"No… don"t come near me!" Cherry screamed as she hurriedly backed away to the corner of her room, while gazing at the approaching Half-Elf fearfully. "Stay away, you monster!"
"Calm down, Cherry," Audrey said as she hugged the little girl who was starting to hyperventilate due to excessive fear. "He won"t hurt you."
"No! I don"t want to have my other arm cut off!" Cherry cried helplessly in Audrey"s arms. "I don"t want to feel pain again!"
The little girl who had lost her left arm cried like the little girl she was and her anguished sobs echoed inside the room.
Celeste, who had also lost one of her arms, crouched down and helped Audrey coax the little girl who had suffered a severe trauma after Nisha had severed one of her arms.
William stood in place and didn"t move from his spot, in order to prevent things from getting worse.
The reason why he met Shana was in order to retrieve Celeste"s and Cherry"s arms, so that he could reattach them.
However, a simple reattachment would not work. What he needed to do is to take both of them to the Spring of Life in the Silvermoon Continent, and have Princess Aila reattach their arms for them.
Only by doing so would they be able to regain its functions perfectly, before it was cut off from their bodies.
After nearly an hour of crying, Cherry finally stopped. Celeste and Audrey managed to coax her and tell her that she would regain her arm soon.
The only problem was that the little girl was simply too terrified of William at this point, that being around him was enough for her to feel anxious.
A moment later, a knock was heard on the door.
"Come in," William said.
After gaining his permission, two little girls, namely Medusa and Erinys entered the room.
William had asked for their help in order to calm Cherry down. For he knew that it would take a little girl to take care of a little girl, so he decided to call some reinforcements.
After seeing the two little girls who seemed to be around her age, Cherry, who was crying earlier, finally stopped crying.
"h.e.l.lo, what"s your name?" Cherry asked. "My name is Cherry. What"s yours?"
"My name is Medusa, and this is Erinys. She can"t talk because she lost her voice."
Erinys, who was smaller than Medusa nodded her head and said a voiceless "h.e.l.lo" to Cherry, who seemed to have reverted to being a child again after calming down.
"Come," Medusa said as she held Cherry"s right hand. "Let"s go to the Thousand Beast Domain to play!"
"To play?"
"Yes. The three of us will play together."
"I would like that."
Opening a portal that led to his Domain, William watched as the little Gorgon dragged Cherry to the portal. Erinys didn"t follow right away. Instead she walked towards William and motioned to him that she was going to whisper something to his ear.
The black-haired teenager obediently crouched down to allow the Half-ling to "whisper" something to him. But, instead of a whisper, Erinys gave him a kiss on the cheek before running towards the portal, like a little kid who just pulled a prank.
"It seems that your charm also extends to little girls," Audrey said dryly. "Will she be really alright?"
William nodded. "Just give it a few hours. Once Celeste is fully healed, Cherry will also realize that I mean her no harm."
Audrey sighed. "Your steward sure is something. She didn"t hesitate to resort to violence right away."
"Because in her mind, violence solves most problems," William replied. "Still, I"m sorry for what she did. Things escalated like this because I wasn"t around when it happened."
The black-haired teenager then walked towards Celeste and held her right hand.
"Let"s go to the Silvermoon Continent," William stated. "It"s time for you to regain what you have lost."
"Even if you reattached my arm, what I lost will not return to me."
"If you are talking about your sister, I met her in the Underworld. She"s fine, and about to give birth to my child."
Celeste"s expression changed after hearing that William had already met her sister. None of William"s trusted confidants, including Chloee, told the Virtuous Lady of Chast.i.ty that the black-haired teenager had gone to the Underworld to look for her sister, Celine.
"How is she?" Celeste inquired. "Did she suffer any grievances while she was there?"
William nodded. "Yes. She suffered a lot. Felix was also in the Underworld and almost had his way with her. Fortunately, the worst case scenario didn"t happen and I was able to save her. Right now, she is in the Elysian Fields.
"That is the place where she will give birth, and the G.o.ddess Lyssa, had a.s.sured me of her safe delivery. Worry not, your sister and her child are in good hands."
Celeste felt faint, as the strength in her legs failed her. Fortunately, William was there to support her, and prevented her from falling.
"There are some things that I can"t tell you, but know this," William said softly. "You will be reunited with your sister soon."
Celeste finally breathed a sigh of relief, as she allowed William to carry her in his arms.
"Do you want to come as well, Audrey?" William inquired.
"Okay," Audrey replied. "I"d rather be with them than be with your steward."
William smiled because he sensed the veiled killing intent in Audrey"s words towards the veiled-beauty who was currently managing the affairs of his territories. Although what Nisha did was too extreme, the Half-Elf didn"t find fault in it.
She only did what she thought would be in the best interest of his Empire, and it worked. Now that the Pope and her cronies had stopped attacking their territories, they had started to build their armies, in preparation for the war that was about to come.
The Bifrost Bridge shot a beam of light towards William, sending him to the Sacred Grove, where the Spring of Life was located.
Arwen, who had just parted with William not too long ago, was very pleased to see him visit again. However, after seeing her son holding Celeste in his arms, the corner of the Saintess" lips curled up into a smile.
Clearly, she approved of the qualifications of the young lady in her son"s arms, and wished that the two of them would give her lots of grandchildren in the future.
"Mother, I know what you are thinking," William said as he walked towards Arwen while still carrying Celeste in his arms. "I don"t know if you are familiar with her, but this is Celeste. She is Celine"s twin, and I"m going to take her to the Spring of Life in order to have her severed arm reattached."
Arwen"s eyes widened in shock because she didn"t notice that the beautiful Elf in William"s arms was missing an arm. She immediately tossed the image of her grandkids to the side and approached her with a worried look.
"Who did this to her?" Arwen asked. "Who did this to my future daughter-in-law?"
William gave his mother the "Mom, can you not label every girl around me as your future daughter-in-laws?" gaze, which Arwen ignored completely.
"Celeste, this is my mother, the Saintess of the World Tree, Lady Arwen Von Ainsworth."
"I already know. Your mother took care of me when I was still here in the Silvermoon Continent."
Arwen nodded as if to reaffirm Celeste"s words. As the Saintess of the World Tree, her position was quite high, making her the perfect candidate to deal with children who had a special status within the Elven Kingdom.
"Great," William stated. "Since the two of you are already acquainted, there"s no need to waste any time. Mother, I"m going to the Spring of Life."
"Okay," Arwen replied. "If you need help just call for me."
William nodded and walked towards the path that led to the Spring of Life. Since Celeste was Celine"s sister, it was only natural for him to help her.
"It has been a while since I"ve been to the Spring of Life," Celeste said while reminiscing. "The last time I went there was when I had my coming of age ceremony. Lady Arwen personally baptized me using the waters of the Spring of Life."
William didn"t reply because he understood that Celeste was just reminiscing about what happened in the past.
For now, his priority was to fix the beautiful elf"s arm, so that the little girl, who was currently playing with Medusa and Erinys inside the Thousand Beast Domain, would cooperate and accept what she had lost, helping her to overcome the trauma that William"s Steward, Nisha, had ingrained deep in her very soul.
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