722: Sick

Sick

"Won't you listen to what I have to say before you say that you can't stand my sight?" Damien reached out for Ariel's hand.1

However, Ariel pulled away and shook her head, "No excuses that you give will change my mind."

"Why are you so sure?" Damien pressed his lips together and was a little saddened to hear Ariel.

"Why?" Ariel curled up her upper lip in disdain. And she replied to Damien in her broken voice while her eyes started to glisten again, "Because you stirred up all kinds of emotions in me, confused me, and today, you left me wondering if any part of what you said to me was the truth or was everything just a pile of lies."

"Nothing was a lie, Ary. I love you and you only. I would never be able to think about anyone else, not once in eternity. I–"

"Then what were you doing with Kenneth's cousin in the forest? Praying?"

"I was…" Damien took a deep breath in and looked down in shame. And he softly mumbled before Ariel would think that he really was doing what Ariel was accusing him of, "I was feeding on her. I wasn't in my control."

Ariel abruptly covered her mouth with both of her hands and looked at Damien with a stunned look in her eyes. She didn't know whether to be happy that Damien wasn't doing what she had thought or to be sad that Damien was doing what she had never thought he would.

Damien kept on looking down and briefing everything that happened, "She came to me saying that she was left all alone. I warned her not to follow me, but then she somehow managed to cut herself. And my vampire side got woken up. Before I knew it, I had sunk my fangs into her wrist. You must have seen me then."

And Ariel kept on giving that same shocked expression to Damien. She was also confused about whether to feel pity towards Grace for having been Damien's victim, or whether to be happy thinking that she would now be terrified to even look at Damien.

If she was to be honest then she was happy thinking that Grace would never try to gawk at Damien ever again. She thought that Grace would have to be mad if she still wanted to be around Damien after what Damien did to her.

Seeing how Ariel was still silent, Damien also came clean about what he did to Kenneth. "Things would have gotten out of hand if Kenneth hadn't stopped me in time. He offered himself as a sacrifice so that I would leave Grace alone. Else, I don't know what I would have done to her."

Ariel felt a pang in her chest after hearing that. She was thankful towards Kenneth for preventing Damien from doing something unthinkable.

And she was now worried regarding Grace's condition. So she asked after shakily breathing in, "Grace is okay, right?"

Damien was suddenly startled and he felt as if he was thrown back into Hell. He never gave a second thought to Grace's condition until now. He was too busy running after Zach and Ariel, and he completely forgot about it.

He remembered seeing Grace walking away before he dug his fangs into Kenneth's wrist. But he wasn't sure if she was okay.

So he hung his head low and doubtfully replied, "I have no idea. I didn't completely drain her of blood. But I am not sure if I left her with enough blood for her to survive."

After listening to the mention of blood, Ariel suddenly felt sick in her stomach and felt like throwing up. She couldn't withstand the image of Damien drinking someone's blood. She gagged and tightly clasped her mouth with her palm.

"Ary, are you okay?" Damien asked with concern.

Ariel shook her head and stormed off towards the bathroom.

Damien felt a pinch in his heart. He already hated the vampire in him. And seeing Ariel getting sick like this, he wished that he could erase that part of him.

He took off the horns from his head and kept on staring at it until Ariel returned from the bathroom.

He wanted to apologize to Ariel for always giving her trouble. But before he could say anything, Ariel grabbed his hand.

And she asked, "Take me to Grace. I can heal her if she is in trouble."

Damien didn't need to hear it twice. He carefully threw the horns on the bed and then asked Ariel, "Hang on tight."

---

On the other side, Kenneth found Grace a little further away from where he and Damien were. He was glad to see Ramon by Grace's side.

Ramon was kneeling down and holding Grace in his arms. And Grace was laying down on the ground while resting her head on Ramon's arm. She looked pale and was barely opening her eyes.

Ramon was also glad to see Kenneth there. "Kenneth, I had asked my guards to look for you and Ariel." He lifted Grace's bandaged wrist and said to the Crown Prince, "I think some animal attacked her. I found her lying on the ground with teeth marks on her wrist."

"It was Damien," Kenneth hastily replied and lifted Grace in his arms.

A few frown lines appeared on Ramon's forehead. He got up on his feet and asked doubtfully, "D-Damien?" And he sounded a little hostile when he further questioned Kenneth, "Why would he even do this?"

Kenneth looked at Ramon and made it clear that he wasn't trying to make Damien look bad by putting false accusations on him, "Yeah, it was him who attacked her. But don't worry about it. It wasn't his fault that he couldn't suppress his urge. I bet he never learned to control his hunger since he lived away from humans."

Ramon was still skeptical regarding Kenneth's intention. However, he didn't say anything else since it looked like Grace needed immediate care. "Why don't you try finding Ariel first? Grace already looks feeble."

Kenneth gave a nod and was about to rush away when one of Ramon's guards came running towards them.

The guard then hastily relayed the message to the Princes, "Your Highnesses, Prince Zach said that Princess Ariel has returned to the castle."

Ramon grabbed his curly hair in frustration. "Why did she leave on her own? And why now? Ugh!"

Kenneth had hoped to seek help from Ariel. And he was saddened to hear that Ariel wasn't in the forest anymore.

Ramon widened his eyes when he remembered another person who could teleport. "What about Damien? Did you see him anywhere?" he asked his guard.

But the guard gave him the bad news, "I am sorry, Your Highness. I heard that he also left for the castle."

Kenneth knitted his brows together and looked down at his cousin who was barely hanging on to her consciousness. And he sadly said, "It can't be helped then. I will take her to the castle myself."

However, to his great relief, Ariel and Damien appeared out of thin air.

Ariel's eyes fell on Grace's pitiful condition. And she instantly walked to her side and took her hand. She took Grace's pulse and asked Kenneth, "Let me heal her. I cannot make her regain her blood, but I can make her regain her energy and her consciousness."

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