Domina's eyes widened, a dawning horror creeping into them as Kilian explained the insidious nature of Gloomrot.
"Old, cursed places... monster corruption... ancient artifacts..." she murmured, her voice barely a whisper, a sickening realization dawning on her.
"I... I think she probably got it when we were traveling, at least a month ago, on our way here."
Her gaze, filled with dawning terror, snapped back to Kilian, pleading hope battling against overwhelming despair. "Can she... can she still be saved?"
Kilian didn't answer immediately.
His eyes, usually sharp and calculating, softened almost imperceptibly as they swept over the mother's emaciated form.
"I already knew her mother suffered from Gloomrot, and I also knew she got it on their trip on the way here," Kilian thought, a frown deepening on his face.
"But the state that her mother is in, is so much worse than it was in the game."
"In the game, she was able to open her eyes and even talk and she could at least eat solid food."
"But she looks so much worse right now. She looks too thin and probably won't survive any longer if I don't do something right now."
"I did not expect to use more of the items I asked Elara to bring from the castle today, but I guess it's another cheap price to pay for what I would get for saving her mother."
After some thoughts, Kilian looked at Domina and noticed her hands starting to tremble, a visible tremor that betrayed her mounting fear.
"She's probably panicking because I was quiet for a second without answering her," he mused.
Kilian reached out and gently, but firmly, took both of Domina's shaking hands, squeezing them reassuringly.
"Hey," he said, his voice calm, pulling her full attention.
"I need you to listen to me, and you can decline if you don't like what I'm about to say."
His gaze intensified, holding hers steady.
"Your mother's condition is worse than I anticipated," Kilian stated, his voice devoid of sugarcoating, yet earnest.
"I can save her, but she might not be able to fight anymore. She looks to be drained of energy, her body lacks fat and muscle."
"I can save her, but you have to promise that you will leave this place and come with me, to live inside the castle."
He squeezed her hands again, his gaze unwavering.
"Otherwise, your mother will not survive, not if you only work as a market errand and your siblings only sell flowers."
"Leave this place and stay with me, Domina."
"I can give you everything you need to help your mother recover."
"Just stay with me. Can you do that?"
Domina's eyes, wide with a mixture of terror and desperate hope, were fixed on Kilian.
The weight of his words, especially the part about her mother not surviving otherwise, pressed down on her.
Then came the proposition, living in the castle. Her mind reeled.
She blinked, once, twice, as if trying to clear a sudden fog from her thoughts.
Her mouth opened, then closed, no sound escaping for a full, agonizing second.
The warmth of Kilian's hands, still holding hers, felt both grounding and utterly overwhelming.
"The... the castle?"
Domina finally managed to stammer, her voice barely a breath.
Her head shook slowly, a look of profound bewilderment and distress clouding her features.
"No, wait! You... you don't have to go that far!"
Her grip instinctively tightened on his hands, a desperate plea in her touch.
"Just... just saving my mother, providing the cure, that's already more than I could ever ask for!" she insisted, her eyes darting between Kilian and her ailing mother, then back to him.
A flush, different from the earlier embarrassment, now colored her cheeks, a blush of discomfort at such immense generosity.
"Being provided with everything... living in the castle... that's too much."
"We... we couldn't possibly ask for that. It's... it's just too much."
As the words left her lips, her eyes, though still wide, slowly sharpened.
"Living in the castle," she had repeated, but this time, the phrase echoed in her mind with a new, startling clarity.
She had only thought of it as a grand, distant place, a symbol of unimaginable wealth.
But Kilian hadn't merely offered them a place in the castle, he had spoken of her living with him there.
Her gaze snapped back to Kilian's face, a dawning realization reshaping her features from overwhelmed to bewildered.
The way Elara, his clearly high-ranking attendant, deferred to him, calling him "young master."
The casual way he spoke of "the castle" as if it were simply his residence.
"Wait," Domina breathed, her voice now tinged with a new kind of shock, one of growing awe and apprehension.
Her head tilted slightly, her brow furrowing as she finally put the pieces together.
"You... you live in the castle? Are you... are you a Noxhaven? The Noxhaven?"
Kilian chuckled, a soft, self-deprecating sound.
"Oh, wait, haven't I told you that before earlier?" he mused, a casual hand rising to scratch the back of his head.
"It must have slipped my mind, haha. I'm Kilian Onyx Noxhaven."
He offered the revelation with an easy smile, as if announcing the time of day.
Domina, however, remained utterly stunned.
The name, "Kilian Onyx Noxhaven," echoed in the small, cramped room, hitting her with the force of a physical blow.
