Caitlin's troubled heart

The true culprit behind the miracles in Oath was resting on a bed in the palaces. Her excessive use of energy has left her completely exhausted, and she was in slumber, dealing with the after-effects of her successive breakthroughs as well as her intricate control of her power.

The energy gathered exceeded Seth’s expectations, so he remained by her side to ensure she was alright while using the system to check the general situation over the continent.

<Following her success in wiping off the enemy armies, Maya has sent Hollie to meet you in Oath.>

<King Ronald and the rest of the alliance have started sending people to investigate the lack of updates following the attacks on Oath and Endora.>

<The cleansing of the blood race is progressing smoothly. Over 92% of their population has already been wiped out. ETA to end of the operation: one month.>

Seth nodded and asked: ‘How many of them will survive?’

<Around a thousand or so. The initial attack had managed to eliminate over 72% of the blood race’s population, but the effort of the alliance to follow their trail didn’t have great results.>

‘That’s good enough. I’ll take care of the remaining ones myself as soon as they regroup. How long until Ronald starts suspecting something is wrong?’

<He already does, but it will take a maximum of one week until he confirms it.>

‘That’s quite fast. Well, no matter. We’ll see what he does then.’

While Seth was discussing with the system, Henrietta teleported inside his room, a tired smile on her face. Looking at the sleeping Caitlin, she asked: “How is she doing?”

“She’s getting used to her breakthroughs, or so to speak, but she’ll be fine. How are you?”

“Tired. I had to work with the others to round up all the corrupted nobles and throw them in jail. I also need to prepare an execution day, the coronation day, and so on.” Henrietta started complaining while moving to sit next to Seth.

“What happened to the awe-inspiring queen of miracles?” asked Seth while pulling her into his arms.

“What queen of miracles? I tried to explain to the people that my knight Caitlin was the one who did everything, but everyone ignored me… its quite frustrating.”

Seth chuckled and said: “They needed a leader they could trust, and their need for you to be that leader is making them act like this. It’s also better to let them believe what they want. I’m sure Caitlin won’t mind.”

Henrietta nodded with a short sigh and lifted her hand: “Oh, I wanted to ask. What’s with this thing? It appeared out of nowhere, then went to sleep and started itching like crazy.”

“It reacted to the people’s fate in you. That’s why it showed itself, but after it wasted its energy, it went back to sleep. As for the itch, it’s just trying to tell you it’s proud. Or annoyed. Who knows.”

Henrietta sighed again and closed her eyes while burying her head into Seth’s chest: “Let me rest for a few minutes like this. I barely got time to see you and need to speak to the academy. Then I must make a public announcement about the kingdom situation and also announce your visit to the kingdom… so much work….”

Seth nodded and let her rest as he asked: “Did you visit your family?”

Henrietta remained silent for a moment before saying: “Dealing with my father was easy… sort of… but seeing my mother, brothers, and sister…. Can you come with me? It will help to have you around.”

“Sure. Tell me when you want to do it, and I’ll come.”

“After holding the announcement about your visit and dealing with the academy, so tomorrow?”

“Alright. Just come pick me up. Oh, by the way, the war in Endora is over, and Hollie is coming here.”

Henrietta gave Seth a strange look but didn’t ask how he knew as she closed her eyes and said: “That’s good.”

After she rested for a while, Henrietta left again, and Seth remained to accompany Caitlin. She only woke up late into the night.

As her eyes opened, they flashed bright green before turning towards Seth.

“Is it over?” she asked with a pained expression.

“It is. How are you feeling?” said Seth, moving to help her sit up.

Caitlin lifted a hand, and the flesh on her bones started slowly fading away before regrowing back again.

“My body still hurts, but I’m fine. The breakthroughs are quite handy.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Said Seth.

Caitlin lowered her head and sighed: “Weirdly calm. Definitely not like someone that had just committed mass genocide.”

“And how would you know how committing genocide would feel?” asked Seth. “Do you want something to eat? Maybe some sweets?”

Caitlin touched her belly and shook her head: “I’m not hungry and don’t feel like eating anyway… another time.”

Seth gave her a worried look and surprised Caitlin by pulling her into his arms. He might have accepted she was fine if not for her aura and lack of appetite telling him a different story.

“You don’t need to act strong, you know. Everyone has the right to be weak once in a while, and if my little glutton says she doesn’t want food, she is definitely not fine.”

Caitlin started tearing up in his arms, moving her hands to hold him tightly, and she just cried in silence without saying a single word. After hours of silent crying in which Seth just rubbed her back, she fell asleep once more.

Feeling her crying stop, Seth placed her on the bed gently and used his finger to mend the frown on her forehead. As he was about to get out of bed, Caitlin’s small hand caught the hem of his shirt.

