He's Evil

Waking up to see Lilian's eerie smiling face, Ciel quickly made a common surrender gesture on the Eastern continent the Anatol kingdom resided in. 

"This time was a mistake. I forgot that falling asleep would stop my magic." 

Lilian didn't budge.

Ciel widened his eyes and put his hands together. 

"I'm telling the truth. I really didn't want to get hurt. Am I really that reckless?"

Lilian looked at the two cat-like eyes filled with a mix of blue hues and sincerity, quickly caving in. 

"I'll let you off this time since you didn't deliberately injure yourself to use blood magic. But there is no next time."

Deciding that it would be better to not tell Lilian that one of his wounds was self-inflicted, Ciel put an innocent smile on his face as he began to resist. 

"Of course there'll be a next time. It's impossible for someone to never get injured once or twice."

"He meant for you to try not to get hurt too much." 

Rolling his eyes around to find the source of the voice, Ciel saw Erin.

"Yes, yes. Ok, so what happened to the kidnapped eve children?" Their connections with eves were his future sources of income.

For a moment, Ciel saw helplessness flash across Erin's face. 

'Did Erin get more expressive or am I getting more familiar with him?'

No wait, why did the sense of familiarity when seeing Erin grow stronger? Did his head get knocked around when he was unconscious?

But with those strangely overprotective Fatalite members around, it was almost impossible for him to hit his head?

Erin sighed. 

"Is that seriously the only thing you want to know after waking up?"

"Um, what's the reward for saving the crown prince and the duke's heir?" 

Erin narrowed his eyes, not answering. As he came closer to the bed, Ciel noticed something. 

"You. Did you get taller? Or is it because I'm lying down? And where did your wings go?" 

A bout of dizziness hit Ciel as he tried to sit up and check. Moving forward, Erin quickly caught Ciel and lowered him gently back onto the bed.

Lilian scoffed, "You've been unconscious for a month. Eves grow differently from humans. If you had slept for another one or two months, you would find a complete, humanoid Erin."

His words immediately piqued Ciel's interest. 

"Ah, really? So did the eve children also grow? Did you guys fetch all of them from the mountain?"

"Wrong again, you should be asking about how well your body is right now." Erin took a bottle from Lilian and passed it to Ciel, "Drink your medicine."

Ciel gulped it down, the bitterness overwhelming his tongue. 'I really need something sweet after this.' 

"Done. The children?" He was getting tired of repeating this question. He had gone through all that effort to save them, they can't just waste his efforts by dying just like that.

Lillian knocked on his head.

"Haa… They were all brought here. Not one is missing. We've recorded their homes. They would've already returned if not for wanting to see you again. What strange thing did you drug them with for them to call you an angel?"

"I have to thank my mother for giving me angelic features then." Ciel smiled proudly.

As the epitome of mana, fairies were all naturally good looking with perfectly proportioned features. The irresponsible emperor was also fairly good looking, worthy of being the father of one of the harem members. 

"...I can't deny that." 

Seeing that even Lilian couldn't refute him, Ciel laughed. 

"So can I get out of bed now?" Ciel felt relaxed in bed, but since he hadn't been to the black market for more than a month now, he was worried that Taq might cancel or recycle his commission. He also needed to replenish his hair dye potions.

"No."

It was an immediate refusal. Ciel tched. Asking any further would probably get him a lecture.

"The children will come to see you as soon as they hear you're up. You don't need to go to them." Erin got up, "I'll go tell the others that you've woken up."

Ciel was confused as he watched Erin go out the door.

'When did I say I wanted to see those guys? I just need to fetch my commission from Taq. That cost a lot of coins.' 

***

When Erin came back, Ciel felt the temperature in the room rise by a few degrees just from the amount of people entering the room. He sneaked a peak at Lilian. As expected, a few black lines had formed on Lilian's forehead. He turned back to Erin.

"You just went to tell them some news, why do I feel like everyone in the base followed you back?"

"They wanted to see you." Erin replied, helping Ciel sit up. "Be careful, you lost a lot of blood."

'He really is treating me like a porcelain doll now.' Ciel met the various eyes of the children and the Fatalite members.

'They've grown.'

