The infirmary was quiet. Gerald sat in a chair in the corner, keeping watch over the room, his face uncharacteristically serious. Every so often he would stand up and walk over to the still form on the bed, checking her pulse and breathing, before sighing with relief and returning to his seat. This had been the routine for the entire night, the silence unbroken.
"How is she?" A middle aged woman burst into the room, her expression anxious. Clothed in dark robes, with closely cropped hair and minimal adornments, she was someone who could easily be overlooked. But Gerald wasn't the average observer.
"You're a lot more powerful than even Erin let on." He shook his head exasperatedly, and stuck out his hand. "I'm Gerald, I assume your Erin's favorite aunt?"
The woman paused, and despite knowing who she was, Gerald found himself slightly flinching back at the power contained within her eyes. No wonder she's on the government's containment list. He thought to himself with a smile.
Slowly, she reached out and shook his hand. "Elsinore. You are the little prince that wants to marry my Erin?"
He nodded "Yes ma'am."
"Not off to a good start are you?" She sniffed, pulling her hand away. "Letting her get injured. You still expect me to approve of you?"
He sighed in response, "I can't..." He sat down. "I always knew I wouldn't be able to fight her battles for her... but I thought at least I would be able to help her. In the end, all I could do was sit there and watch her tear herself apart." His voice choked off for a moment, and he buried his face in his hands. "Useless."
Elsinore stood next to Erin for a few moments, watching the girl sleep. She then drew up a chair and sat down next to the prince. "Tell me exactly what happened."
Gerald explained what he could, leading up through Erin's fight with the headmistress and subsequent collapse.
Elsinore's face was grim. "Where is the girl who betrayed my niece?"
"..." Gerald thought it over before quietly replying. "After Erin collapsed, Olivia stayed by her side for 12 hours, using her healing ability. She only stopped after she collapsed from exhaustion." He gestured to a door off to the side. "I put her in the other room."
"Hmm... if that's the case, then I will hold off any punishment for now." She leaned over Erin's still form, concentrating, before letting out a quiet groan of frustration. "Stupid girl, she's completely broken it. She's lucky the backlash didn't kill her."
"I have to ask this." Gerald looked her in the eye, "Why didn't you remove the restriction spell when it started fracturing if you knew it was so dangerous? It's been breaking apart for the past month."
Elsinore didn't deny it. "So you knew about the spell, huh? I guess you would, with your level of insight ability." She rubbed her eyes, staring off into the distance.
"Erin's father... the man who murdered my sister, and took away my freedom..." She chuckled grimly. "You know, I'm nothing more than a lab rat to the government. Even after you called me with Erin's communication artifact, I had to use a high leveled magic to distract them for even this short amount of time to be gone." She paused, as if contemplating the truth of the words she had just spoke, before continuing.
"She and I both live for one purpose: to kill that monster, avenge my sister. She restricted herself, to make herself stronger... and I?" She swallowed uncomfortably. "I resolved to turn my last living family member... a child at the time... into a living, breathing weapon of destruction."
Gerald frowned. "She's not..."
"Oh, she's a calamity, child. Erin could destroy this country, turn it to ashes, and probably still have power to spare. I helped her gain this monstrous level of ability, for the sole reason of allowing her the chance to kill her father."
