The Crown's Obsession

Beth nodded her head before looking away from him. For a while, she stared at the palm of her hands in the comfortable silence that filled the room.

"There is something I have been wanting to tell you, Raphael," started Beth and Raphael, who had been watching her stare at her palms, nodded his head for her to go on. "I...didn't get to apologize to you before you left the living world. I didn't treat you well and I was rude to you...I hurt you. And those days before I was told who you really were, it was very hard to live with the guilt that I was the reason you died."

She told Raphael the things that she wasn't able to confess in the confession box of the church and the things she hadn't got to tell him before.

"Even after the days that have passed by, I wake up with the memory of your blood on my hands and unable to forgive myself," saying this, Beth's hands clenched into fists. "I wanted to thank you for taking care of me, in my worst time and for believing in me. For risking your life for a person like me," her eyes moistened, blurring her vision.

Raphael had heard bits and part of these before, but he didn't mind hearing it again.

"Why do you think I did it for you, Beth?" he questioned her, placing the hammer on the question.

Beth bit her lip, "Because you like me? You are an archangel who always looks at the best things when it comes to a person?" she added the second question so that she didn't appear to be full of herself.

Without answering the question he had asked her, Raphael asked her another question, "Why aren't you looking at me right now, Beth? You seem to have trouble looking at me."

Beth gulped, hearing the question. Her eyes slowly moved to fall on Raphael's face.

Gabriel was a fairly handsome man, and so was Vlad and Michael. She should have known that every archangel would be handsome, but Raphael's previous homeless image had not left her mind. It was why she was having a hard time meeting his eyes now.

She stared into his golden eyes for a few seconds longer before she blurted, "I-I mean you, you are too handsome."

Raphael couldn't stop the smile that started to spread on his lips by seeing how cute Beth had turned out in his absence. His eyes watched every little expression that came to pass across her face, and he asked, "Don't tell me that your feelings have changed after seeing me like this." His words held a little teaseful tone at the end, but Beth failed to pick it up.

Blood drained out from Beth's face, and she turned pale, and she looked like a puppy as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on it in the night.

Her lips trembled, and her eyes watered, "I never told that," she whispered. Because of her past attitude, she was still being viewed like that, and she asked, "Why would you think that?" her voice suddenly raised while looking in his direction.

Somewhere in her mind, she knew this would be brought up as Raphael had turned to a handsome man. "I-I-" a hiccup escaped from her lips while tears rolled down on her cheeks. "I have been waiting for you to appear in front of me and y-you think I did it because you have turned into a good looking man. I have been hoping to see you for so many many months, w-waiting-"

"Oh my," Raphael moved closer to her and put his arm around her. "I was only joking. I didn't know you would take it this seriously."

"It isn't f-funny!" Beth sniffed before breaking into a mixed emotion of tears.

"It must be my company's influence," murmured Raphael, blaming the other two men, who were his friends in the castle.

Once Beth had stopped sniffling, she pulled away from him, bringing her handkerchief from her dress pocket to dab away her tears and blow her nose, while Raphael watched her endearingly with a smile on his lips.

A few hours passed in the Hawthrone castle, and Paschar, who had been waiting in front of the room for his daughter to wake up, saw the door open, and Calhoun stepped outside.

"I thought I felt two angels step inside the castle earlier," commented Calhoun, seeing Paschar, who was in his archangel angelic form. He was in his white robes, and his long silver hair that was often tied in a ponytail in the past had let down his shoulders and back. "I am sure you want to talk to her, more than me. She's awake," informed Calhoun.

"Thank you, Calhoun," and Paschar stepped inside to see Madeline and the newborn baby.

Knowing it was safe to have Paschar around his beloved ones, Calhoun decided to meet the other angel who had stepped into the castle. Walking through the corridors, he caught sight of the person standing next to Beth near one of the pillars.

"I thought you really died," commented Calhoun, his red eyes staring at his friend.

"It is good to see you again, Calhoun," smiled Raphael, and he stepped forward, and the two men hugged each other before stepping back. "Forgive me for leaving things in such a state."

"It is fine. It isn't like you knew about it. It is good to see that you are back. Poor Beth has been visiting your grave every day hoping to see you," his eyes shifted to his sister-in-law, who turned red.

"I will go see how my sister is doing," murmured Beth, bowing her head, and when she looked at Raphael, he nodded her head for her to go on.

"I will be here," Raphael assured her, offering her a smile, watching her walk away from them.

Calhoun leaned against the pillar, and looking at Beth disappear, "She's changed because of you."

"Some people are redeemable when the right path is shown to them and they are given the opportunity to change," said Raphael, a faint smile continuing to linger on his lips.