Sophie slowly fed him spoon after spoon, she made sure to be careful and not spill anything. Every now and then, Riven would notice her glancing at him unusually, with a worried look on her face.
"You want to ask something?" he said, looking at her. She shook her head, but her eyes said the truth.
"You can ask me, I’ll try my best to answer," he said. She paused, looked at him, and then let out a breath.
"It’s nothing really important, it is just that I spotted you when you had ran out a few days back, I was on my way toward the dining room, and I heard what your brother asked you and how you ran out.
And after that, you returned with young master Noel both unconscious. It’s not really a question, I just felt like saying it," she said and looked away, not meeting his gaze.
"I left Noel that day inside of the dungeon because we had an argument, and then after hours, he hadn’t returned, so when I heard, I felt guilt, that something might have happened to him and it was my fault," Riven said.
"I see, I’m sure Noel must really appreciate having you as a brother, to be willing to risk your life for him," she said. Riven wanted to dispute that, but she returned to feeding him and shoved a spoon in his mouth.
After he was done eating, she packed up and left, and he was alone again. He felt much better than when he first woke up, the pain had also gone down, but it was still there.
He decided to just sleep it out till the next day, allow himself one more day of rest.
The break of dawn came with a loud knock on Riven’s door that pulled him out of his sleep. He groaned and stretched as he woke up, he stared at the door, his eyes fuzzy.
He didn’t say come in or anything, he just stared at the door. And as the person behind the door got impatient, the person kicked the door open and walked in.
It was Noel, he limped into the room with a possessive expression on his face, and Riven immediately knew that his day was about to start rough.
Noel pulled the chair in the room and sat down right next to the bed, he stared daggers into Riven.
"Heyy, good morning Noel," Riven casually greeted.
"Why did you do it?" Noel asked.
"Do what?" Riven asked, genuinely confused.
"You came back for me when you didn’t need to, gave me all your healing potions, and risked yourself for me, why?
It doesn’t make sense because I’ve been against you since the start, yet you put my life above even yours," Noel said.
’What’s this brat talking about? I had to do it, if he died there, father would most definitely lose faith in me and make my life in this world a hard one. I could even get arrested and thrown into a dungeon, I didn’t have a choice but to save you, dumbass.
Well that’s what I would love to say, but I also didn’t want to lose a brother. I’ve never had one before, but I’ve always wanted one, and now that I have one, I don’t want to lose him. But I still can’t tell him this.’
"Because it was the right thing to do, you are my family after all," Riven said.
Noel immediately frowned when he heard that. "What sort of cheesy crap are you trying to pull?" he asked.
Riven’s face also twisted into a frown. "Screw you, I should have allowed you to die in that cave, then you wouldn’t call my act cheesy."
"I’m sure I could have survived that place alone," Noel shot back, and the two got into a back and forth argument. But after a few exchanges, Noel’s expression turned soft, a smile formed on his face, he looked at Riven and spoke.
"Honestly, thank you bro, I owe my life to you, if you hadn’t done what you did, I would have been dead and gone.
I’ve not been the elder brother you probably needed, but I’m sure I can try better now."
Riven listened to what he said and gave a soft nod.
"Good, now I’m sure you can walk by now, so come down for breakfast after you clean up. A maid has been waiting outside your door for a while now so that she can help you get ready," Noel said and walked out. Immediately he did, Sophie walked in.
Riven got clean and dressed, he didn’t need any bandages, as all the external wounds had healed up, all that was left was the internal mayhem.
He walked out of the room, and headed down, walking through the hallways, his footsteps echoed in the hallway.
The maids looked at him as he walked past, they spoke amongst themselves, but this time not about the rude young master, but about the rumors that he saved his brother and more.
Riven didn’t care about what they said though, he made his way to the dining room and he saw everyone already seated.
His father gave a soft nod to him when he saw him walk in.
Riven made his way to the table, he greeted his mother and then greeted his father before taking a seat. A few days ago, everyone at this table looked at him with expressions that told of how useless he was.
But now, even though his two eldest brothers paid him no much mind, the rest of the family was on better terms with him.
"How are you feeling Riven?" his mother asked, worried that he might be pushing himself too much.
"Don’t worry mum, I’m fine now," he said with a soft smile, he found the feeling of being cared for great, he didn’t want to loose this family at all, it was the best one yet after all.