Chapter 456 - Returning to the human domain [1]
'Ugh, I just woke up and this is the situation I find myself in.'
lissa alone was enough to give a headache, but the fact that almost everyone was here increased the pain in my head. Leaning back on the bed and dully staring at the ceiling of the room, for a mont I wished to slip back into a coma.
Would rather have that than be in this type of situation.
Unfortunately, this was only wishful thinking on my part as following lissa's words, everyone's head snapped in my direction.
I could only bitterly smile at the sight.
"What are you looking at for?"
Raising my hand, I pointed in lissa's direction.
"Don't listen to anything she says. Especially when she's part of the harem."
"Huh?"
This ti it was lissa's turn to feel what I felt as everyone turned to look at her with strange looks on their faces.
Opening her eyes widely, lissa glared at .
Sensing her gaze, I slowly mouthed with my mouth.
'Trying to ruin ? I'll drag you down with .'
As soon as I said those words, I could vividly see the side of lissa's cheeks tense. I smirked when I saw this.
'That's right, I may have lost the battle, but I won the war.'
Like hell, I would ever let lissa one-up .
"Khh..."
Just as things were getting heated between lissa and , yet again, a throbbing pain coursed through my body, prompting to let out a groan.
This instantly attracted the attention of everyone present.
As she was already seated next to , the first one to help was Amanda who worriedly asked.
"Are you okay?"
"...Sowhat."
I replied with a forced smile. To be honest, I was anything but fine. Although I had survived, the damage that my soul took was significant.
'I need to find sothing to heal my soul.'
Though extrely rare, there were definitely ways to heal soone's soul.
The damage to my soul wasn't to the extent that it would affect in any way, but looking back at what just happened, I felt that I needed to sohow find a way to heal my soul.
The sense of discomfort that it brought wasn't sothing I quite liked.
Just as I was about to make my mind up about how to heal my soul, a sudden thought crossed my mind.
'Wait, what if this has also been planned by him?'
At this realization, my body froze completely.
Ever since eting the other Ren, or to be more precise, the entity inside of my body, he had always been acting in a way that made it seem as though everything was going according to how he planned.
...and so far, it seed to be true.
Everything that had happened to seed to have already been planned beforehand by soone. From the incident back at the hotel with Matthew to the do incident. Everything just felt so warped and altered that made think of the possibility of it being sothing that the other entity had planned.
It was only a hypothesis for now, but it wasn't one that I was willing to discard.
If it was truly like that, then it ant that my every move was being predicted.
Realistically speaking, the logical direction that I should take would be to heal my soul, but what if that was also part of the plan?
What if he wanted to heal my soul? ...but if it was truly like that, why would he reveal to that he had purposely damaged my soul so that he could have more control over it?
'This...'
The deeper I started thinking, the greater the throbbing sensation in my head beca.
The other Ren, entity, or whoever he was, he was definitely trying to ss up the way I was thinking.
So much so that I finally realized why I had never been able to get the upper hand over him.
It wasn't that he had everything planned, but it was just that he was playing a psychological warfare against .
Just like now.
Because of everything that he had said, I no longer had any idea how to proceed.
'Should I heal my soul...or not?'
Secretly, my fists clenched tightly. This was definitely not a pleasant feeling.
"He looks quite tired, I think we need to give him so space."
Whilst in thought, I suddenly heard a sweet voice from the distance. Turning my head, my eyes with Amanda's mother.
Once our eyes t, for a brief mont neither one of us spoke. Then, turning her head, she looked toward the elven queen.
"What was his na again?"
"Ren."
The queen answered.
Nodding her head, Amanda's mother turned her to face one more ti. Or rather, before that she glanced in Amanda's direction before looking back at with a strange look on her face.
Her gaze felt weird.
"Alright, Ren, there are many things that I want to say to you, but it looks like you're in no condition for it, so I will cut it short."
Lowering her head slightly, she said.
"Thank you. Thank you for what you did for ."
Following her words, for a brief mont of ti, silence enveloped the room. Raising my head and seeing that she still had her head lowered, I pursed my lips together.
"It's fine. You don't have to ntion it."
Most of it was the other Ren's doing, but that didn't an I wasn't ever planning on helping her. It was just that it would've taken a lot longer.
"Even then, I would still like to thank you. I was already grateful for the fact that you were willing to dispose of sothing so precious in order to heal , but after seeing the sacrifice you've made just to heal , I felt compelled to do this."
"It's fine, really."
I answered back, feeling a little bit awkward about the situation.
Raising her head, Amanda's mother's eyes paused on Amanda for a good while. Then, with a soft smile on her face, she headed for the door.
"Alright, I guess we should head back now. You should definitely get so rest."
"...What about her?"
Just as she was about to leave, the elven queen pointed in Angelica's direction. My face froze when I saw this.
As I had not yet woken up when she revealed everything to them, I had no idea about what had happened whilst I was asleep. My heart tensed when I saw the elven queen stare at Angelica.
