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Chapter 24: Anna!

Chapter 24: Anna!

Two days later.

The rain had been falling since morning.

Droplets slid continuously down the tall window frame of the eastern treatment room in Castle Avarenne, making the already pallid afternoon light even more somber. Gray curtains were tied to either side, a small fireplace burned near the corner, but the thick scent of medicinal herbs still overpowered the smell of burning wood.

The healing array beneath the bed occasionally pulsed with a faint blue glow.

Lathel still hadn’t woken.

He lay in the middle of a large bed, his chest and both arms wrapped in white bandages. His left leg was stabilized with a magic splint, and his right hand had been placed separately on a soft cushion to avoid disturbing the two fingers that had just been reattached.

The healer said his life was no longer in danger.

The fever had also subsided.

But after two days, Lathel still hadn’t opened his eyes.

Leviana sat right beside him.

She had been awake for nearly an hour, yet from start to finish she had barely managed more than a few words.

Her normally sharp, cold eyes were so swollen and red they were impossible to hide. Fine blood vessels stood out around her irises, and her eyelids were slightly puffy from too much crying. Mirelle had wanted to call a healer to treat the swelling, but Leviana refused.

She only wanted to be here.

Lathel’s left hand lay in hers.

Leviana bowed her head, using her index finger to slowly trace letters onto his palm.

"I’m here."

The tip of her finger paused for a moment.

She continued.

"You’ve been sleeping for two days now."

Lathel remained still.

Setting aside the layers of bandages and his pallid complexion, his face right now was peaceful to an almost frightening degree. His lashes were closed, his breathing weak but steady, as though he had simply been too exhausted and fallen into a long sleep.

It was precisely that peacefulness that made Leviana’s chest ache more.

She still remembered the three years she had lain motionless.

Every day, Lathel had written on her hand just like this.

The weather’s nice today.

The medicine’s a bit bitter.

The flowers outside the window have bloomed.

Sometimes he only wrote about something very small, like how the kitchen had a new cook today, the cat in the hallway had stolen fish again, or he had accidentally broken a cup that morning.

Things that meant nothing at all.

But Lathel had kept telling her anyway.

Because he was afraid the person lying motionless would feel lonely.

Back then, Leviana had heard it all.

She knew everything.

She just couldn’t answer.

Now their positions had been reversed.

Leviana gently stroked his palm, then continued writing.

"You made me wait three years."

The corner of her lips curved with effort.

"I’ve only been waiting for you two days."

"So I’m not angry."

"Just wake up and that’s enough."

The tip of her finger stopped.

No response.

Leviana looked at the hand lying still in hers for a very long time.

Then her gaze slowly moved to the right hand immobilized beside him.

The index and middle fingers were wrapped tightly in a thin splint.

The healer had managed to set the bones.

But no one yet dared guarantee they would recover fully.

Those were the two fingers Lathel used the most when signing.

Aldric had known that perfectly well.

And he had still deliberately broken them.

Leviana pressed her lips together.

The image of Lathel crawling on the ground surfaced in her mind again.

One leg already broken.

Blood everywhere.

Two fingers twisted out of shape.

And still he had dragged his body toward her.

Just to shield her one more time.

Leviana’s eyes burned.

She immediately lowered her head.

"You fool..."

Her voice was so hoarse it was nearly inaudible.

"I never told you to risk your life saving me."

A tear fell onto the back of Lathel’s hand.

Leviana quickly wiped it away.

Right at that moment—

BANG!

The door was thrown open.

Leviana’s head snapped up at once.

A woman in a white cloak stood in the doorway.

Her breathing was ragged, the hand gripping the doorframe still trembling slightly. The hem of her cloak was covered in road dust and a few streaks of dried mud, and the long hair behind her hood was messier than usual.

A silver mask covered her face.

Catrina.

She looked as though she had barely dismounted.

The instant she stepped inside, Catrina’s eyes swept the room.

Then stopped completely.

On Lathel.

She stood frozen.

Her gaze moved from his face down to the bandages across his chest, then to the splint immobilizing his left leg.

And finally—

The two fingers on his right hand.

Catrina’s breath caught at once.

"Lathel..."

She had barely managed to speak his name when Leviana shot to her feet.

The chair behind her toppled.

Catrina turned her head.

CRACK!

A slap struck her full across the face.

Catrina’s head snapped to one side.

The silver mask was knocked clean off, clattering onto the stone floor and spinning several times before coming to rest near the foot of the bed.

Her true face was instantly exposed.

One half still retained the delicate features she had once possessed.

The other half had been ravaged by the curse beyond recognition. The skin was shrunken and gnarled, dark streaks stretching from the temple down across the cheek to near the corner of the mouth, as though a venomous flame had once seared through and left behind dead flesh that could never heal.

