“That fucking son of a bitch!"

A ferocious roar came from the patient who apparently just woke up.

“Yea, yea. Shut up. Or I’ll make you” An obviously disinterested voice replied to this particular patient’s outrage.

“Oh god it hurts” Agnes squealed as the reality of her situation hit her.

“You’re so energetic” Harvy commented bored out of his mind. He had been entrusted with taking care of the unconscious Agnes so he had been stuck in this blood smelling room for hours.

“Then what? Should I cry?” Agnes retorted, “Goddamn it fucking hurts! Argh my stomach. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!”

She continued screaming incoherently for the next few minutes while Harvy found something interesting in his nails.

“Done?” He asked when she had quieted down a bit.

“No” she snarled “Where is Noet when I’m dying here?”

“Waiting for you to cool down”

“I’m cooled. Tell him to come” she immediately said

“If I believe that, I probably lost my brain somewhere” Harvy snapped, “So? Is it completely out of your system?”

“Hmm?” Agnes finally checked her body, “I’m bleeding internally now so yes. They’ve done their job and are out”

“Ok, I couldn’t know so had to wait for you to wake u—”

An glass shattering scream obviously mana infused vibrated the room they were in. Harvy was shocked and held his ears which were ringing.

“For Delia’s sake Agnes! Oh my fucking… shit I’m bleeding. What the hell was that for?!” He screamed horrendously as blood from his ears touched his hands.

“M-m-my ranks!” she stuttered in disbelief.

“What?!” he snapped. She had probably busted one of his eardrums.

“I dropped 5 ranks” she turned her face ghastly pale.

His anger vanished into thin air as what she just said registered and he wore a completely stunned expression, “Oh…oh…oh shit!”

“Shit? Shit?!” her voice went insanely higher with every word.

“What else should I say?” Harvy asked the hysterical female incredulously.

“This-This is worse that shit! This is… oh my fuck—can’t find the right word” she seemed really close to crying.

“I knew one pill dropped a rank or 2 but apparently taking 2 pills at a time enhanced the after effect” He shook his head mulling over this information. He really wondered where Noet got all these pills from.

“Argh! Really, why does Noet have to dance?! I wouldn’t have to take 2 if he simply ‘killed’ me and I was carried out of the arena” Agnes moaned. This drop had set her back months Of Ki refining.

“Stay still”, Harvy said a bit absent minded and chanted, “I beckon the holy powers of the gods, restore unto this being what was once their own, Healing Touch”

His hand glowed a greenish hue as he placed it on Agnes’ abdomen. The area immediately stopped bleeding but that was it.

“So that one may regain their power, bless their being, Rejuvenate” he continued and collapsed to the floor exhausted and empty. He sat down on the floor with eyes closed so he could recover his mana.

Agnes smiled as the pain that racked her body reduced. She wasn’t bleeding and getting closer to her death every second now which was definitely better but her body’s natural healing speed wasn’t going to fix the injury Noet gave her.

She looked at the collapsed Harvy. Luckily, he was a pure wolf lurk so he could use holy spells; one didn’t need holy affinity to use basic healing spell, you just needed to use holy essences. Noet was a pure human too and if he had a mana channel he’d be able to use holy spells too, that’s how things worked. Everyone but semis could use holy spells.

“Why use rejuvenate? My rank has dropped so my Ki is unstable. My innate healing is next to nil right now” Agnes questioned tiredly.

Harvy opened one eye, “…Oops. Forgot” and closed it again.

Agnes sighed not even bothering to think up a smart remark, “Thanks”

“Mm-hmm” he mumbled not really caring.

“Really. Thanks” she felt like she had to say it again.

“Shut up. You’re disturbing me” Harvy finally snapped. Why is she so sentimental today?

“Oh… sorry” Agnes mumbled her voice barely above a whisper.

Minutes later, Harvy opened his eyes and stood as his mana had fully recovered. He cast Healing Touch again and looked closely at Agnes only to discover she was fast asleep.

He sighed and sat down, this time on the chair beside her bed. He ended staring at her with nothing to do.

After a few seconds of watching her sleeping, he reached out and ruffed her hair, “Be glad you’re alive. Not about ranks”

***

“The words, ‘go easy’, they don’t exist in your dictionary?” Aileen asked as she looked into Noet’s eyes from his lap.

“They do. That’s why you always win when we fight” Noet defended himself.

“Oh sure” Aileen replied sarcastically.

Noet sighed and caressed her hair, “I was taught that way. The word ‘go easy’ was never in my mother’s dictionary when she taught me how to fight”

Aileen didn’t reply, just found a more comfortable position for herself to sleep. And sleep she did.

Noet absentmindedly stroked her head while he thought back to the match. He got infuriated at being injured and gave her a more grievous injury than he had meant to.

