Why do I keep attrac Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Chapter 26.

"Urrgh... what’s going on?" I groaned, the sound of my own voice vibrating painfully through my skull.

My head felt like it had been cracked open and stuffed with hot lead. "The hell... why am I still alive?"

I really didn’t expect to wake up at all.

The last thing I rembered was the crushing weight of the ocean and the sea witch’s fists raining down on

until everything went black.

I figured I’d be shark bait or just another skeleton in her collection by now.

"For soone who narrowly escaped death, to think the first thing you’d do after waking up was ask for it."

A voice ca from right next to .

It was sharp, clear, and had a bit of a bite to it.

As my eyes finally stopped spinning and the world stopped being a blurry ss of colors, I was completely surprised.

My jaw nearly dropped, which hurt my bruised face even more.

"W-What? How are you here?" I muttered.

I was so confused my brain felt like it was tied in knots, because the person sitting right there, looking at

with her arms crossed, was none other than Artria.

I took a second to actually look at where I was. I wasn’t in the dark, scary cave anymore.

Nor out in the open, but was lying back-first on a bed made with comfortable, soft sea plants.

It felt like sleeping on a cloud compared to the jagged stone floor I was used to.

I was in a rocky room that looked clean and safe, with light glowing softly from the walls. Definitely thanks to the help of bioluminescent plants.

"Where am I, and how did I get here?" I asked, trying to push myself up.

’ Crap! Still hurts!’ My ribs scread in protest, and I slumped back down.

"No ’thank you’? Is that how you treat your saviors?" she said, rolling her eyes.

’Yep... she’s definitely Artria,’ I said to myself. No one else could sound that annoyed while helping soone. It was actually a relief. If she was here, maybe I wasn’t about to be murdered.

Because rembering that sea witch, she seed so intent on making sure I was no way near Artria no matter what.

"Sorry..." I said with a long, tired sigh. I was too weak to even try to be witty back.

"Better," she said, looking satisfied. She sat up a bit straighter before continuing. "Luckily for you, a mber of our village chanced upon you while out hunting."

"They were pretty far out near the deep reefs when they saw you."

"We were all surprised when they brought back a shark with them," she went on.

"I an, usually we stay as far away from your kind as possible. But the mont Garin and I saw that it was you, we were dumbfounded."

"We couldn’t believe you were still breathing after what we saw."

I listened, my mind feeling hazy. I pictured the hunters finding my broken body floating in a cloud of red water. I must have looked like a total ss.

"So of the villagers were against having a shark in the village," Artria admitted. "Well that’s normal since you’re kind are known to be dangerous."

" But luckily for you, Garin and I vouched for you. After hearing how you saved us from that cursed woman, they decided to help heal your injuries. They even used so of our best dicine on you."

"I see..." I said. I tried to smile, but it felt weird and awkward on my face. My skin felt tight where the wounds were closing up.

Inside my head, a pitiful laugh started to fill my mind.

’After beating

half to death, she just left my body there to rot.’ It was a cold, bitter thought.

To think that the woman I called "Mistress" had abandoned

like that without any hesitation at all.

She didn’t check on

nor did she bring

back, simply throwing

away like trash once she was done venting her anger.

’And here I had a fleeting feeling that she wasn’t what I thought her to be.’ I felt like an idiot for ever thinking there was a shred of kindness in her.

I had actually started to think she was helping , but the reality was much simpler.

she was nothing but a monster.

At this thought, I couldn’t help shaking my head lightly before letting out a helpless, heavy sigh.

"What’s wrong?" Artria noticed my mood dropping and asked.

She looked at

with a bit of concern, though she tried to hide it behind her tough look.

"It’s nothing," I said. I wasn’t willing to talk about the sea witch or how much it hurt to be discarded like that.

I didn’t want to delve into the ss that was my life right now.

I didn’t know whether she could tell I was hiding sothing or not, but she stared at

for a long ti.

The silence in the room stretched out until she finally let go of the subject and shook her head.

"And might I ask how you ended up in that situation in the first place?" she asked, leaning closer. "You looked like a total ss back then, most of us thought that it was a miracle you were still breathing.

"Hehehe... would you believe

if I said I was just a disobedient servant?" I tried to joke, but my voice was shaky.

"Yes..." she said, looking rather helpless.

’That easily?’ My eyes twitched at her remark. Did she really think so little of

that she just assud I was so troublemaker who deserved a beating?

I wanted to defend myself, but I didn’t even have the energy.

"I can’t believe she’d do sothing like that to you!" Artria suddenly said, her voice full of annoyance.

At least she seed to think the punishnt was overkill, even if she thought I was a bad servant. Well, at least it ant she cared enough to be mad about it.