This must be payback.

That was the only reasonable conclusion on why Nian was doing all of this to him. Seeing her smirking confirmed this theory of his.

Did he really make Nian wait that long? It was just an hour.

Maybe she got hungry while she was waiting for him to finish?

Lin Ye was that naive to think a bar of chocolate was enough to satisfy a hungry divine being.

However, Lin ye would be lying to himself if he did not find what she said just now as intriguing though.

What could he do in this whole situation?

Kieran beat him to the punch though in asking Nian this.

"What do you mean?!" With how this man was reacting to what Nian said to him. it did not sit well with him, "Do you take me as a fool?! Are you trying to make a rift between Laterano and Rhodes Island?!"

Although in his opinion, Lin Ye thought that he shouldn't have screamed this question to her. Nian was literally an arm away from him, no need to raise his voice.

Lin Ye sighed and stood in between the two of them before anything drastic could happen.

"Calm down Kieran," He held his hand to the man, "She must have a good reason to say this to you."

Nian seemed to be in the mood of annoying this man as she glanced at the Angel behind Lin Ye.

"Yeah, listen my Gege," Nian smirked as she said this to him, "Please, do listen, brat."

"…" The Doctor could only stare at this troublemaker with a blank expression.

Lin Ye did not appreciate how Nian was fuelling the flames of this whole situation. If this carries on, Lin Ye would not be surprised if Kieran will show Nian the end of his gun's barrel.

"Brat!" If he was mad before, Kieran was furious now, "Why do you keep calling me that?! Are you trying to annoy me!"

Nian folded her arms and looked at him unimpressed.

"I am just stating what I am seeing," Nian replied calmly, "And if you don't want to believe me, the outcome will not change. Your race is doomed, one way or another."

Then she patted Lin Ye on the shoulder.

"However, this man could be your last chance to survive."

Kieran's eyes then landed on Lin Ye now.

"This man?" Kieran stared at him in disbelief, "You want me to believe that this man is the man that caught a god's attention?"

"…"

Did this man just ridicule right to his face?

Lin ye did not regret his previous action not immediately helping him now.

He wasn't that mad though.

Nian took care of that department for him. Her eyes narrowed on the man. If not because Lin Ye standing between her and him, Nian would throw a first to his face by now.

"Do you know anything about Karlan's God? Or about who Gege is?" Nian fired back a question at him, "I do not care if you believe in a god or not. But if you ever talk to Gege like that again, I'll-."

Lin Ye needed to physically hold Nian back. Kieran did not know how close he was to death just now.

He was protecting this man from a goddamn god! Don't look like you were able to hold her back on your own!

"Nian," He calmly said to her as he gently held onto her shoulder, "It's okay. He did not mean it. He was just emotional."

"But Gege!" Nian shouted, "You have an amazing gift! This man is just too dumb to see it!"

Smartly ignoring Nian's rude comment about him, Kieran was more focused on the other thing she said.

He stared at Lin Ye in confusion, "What special abilities does he have?"

Lin Ye turned his head towards the angel. He hummed and stared back at Nian, "That is what I want to know too." Folding his arms, Lin Ye asked her this.

"Gege, you don't need to pretend that you don't know," Nian smiled as she said this to him, "Did you already forget your hands?"

His hands?

Lin Ye held his hands towards his face and looked back at Nian confused.

Luckily for Lin Ye, he was not the only one not understanding this whole situation.

"His hands?" Kieran glanced at his hands as he asked, "What so special about them?"

Rather than just answering him, Nian took both of Lin Ye's hands.

"These hands managed to touch Gods!" Nian exclaimed in glee, "Hands like his are something that people could only pray to get! Having gifts is expected of him to have with these hands. Maybe one of them is to cure the curse?"

Nian then placed both of his hands on her cheeks. The moment they touched her, Nian immediately melted into his hands.

"Ahh," She moaned in delight, "That's the stuff."

Lin Ye could only smile and let Nian have fun.

Kieran was about to call out all of this as a bluff but when he notices something odd

happening around the two of them.

Their surroundings. He did not know how to explain this in words.

As both of them were smiling at each other, the world seemed comfortable around them.

This all ended when the Doctor pulled his hands away from the woman.

"Enough of that Nian," Lin Ye said to her calmly with a smile, "We have someone waiting for an answer."

Although sad that it was over, Nian ultimately agreed with him as she stared back at the man.

She placed both of her hands on her hips and raised a brow at the Legatus.

"As you can see from my quick demonstration, his hands are something else," Nian smirked

at him, "If anyone could cure a race with just a touch of his hand, Gege is the one for that."

Naturally, Kieran doesn't fully believe her yet.

"How can he help us?"

Nian rolled her eyes at this question.

