[BL] Accidentally Becoming the Healer of the Deranged Archduke

The nightmares had started almost two weeks ago. They were haunting Xion, plaguing his mind with all the things he had left to rot.

It was not a pleasant experience at all, yet he welcomed them with open arms.

He needed to know everything that had resulted in this state.

The fleeting blips and visions always lingered just long enough to strangle him with the same helplessness he felt in those moments.

They seemed to take great pride in appearing at the most vulnerable moments, especially when Darius was away for a bit longer, and his anxiety of never seeing him again would spike.

Those dreams lunged at him with rage, teeth wide and sharp, ready to bite, as if screaming at him for forgetting all of it, for being so ignorant of the world.

There were those flickers where people died one by one. All of them were the servants of the Marquis's house estate, or more accurately, the ones who actually tried to help him run away.

In the end, it was Marquis's second wife who created a huge ruckus, nearly burning down the east side of the estate.

Bloodied and on the verge of collapse, Xion had taken that moment to escape.

The air brushed against his back where his limp wings were.

Unlike the freedom that came with spreading them wide, they only weighed on him.

He could still feel it all so vividly.

The sting of the stones piercing his soles, the blood dripping down his wounds, the howling of the animals hidden in the forest that oddly matched his own voice trapped in his throat.

While he rushed through the trees, he stumbled upon a cluster of tents right at the edge of the cliff.

Xion panicked even more. Humans were the last thing he wanted to see right now.

Perhaps his gasping was too loud in the still night, and the patrolling soldiers caught the sound.

Pure terror flooded his veins.

With tears crowding his vision, he dashed toward the dark carriage, almost invisible in the night.

It was empty as everyone was resting in the tents, which gave Xion enough space to hide.

The guards looked for a long time, and Xion lay curled up on the cold ground, straining his ears to hear their movements.

The exhaustion rushed in his veins, forcing his red-rimmed eyelids to stick together. No matter how he tried, they wouldn't open.

So, he gave up, letting the fatigue win.

Hoping that no one would find him in this conspicuous carriage, he fell asleep on the hard floor.

The next time he woke up, instead of the cold floor, he was sleeping on a warm mattress.

The softness of the quilts and pillows felt so good that he didn't even dare to open his eyes.

For a flicker of a moment, he wished he were back by his mother's side.

He would lie on her lap, and she would gently pat his head, combing his hair.

The touch on his head was so vivid, so warm, he subconsciously nudged into it, seeking more.

"Awake?" A low voice drilled into his ears.

In an instant, his entire body tensed up. He looked up, fearing he wouldn't see that golden shade of hair.

Instead, what greeted him was Silver and Green

Long, silky hair like liquid moonlight — just like Mr. Cat's.

At least, the resemblance lessened his panic.

"I have been looking for you everywhere, little angel. Though you look different now."

Xion blinked up at the pale green eyes filled with a smile. There wasn't any malice he had seen in Soren's eyes, nor was there any greed.

"They broke your gift," he mumbled while tears suddenly rolled down his big eyes.

Soren shattered that beautiful aurora on the floor and used the splintering glass to pierce into his wings. "How dare you give gifts to someone else! Me! Only think of me! Only give things to me!"

Each of his yells were tinged with his own painful screams.

He could understand that mortals were only nice when they needed something from the others.

So, why was this pretty human being nice to him?

Xion hadn't noticed it yet, but his encounter with Soren had changed his way of thinking. Now, he wasn't blatantly believing humans.

However, Xion, in essence, was still an angel. A newly created angel, no less.

So, when the Archduke of the north showed him a smile and gave him a place to live, he clung to him.

An angel who wasn't shown any love jumped at the premise of being with this gentle Archduke.

It wasn't just Darius that made him smile again. There was Nazia, old man Berry, and there was also Ray.

Though Ray would hardly ever speak or show a smile, he would still bring treats for Xion whenever they stopped to rest along the way to the North.

It took them nearly two months to return to their new home.

On one sunny day, in the garden.

"Ah, you are so warm," Xion whispered while snuggling into Darius.

The Archduke had a black face.

On the table were the parchments that needed his urgent attention. Something that would ultimately decide the result of the war.

Right on them was the cup of hot chocolate emitting steam.

"Feed me, I don't want to get my hands cold again."

Even after three years, this child had made little progress in learning noble etiquette.

What else could Darius do other than to indulge him?

Just for little Xion's sake, Darius had done something unthinkable. He had built a church near the castle, despite loathing them with every fiber of his being.

Apparently, his little one had the habit of babbling to his mother dearest.

If the angel were to be left alone, Darius didn't doubt for a second that the entire group of devotees would know what Xion had been doing that day.

Much to his dismay, that gossip also included the times he warmed the bed so Xion wouldn't feel the chill of the mattress, personally fed the angel because the little lord refused to pull his hands out of his pockets, and let him mess with his long hair.

"They are so, so pretty," Xion would say before tangling flowers along with their branches into his head.

It was a different kind of mess to deal with.

Nazia watched the two figures sitting together, one feeding the other while the younger one smacked his lips and smiled.

"One does not understand the emotions, while others have no remorse in using them to their own advantage. They are truly a match made in... hell."

Ray merely looked at the little angel before turning around.

He had found a skeleton buried deep in the snow.

Remembering how his own family had been left without a proper burial, he went to fetch a casket for the stranger.

Well, from the size of the frame, it had to be a man.

"I hope in the next life, you find people who love you and cherish you," Ray murmured a last prayer for the stranger before turning back to do his guard duties.