn what I want for free? I am totally in.' Thinking along those lines, I nod at him with a grin as I speak.
"Sure, Sir Albedo.. It would be my pleasure to have you as my teacher."