Chapter 40 - Deep Emotions
Noah noticed that after a few steps the pain began to subside—it was as if his body were gradually adapting to the changes. When he emerged outside the room, he realized that the damage he had inadvertently caused was far greater than he had imagined. The holes in several of the courtyard's walls made that abundantly clear.
Sophia had already shown Noah the cause of all those holes—the bones that had been expelled from his body in a very strange and sudden manner—but even then he was slow to believe it. After all, without bones, he shouldn't have been able to move his arms or even walk.
It wasn't long before whispers and rumors began circulating throughout the corridors and rooms of the Radiance estate. Many had seen the family lords walking around the house with a stranger—and, even more disconcerting, their young lady helping him walk, serving as support.
"Could he be the young lady's boyfriend...?" became one of the most recurring questions.
What further fueled that suspicion was the fact that Arthur was present at the time many saw the two together—and everyone there knows how protective he is when it comes to anything related to Sophia or Alice. They say he's extremely overprotective. So for something like that to have occurred right beside him, there must surely be more to the relationship between Sophia and the supposed "stranger."
Arthur took a while to learn about these rumors—and he was furious when he did.
The Radiance estate was so enormous—so vast that Noah thought it was like a small town—that he could feel the creaking in his bones cease and the pain vanish completely, all while they were walking and even before they reached the destination. Nevertheless, he said nothing about it and continued to walk alongside Sophia, savoring the warmth that stirred in his chest.
When they passed through a gate guarded by four soldiers—the largest he had seen during that walk—Noah thought they had finally arrived at the place where the oven was located. But they hadn't. Only after crossing the front area paved with stone tiles—which also served as a personal training area—passing by the grassy borders of the mansion, glimpsing the trees beyond it (where a small table hid in the shadows), and finally spotting a walkway a little farther ahead, did he conclude that they were nearing their final destination.
The floating pavilion caught Noah's attention, but not nearly as much as the fish in the lake—which were truly astonishing and beautiful. He followed Sophia up the dark stairs, and that was when he thought it might be best to distance himself slightly from her—since she had done the opposite, moving close from the very first step to ensure she wouldn't let him fall. In that moment, Noah became acutely aware of every detail of her presence, in an exaggerated and unnecessary way.