Just as I was about to say sothing, Amanda's mother spoke up.
"Leave her be."
"Huh?"
A strange sound escaped from my mouth as I heard her words.
I wasn't the only one that reacted this way as almost everyone in the room aside from lissa who had no idea about what was happening, showed a similar look.
Recovering from the shock, the elven queen asked.
"How co?"
Instead of answering the elven queen, Amanda's mother shook her head.
"There is no point. Since she's now contracted to that boy, I an Ren, all I would be doing is adding trouble to the person who saved ."
"But this would've never have happened had it not been for her. We don't have to kill her, but we can still lock her up."
The queen replied, obviously displeased by Amanda's mother's words. Her displeasure was understandable. Being a queen, she naturally had to be more ruthless than others, and as a sovereign, being lenient towards enemies was a big taboo.
Glancing in the direction of the elven queen, Amanda's mother rely shrugged her shoulders.
"She's a demon, to begin with. She was just following orders. The people I should be angry about should be the ones behind her. Not her."
Pausing, she looked in Angelica's direction. Her brows furrowed a bit.
"Don't get wrong, just because I'm not acting up doesn't an that I have forgiven you. Had it not been for my daughter, I would've loved nothing more but to have followed Maylin's suggestions, but then again...such is life."
Following her words, closing her eyes and letting out a sigh, she said.
"It's also my fault for being careless. Had I been more attentive, none of this would've happened."
With a soft smile on her face, Amanda's mother took a step out of the room and left.
The elven queen followed from behind. There were still obvious signs of displeasure on her face, but it didn't look like she would go against Amanda's mother's wishes.
Following their disappearance, the next one to leave was lissa. Still mad about the words I said to rebuke her, she only gave a casual look before disappearing.
After lissa, it was Kevin who left after a simple goodbye.
"You should get so rest."
Following Kevin, Amanda also left. She looked uncertain about whether to leave or not, but as soon as her eyes paused on Angelica, she quickly made up her mind and also bid goodbye.
Clank—
Once the doors closed, the only people that remained in the room were Angelica and I. Lifting my head up with so difficulty, I bitterly said.
"Rough day, huh?"
***
Issanor, infirmary.
Silently gazing toward the city of Issanor from her bed, Emma's figure silently rested by the side of the bed. She had a dull look on her face.
Clank—
Suddenly the door opened up and Kevin walked in.
Walking into the room, the mont he saw Emma's condition, he softly sighed and sat beside her bed.
"You're still up."
"Mhm."
Emma softly nodded her head. Following her words, silence descended on the room.
Pursing his lips, Kevin tried to strike up a conversation.
"You know, I'm going to win the tournant soon. Once I get my hands on the elven tear, I ca—"
"Don't."
Before Kevin could finish his sentence, Emma quickly cut him off. Weakly turning her head, she replied.
"I don't want you to waste your chance on . I'm only going to be holding you back. Use that opportunity to make yourself stronger."
"What are you talking about?"
Kevin's brows furrowed.
"Kevin, during this ti that I had to myself, I ca to realize just how useless I am. Not only do I always drag you into problems, but not once have I ever been of help to you."
As she was speaking, the corner of Emma's eyes started to water.
"I know my limit. I will at most reach rank in my life while you will sooner or later reach a rank that is far above that. Use this chance to grow stronger. If you really want to heal , do it after you've beco strong enough to get the elven tear without wasting all of your achievents."
Clenching onto the bedsheets of the bed, Emma bit her lips.
"I...I can wait. If it ans that you won't have to waste this opportunity that you've been given on , then I can wait."
Listening to Emma's words, Kevin didn't know how to reply. It was only after a couple of seconds had passed that he finally said.
"Emma, I never thought of you like that."
Grabbing her hand, Kevin scratched the back of his head with his other hand.
"Also, I can't really do that."
"Why!?"
Snapping her head in Kevin's direction, Emma raised her voice.
"Why must you waste your opportunity like that? Just let be like this. I've co to terms with reality. I'll just go back ho and handle the matters there. It's not like it's the end of the world. I can wait till you get strong enough to heal . Focus on yourself, and focus on helping later."
Raising her hand, she repeatedly tapped her finger on Kevin's chest.
"You need to set your priorities straight. And right now your priority is to beco stronger. If you don't want anything similar to happen again, just grow stronger. So strong that nothing like this ever happens again."
Grabbing onto Emma's finger, a bitter smile appeared on Kevin's face.
"Emma, do you know how I managed to get to where I am in the tournant?"
"Huh?"
A confused look appeared on Emma's face as she heard Kevin's words. As if stating the obvious, she replied.
"...By beating all of your opponents?"
The smile on Kevins' face grew even more bitter as he shook his head.
"No, it wasn't that."
Lowering his head, Kevin let out a long sigh. Matching Emma's gaze, he bitterly said.
"...The only reason why I've co this far in the tournant is because Ren was bored."
***
A/N : This arc is coming to a close, and so is Volu [3].
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