Bella’s heartbeat unknowingly quickened. Hope and fear mixed together on her beautiful face.
The person finally entered.
Amd to her imnse surprise, the person was none other than Aegis. He still wore that blank, unreadable expression.
Her heart instantly ward as a wave of intense relief washed over her body.
The sensation of relief was far more profound and vitalizing than the recovery she achieved through her Life Magic.
She scrambled to stand up and rushed forward, instinctively moving to embrace him, only to be stopped abruptly by a strong hand pushing firmly against her forehead.
The sharp, masculine scent of Aegis rushed into her nostrils.
She acted on pure instinct, quickly licking his palm like a curious, affectionate cat. The action was completely out of character for her reserved nature.
Aegis felt the strange warmth of her tongue on his palm and flinched, feeling distinctly odd.
He swiftly retracted his hand.
"What are you trying to do?"
Bella was montarily flustered, unsure how to answer. Even she didn’t understand why she had done it.
She stamred, "I-I don’t know. It just ca over . Sorry!" she apologized, her cheeks flushed.
Aegis glanced at her noble, slightly embarrassed face with indifference.
"Did you clean up?" she asked curiously, looking down at her now immaculate body.
"No," he lied smoothly. "Why would I do that when you have your loyal dragon girl?"
Bella looked at him with clear suspicion. To her knowledge, Ruina was hopelessly clumsy and could never perform such a ticulous cleaning job.
"Anyway, it’s already morning, and I need to leave," Aegis stated, turning away dismissively. "So whatever lies you wanted to spit out, you can say them now before I change my mind."
Boink!
From behind Bella, Pyro instantly appeared at its master’s side, as if it couldn’t wait another second to depart.
Bella’s face fell instantly. "I don’t lie, Arlan. You know that."
"So, those words you spoke at the High School entrance ceremony were all truths?" Aegis asked, his voice utterly devoid of emotion.
Whether he was angry or uncaring, she simply couldn’t tell.
Bella moved closer to his back, shaking her head emphatically.
"No. They were not my voice. I could never do sothing like that. The days I spent in abroad always passed in your rembrance. Just like you rembered . So why would I do sothing like that?"
Aegis slowly turned to face her, still looking stubbornly unmoved.
"Then why did you do that, Bella? Do you know how much expectation I had while holding onto our promise of marriage, and growing all together?
Do you know how much ti I spent praying for your safety? How my heart bled when I imagined you getting hurt?"
His tears did not fall, but his heart bled from the wounds it had suffered years ago.
Bella rushed forward and hugged him tightly, tears now streaming freely down her cheeks onto his shoulder.
This ti, Aegis did not push her away.
Bella clung to Aegis, her body still weak, the residual pain of her self-inflicted wounds irrelevant compared to the agony of his rejection. The words poured out, a torrent of confession she had been bottling for years.
"It’s because of Ice Goddess Skadi, Arlan. She is the one behind all of this."
She took a shuddering breath while her head buried in the protective warmth of his shoulder.
"It happened years ago, when we went abroad to Country X. My family and I, one day, traveled to a deeply forgotten Island. It was an anomaly, a land mass that had remained unnaturally frozen for countless centuries, defying the scorching atmosphere all around it."
"We went out of pure curiosity, drawn by the local folklore about a powerful deity rumored to be sleeping there. They said this Deity was all-powerful and would grant anyone their dearest wish, an absolute power that could rewrite fate."
"We dismissed them as rumours, desperate myths. But one night, after my parents had finally fallen asleep, I heard it. A whisper, faint but impossibly clear, calling only to ."
The mory, even now, sent a chilling tremor through Bella’s soul.
***
"Child... Co to . Co to . Do you not ache for freedom, little one? Do you not yearn for the power to shatter the chains of the restrictions that bind you? Co to . I will give you that power. I will give you everything your innocent heart desires."
Young Bella, barely a middle schooler, had risen from her warm bed, compelled. She followed the siren’s call as if she were a puppet on invisible strings.
She left the safety of the house, walking barefoot across the snow-covered land until she reached the deep mouth of a cave, where a majestic, utterly terrifying Frozen Statue resided.
"I walked right up to it, Arlan. I don’t know why," Bella wept softly. "I went forward, and I touched it. And the second my skin made contact with the ice... that powerful, foreign soul surged inside my body."
"Ahahaha! What a foolish, simple girl! Now, I will seize this vessel! I will be free from this false world once this temporary illusion of existence is over!"
"Who are you? Why are you so scary?"
Bella, the frightened child, had whimpered, her nascent soul trembling against the intruder.
The Ice Goddess, a vision of heavenly beauty even in her frigid rage, had fixed her with a cold, terrifying gaze.
"It will be wise for your infinitesimal soul to cooperate, little speck. Once I achieve true freedom, I shall return your body to you, and grant you the freedom you so foolishly craved."
"But I don’t want to! I want to see Arlan!" Young Bella had protested vehently, the simple, true love of her childhood her only weapon against the ancient divinity.
Goddess Skadi had rely sneered,
"What? You are barely a child, and you have already tainted your heart with this stupid, pathetic emotion? This weak feeling for a re mortal? What a colossal pity."
The Goddess had laughed, a sound that cracked like a glacier breaking apart.
"But fear not. Since I am here, I shall shepherd you onto the right path: The path of absolute emotionlessness."
Bella’s voice hitched, choked with guilt. "She was the one, Arlan. She was the one who used my voice, used my face, to brutally reject you at the High School entrance ceremony. I was trapped inside, screaming, truly heartbroken, but utterly powerless to stop her."
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