The people gathered around 'Evan' in concern.
"What's wrong? What's happening to him?" They asked.
Victoria sat up from the head of the table. She walked with unnerving calmness, taking her time with every step.
"Do you need help, Mr. Sornione?'" She asked.
Roland tried to keep himself still, but he was shaking. His head was bleeding, but it was visible from the way his veins pop out from his neck that he would snap any second. He still wanted to slam his head against the tree bark, as if trying to get something out of it.
"I…. I'm sorry….." Roland mumbled. "I… Just…. have no appetite…. I don't want to eat anymore."
Victoria was unconvinced. "And is there any need for this commotion if you simply just don't want to eat?"
Her hand suddenly transformed into the black worms that signified Legion's ability, and Roland's eyes widened. He moved away, his face pale with fear.
"Please don't…. Not those….." He fell onto the ground and yet still tried to crawl away.
Harker gritted his teeth, knowing that he needed to do something fast. If Victoria's black worms got inside Roland's body, she'll learn that he was a fraud.
He stood up, and with no other choice….
He went to grab Roland by the collar, and slapped him hard across the cheek!
"I've gotten quite enough of you, you little shite! You just wanted to gain attention now just from a stupid prank, and you're even trying to let everyone know like the little snitch you are!"
Everyone was not expecting this development, and blinked in confusion.
Victoria raised an eyebrow. "A prank?"
Harker wore Adam Fiero's signature smirk. "Yes. I placed a beetle into the bastard's food. I didn't expect him to overreact once he noticed, but I guess wimps like him love the attention."
Victoria looked at the both of them quizzically. "Is that true, Mr. Sornione?"
Roland was still frazzled, but the slap seemed to help him a bit to snap out of whatever spell he was in.
"Y-Yes….. The bastard placed a dung beetle in my food again. It clung to my head and I had to kill it, Ma'am."
Sure enough, a dung beetle did appear lying dead by the tree. Its murky blood mixed with the crimson from Roland. People looked at it with disgust, and looked at Roland with pity. Meanwhile, Harker received all their contempt.
"What the fuck is wrong with you, mate?" One of them cursed. "That's food poisoning and you could have killed him, you arse!"
Harker raised his hand. "Call me what you will, but the point still stands. This bloke overreacted, and now he had a busted head."
Mina rose up to help him. "Why don't you treat his busted head then? Since this is all your fault?"
Joan joined in. "Yeah, don't you have any conscience? That's the least you could do for troubling us all."
Many more nodded in agreement, and Harker had acted well in pretending to be annoyed by this notion. But deep down, he was really relieved. Thanks to the girls' quick thinking, he'll be able to have some time alone with Roland and ask him what's really going on. This was getting out of hand, and he didn't expect it to affect their mission so much.
Victoria just watched the both of them with that empty, listless eyes. Then, she said:
"Very well. Mr. Fiero. if you do not want to be thrown out of Eden and to sleep in the middle of the blizzard out there, I suggest you take the first aid kit in the repository and tend to Mr. Sornione's injuries."
Harker just scoffed. "Fine, fine. Come on, dickwad."
He smacked Roland one more time on the back of the head and roughly dragged him to the repository, where they stored all the fresh produce they collected, weapons, and other helpful devices in their journey. There were extra beds laid out there for an emergency clinic of sorts, and Harker soon found the first aid kit.
Once the door was closed and he was sure that they were completely alone, he touched Roland's bleeding forehead softly.
"Are you okay? No, that's stupid. Of course you're not okay. I should have done something sooner." He said, his hands turning into squirming black worms. "But it will be alright now. I'll take care of it—"
"No!" Roland pushed him away as soon as he saw those worms.
Harker frowned. "What's wrong? This is the best way to heal you quickly, Rol."
Roland was breathing heavily, and he hesitated for a while before saying:
"It shouldn't be healed quickly, or else they'd notice. Just clean it up and wrap it up with bandages. I'll be the one to stitch it up."
Harker frowned. "Stitch it up? How would you be able to stitch up your own forehead?"
"I just need a mirror." Roland said. "And I know how to stitch up wounds, Hark. I'm the Crimson Cross Prince after all, my father would have wanted me to be a doctor if I declined to be a businessman."
Harker still remained unsure. He wanted to not just use the SS cells to patch up the injury, but also to get inside Roland's headspace and learn what he was thinking.
But he supposed that whatever was happening had something to do with this skill, this entering of someone's mind. It really would be uncomfortable for any normal human to have worms just going inside their body. It doesn't sit right with him to do that to Roland without his consent.
So, he did as he said. He can't find a mirror but he did find a metal plate for the device, and it was reflective enough to work. Roland worked his way into giving himself three stitches on the gash on his forehead after it was cleaned and the bleeding had been stopped. Harker watched with uneasiness, still wishing he could do more for his friend.
"Victoria has a journal." Roland suddenly said.
Harker blinked, too focused on the wound for a moment. "What?"
"I saw her bring it out, this journal. I think it's hers, but it's really old and the book cover seemed to be made of leather. She was reading it for a while as everyone discussed about the Malum." He said. "I didn't gain much on what the Malum was, but I know it has something to do with Eden."
"Malum was the Latin translation for the forbidden fruit, a sort of wordplay. Malus as an adjective meant 'evil', while malum that was borrowed from the Greek 'milo' could mean 'apple'. That's how the misconception that the Forbidden Fruit was an apple began, when it wasn't clear in the Bible what fruit it really was. It was just said to grow on the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil." He explained.
Harker scrunched up his brows. "So it's a code name, right? Why would Victoria look for some mythical fruit from the Bible that started the sins of mankind?"
"It most likely is. I don't believe that if Eden was real, it would be this place." Roland said. "But every time they talked about Malum, they always spoke about how it could change the world. That once mankind had taken a hold of Malum…."
"We'd ascend into greater enlightened beings, become the same as what we call 'gods'."
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