"This..."
Seeing Lorne cough violently before collapsing unconscious, Xio and Fors both froze for a moment. They exchanged looks, their eyes filled with bewilderment.
After two seconds of silence, Xio was the first to react. Almost instinctively, she rushed forward, dropped to one knee, and began checking Lorne's condition.
"How is he? Is he all right? Is anything wrong?" Fors came over as well, her voice anxious and concerned.
Xio did not answer immediately. She carefully held a finger beneath Lorne's nose to check his breathing, then pressed her fingers against his neck to feel his pulse.
A moment later, she relaxed a little and looked up at Fors. "It seems... he just fainted."
Fors's heart settled as well. She stepped closer and studied Lorne's pale, unfamiliar face in the dim light, her brows unconsciously drawing together. "His face just now... why did it seem a little strange?"
The moment Lorne appeared, Fors had vaguely sensed something was wrong with his face. But the light had been poor and the situation urgent, so she had not gotten a clear look. All she had been left with was an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
"Something might have gone wrong with his disguise," Xio said thoughtfully. She stood up and explained, "Fors, he's the person who performed an exorcism for me at the last gathering. He seems to be able to change his appearance."
"It was him?" Fors's eyes widened slightly.
"Yes." Xio nodded. Since Lorne had mentioned it before, she had been somewhat prepared for possible changes to his face.
"I see..." Fors murmured.
It was a perfectly reasonable explanation, but an unrealistic notion still arose in her heart.
*Some romantic possibility that only existed in novels... being miraculously saved by a certain pen friend at the very last moment, just as