He really didn’t mean to but his mother had beaten her training it to him so severely that even after countless years he still abode by it subconsciously.

When he was just 4, his mother began to shape him into a warrior. Perhaps the knowledge that her son, despite his royal blood didn’t have a mana channel gave her a sense of urgency.

Urgency to ensure her son’s survival in that den of wolves called the royal palace of Forten. And perhaps her efforts were rewarded given the fact that he was alive instead of dead like his countless siblings who were immediately put down the moment Empress Veronica Cael ascended the throne.

His mother had said these words almost every day.

“The moment your blood is drawn by your opponent, that’s the moment you become a disgrace. Does the house of Cael need disgraces?”

“No, Mother” Noet had answered.

“So? What do you do to avoid that situation?”

“Win”

“And if you can’t avoid it?” she would then ask

“Eliminate the reason for the disgrace to the house of Cael”

“Yes, my son. Eliminate it” Her expression whenever she said this was very satisfied, an expression which was rare on his mother’s face otherwise.

Noet had taken the words ‘eliminate it’ to heart at that time and was in the process of purging it. It was much harder than he thought because even as 68 years had passed and he still subconsciously acted on his mother’s words.

His mother’s reasons regardless, Noet didn’t want to follow her words. Because of his mother’s ‘peculiar’ way of life, his step- sister had felt her hold on the throne would be weakened if her siblings and step- siblings were alive and sought to eliminate every one of them.

Noet escaped but that was only because he was not killed on sight but was captured to be personally beheaded by the Queen. He had entered a slave caravan to leave the city but had ended up noticed and bound then soon enough found himself in the underground colosseum.

Noet smiled as he suddenly thought of May and Agnes. His daily life in the colosseum became interesting the moment he met May and Agnes added some spice to that.

Over these years, Noet realized he was a very curious person and always sought to get down to the bottom of everything.

It was also why he knew that this underground colosseum was also an experimental ground for the royal palace… although if the royal palace found out that he knew, he would be eliminated immediately.

As to how he found out… well, that’s a story for another day. May on the other hand was a complete mystery. Based on his interaction with her, he discovered that her memories from before the colosseum were completely gone but that was the extent of his knowledge.

It was difficult to know more about a girl who didn’t know anything about herself after all. And she was scary. Noet remembered the fond memory of Tabie, a swarf (stone dwarf)- rabbit lurk who they had related with for some time years ago. The girl found something out about May and as to what exactly, Noet didn’t get to know before May swiftly crushed the girl into a bloody pulp AND didn’t remember that she did that afterwards.

Agnes on the other hand was a complete open book. Even though she tried to seem secretive, the girl couldn’t mask her expressions and her back story could easily be discerned. Her parents were murdered in front of her. Nothing new. She also had no inclination for revenge which was somewhat odd for someone with that type of back story but once again, nothing new.

The only mystery about the girl was her parents. Noet had never seen a semi without a brand (the gray lock of hair on a semi is called a brand) before her. He had sent Ianan, a former loyal retainer of his mother's, to investigate her background. The retainer didn’t come up with much.

Due to his interest in the other two girls, one would find it a bit odd that he was involved with Aileen. Noet didn’t see anything odd about it.

Honestly, Noet saw what he could have been in Aileen. When he first came here, he wanted nothing more than to get out and destroy Veronica but as years passed, that feeling calmed and Veronica slowly became a simple memory of his past.

Aileen wasn’t like Noet in that aspect. No matter how many years have passed, her anger and desire for revenge still burnt fiercely. Not that she could actually achieve anything with her meagre powers but her devotion towards her revenge was extraordinary.

Noet got up leaving Aileen on the bed and walked out of the door. Agnes had probably calmed down by now so he was going to check on her condition and see what the after effects of a double dosage of those pills did.

His goal when he left here wasn’t something as tiresome like becoming a King, he wanted to become a merchant. Not just a simple merchant however but the head of a merchant Empire. And for that to happen, he needed to have something unique in the market, something people would want. Selling what someone already had was begging for competition and having the sole ownership of a product meant he could set the price to whatever the hell he wanted.

The pills were what he planned to base his empire on and his ‘friends’ were the test subjects. He didn’t tell them and even if they asked, he didn’t say. He offered and they took it so they couldn’t say he forced them.

He would have found other random blood elves for trials but that would just make him noticed before he could spread his wings. The colosseum where people died every day was the best place to do this and if they were his ‘friends’, he could monitor them.

***

“Hello” a sweet voice entered May’s ears startling her even though she didn’t look it.

May turned slowly to face the owner of the voice, “Princess?”

“Yes, thankfully you remember me” Abigail gave a big smile.

“Do you need something?” May didn’t seem concerned about the fact that the princess of Ferasi was in her room nor did she actually care why.