The Noxhaven, the very family who ruled this territory under the Emperor, the king whose castle loomed over the city like a silent guardian.
The realization of who was holding her hands, who was offering such an impossible salvation and an even more impossible life, rooted her to the spot, her mind struggling to process the sheer magnitude of it all.
Kilian, seeing her stunned silence, decided he had already wasted enough time.
His gaze sharpened, and he called out, his voice crisp and authoritative, cutting through Domina's daze.
"Elara, please bring out all of the remaining vials that you still have in there."
"I'm going to need all of them to save her mother."
"Here they are, young master," Elara replied immediately, her movements swift and practiced.
She presented the last remaining three vials, holding them carefully in her outstretched hands.
One glowed with a deep, crimson red, pulsing with the raw power of a Strength potion.
Another radiated a warm, golden yellow, clearly a Vitality potion symbolizing life and health.
The third was a pristine, white liquid, unmistakably a Cure Potion, promising cleansing and restoration.
Kilian took the three vials from Elara, his brow furrowing in concentration as he considered his approach.
"The mother still lay utterly unresponsive so how will I administer the potions?"
His gaze drifted to her afflicted skin, the dark purplish-black spots stark against her pallor.
"Is it possible to just pour it on her skin?" he wondered.
Then he suddenly remembered something.
"Ah, right, of course it is!"
"Earlier, Elara did the same on my feet when I was injured, and I also did it on Domina's thighs for her bites."
"I guess here goes nothing."
He started with the Cure Potion, its pristine white liquid shimmering faintly in the dim light.
Carefully, meticulously, Kilian uncorked the vial and began to pour it directly onto every patch of skin that appeared affected by Gloomrot, gently spreading the cool, ethereal fluid over the dark, ominous spots.
As he worked, his mind drifted, recalling the disease from a different perspective.
"Gloomrot, huh", he thought, a distant memory of his gaming days surfacing.
"I still remember the dungeons and monsters that had this status on them."
"If I used my team to fight or conquer a place with Gloomrot, there was always a chance to acquire the status ailment on my heroes, and it was such a pain in the ass."
"My characters would be down and couldn't be used while they had this status."
"I'd have to buy a high-grade cure or find the ingredients myself to create one, and it was such a hassle."
"Good thing the effects of ailments such as Gloomrot depended on how low the character's rank was", he mused, his fingers still carefully dabbing the potion onto a particularly large spot on the woman's arm.
"If it was a high-rank hero, then the effects were going to be low or mild, they might even be able to remove the status themselves over time."
"But if a weak or starting-rank character got unlucky and caught a strong disease, they might just die on the spot and be gone forever."
"Well, if I really needed that character, I just had to pay a hefty amount of price to revive them."
A slight frown touched his lips, considering the practical implications for the woman before him.
"No revive option here."
After applying the Cure Potion to her visible ailments, Kilian carefully unbuttoned the top of the mother's thin, worn clothes, exposing her chest area.
He needed to apply the Strength and Vitality potions directly onto her core.
His gaze swept over her emaciated body.
Her ribs protruded sharply beneath translucent skin, and her collarbones stood out like stark ridges.
Every muscle seemed to have wasted away, leaving only skin stretched tautly over bone.
It was a harrowing sight, a testament to the disease's relentless consumption.
"Why is this part different from the game?" he thought, a jolt of genuine concern running through him.
"Her condition is so much worse than what I remember."
"Did I wake up in this body late, so her condition is this severe?"
"Is the Gloomrot itself stronger in this actual world? Why is this so different?"
"If I was late by just a day or two, she might have already been too far gone, impossible to save, no matter the potions."
A wave of cold realization washed over him.
"Good thing I decided to come here on the same day I woke up in this world."
"What a long day it is already, and I still have to go to the library, don't I?"
"I guess the day is still not over yet."
Next, he picked up the crimson red Strength potion.
This wasn't just about boosting power, for a body as weak as hers, it was about sparking fundamental growth.
Kilian carefully poured the vibrant liquid over her chest, letting it flow over her sunken stomach and collarbones.
This would kickstart the revitalization of her muscles, adding the much-needed weight and bulk back to her frame, eventually enabling her to at least regain the strength to eat solid food again.
Finally, he uncorked the golden yellow Vitality potion.
This was the essence of life force itself, a critical infusion for a body so close to its breaking point.
He poured the warm, radiant liquid directly over her sternum, watching as it began to absorb into her skin.
This potion was about raw survival, ensuring her very life force wouldn't flicker out while her body fought its way back from the brink of the disease's devastating effects.
***
/I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If its alright, please drop a comment or a powerstone to help me keep making this world bigger!