Back at Yves' personal laboratory in the palace, Ezio places Cimmerian down on an examining bed. When all of them arrived, Yves was already preparing his tools for examination, as well as his medical kit.
"Can't you just heal him?" Samael interrupted, and Yves didn't bother glancing their way.
"Oh, you came too," he commented as he sensed that all four of them were here, aside from his five other peers. He fixed his sleeves and took a good look at the state he put Cimmerian in.
"I can't heal people, Father. I can only fix things. In addition, Cimmerian's body was in a state of rampage when he took all the damage. Now that he's back to his original form, his body is experiencing ten times the amount of pain. His wounds, no matter how small it looks, are in peak sensitivity. And merely using healing powers would stagnate the circulation in his heart and contaminate his blood even worse."
"Healing makes it worse?" Milera asks. "How so?"
"Any form of mana is the triggering factor for the drug to work," Dolunay answered. Yves smiled and nodded at that accurate response. Dolunay, however, gave him a look of suspicion. "I find it quite strange how you know such a discrete fact though, Yves…"
The room fell silent at Dolunay's words, but Yves' smile remained on his lips.
"That very fact itself was only revealed to me, because from what I initially thought, an emotional fit is the only trigger of an episode," Dolunay continues. "To learn about the triggering factor barely within weeks of learning the drug itself is—"
"Suspicious. I know," Yves cuts her sentence. "But it's such a basic observation. The addict I encountered at the Spring Ball was enough for me to learn."
He said no lie. Dolunay refrained from asking questions after learning that it was simply because he had observed it. He wasn't wrong, but she still knows there's something more than just that.
"How so?" Isaac himself then stepped forward and joined in the exchange.
"Before he'd exploded into a fit, I've sensed foreign aura gathering in one particular place; his body," Yves responded as he then turned his back on them to focus on Cimmerian. "It was too early to determine because I knew I didn't rile him up that much, but it's a fact that can easily be overlooked."
All of them had one similar thought as they stared at him with one look. Oh, we know you did rile him up that bad…
They know for a fact how much an eccentric and egoistic bastard he is. He could either piss someone off or have them like his unique personality.
"Patching him up manually with herbs is the best treatment I could give in his current state," Yves continued as specific herbs from his shelf flew over him. "However, to remove the Black Heart completely, I will have to draw the contaminated blood from his veins at least once a day. He will also be drinking a specific liquid medicine to cleanse his veins from the inside, to fasten the progress of his rehabilitation. Over a week or two, he may be able to achieve full recovery."
The room fell silent once again as they merely observed Yves' movements. It was hard to believe he was throwing fists and kicks at the very same patient he's currently tending to.
But it was simply ironic.
At the very moment, Yves was no paradox. Eccentric, but not complex.
"I simply cannot die."
Kian recalled the words that came out of his mouth. Yves' expression remained fresh in his mind. It was as if… Syvestian… this deity had no choice but to continue on life, in his original body or not.
What could be his reason… to want eternal life? Kian remained questioning in his mind.
"Well, we have news," Tadeas broke the silence and drew all their attention, aside from Yves'. "Not exactly a pin point, but we've located Princess Holloway."
Dolunay turned in surprise. "Really?"
Isaac nodded. "A bounty has been placed on her head, and flyers have been posted around the Empire of Amadeus Oceana."
"What the…" Milera trailed off. All the older four had anticipated their reaction to such information.
However, to their surprise…
"How much?" Dolunay chimed in.
"What?" Samael asks.
"She meant how much is the bounty for Nilsine?" Kian explained. Samael and Isaac looks at them in disbelief, Tadeas simply let out a hopeless sigh, and Callista was holding back a chuckle.
"What do you mean how much… Shouldn't you be wondering why the hell is she in the Empire of Amadeus Oceana when she's a full-demon royalty of our empire?" Isaac interjects.
"Scratch that, you're not even wondering how the hell she became a wanted criminal?" Samael was concerned—truly concerned for how normalized such absurd things are in their world.
Yves was already insane enough, but he at least had expected these other brats to slightly be below crazy than Yves.
Turns out they aren't!
"Sin is a demon princess, becoming a criminal is the most unexpected thing she could be," Yves responded. "Other than that, she's also working under Heins, given their previous circumstances… or not. Who knows at this point? Maybe Heins is also after her."
That very assumption was like a missing piece of a puzzle. He was right. Dolunay herself was not caught or revealed when she parted with Heins. However, with Nilsine…
"Maybe that's why they refuse to tell me of her whereabouts for months," Dolunay mumbled to herself.
…he must be searching for her as well.
Yves turned back to them as he takes off his gloves. "Well, either way, we have another mission on our hands; take back Nilsin—"
"Cim!" Ezio suddenly shouted and soon after they heard a loud thud. They looked over to the patient's direction, only to see Cimmerian on the cold tiled floor, struggling to even sit up. Ezio immediately assisted again.
"What are you doing? Stop pushing yourself," Milera stepped up herself to use her drape to cover him up.
"L-Ly… I need to get to Lysander…" Cimmerian pants, barely even forming his words properly.
His words had them frozen still in their places. Lysander… one of the few they couldn't get in touch with for years. But this elf knows where he is…
"You know where Lysander is…?" The tone of betrayal couldn't be dismissed from Kian's voice. They were the last ones to have talked to Cimmerian before he went missing, before he succumbed in that sleeping spell… yet—
"H-He's trapped... at his tower. Someone caged him there… but h-he could—"
"We'll head out in four hours." Yves declared, cutting Cimmerian off.
From the gravity of the situation, something could go wrong if they delay Cimmerian's need to see Lysander.
"What about Cim?" Dolunay asks in concern.
"We'll take him. He's the only one who knows Ly's whereabouts."
"But—"
"I'm alright!" Cimmerian let out a shout, utterly failing to back up his own words. He's all pale and weak. A breeze would be enough to knock him off his feet. "I-I will be, but Lysander's in danger."
"What do you mean? Isn't he simply trapped in his tower?" Callista herself had to join in, as she herself was a vampire. She's hoping for the best that this isn't what it seems to be…
"In his shadows… he's succumbing in his shadows… and he could die."