My Most Precious Human novel Chapter 78

After leaving Gabriel's office, all the bows and greetings I received felt slightly less uncomfortable. I still didn't know how I should respond to those people, but at least I took control of the state of panic it was causing before. When I got back to my workplace, I saw a familiar, tall, black-haired man standing in front of my door.

"Mr. Kim!" I shouted happily and then rushed to throw my arms around his neck.

"M-miss Calvet… P-please…" Patrick nervously looked around the corridor while awkwardly smiling.

"Sorry… I overreacted," I grinned, stepping away from him and opening the door to my office.

I entered first and went straight to my desk to put away my purse.

"I'm just really glad that you are…" I turned around and saw Patrick kneeling on the floor, "…alive," I mumbled, finishing the sentence.

"I need to apologize." He bowed down. "I should have protected you. I should have sensed the dander while I couldn't even sense the damn wolves. I-"

"Stop it, Mr. Kim," I said emphatically. "You were alone, and even if you are extremely strong, you are not invincible. Besides, the wolf who led me there was odorless."

"Still, I should have found out about the wolves sooner…" He laid his head on the floor.

"Stand up now," I commanded.

He obeyed and locked his apologetic eyes on me.

"You did everything you could, and even more… You stayed alive and informed Leo and the Duke. I couldn't be more grateful," I smiled at him.

"But-"

"No buts." I crossed my arms on my chest.

He tried to argue with me but after I told him strictly that I didn't want his apology, he finally stopped and even faintly smiled. To make him more at ease I forced him to drink coffee with me, telling him that this was an order. It took him another hour to realize that I sincerely didn't blame him and that I was extremely happy to see him living and breathing.

"I will bring you new boxes of documents," he suddenly stated, putting a beaming grin on his face.

"Thank you," I chuckled, watching him run out from the office.

He brought another three boxes of documents, and I got back to my usual work. As soon as I start going through contracts my hectic thoughts and anxieties vanished. Engaging in work gave me a temporary sense of mental stability, taking my mind off my position in the vampire hierarchy and my suddenly developed regenerating skills. It went smoothly. I finished another report in less than three hours. I put back the contracts to the boxes.

"I will take them to the storage and bring the new ones," Patrick said, taking all three boxes together.

He was back with a new set of boxes in less than a minute. He put four large ones on the table by the sofa, one on top of another. I couldn't explain what made me want to move those boxes from there, but I did… I took all four of them and moved them to the floor next to my desk, and I did it effortlessly. Patrick looked at me, stunned.

"How did you do that? They weigh around a hundred pounds!" he called out, shocked.

"They… do?" I laughed nervously, looking at the boxes.

I had been training for more than twenty years of my life, and lifting a hundred pounds was within my ability, but I could never imagine myself moving this type of weight without even feeling it!

"You must be crazy strong for a human, Miss Calvet," he grinned, looking me up and down with admiration.

"I'm not… strong… and I'm not Miss Calvet…" I said, getting closer and closer to reaching the state of panic.

"Oh, I apologize… I should call you Madame Calvet," he looked at me innocently.

"No…" I sighed, tired of explaining, "Please, call me Leber… or Lilith. I don't think that being marked equals changing your last name, right?" I smiled awkwardly.

"I may always visit you at the Calvet mansion, Ms. Leber," he suggested, teasingly grinning.

"Right," I chuckled, "I almost forgot that you are one of Leo's men."

"Of course, I may visit you only after receiving permission, and I doubt that I will be allowed to enter Ms. Leber's part of the castle," he added shyly.

"And why is that?" I frowned, having no idea that anyone would need a special pass to meet me.

"Didn't you know? The Duke prohibited any men from walking anywhere near your chamber," he explained, painting a wiseacre smile on his face.

"You mean… recently?" I asked as a nervous chuckle slipped through my lips.

"No. From the first day, you started living at the castle." He shrugged.

Recalling all my days living at the castle, I realized that I hardly ever met men there. Leo was the exception, and the other time I saw a male bodyguard happened right after the night of the attack, which I assume was within special circumstances. That made me wonder if Sariel did it out of jealousy or possessiveness. Did he think of me as his from the beginning? I always thought that I was the one that convinced him of my usefulness, and that made him allow me to stay at the castle. But what if he had never intended to let me go out of his hands in the first place?

I went back to the castle even more confused and anxious than I had been in the morning. I wanted to find some peace of mind. I needed Sariel. I needed to melt in his soothing embrace and then feel my skin burn with his kisses, but as I arrived at the castle I found that the Duke was still away.

I was eating my late dinner alone in my chamber, feeling a growing emptiness within me. I just became jobless and started to feel like I was locked inside a golden cage. While Sariel's possessiveness had never bothered me before, when I worked on an assignment at the bank, I was already going crazy, thinking I had nothing else to do except sit within the castle's walls all day.

I was chewing on another bite of the perfectly medium-rare steak but couldn't even appreciate its taste. The silence filling my chamber was killing me. My instincts were strangely alert as if something relevant was bound to happen, and whatever it was supposed to be, I needed to prepare for it. Desperate to focus on anything unimportant, I shifted my concentration to my plate and the beefsteak that I wasn't even able to finish. Unconsciously, I locked my eyes at the knife. I took it to my mouth and delicately licked its edges. Then I took it out of my mouth and automatically cut one of my fingers. I broke out of daze only when did I see the blood flowing from the cut I made.

"Lilith! You are turning into a lunatic!" I rebuked myself, looking for a tissue that I could wrap around my finger.

Curiously, I glanced at my finger again, just before bandaging it, and I watched the cut disappear right in front of my eyes. I exhaled, along with a hysteric chuckle. I started to feel that whatever this healing ability was, it was something more than just a temporary side-effect…