Healing Magic

As the two began to leave the street, Laif found out that something was not right. It did not take him too long to notice that there was a group of men, trailing after them.

Laif thought of the money that they had won earlier and realized that those men were the same people who were in the gambling house just now. Perhaps those men had seen how they won a few times and decided to come after them when they noticed that they were not a regular patron.

As they got near to the end of the street, Laif suddenly grabbed Amelia's hand and looked at her. "Run!"

...

Amelia panted heavily just as they reached inside the palace garden. She leaned her back on the tree trunk and tried her best to steady her breathing. When she raised her head to look at the man beside her, Amelia soon found that he was not as breathless as she was.

Previously, the two of them were running around the city, into streets that she had never visited before. She did not know why they have to run, and Laif only told her that a group of men was following them when they entered a dark alley as a shortcut to get back to the palace.

After that previous incident where she was almost killed, Amelia suddenly grew anxious and thus, pick up her speed to run faster. It was only when they get into the palace ground that Amelia let herself relax.

"That was fun," Laif said with a smile on his face. His breathing steadied. It was like he hasn't been running at all. "We should definitely do this again sometimes. Sneaking out."

Amelia smiled faintly at his idea. She had to admit that her little adventure that night was fun. But she knew that the chances that she would have the opportunity to sneak out with him again were closer to none.

"Come on," Laif extended his arms to her. "I'll take you back to the Princess's palace."

Amelia nodded. Just as she was about to reach his hand, Amelia began to notice a long wound on his right arms. "Does it hurt?"

Laif raised a brow before he followed her gaze. It was then that he noticed that his arms were bleeding. "Huh? When did that happen?" he mumbled.

He tried to recall when did he receive the injury and thought of that moment they sneaked into the garden. He had probably scraped his arms against a sharp tree branch earlier.

Laif flinched when he saw that she was trying to touch the injury. "It's fine. It doesn't hurt at all." His voice faltered when he felt a cooling sensation around his wound.

When Laif looked up again, there was an apparent shock in his expression.

Just now... although it was very briefly, Laif was able to feel that familiar feeling of magic. He glanced at his wound again and was surprised to find that the bleeding has stopped.

No matter how many reasons he came up with, Laif could not deny that his wound was halfway healed when Amelia had tried to touch his injury.

Laif had heard about a healer in the past, but he had never encountered one. The healer tribe was considered extinct from thirty years ago after a war between the tribe with a clan. The war killed everyone in the tribe, even the elders and their babies.

He was not yet born when it happened, but he had heard about the healer tribe from his master a few times.

"Amelia," Laif called her name urgently. "Can you tell me about your parents? Were they a citizen of Western Continents in the past?"

"No," she frowned at his sudden question. "My parents have never been to the Western Continents. Why do you ask?"

"Is anyone among your family members is a magic practitioner?"

Laif's sudden change of behavior surprised her. "You know that practicing magic is forbidden in Eastern Continents."

Hearing her answer, Laif snapped out of his thought.

Of course, Amelia has been living in the palace since she was very small. If one of her parents was a practitioner, then, wouldn't the King to detect them? He did see a large amount of those stones used to detect magic lying around the King's palace. If anyone used magic, the King would be the first to notice it.

Another thought came to his mind. But as he was about to ask her more questions, Laif suddenly found that there was something wrong in the air.

"Wha—"

Amelia was not able to finish what she was going to say as she felt his finger on her lips. She looked up to him in confusion and saw him signaling her to keep silent.

Suddenly, Amelia started to grow anxious. She stood quietly and watched as Laif tried listening to their surroundings. Then she heard a rustle behind her and just a few seconds later, a bright light from countless torches surrounded them. Her eyes widened when she noticed that they were surrounded by a group of palace guards.

"It will be alright." Laif pulled her behind him.

Earlier, Amelia was using magic to heal his wound and Laif was worried that those people came to apprehend her. He knew very well what will happen to practitioners in Eastern Continents.

However, this girl was no doubt from the healer tribe and by the look of it, even Amelia did not know that she was able to use magic.

He could not let them punish or harm her.

As the two stood still at the center of the guards, Laif noticed that someone else was heading their way. The guards made way for that person to walk past and soon, Commander Irvine's displeased face appeared.

"Seize him!" Commander Irvine pointed his finger to Laif. "And make sure that Her Highness is safe."

Amelia turned to the owner of the voice and saw that the commander was leading the soldiers to surround them.

Hearing his commands, a group of the soldiers stepped forward and grasped Laif's arms.

He tried to struggle from the soldiers at first, but soon, Laif fell with his face pressed on the ground, and his hands were both pinned behind his back.

Amelia watched everything in horror. "No," she whispered.