Chapter 256
Not wanting to put things off too long, Desmond prepared to talk about his true reasons for coming to this place and give some vague explanation about his origin but as he prepared to speak the anesthetic effects of the potions he had previously drank faded leaving him feeling quite a significant amount of pain.
Helpless Desmond tried to remove his robes to properly treat his injuries but the lack of mobility in his right arm got in the way, with a resigned sigh Desmond gave Mei a look and said: “Mei, a little help please ”
Mei as sharp as she was, quickly understood what Desmond was referring to when noticing the discomfort and physical pain that he was feeling so she quickly came to help him.
Helping Desmond remove the upper part of his robe revealing his naked torso. Mei was quite surprised when she saw the actual size and severity of the wound Desmond had suffered.
The cut ran from the top of Desmond’s right clavicle and was deeper at the top of his shoulder and go all the way down to Desmond’s lower back where the cut was noticeably shallower.
Due to the potions, Desmond had consumed, the bleeding had stopped and there was even a significant degree of regeneration so Mei could only guess how bad the injury originally was.
As uncomfortable as Xiauyue felt to see Desmond half-naked, her discomfort became much greater when she saw the severity of the wound Desmond had suffered to save her.
But no matter how uncomfortable Xiauyue was, she could not be worse than Desmond, whose pride was heavily wounded when he tried to apply on his wound the special medicinal ointment that he took from his small briefcase but due to the extent of the wound it was impossible to do such a thing so he ended up asking Mei for help again to treat his injuries.
.....
Strangely before Mei could even nod, it was Miao Xiauyue who took the container with the medicinal ointment and began applying it on Desmond’s wound, perhaps to hide her embarrassment she decided to start her little interrogation.
“Why not use those healing potions again? seem even more effective than those provided by the sect ”
Knowing that this was unavoidable, Desmond decided to simply be honest about it and replied, “Potions are incredibly good for healing wounds quickly but I try to avoid consuming too many of them as much as possible; puts too much stress on the body ”
Both Mei and Xiauyue thought this made quite a bit of sense, otherwise, Desmond’s potions would be too powerful.
“I see, so my next question would be; What is your true goal in coming to the sect? ” Xiauyue asked again.
Desmond thought about it for a moment, letting the girls stay in suspense before answering while he shrugged despite the pain: “I’m looking for someone.”
“To who?” This time it was Mei’s turn to ask.
But Desmond did not answer her question directly and instead spoke on another topic: “In the last couple of months there have been multiple disappearances of people within the sect, young women, almost all of them simple servants or low-level external disciples.
At first, this did not attract much attention but soon the corpses began to appear, what they did to those poor girls has no name but whoever did it definitely has a name; I’m looking for that person ”
Both Mei and Xiauyue took their time to process the information Desmond described at the same time that they remembered that such incidents had occurred within the sect but in a flash of realization Mei noticed something unusual.
“Wait, even if you lied about your place of origin, you’re clearly not from around here, then; Why would you be interested in this? ” Mei exclaimed a bit puzzled.
Desmond saw no merit in lying about it so he replied: “Someone paid me to do it, more specifically, they paid me to murder the person responsible.”
For some reason, both girls found Desmond’s response quite reasonable, perhaps because they knew people who were engaged in similar tasks or because they found it to be something that was a good match for Desmond’s personality and abilities.
By that time Xiauyue had already finished placing the medicinal paste on Desmond’s wound and with the help of Mei, they both began to bandage the wound.
Perhaps because they both felt they had invaded Desmond’s privacy enough, they stopped their questioning but from the expression, on their faces, it was obvious that more questions would come in the future.
Desmond for his part was enjoying the careful attention of two women who were frankly close enough to the pinnacle of beauty, so he was not bothered by the questions not to mention that Desmond believed he would need their help in the future for what was best to keep things as honest as possible.
When Mei and Xiauyue finally finished tending to Desmond’s wound they both let a few seconds pass in which their delicate hands didn′t stop being in contact with the well-defined muscles of Desmond’s back but as soon as they both came out of their brief daze they withdrew discreetly with a slight blush on their faces.
Such detail was noticed by Desmond, but he did not comment on it, for him, it was quite obvious that although Mei and Xiauyue have romantic feelings for each other, that did not mean that they didn′t show any interest in the opposite sex.
It was probably due to their personalities and backgrounds that they had never gotten along with the men around them but that didn’t mean they didn’t feel some kind of attraction, it was because of this that when they were around Desmond those little hints of interest become apparent.
But it was just that, a slight interest, a slight curiosity, maybe even a little attraction but nothing more, the romantic feelings they felt between them hadn’t changed or weakened at all.
Maybe because Desmond found the crush between Mei Fei Long and Miao Xiauyue quite adorable or because he was not in the habit of getting in the way of other people’s relationships; It was that although Desmond was slightly attracted to both girls, he made no move of any kind on them.
Besides, if Desmond had to be honest about it, the truth is that he found his friendship with both girls quite satisfactory, the way they joked, argued, and fought made him feel comfortable; for Desmond hadn’t had any real friends in his life.
Of course, it was also true that at this moment Desmond was dying to have someone who would warm his bed and help him release some stress, it was something he could not avoid, such was his nature.
What bothered him the most was that over time, the battles and the bloodshed, the little trick Kyuru used to calm his mind began to fade so Desmond would have to find a way to calm his mood or go straight to a brothel to release some stress.
With that in mind, Desmond removed a small case from the hunter’s book, and as he watched Mei start preparing to cook something while Xiauyue basically pretended to help; Desmond removed the violin from inside the case.
So far it was the only thing Desmond had found to help calm his temper and release tension, which had the added benefit of not requiring a partner and was consistent with his therapist’s recommendations.
As unreliable as Kyuru might seem on a day-to-day basis, she was someone he could trust when the situation called for it; especially on issues related to mana control and control of emotions.
And so Desmond began to play a little melody, resisting the pain and not following any composition that he remembered, Desmond just followed Kyuru’s advice and let his emotions guide his music, and although Desmond’s impromptu composition was full of solemn notes, almost tragic; it was still beautiful.
Xiauyue and Mei who were in the kitchen paused for a moment due to surprise but after a few moments of listening to the melody, they both ended up quietly appreciating it while continuing to prepare an anticipated breakfast.
But in the minds of both girls, it gave birth to an idea, an impression, that at this moment, listening to this song, they had both learned more about who Desmond Astryd was than in all the previous interrogation.
That beneath his appearance that always oscillated between seriousness and mischief, there was a person who was not immune to the darkness of the world, who was not indifferent to the cruelty that he himself exerted on others; someone vulnerable but determined.
And it was at that moment that the tenuous relationship of friendship and trust that existed between them and Desmond due to all the secrets that he was hiding, took hold; they were still curious about what the man hide but they didn′t need to know anything else to truly consider him their friend.