"Just let him do his thing. Let him touch you," Nian stated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "It's not like you're going to die from being touched."

Lin Ye really did not like how she phased that. It sounded like Lin Ye was about to molest the man.

He sighed and smiled at the poor man that got into this whole mess.

"You don't need to force yourself in doing that," Lin Ye calmly offered to him, "Seeing how long we already took your time, I think we shou—."

Before Lin ye could finish, Kieran nodded.

He had already been pressured by Nian's words. After he thought for a while, Kieran felt that it was not a problem to let him do so.

"Since you have said so, then give it a try. If what you say is true and you're able to cure me from— that, I will personally send your request to the Pope. However," His eyes narrowed at

Lin Ye, "If what you said is a lie, I will consider what happened today to be nonexistent and your request will be tossed aside."

The Doctor stared at the man confused, "I think you should consider-."

"Just do it!" The man basically shouted to him, "Or else your partnership will never be heard by the council."

Seeing that Lin ye was back against a wall now, Lin Ye could only sigh and glanced at Nian.

"One minute," Lin Ye said to him.

Not waiting for a reply, Lin Ye pushed Nian to the side to talk in privacy.

"What should I do now?" Lin Ye asked Nian, "This was your idea after all?"

Nian smiled at how annoyed Lin ye was staring at her now.

"Don't worry Gege," She reassured him with a pat on his shoulder, "Just do what you did with that mountain lady."

"…"

Lin Ye did not comment on how Nian was addressing Mira.

How did you even get into this whole situation, to begin with?

He was just going to have a simple meeting with an ambassador. Now he was going to cure a curse that was haunting an entire race.

He thought that with his experience nothing could surprise him, but the world just loved to prove him wrong.

With no idea what to do now, Lin ye was forced to rely on one thing that kept him alive this long.

He needed to wing it.

Lin Ye walked back to the Legatus with Nian not far behind him. As he was walking, he racked his head on what to do now.

Do what he has done to Mira?

Only one thing came into his mind when he thought about it. With nothing else to go with, Lin ye just needed to pray this will work.

When Lin ye was finally facing Kieran, he noticed that he was just a bit taller than him.

"Are you ready?" Lin Ye asked, "It's not too late to go back."

Although this sounded like Kieran was about to go on a mission that he was not ready for, he was not afraid of what he had just heard.

The only reply that Lin Ye got from him was a firm nod.

Sighing at this, Lin Ye knew there was no going back.

Without waiting anymore, with a quick motion, Lin Ye gently grabbed the man by the hand and pulled him into a hug.

For Kieran, the world started to morph around him.

Memories that he had long forgotten rushed into his mind.

The day when he first got his gun.

When he was granted to be in the Legati.

So many memories however one in particular was the clearest of the rest.

The sound of the gun being fired echoed in the back. A gun hole could be seen in a target.

What followed was a gleeful cheer from a child. The said child had a halo and a pair of wings. In his hand was a simple gun. From the look of it, he was the one that shot the target.

The child spun his head away from the target and stared excitedly at an adult man. He shared the same features as the child, halo and wings. Although he was wearing a black robe, the child did not seem to be bothered by this.

The boy ran to the man. Seeing this, the man chuckled and bent down. This lets the boy wrap his arms around him.

"Father," Kieran said as he slowly wrapped his arm around Lin Ye's back.

Lin Ye only hummed as he let the man hug him.

Kieran's stiff shoulders were relaxed as he melted into this embrace.

After a while, Nian looked annoyed at this.

"Okay! That's enough!"

Having enough of this, Nian pried the man away from Lin Ye. She wrapped her arms around one of his arms and pulled him far away from Kieran.

She even glared at the man.

Lin Ye glanced at her and raised a brow.

He looked back at Kieran and noticed the man was still in a daze.

On the way to the exit.

Just when Lin ye passed him, he felt something holding on his other arm."Kieran?" He called in a gentle tone, "How are you?"

Hearing this, the Legatus snapped back to reality.

He stared at the hands that he was holding out in front of him. Then he realized how his body felt at the moment.

Lighter.

Stronger.

… Freer.

… Safer

It was like something that was binding him for so long was lifted away from him.

Lin Ye also noticed this and nodded with a smile.

"It looks like it works," Lin Ye hummed, "I think we should leave now."

With Nian still holding his arm and glaring holes at the dazed man, Lin Ye made his

He looked down and found it was Kieran.

"Please stay!" Kieran begged, "Your hands make me feel at ease!"

The Doctor did not know what to do now. When he was about to say something, Nian interrupted him by harshly pushing Kieran's hand away from him and pulling him further away from the man.

The glare that she had previously become worse.

"Who do you think you are?!"

{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}

Draft: Jaq

Proofread: Discord

Edit: Jaq