Had it not been for the silencing barriers placed in one particular room, the private wing would’ve ended up being caught up in frightening rumors.

Rumors? What kind?

Well, nothing much.

Just your run-of-the-mill occultism.

Tortured ghosts.

Malicious demons.

And lonely single beings wailing in the night.

But more importantly, said private wing would’ve been feared most for relentlessly echoing sounds alarmingly similar to the shrieks of someone going through an exorcism.

Childish, right?

Unfortunately, the one going through something as painful as an exorcism was none other than Simon Mercer, who even then had to pay the price despite being a victim.

Then again, should they even refer to him as Simon after Riley eventually found at least four other identities forcefully piled up in the guy’s mind?

Speaking of identities, there were those that took longer to untangle, and one that was so much shorter than the rest.

If Riley had to guess, this must’ve been the shortest identity he used before being transferred elsewhere.

He wondered if, by chance, this guy’s cover had been compromised before, and they had to dump him elsewhere right after performing such a poor job of tampering with his mind.

Despicable.

But at that time, he couldn’t dwell on it when he had been more concerned about the strongest repressed memory that’d already swelled close to exploding.

Sad to say, succeeding with the others but failing to deal with this massive block of memory would turn this guy’s mind into soup anyway.

Riley had honestly been hesitant when he explained the problem to Kael.

"I don’t think breaking through the seal like I’d originally envisioned would work," Riley said, looking troubled as he watched the paling face of the red dragon.

While he already assumed some unfortunate scenario, he didn’t think it could be this bad.

Considering what he found, they’d likely need a much gentler approach instead of jostling his memories like they originally planned.

"Not that he wouldn’t be unsealed, but doing it so forcefully when it’s barely being held together at this point would be like performing some sort of lobotomy."

Sure, Riley had burned Malrik to smithereens, but this guy was not some deserving villain. So as much as possible, for the sake of Orien, he didn’t want to accidentally turn him into mush.

And that glaring problem was exactly how they ended up scooping two sleeping children like thieves in the night.

__

Kael and Riley had done their best to carry this out covertly because they didn’t want everyone to wonder why the dragon lord and his aide had come for the children past visitation hours.

Worse, they shouldn’t be taking the patients out without informing the staff, regardless of their position.

Though Riley would argue that the excitable children would likely welcome such an event.

But of course, Orien and Liam didn’t stay asleep the moment they were carried out of their beds.

No, they woke up sporting alarming looks of excitement after the momentary panic.

And now, with such a shimmer in their curious eyes, those two bundles of unpredictability and mischief wanted to know where they were going.

Riley was carrying Orien, and Kael was carrying Liam as they appeared in a different room.

Oddly enough, the dragon lord always had more patience when dealing with the relatively calm Liam, and so it was much better this way. Anyway, the golden dragonling also listened more to Riley, even if he didn’t look like the obedient type.

But as they moved from one area to another, the children grew restless with excitement, practically wiggling as they tried to guess where they were going and why everything was so secretive.

Orien, in particular, had already slipped into his usual composure. Chin slightly raised, voice steady, acting like he understood everything.

It only made him look more adorable.

"Aunty and Uncle," he whispered, leaning forward a bit, "do you need our help with something?"

There was a hint of pride in his voice because he was confident in his abilities.

Liam, hearing those whispered words, also nodded right after.

"We can help," he said, sincere and earnest.

No hesitation.

Riley sighed in surrender, but he was also amused by their reactions.

After all, Orien wasn’t far off the mark. They did fetch the children to ask for assistance.

But the black dragon knew this was a sensitive matter. Even if his mate said Orien was old enough to understand, he still wanted to break it to the children gently.

Then again, one may wonder why Liam needed to come and even hear something that was mainly meant for the golden dragonling.

But that was because they knew better.

For one, Orien would likely run to Liam first and might end up explaining it in a scandalous way.

Secondly—and more importantly—right now, Liam was more of a red dragon than Orien, who was as golden as a golden goose.

And so, if Riley and Kael were correct in their assumptions, they’d end up having to bring Liam anyway.

Riley leaned in, his voice dropping to a serious whisper as he looked at the two children.

"I’m asking for your help because another patient is in danger."

The kids, who’d thought they were going on an adventure, stilled instantly. Their expressions shifted from pure excitement to genuine worry.

"Brother! What can we do? We can help!" Liam asked more eagerly this time, his small face full of determination.

Riley, as a big brother, couldn’t help but smile, thinking that his baby brother was really such a good boy.

Orien cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure. "I suppose we can help that one, too. We’re pretty strong, after all."

Kael raised a brow after hearing this, but didn’t comment since his twig had given him a decisive look before continuing.

"Yes. In fact, this is something we think that only you two could solve at the moment."

"!!!"

Now, who wouldn’t react to that?

The two sat up even straighter, their eyes widening at the importance of the task.

"I actually tried to fix it earlier, but I ended up getting stuck at the last and most important part," Riley admitted.

"What? Aunty, that’s so—"

"I know," Riley answered quickly, cutting the child off before he could blurt out whatever scathing insult he’d cooked up in that adorable but crazed little head of his.

"So, just as we’ve told you, it would be best to ask for help when something feels impossible. And that’s why we’re here."

"Hmph! Yes, right." Orien gave a convincing nod after shifting adorably in Riley’s arms.

"You two asked the right people for the job. So what do we have to do?" he asked proudly.

"Well... it might be a little difficult, because as you can see, your Uncle and I failed at it... But please try!" Riley cautioned.

The children looked at each other, relatively alarmed after hearing it might be hard. However, in Orien’s mind, as a brave dragon, he should be fine with fighting monsters or even other dragons.

So it shouldn’t be so bad, right?

Wrong.

Because they ended up with a job that was definitely harder than fighting.

But what could possibly be more difficult than getting banged up?

Sitting still.

Yep. As in, sitting completely still beside a legitimate patient while holding his hand.

"..."

"..."

Orien didn’t know how he’d ended up sitting by someone’s bedside when he’d just been in Riley’s arms moments ago.

Now, his small hand was clasped by someone’s much bigger hand. All he could do was gawk at his aunty and uncle for this absurdity.

If this man needed comfort, couldn’t they have just gotten those stuffed animals Liam had?!

Why did he and the little sprite have to do something as abhorrent as sitting quietly?!

Wouldn’t it be better to breathe fire at someone?!