“No. I wanted to see you” Abigail chuckled sitting herself right next to May and leaning her head on May’s shoulders.

“Princess” May called out. May didn’t move away, not minding Abigail’s actions and she wasn’t even surprised at it.

“Yes?”

“Do you know me?” she asked monotonously

“Of course. Ice Queen of the colosseum” Abigail immediately said

“No” May paused and asked again, “Do you know me?”

“I just said yes” Abigail replied with a sweet smile.

“Don’t play dumb” May said and one could tell she was being cold even though her voice was monotone.

“Really, you ask this every time you see me. I know you, Ice princess” Abigail replied bubbly.

May stared at her for a few seconds before looking blankly into space in front of her, “Do you need something?”

“You’re frustrating” Abigail pouted. May liked going in circles whenever she saw her. She had to ask a particular question 3 times every time they met and if Abigail didn’t give the same answer, she would start over.

“Do you need something?” May asked again, her voice not differing in pitch.

“Even puppets are more flexible that you” Abigail complained.

“Do you need something?”

Abigail exhaled tiredly, “Yes. I wanted to see you”

“Do you need something?” May repeated.

“Oh? Sorry I mixed that up. I meant No, I wanted to see you”

“Do you need something?” Once again May said. If one looked closely they could see the edges of her lip rise up.

“Argh, really! You think I don’t know you do this on purpose? Since I pretend I don’t know you?” Abigail spat, “You’re having fun, right?”

“Do you need something?” May acted like she couldn’t hear a word Abigail said.

“No. I wanted to see you” Abigail replied exasperated.

May nodded satisfied, “Princess”

The exchange went on 2 more times and then Abigail collapsed on the bed as though exhausted.

“Why are doing this to me?” she pouted, blinking her beady eyes.

“Like you said, you know me yet you act like you don’t” May sneered.

Abigail decided to contact May on a whim so years ago. It was a whim that Abigail regretted because she realized fast enough that she wanted to keep contacting May. She didn’t realize how much she loved talking to her elder sister until then.

Even if the May in front of her looked different, the body and soul was definitely that of the 1st princess. Even if she had no memories, her way of acting was that of the 1st princess.

And the first princess was Abigail’s idol.

“I told you I have my reason” Abigail complained.

“I believe you but I’ve always wanted to know more about myself” May’s lips curved into a small smile, “Even though I have no brand, I can’t leave the colosseum since my legs won’t obey me. Even though I’m a colosseum slave, I barely have to fight.

I don’t have full control of myself at all times, like when I killed Tabie and don’t remember it. I’m like a puppet”

“You’re not a puppet,” Abigail immediately told her. If anyone had tried to turn May into a puppet, Abigail would have skinned them alive.

“I know. Puppets always know that they are puppets…so I’m not one,” her voice had a tone of finality to it that Abigail realized she was just saying. May didn’t actually think so.

“That’s great. I thought you thought… actually never mind” Abigail tapped her forehead in thought.

“Ok” May replied not really caring.

“OH! I almost forgot, Agnes that sav--- I mean girl. What do you know about her?” she exclaimed. Her mind was elsewhere so she was only remembering what she came here to ask.

“Agnes…? The little girl?” May asked a tad confused.

“No… or yes? When you say little girl, you mean the 27 year old one right?”

May nodded.

“Yes, that thing. What do you know about her?” Abigail questioned.

“Why don’t you have her background checked or something? You’re a princess” May wondered aloud.

“I already sent somebody today to find out. Trying to get some details that background checks might not have? I doubt it but it happens sometimes” Abigail said with a smile that wasn’t a smile.

“I don’t know her” May replied immediately.

“Huh? You interact with her almost every day, how could you not know her?” Abigail asked confused.

“I know her but I don’t know her” May explained.

“Oh! Really? Well, it makes sense that you aren’t really curious about that thing but this just give me more work” Abigail reasoned and descended into a contemplative silence.

“You’re lying right now, right?” May suddenly said.

Abigail was surprised, “Huh?”

“You’ve already done your background check on her, right? You just didn’t find what you were looking for” May surmised.

Abigail was silent for a few minutes simply staring at May. May found no reason to look away and starred back. They stayed like this till Abigail broke the silence.

“As expected of you, Eld— May. Really, as expected,” she stood up and squatted down in front of May, “You’re too perceptive for your own good, you know?”

“No” May replied swiftly.

Abigail just smiled at that, “Don’t tell her”

“If I find a reason to, I will” She replied curtly.

Abigail grinned widely and with a step back, she disappeared from the room.

She wasn’t bothered with May’s answer because there was next to no chance that May would find a reason to tell Agnes.

And even if May did, what would Agnes do about the knowledge that a princess was interested in her past?

Exactly.

Nothing.

So why did Abigail feel compelled to tell May not to inform Agnes about this little talk?

Only Bermia would know.