Chapter 2 – Awakening

After the physician left, Angela sat beside Leonis and gently caressed his head. Soon, her eyes watered up and tears began to fall. Seeing her mother's helpless expression, Aria sat beside her mother and gently hugged her as they both cried for few minutes.

Aria then left her embrace and took her brother's hand and as she did, her eyes widened in disbelief. His hand was cold, lacking the usual warmth of a normal person. It was a clear indicator of the impending death.

Her brother has taken care of her just like a father would, so she loves her brother dearly to the point that she does not even want to live without him.

And now, seeing her dear brother so close to his death, she controlled her emotions and said to her mother, "Mom, we should use that medicine. Look how weak brother's pulse has become. At least he would be saved… Please…" She made a pleading expression as tears threatened to fall.

Seeing her daughter's expression, Angela, too, made a determined expression and decided to feed the medicine to Leonis. She then took the bottle and fed it to Leonis according to the instructions.

As she drained the whole bottle into Leonis' stomach, his body began emitting a green glow. His body started heating up with his rising heartbeat.

Meanwhile, inside Leonis' psyche, a beautiful woman opened her bewitching purple eyes from her deep slumber. Her hourglass figure was tall and voluptuous with great assets and proportions.

Sensing a large amount of mana flowing inside Leonis' body, she began guiding it in a specific way hurriedly and as it finished, the lady lost her strength and fell unconscious.

Outside, the two ladies were looking at Leonis' glowing body with an expression of worry and nervousness. After some time, the glow began to subside as Leonis' breathing became rugged. Seeing this, both the ladies' grief multiplied and both of them nearly screamed.

With a jerk, Leonis opened his eyes and began taking long breaths with his mouth opened wide. As they watched Leonis' such pitiful condition, both the ladies' faces became pale as they did not know what to do, their tears fell like a tide.

"Leonis!"

"Brother!"

Both of them screamed and held Leonis' hand as they saw him opening his eyes and still suffering. Both of them kept holding his hand as they bawled.

After half an hour, Leonis calmed down and stared blankly at the ceiling as he tried to understand the situation. After an unknown amount of time, he came to his senses and started analyzing his surroundings. He looked to his side where his mother and sister were both holding his hand and crying.

With a weak voice and great difficulty, Leonis opened his mouth and called his mother, "Mom…"

"sob… sob…"

His mother didn't respond, probably because she didn't hear him or she was more engaged in crying. So he called her again with a bit more voice, "Mom...?"

As soon as her beloved son's weak voice entered her ears, Angela quickly looked at her son's opened eyes and his weak smile. "Leonis!" She exclaimed with delight. She quickly wiped her tears and forced a smile as she started caressing his head.

With a worried and nervous expression, she asked hurriedly, "Leonis, how are you feeling? Is there pain somewhere or are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?"

Upon seeing his mother's worried and flustered expression, he didn't reply and just gave her a reassuring smile. After a few seconds of silence, "mom, I am hungry", he said as has not eaten anything for the past few months. He remained alive until now just because of the medicinal soup recommended by a physician.

"Yes, yes … I will make your favorite soup instantly, just wait for a few minutes." Hearing her son's voice after so long, Angela couldn't contain her happiness. So, she caressed his head, kissed him on the cheeks and forehead several times, and left to make his favorite soup.

Now only Aria and Leonis remained in the room. "Welcome back brother…" with a delighted expression, she said to her brother as she held onto his hand. Leonis weakly extended his hand which Aria was holding and patted her head and said, "I made you worry… what kind of brother I am?"

Aria enjoyed her beloved brother's hand after so long, and upon hearing his kind words, "No… I know you suffered more than us…" she refuted.

"How can that be? I was just lazing around on the bed this whole time, leaving everything up to you."

"Please don't say such things… why must you act tough in every situation?" Aria said as her eyes became teary. Leonis also understood his mistake and apologized hurriedly.

"My bad… I got carried away… hehe. By the way, I do not see aunt, did she go somewhere?" To distract from this awkward atmosphere, Leonis asked about his aunt who has been living with them and took care of them, both financially and emotionally.

"Yes, she went to the port city to find a good physician for you." She said and noticed her brother drenched in sweat. "Wait, I will help you clean." She searched for a towel and began wiping his body with great care and tender love.

Leonis saw his sister's cute actions and couldn't help but feel touched in his heart.

"It's done." She said as she completely wiped his whole body.

"Hmmm. something is missing…" Leonis said with a mischievous smile.

"Hm? What is it?" She asked innocently.

"You didn't give me a kiss." Seeing her cute face, he couldn't help but tease her. Aria's face became bright red as she averted her eyes as she timidly refuted, "W-who wants to kiss you."

"Hehehe… you won't? And here I thought that I would regain my health with your kiss filled with love and care." He gave her a cheeky smile as he teased.

"I-I-I-I- If t-that can h-help you, t-then I will do it…" She said with an embarrassed expression with the latter part of her sentence almost in a mosquito voice.

Seeing his sister's flustered and cute expression, Leonis was delighted and further widened his smile.

She timidly looked at her brother who was smiling widely and got angry, "C-close your eyes, you idiot!... And stop that stupid smile." Leonis did as he was told and soon found his lips getting covered with a soft and warm sensation. Leonis was surprised. He didn't expect her to kiss him on the lips.