’Hugnh!’
My body tensed up while my hand instantly shot up to my chest.
A surge of physical pain exploded over my chest as my eyes locked in on Selia’s lovely smile, making it physically unbearable to just stare at sothing so lovable.
"Huh?"
Selia, on the other hand, was clearly taken off guard by my sudden motion, her smile quickly fading into worry, giving a chance to recover from her unintended, lethal attack.
"Yeah..." I pulled myself up, hurriedly escaping from the direct, lethal range of her adorable, slightly smug smile.
There was so grief over giving up on the generally lovely view I had with my head on her lap and her leaning over it... But I only allowed for it to last just a short mont before getting my head out of the gutter and putting it back to the topic at hand.
"Yeah," I coughed and repeated, "it did," I nodded my head, "for as far as I can tell and it’s yet to be fully determined, but yeah," I nodded my head again, "if my gut feeling is right, then it did work."
Hearing put all those terms and stipulations before confirming what she already clearly knew, Selia smiled at again.
And just like before, her smile reached all the way to her perfect, pale-blue eyes, filling them with the warmth that contrasted with the otherwise cold color of her irises.
"Wait, if it really did work..." Selia’s expression darkened as her eyes shot up above my head, lasting in their new position for a single mont before turning back to my face.
"Uhmm..." she muttered as she looked down with a hint of concern reappearing in her eyes.
She didn’t need to speak her question up. Nor did she need to describe what she saw above my head.
"After the last blunder, I wasn’t even going to try to give myself a whole, perfected and complete fate, you know?" I countered with a hint of hurt in my voice and a look of betrayal flashing in my eyes.
Was my worry from earlier, when I woke up all panicked that I’d hurt her with my recklessness, not enough to show how I felt about it? Did she really expect to go as far as to try to give myself an entire system rather than testing the very bottom line of what could be done?
Still, there was a hint of worry and doubt in her eyes. And given how I had a way to prove for both of us whether my attempts worked or not, it would be a cri not to do it right away...
Even if it ant putting my head on the chopping block with what I was about to suggest next.
"Things worked within the dream. But whether those dreams translate to reality... There’s actually a thod for us to test it out."
It took all of my courage and boldness to say that. And yet, distracted by the raw aning of my words, Selia appeared to miss the hints of worry that I knew I couldn’t fully hold back from my voice or expression.
"Hmm?" Selia perked up, her silvery hair shaking in waves as she perked up and looked up. "That’s great!"
The look of happiness in her eyes was so genuine, there was no way it could be faked.
’Why does she care so much?’ I thought, suddenly faced with the question I’d already asked before.
’Why does she care so much? What has changed since the last night that made her so much happier around ?’
It’s only been three days since we first t, god damn it! And just yesterday, I could clearly feel a deep sense of reservation in the saintess whenever she interacted with .
’Maybe it’s not ,’ a sudden thought invaded my mind, offering both the relief and an explanation. ’Maybe she’s just happy because she’s curious about how fate works. And being the outlier that I am, I’m the best case study she could ask for!’
The more I thought about it, the more correct this line of thought appeared to be.
It wasn’t the first ti I’d noticed just how concerned Selia was with the topic of systems and fates in general!
"Before we test it out, though," prompted by this thought, I spoke out, "how did you even know it worked?"
Obviously, I wasn’t going to confront the saintess about her own intentions.
She never confronted about mine. And what little I revealed about my goals, I did all out of my own volition.
Demanding answers right now would only serve to put a wrench into the turning wheels of our slowly growing relationship, sothing I still wanted to avoid at all cost.
Hearing my question, the saintess leaned back on her hands and looked up to the sky. Her perfectly relaxed face indicated this wasn’t sothing she would hold any reservations about talking about.
"I felt so of my mana drain towards you. Just a tiny amount," Selia quickly added as she glanced down with yet another of her adorable smiles, proving she knew enough already to know I would instantly worry about her the mont I heard that, "and it returned to almost right away. Before it did, though, I could see it interacted with you, in so way that I sadly couldn’t see or understand."
I slowly nodded my head and rubbed my chin.
"That makes sense..." I muttered, thinking about the surge of that golden power that injected itself into the first of my system boxes...
’Wait, the first?’
I furrowed my brows a bit.
"And it only happened once?" I asked, raising my eyes back to Selia’s face, only to see her lean her head over to the side, all puzzled. Rather than questioning my motives, though, she nodded her head.
"Yeah, just once," she confird before shaking her head. "So then, what about that test?" she asked while her eyes filled with sparks of curiosity and her lips curved a bit further up to deepen her smile.
I held my breath for a bit while pinning my eyes down to the ground.
"Promise you won’t be mad..." I whispered, failing to gather enough courage to look back up at her.
"Huh?" Looking away, I couldn’t really tell what kind of face she made in response.
And honestly, the sound of her voice was enough for to guess it.
"Why would I get mad?"
This ti, rather than looking down, I looked away.
Then, I sighed.
"Because once again," I pressed my hands together before running circles with my thumbs, "I kind of might have acted on an idea before taking my ti to fully consider it... again."
Selia squinted her eyes first, only to then sigh herself and then lean back on her hands again as her expression relaxed and returned to a neutral, sowhat defeated smirk.
"Seeing how worried you are, it has sothing to do with , doesn’t it?"
I closed my eyes and pressed my lips into a thin line.
Then, I gathered enough courage to... nod in silence.
"Well then," Selia laughed a little before putting a playful grin on her lips, "let see how bold you were in that recklessness of yours!"
’Your wish is my demand!’ I thought... but didn’t move.
At first, that is.
But with just how happily she teased about my worries, Selia made sothing click deep at the bottom of my soul.
And so, surprising myself, I stood up and stepped forward.
Then, before my sense of reason or sothing as simple as fear of death could kick in...
I reached out and brought my hand down directly upon Selia’s bare shoulder.
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