Looking back, Seth sighed and decided against leaving, hugging her in bed and covering the two with a blanket.

In the morning of the next day, Caitlin found herself sitting on something hard. Frowning, she opened her face to see she was sitting on top of Seth. In bed. Under a soft blanket.

Her face turned red as she slowly tried to get down.

Feeling her move, Seth, who was cultivating, opened his eyes and said: “Good morning.”

“Eek.” A loud yelp left Caitlin’s lips as she jumped up, moving to the side of the bed and looking at Seth with a red face. After seeing Seth laugh, she immediately said: “Why did you have to speak in my ear like that? You made my heart jump out of my chest. Also, why are you in my bed?”

Seth chuckled and said: “Someone grabbed onto my clothes last night when I tried to leave, so I had no choice but to remain here. Also, as I was cultivating, that someone kept moving in their sleep and climbing over my body.”

Caitlin’s face turned even redder, and she waved her hand toward Seth, sending an orb of death energy right at him.

Seth’s smile froze, and he teleported out of the way, not daring to touch her energy. Once Seth was safe, the ball of energy traveled through the opposing wall, flying out of the palace.

“Quickly cancel it before it touches anyone.”

The blood drained from Caitlin’s face, and she quickly pulled her energy back before rushing at Seth: “I’m sorry. I forgot I’m at the sixth shell. Are you hurt?”

Seth smiled at her worried expression and said: “Is someone worried about me?”

Caitlin flared up again, and her death energy started leaking again, making Seth’s smile disappear as he teleported away from her.

This time Caitlin quickly canceled her energy and said with a red face: “If you don’t want to die, stop teasing me.”

Seth nodded and created a few sweets before saying: “How about an offering so you can spare my life?”

Caitlin looked at the sweets with a red face and nodded: “You got a deal.”

The two sat down on the bed, and Seth filled a small blanket with sweets and desserts for Caitlin to eat. Caitlin looked between all the goodies and asked with a red face: “My hands still hurt. Can you feed me?”

Seth raised an eyebrow and asked: “Really? That’s what you’re going with? After almost killing me.”

Caitlin’s face flared up, and her energy started revolving, leaving Seth no option but to grab a small chocolate candy from the table and move it in front of Caitlin. Still, his action had the opposite effect, and Caitlin’s energy started revolving even faster.

As Seth was considering running again, Caitlin grabbed a small cup of water from the table and poured it over her head. Then, ignoring Seth’s stunned look, she moved her lips and swallowed the candy from Seth’s hand.

Seth didn’t tease her, afraid she would explode again and create a new water cup before feeding her some more. Caitlin kept eating from Seth’s hand, her source spinning once in a while and ending up with her pouring more water on her head.

After the food was gone, Caitlin lowered her head, and the blush slowly disappeared from her face before she said hesitantly: “Seth, I could hear them….”

“Them?” asked Seth with a frown, noticing the gloom in Caitlin’s tone.

“The people I… when the energy was coursing through me, their cries resounded into my ears… it was horrible.”

Seth sighed and said: “It was probably a result of their souls being returned to the spirit well… since you absorbed their life energy, those souls had to pass through you as well.”

Caitlin lowered her head, and her hands started shaking: “It was horrible… I never want to go through that again….”

Seth sighed and moved close to her again, pulling her into his arms. “I’m sorry, Cait, for having you go through that….”

Caitlin nodded and asked: “Is there a way for me to grow strong like you? I don’t want it to hurt like that….”

“Strong like me, huh… you might want to reconsider that request.”

“In the former timeline, I was not strong enough to face all cries that hunted me, and instead of facing them, I ran away. Even as a God, I was still running away from them the entire time….”

“So if you think I am strong, you are at least ten times stronger because you fought against that pain. You just don’t know it yourself… I couldn’t do that until they all caught up to me and gave me no choice.”

Caitlin remained silent and continued hugging Seth. Suddenly, she asked: “Will you make me yours as well?”

Seth was surprised and tried to pull back and look at Caitlin’s face, but Caitlin held tightly onto him, burying her face in his chest.

As Seth was about to answer, a portal opened, and Henrietta’s voice broke their moment.

“Oh, did I interrupt something?”

Feeling Caitlin about to erupt, Seth teleported a gallon of water above their heads, drenching them both.

Henrietta was stunned at the sudden happening, even more so considering she knew it came from Seth, but before she could say anything, Caitlin buried her face in the bed and spoke into her pillow.

“Answer me later. Go now.”

Seth sighed and stood up, bonking Henrietta on the head. “You know how close you were to killing me? Let’s go.”