Kitanna
Chapter 234: FRAGMENTS OF TRUTH

Chapter 234: FRAGMENTS OF TRUTH

[MUSIC RECOMMENDATION: APOLOGY ~ iKON]

~~~~~

~Note; Dear readers these two Chapters were supposed to be released yesterday for better reading, but I wasn’t able to. I have another work I’m creating stockpile for and it’s a different genre. It’s not easy for me to combine them all at once, else I’ll mix up the characters.

I hope you understand and still enjoy this Chapter. Thank you for your gifts and comments <3

~~~~~

Axilla was the first to wake up the next morning, noticing that the towel she placed on Cortez’s forehead was now soaked. He had another episode of fever while she was sleeping. Axilla stepped inside the bathroom to change the water when she heard the door to Cortez’s room open.

When she walked inside the room, Axilla was surprised to see someone she hadn’t expected standing right there. "Lady Hash?" she called out.

The woman moved her stick around the room. "Axilla dear, you are here, take me to Cortez." Lady Hash replied with worry marred on her face.

Axilla dropped what she was holding and led the woman to the bed where Cortez was still resting. "He lost consciousness last night, I don’t know what had caused it ," the girl answered but she wondered how Lady Hash knew about Cortez’s condition to come to their inn, and she wanted to ask, but there was always time for now Cortez needed full attention. Axilla nodded as she thought to herself.

Lady Hash, now sitting beside Cortez, touched his face. "What happened? What could have triggered this? I thought he was healed from it long ago, I guess I was wrong. I’m so sorry," the woman sobbed, she had come to the inn for other reasons it was only coincidence that brought her when Cortez was ill.

Axilla stood behind the woman and wondered what she was talking about; then she asked, "Lady Hash, has he always been like this? What is that wound on his back? It looks like an old wound, why doesn’t it want to heal?" The girl asked worriedly.

Lady Hash sighed, "Some wounds never heal, ever. He has always been like this, but then he became better after some years. I don’t know what triggered him. Did anything happen recently that I need to know?"

Axilla paused, trying to think if she had missed anything. "No, nothing peculiar has happened. We left Morado and returned here. I didn’t even know he was sick. Is he going to be okay? Do I need to write to his family?" The girl asked.

Lady Hash let out a sad smile. "Axilla, all Cortez needs now is us, okay? Go and get some herbs from the physician and clean towels. Also, tell the kitchen to prepare porridge; he would be very hungry when he wakes up," the woman ordered.

Axilla turned to look at Cortez; she didn’t want to leave him all by himself, so she hesitated.

Lady Hash noticed how the girl hadn’t moved from her position; she smiled. "I’m glad Cortez finally found the right one for himself. Go now; I’ll be right here with him," the woman waved for her to leave.

Axilla finally stepped out of the room to get the things ready. While she was ordering the kitchen staff on what to make, she began to think why Lady Hash knew exactly what was wrong with Cortez. The woman was acting like his own mother.

"Maybe because he grew up with her," she nodded. That would be the only explanation. Cortez left home at the age of twelve, and since then, he lived with Lady Hash. Maybe they had bonded like mother and son during that period. Axilla nodded before going to search for the physician.

Back inside the room, Lady Hash sobbed silently. "I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I hope you find a place in your heart to forgive me."

Cortez finally moved his hand before he opened his eyes. "Lady Hash?" the young man narrowed his eyes.

Lady Hash cleaned her face and smiled like she was never crying. "How do you feel? What happened? Did the nightmares come again?"

Cortez grunted as he tried to sit up on the bed; then he looked at the woman suspiciously. "How would you explain this one again? Every time when I had nightmares in the past, you always knew exactly what was going on with me, and I believed you because you said the same thing was happening to you. What about now? You said your nightmares stopped; now it’s suspicious because they stopped exactly the same time as mine." Though weak, Cortez’s voice was still steady.

Lady Hash cleared her throat. "Axilla wrote me a letter," the woman lied.

Cortez chuckled, "The lies are getting old; Axilla stayed beside me all night. How did you get the letter?" He asked. "I want you to be honest with me except want me to believe you have a hand in what happens to me," he frowned.

Lady Hash brought her hands together. "Cortez, I can’t tell you all the details, but I need you to believe me that I would never hurt you. I am the only person beside you and knows everything about you," the woman replied worriedly.

"And that’s what makes it suspicious; you know everything going on with me like you’ve always been around me, and is it a coincidence that you asked my father to choose me as the merchant leader at a very young age? Lady Hash, what’s going on!" Cortez asked, his voice getting a little high at the end.

Lady Hash gulped; she knew telling the truth was now or never. She had wanted to keep the secret with her until she died; she couldn’t have Cortez hate her, but he had the right to know the truth.

"Like everyone else, I thought you had died that day. You held your mother tightly, even when she was killed in front of you, you refused to let go," Lady Hash started, and as she said those words, tears flowed freely from her eyes.

Cortez furrowed his brow; he knew he was not Larel’s blood brother, but beyond that, his memory was a blur.

Lady Hash, who had paused, continued, "I turned my back on you, but my guilt didn’t let me. I returned the next day to give you a proper burial; that was when I saw you breathing, it was shallow but it was still something. Despite losing all that blood, you held onto life; I buried your mother and then took you to a merchant home. I knew that was the only safe place for you because you would be on the road all your life, and you wouldn’t have time to think. The merchant family took you in as their own and trained you; I tried to stay beside you all these years while watching over you. But it’s as if the bad memories didn’t go away; that it made you sick every night," the woman started crying bitterly when she remembered how she had turned away from the mother and son that was asking for her help.

"Everything was going on very fine until he suddenly showed up after all these years. He has seen me, and he wouldn’t stop there. He will try to dig deep everything about him and he would find you. Pack everything you have, marry Axilla, and leave this place. He is coming," the woman nudged him, her voice rising with panic.

Cortez furrowed his brow, "Who is coming?" the young man asked.

Lady Hash gulped, "Your father is coming. And he would finish what he didn’t complete many years ago. He won’t spare any of us," the woman said in an alarmed tone.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.