In his memory, the ten children were all small malnourished bean sprouts. Now they've grown healthier, one particular child he remembered as Aria had even grown taller than him. 

Closely observing each of them, a random thought popped up in his head. 

No wonder eves were often captured as slaves. They were all beautiful children. 

Ignoring the heated gazes from the children, he smiled. 

"Other than seeing me, why are all of you here?"

Ten pairs of eyes started to pour out water, and the room was instantly lively with crying sounds. 

"..."

Speechless, Ciel looked at Lanae for help. Out of all the Fatalite members, she was the one who liked children the most. 

However, before she could do anything, Lilian was the one who couldn't take it anymore. 

"Patients. Need. Peace. And. Quiet." 

His clipped voice worked like magic, and the children stopped crying immediately.

*Hiccup*

Instead, they started hiccuping. 

Ciel violently turned away, hiding his laughter. 

"Brother, look at what you did. They were only worried for their little angel. You need to distribute patience and kindness to everyone, not just to your patients." The children gathered around Lanae as she gently stroked their backs. 

Ciel could sense the laughing tone in her voice when she said 'little angel.'

"The people who have no intention of speaking or doing anything here should go out." Lilian replied coldly. 

No one moved. 

"Did I miss something interesting while sleeping?" Ciel leaned forward excitedly. How come everyone had something to say?

Children, "We wanted to thank you!"

Lanae, "I followed the children."

Ivan, "I made this after hearing Lilian's diagnosis for you."

Jadiel, "The crown prince sent over a blank check specifically addressed to you."

Kierra, "I wanted to look at your state of mind."

Mason, "I wanted to see Lilian scold you."

Seeing that his patient had gotten a headache from everyone talking at the same time, Lilian directly grabbed Kierra, Mason, and Lanae, then neatly threw them out of the room like balls. He then took his younger sister's advice and gave the children some patience and kindness, letting them kick themselves out.

"Since Ciel has accepted your thanks, you guys should not hinder his recovery, alright?" 

His tone was kind, but the stern dark eyes underneath the glasses showed no room for argument. 

'But I didn't say anything yet?'

Ciel opened his mouth. Before he could say anything, the eve children had already been scared stiff and started to push each other out the door, though not before giving cute goodbyes to the dumbfounded Ciel.

""Angel! Get well soon!""

Ciel nodded, his face blooming into another smile. 'How cute.' He didn't normally like kids, but he would make an exemption for them. Being called an angel wasn't bad. 

"So, did you just say something about a blank check?" He turned his attention to Jadiel. 

"You little money grubber, listen to Lilian and Ivan first." Seeing Lilian's death glare turning his way, Jadiel left the room voluntarily. He still had to preserve his reputation as the captain. 

Lilian nodded, satisfied with his captain's behavior, and started his lecture.

"All your superficial wounds had healed in the month you were unconscious. The more serious three are your neck and leg injuries. Both your legs were cleanly penetrated by arrows and—"

"Wait, stop right there." Ciel raised his hand. "Just tell me how long it'll take to heal and what I can't do in that time frame."

Lilian paused, "First, I have to tell you. Before your legs heal, you can't walk."

Ciel's opinion was firm. 

"If I get bored, I will go out even if I have to crawl." 

He can die, but he can't get bored. 

Maybe he would be willing to stay in bed if there were books to read like back in the tower. Sadly, Fatalite only owned those fairy tales he had finished ages ago. It was still far from that prominent company that almost had everything in the future. 

"Of course you'd say that. That's why Ivan made a wheelchair." Lilian gestured at Ivan, who was right on cue as he stepped aside, revealing an intricately made wooden wheelchair. The design was simple and easy to use, but there was only one small problem; 

"Lilian, I think my arms are too short to reach the wheels. How am I supposed to roll the wheels?" 

"That's the point."

"Huh?"

"You think I'll let you go freely around the base like last time? This wheelchair was specially modified so that you can't move by yourself. Don't worry, Erin will be escorting you." 

Ciel blankly looked at Erin standing by him, with an aura of complacency that couldn't be overlooked even with his expressionless face.

"Lilian."

"Hm?"

"You're evil."

Mini Theater:

Ciel: I just took a nap and woke up. You all have changed. TVT

Fatalite members: heh.