Leviana didn’t spare it a glance.

She seized Catrina by the collar.

"Do you see?"

Her voice was shaking.

Catrina didn’t answer.

Her eyes were still on Lathel.

"I’m asking if you see this!"

Leviana yanked her closer and pointed at the bed.

"Look at him!"

Catrina clenched her fist.

Leviana saw the reaction, and the rage she had suppressed for two days erupted at once.

"At Grail Pass, you appeared years ahead of schedule. You brought all of Black Rose out in front of Aldric, hunted him down directly, and forced him to use the Void Step Talisman."

Catrina closed her eyes.

Leviana kept going, her voice growing harsher with every word.

"After you came back, I already told you. I said what you did at the Pass had made Aldric realize the future he knew was no longer accurate. I told you that from that point on we had to be careful, had to think about consequences before continuing to change the events we knew about."

She wrenched Catrina’s collar harder.

"But by then it was already too late."

Catrina opened her eyes.

Tears had appeared in them.

Leviana gritted her teeth.

"You frightened him before we could even agree on a single principle. He knows Catrina Veyr shouldn’t have appeared yet and already has Black Rose. He knows the plan at the Pass was seen through. He knows the things he believed in are veering off course."

Leviana’s voice choked.

She looked at Lathel.

"So he started changing how he acts."

Leviana’s eyes reddened further.

"In the previous life we shared, this never happened at this point in time."

CRACK!

A second slap landed.

Catrina didn’t dodge.

The corner of her mouth split at once, a thin line of blood running down her chin.

"This fire never happened!"

Leviana was nearly shouting.

"Aldric never tried to kill Lathel at this point!"

CRACK!

"You wanted to protect him, didn’t you?"

Leviana’s hand was trembling.

"Is this the result you wanted?"

CRACK!

This time the force was far weaker.

Leviana’s body hadn’t recovered, and after exerting herself several times she was already breathing hard. But Catrina stood exactly where she was.

She was strong enough to catch Leviana’s wrist.

A single motion could have pushed the woman before her away.

Catrina didn’t.

Tears streamed continuously down the face warped by the curse.

She only looked at Lathel.

As though the slaps didn’t matter at all.

Leviana raised her hand once more.

But when she saw the tears on Catrina’s face, her hand finally stopped in midair.

The room held nothing but the heavy breathing of two people.

After a while, Catrina spoke hoarsely:

"You’re right."

Leviana looked at her.

"I only wanted to take his Void Step Talisman."

Catrina swallowed.

"I thought making Aldric lose a life-saving card earlier would keep him safer."

She looked at Lathel.

"I didn’t think he’d change targets that fast."

Leviana ground out the words:

"That’s exactly the problem."

Catrina fell silent.

"We can’t just look at the immediate result and assume we understand everything." Leviana released her collar, her eyes still cold. "From now on, if you recklessly disrupt the events we know about, changing the trajectory before we’ve prepared for the consequences..."

She looked Catrina straight in the eye.

"The first person I kill will be you."

Catrina didn’t get angry.

She only nodded.

"Agreed."

Leviana let out a hard breath and turned away.

Catrina bent down and picked up the mask.

She looked at it for a few seconds.

In the end, she set it on the table beside the bed instead of putting it back on.

Then Catrina walked to the bedside.

Her steps grew slower and slower.

When she was less than one pace from Lathel, Catrina suddenly knelt.

Both knees touched the stone floor.

She didn’t care that her clothes were getting dirty.

Didn’t care that Leviana was still standing behind her.

She simply knelt beside the bed, level with Lathel’s hand.

Catrina slowly removed her gloves.

The hands beneath were the complete opposite of the cursed face.

Skin white and smooth, fingers long and slender, the joints so perfectly proportioned they could almost pass for a work of art.

But right now, those hands were shaking.

Catrina raised her hand.

The tip of her finger hovered just above Lathel’s chest for a long time before she dared set it down.

Thump.

Thump.

The heartbeat was very faint.

But it was there.

Catrina’s shoulders immediately shook violently.

"Still alive..."

Her voice nearly broke apart.

"He’s still alive."

She closed her eyes, left her hand on his chest for a few more seconds, then slowly brought it up to his face.

Her finger traced across Lathel’s cheek.

Very gently.

Catrina wanted to hold his hand.

Wanted to press her face into his palm.

The way she had in the previous life, when the curse’s pain kept her from sleeping and Lathel would let her rest her face against his hand until she calmed down.

She leaned closer.

But suddenly stopped.

A flash of reflection from the silver tray beside the bed caught her eye.

