Targeted By The Protagonist As A Villain-Chapter 34: Bodyguard (1)

"Is someone cursing me out right now? Why is my right ear so itchy all of a sudden?" Eric scratched his ear irritably and said with a perplexed look on his face.

Well anyways, after returning back to his penthouse, the first thing Eric needed to do before getting some rest was to clean up the dried blood on the floor that had been left there ever since Celeste had teleported him back.

Luckily, the floors throughout the penthouse and most of the building were made of ceramic tile, marble, and stone, making the blood fairly easy to clean.

Once he was done with that, Eric dropped the blood soaked towel along with his clothes into the laundry basket, then headed into the bathroom to take a bath.

"Phew, this hits the spot." Eric let out a long sigh of exhaustion as he relaxed in the bathtub and closed his eyes.

Even though his body has had a two day break after getting shot by Aurora the other day, he had previously woken from it still a bit fatigued.

So this bath was definitely a nice way for him to recharge after everything he’s been through.

Eventually, Eric slowly drifted off to sleep in the bathtub for a good bit and slept like a baby.

However, after about a good 30 minutes or so later...

Knock! Knock!

Upon hearing the doors being knocked, Eric immediately jolted awake and couldn’t help but look at his bathroom doors with a shocked look on his face.

Why?

It’s because...

’Who the hell knocked on my doors?’

That’s right, based on how loud and close the knock was, it was clear that someone knocked on his door.

Not the front doors leading up to his penthouse.

Oh no, it was specifically his bathroom doors that was knocked on.

’Don’t tell me...’

Eric pondered for a moment, wondering if it was Aurora who had came to kill him while he was at an extremely vulnerable state again, but he eventually concluded that it probably wasn’t her.

Still, it was strange though that someone had broken into his house, but since they have knocked on the door to get his attention, they probably didn’t come here with any hostile intentions...

Or at least they didn’t want him dead, and that was all that matters.

As such, Eric slowly got out of the bathtub and stated, "Hold on, just give me a few more seconds."

Then he quickly dried himself up with a towel, put on his bathrobe and slippers, and then headed out of the bathroom.

Once he was out however, Eric frowned very deeply at who was currently sitting down on his couch.

"Celeste?" Eric said cautiously.

"Eric." Celeste got up from the couch and respectfully bowed at Eric as she slowly scanned his current appearance with a straight face, "It’s good to see that your wounds have fully healed... if you could even call them that."

"Yes, thanks to your help. I really appreciate it." Eric politely nodded back in response.

"That’s funny to hear." Celeste smiled faintly.

"Hmm? What is?" Eric was genuinely confused about her reaction and furrowed his brows.

"I may be able to repair damaged organs and regenerate skin and tissue on a surface level, but my abilities are not yet advanced enough to heal the injuries you sustained on that day, much less in only two days." Celeste explained.

"...Really?" Eric genuinely was at a loss for words.

While the novel did go into some detail about how healing worked, and how not all healing abilities and healers were created equal, requiring not only a vast reserve of magical energy but also precise knowledge of the human body to guide that energy correctly to repair damaged tissue, restore proper function, and maintain the body’s natural balance, he still thought that Celeste could have healed him easily.

She was seen being a backup healer if anything went awry whenever she was involved in the novel after all, and she was the only one he knew that could actually heal people.

But thinking back on it now, Eric couldn’t even remember any scene where she actually healed an injury that was deeper than just some basic flesh wounds.

And in that case...

’Who actually healed me?’

’...’

"Yes, if I had even a fraction of your knowledge, I could have saved a lot of more lives in my career. It’s unfortunate." Celeste smiled a little sadly to herself.

"Uh huh... so? Why exactly are you here? You know that this is my private domicile, right?" Eric wanted to get straight to the point. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Yes, about that. I’d like to warn you about something, if you don’t mind." Celeste straightened herself out and looked at Eric seriously.

"About what?"

"You remember how I told my allies to run that day, as soon as you and Aria were teleported to our hideout, right?" Celeste said.

"Of course." Eric nodded.

"Well, the problem is that my allies sent a distress signal to some of the other groups and organizations out there that are in the same line of work as us while they were on the run, and although we’ve tried explaining to them that the situation was not what we thought it was, we believe that some of them are still on their way here to this city to kill you in the next couple of days." Celeste explained.

"What? Why?"

"I don’t know... maybe they just hate you or something, and found a good excuse to try and kill you off?"

"..."

"Just figured that you wanted to hear about it first before it happens."

"I see..." Eric replied flatly.

Although he seemed calm on the outside, Eric was actually quite irritated by the news and couldn’t help but sigh internally.

After all, how was he supposed to solve this crisis now?

Fighting off against Aurora while she was still way in the early stages of her regression was one thing, but fighting off a bunch of supernatural beings that had mostly trained their entire lives to fighting?

Is he the new protagonist of this world now, and the universe wants him dead or something like that?

Because if that was the case, then at least give him a golden finger or something in return to help him out!

Or if he has the same ability as Aurora’s, then at least give him some signs, because there was no way in hell he was going to risk his life finding out if he has it or not!

’What an annoyance.’

Eric felt like he was starting to develop a migraine and started to massage his forehead with his fingers.

While he was still pondering to himself about how to deal with this however, Celeste spoke up again and stated...

"I’m very sorry, I know that you wanted to keep your strength and abilities a secret from even people like me, and I have no right to ask of you for any favors when it is my fault, but could you please hold back from killing them when they arrive? Please." Celeste requested and bowed again deeply this time.

Eric’s eyes slightly widened in surprise at the request and couldn’t help but blink a few times.

This woman... don’t tell him...

’She genuinely thinks I’m strong?’

’And not just strong, but overwhelmingly strong?’

’So much so that she’s worried about me killing her other colleagues in the same line of work?’

Now it all made sense why she feared him back then, although he still didn’t fully understand why.

As such, there was only one logical thing Eric could think of to survive this situation once and for all.

And that was...

"Celeste, since you’ve at least acknowledged the fact that it was your fault, I’ll be lenient on you and spare their lives." Eric spoke with a calm voice.

"Thank you thank-"

"But."

"But?"

"You must also fix the mess that you created, without me having to lift a single finger whatsoever. That means nothing reaches me, nothing provokes me, and nothing forces me to act. Because if I am forced to act even once, I will not be stopping at just one. Do I make myself clear?"

"Uh..." Celeste tried to make sense of what he was implying, but ultimately shook her head in the end.

"Then let me make it more clear to you..."

"If you don’t want me to kill anyone who comes after me... then you’re going to have to be my bodyguard and make sure no one touches me until this is all over."

"Starting now."