CHAPTER 20

—Hi, Nicholas… —Rosalba said slowly.

—Hi, you look better —Nicholas said through a communication crystal.

—"….." —It means that he already saw her gaunt appearance.

—Aaron told me what happened —Nicholas saw that Rosalba was in silence so he started to talk —I didn't imagine that Peter was so crazy to use forbidden magic and break the ancient deal between the species.

—Yes, we have to stop him —Rosalba didn't imagine how many people were necessary to make that controlled spell. Rosalba bit her lips and said —Peter has to have more factories like that, maybe in every allied country —Nicholas nodded and took a document from his desk saying.

—Yes, it wouldn't be easy. But I'm going to send men to investigate. For now… —Rosalba looked at him and knew that he was angry —Focused on your recuperation. We can talk when you return to the palace —Rosalba accepted and the crystal turned off.

Rosalba didn't listen to a question from him about her strange behavior in the factory. She was sure that Aaron had to tell him it. She couldn't avoid laughing. He was very cute sometimes.

***

Rosalba returned first to Silas. Aaron stayed in Zoi managing the rest of the things. Rosalba was directed to the office of Nicholas. She knew that he would be there. She knocked on the door but when she didn't receive an answer. She opened the door.

—Nicholas? —She entered and saw Nicholas lay in the chair taking a nap.

He had had difficult days. He was baggy-eyed, it was obvious that he hadn't slept well in much time. Despite the werewolves having a lot of energy and health, Rosalba didn't like to see him like that. She touched his hair a few times and she was surprised because it was very smooth.

—You are back —Rosalba stopped her movements when she listened to the other voice in the room.

—Yes —She said while she moved away her hand. But at that moment Nicholas grabbed her hand and said.

—Continue —Rosalba felt somewhat embarrassed. But she continued touching his hair slowly.

—Don't you think that you should rest a little more? —Rosalba couldn't avoid saying it after a while.

—It's okay, I had a lot of work to do —Rosalba felt unsatisfied with his answer —Also, even if I wanted to sleep, I couldn't because I was thinking about someone the whole time —Rosalba closed her mouth. She felt a stabbing pain in her heart. It wasn't intentional but she realized that he was very worried about her.

—I'm sorry —It was the only thing she could say now.

—I know that it wasn't your fault but I only want you to think a little more in me before doing dangerous things. I understand that it has been a while since anyone worried about you but I really want you to understand that you aren't alone —Rosalba knew that he was right.

—I only wanted to protect you but I wasn't ready to trust in you…I had been spending a lot of time doing the things by myself —Nicholas opened his eyes and looked at her.

—Mmm…However, now we are together and it doesn't matter if you can trust me now. We can do it gradually —Rosalba nodded.

***

After two weeks Rosalba went to the countries that had suspicions about another factory. In general, they didn't have many problems destroying those factories. It seemed that Peter intentionally didn't pay attention to their movements. It was a strange reaction but Nicholas and Rosalba couldn't stop. So they decided to ignore him for a moment.

The war on the border was bogged down and any of the sides had made progress. Nicholas was worried about it because, although Silas had recovered a lot in ten years. He knew that Luzbel had more resources to maintain a prolonged war than Silas. He thought that it was Peter's purpose.

If the food and resources decreased, the people might start to lose morale, Nicholas knew that it could tip the scales to Luzbel. So he decided to go to the battle and increased morale with that. Of course, he had other plans to finish the war as quickly as possible. His decision came at the same time when the army suffered great damage. Luzbel led an attack for four different flanks causing Silas to lose several cities in the south, north, east, and west.