The gnarled face.

The streaks of the curse.

The corner of her mouth still bleeding.

Catrina froze.

She looked at Lathel’s hand right before her.

All she needed was to lean just a little further.

In the end, Catrina slowly straightened again.

She didn’t want this face to touch him.

Lathel had never recoiled from it.

But she recoiled from herself.

Catrina remained kneeling by the bed, both hands cradling Lathel’s left wrist, her head bowed.

"I’m sorry."

Tears fell onto the back of his hand.

"I promised this time I would protect you."

Her voice trembled.

"But I’ve barely come back... and you’re already lying here."

Lathel still didn’t react.

Catrina bit her lip.

"I was too confident."

"I thought I knew the future."

"I thought all I had to do was act before Aldric."

She laughed very softly, but the sound vanished almost immediately.

"In the last life I was always like this too."

Catrina stroked his wrist gently.

"Always thinking I was doing what was best for you."

The tears grew heavier.

"I once thought pushing you out of House Veyr was protecting you."

"Once thought throwing that medicine vial to the ground would make you understand I didn’t need your pity."

Her voice choked.

"By the time I found out you’d traded half your lifespan for it..."

Catrina bowed her head lower.

"I realized the most foolish person had always been me."

Leviana stood behind her in silence.

The anger was still there.

But she understood the feeling.

Because she too had realized everything too late.

Catrina pressed her forehead against the edge of the bed, still gripping Lathel’s wrist tightly.

"I’m sorry."

"I’ll listen."

"I won’t change things on my own anymore."

"Please wake up."

Her voice grew quieter and quieter.

"You can be angry with me."

"You can refuse to see me."

"I’ll stand far away."

Catrina looked at the mask lying on the table, then at Lathel’s face.

"If you don’t want to see my face, I’ll wear it."

"Just..."

She tightened her hold on his hand.

"Don’t lie this still."

Right at that moment—

Click.

The sound of a high-heeled shoe echoed from the hallway.

Leviana immediately raised her head.

Catrina also went still.

Click.

A second step.

Very soft.

But something inside the room began to change.

The air didn’t grow cold.

The temperature didn’t drop.

And yet color slowly began to drain away.

The red glow from the fire in the hearth faded.

The blue of the healing array beneath the bed became a pale grayish-white light.

Even Leviana’s black hair, Catrina’s white cloak, and the colorful medicine bottles on the table seemed to be dusted with a thin layer of ash.

Click.

A third step.

The curtain that had been swaying in the draft suddenly froze in midair.

A water droplet that had just slipped from the eave outside the window appeared to hang suspended in empty space.

The smoke from the fireplace stiffened into a single thin line.

Even the motes of light drifting through the room went motionless.

Sound vanished.

Not ordinary silence.

Everything seemed to be held in place by an invisible hand at a single frozen instant.

The world lost its color.

And stopped.

Leviana slowly clenched her fist.

Catrina, kneeling by the bed, also raised her head.

Both of them remembered this feeling.

Far too clearly.

In the previous life, whenever that woman truly lost her composure, the world around her would enter this strange state.

Not ice.

Not an ordinary seal.

It was as though the life of everything within range was temporarily commanded to be silent.

Catrina slowly rose to her feet.

Leviana looked toward the door.

The footsteps had stopped.

The door handle pressed down.

Click.

The door opened.

A woman stood in the hallway.

Silver-white hair fell long down her back. The white dress of the Church draped over a slender frame, a white cloth band embroidered with gold thread covering her eyes. Her face was exquisite, her skin so pale she nearly blended into the colorless world behind her.

She was beautiful in the purest sense.

Like a white lotus blooming on the surface of a perfectly still lake.

But the moment they saw her, both Leviana and Catrina felt their bodies tense on instinct.

Anna stepped inside.

With each step she took, the world behind her only seemed to slowly resume its motion.

The curtain swayed again.

The water droplet outside the window fell.

The flame in the hearth flickered once more.

But color had not yet fully returned.

Anna stopped a few paces from the bed.

Though her eyes were covered, Leviana still felt that she was looking at her.

Then at Catrina.

And finally—

Lathel.

The gentle smile on Anna’s lips didn’t change.

Leviana pressed her lips together.

Catrina stood beside the bed, her expression turning grave.

Both of them knew exactly how dangerous the woman before them was when she could still hold a smile like that.

Leviana slowly spoke her name.

"Saintess Anna."

Anna didn’t answer right away.

She took one more step.

The remaining light in the room seemed to dim just a fraction more.

Only then did Anna speak softly:

"I only looked away from him for a short while."

The smile on her lips deepened.

"And this is how the two of you have been taking care of Lathel?"