OHNIR – Chapter 51
Chapter 51: Healing
Although the potion had little effect on Kelusta, there was still some unused Potion Potency Amplifier left on the dressing table. Gloria naturally recognized this auxiliary potion, which had shocked the capital upon its release. She hesitated for a moment, but seeing the girl on the bed in so much pain that even her lips were trembling, she gritted her teeth. Releasing her grip on the corner of Kelusta’s quilt, she hurried out the door and jogged toward Wend’s dormitory.
Her high heels tapped lightly on the wooden floor. Fortunately, the corridor was still empty, so no one saw an upperclassman girl running up to the men’s dormitory floor.
The silver-haired girl, somewhat unfamiliar with the layout, followed her memory to Wend’s room. The place where the duke’s son rested was protected by a rather sophisticated barrier magic, far more advanced than Kelusta’s primitive door lock. Gloria whispered a spell, and the door clicked open a crack, allowing her to push it open and walk straight toward her brother’s innermost room.
The layout of Wend’s dormitory was identical to his habits at home; the room furthest inside was always used as a potion-making room, the only difference being its size. Thus, as expected, when Gloria turned the lock, she immediately saw eight bottles of Antipyretic Potion neatly arranged on the desk. Her expression instantly darkened.
Well done, she thought. Those two naughty children had indeed teamed up to deceive her.
But the situation was urgent, and there was no time to waste on anger. Gloria snatched up the pile of Antipyretic Potions, grabbed a small bag used for materials, placed the pale red vials inside, and turned to leave without a second thought, like a robber who had just completed a heist.
She made her way downstairs unimpeded. When she reached the common room, she finally encountered a few male students. They stared at the cold beauty with a frosty expression, a paper bag in her hand, and were all too frightened to even breathe loudly. They secretly guessed she might be a disciplinary committee member from the Student Union sent to confiscate contraband, and they all retreated to the side to let her pass.
Gloria, however, didn’t even spare them a glance. She turned a corner toward the girls’ dormitory and returned to Kelusta’s room.
Weak from the fever, Kelusta indeed lacked the strength to kick the quilt aside again. She had curled herself up like a sleeping squirrel, as if she were very cold, but her cheeks were flushed a deep crimson. It looked like she was wearing overly heavy makeup or had drunk too much intoxicating wine—an unhealthy flush that was, at the same time, so beautiful it was unlike her usual self.
Gloria moved quickly, grabbing the Potion Potency Amplifier from the dressing table. She violently tore open the exquisite packaging of the transparent liquid, releasing a faint, clear, salty scent, like a sea breeze carrying the ocean’s essence over the waves. For a moment, even the silver-haired girl, whose mind was entirely focused on Kelusta, felt herself sway.
But she quickly snapped out of it. Pressing on Kelusta’s shoulder, she gently laid the little squirrel flat. With her other hand, she brought the vial of amplifier to the other girl’s deep red lips and tilted it slightly. A few drops of liquid fell onto the seam of her lips, then trickled down the contours of her skin to her neck, finally dampening the soft feather pillow beneath her hair.
Gloria stopped in time, not wanting to waste any more of the precious auxiliary potion on someone with a drug-resistant constitution. She stared at Kelusta’s increasingly furrowed brow for a few seconds, then decisively drank the entire vial of transparent liquid herself. Without a second thought, she lowered her head and pressed her own accurately against those soft, deep red lips.
Her long silver hair cascaded down the sides of Kelusta’s face, forming two impenetrable barriers that shielded her treasure, as if even the air was forbidden from coveting it. The noble girl, whose face was so beautiful she seemed like a goddess descended to the mortal realm, had her head bowed, kissing the unconscious girl deeply and forcefully. Her silver-white eyelashes, like the wings of a butterfly, trembled slightly, while the tip of her tongue, as nimble as a snake’s, gently pried open her scorching hot lips and teeth, slowly feeding half a mouthful of the cool amplifier inside.
A soft sigh escaped the brown-haired girl’s throat, like a desert receiving long-awaited rain, letting off a few wisps of steam as the drops hit the parched ground.
In contrast, Gloria’s lips and tongue felt much cooler. The kind-hearted duke’s daughter carefully licked the other’s lips, thoughtfully covering every inch with cooling moisture. Only then did she reluctantly open her eyes, lift her head, and pick up the red Antipyretic Potion from the side. She repeated the same action, kissing her again.
This time, she kissed without any pressure, nor did she close her eyes as before. Her deep blue eyes, like the sea, had lost their usual tranquility, leaving only an intense emotion that was hard to put into words. She was like some kind of stubborn fish, stubbornly guarding its treasure about to sink to the bottom of the sea, not even daring to blink.
The sweet-tasting Antipyretic Potion slid across her mouth time and again before flowing into another’s. Gloria had no idea how many times she had kissed her. She only remembered that what forcibly pulled her out of this trance-like, repetitive action was a hoarse call that seemed to whisper right next to her ear.
“Light… Lux…”
The light suddenly returned to her unfocused eyes, and the dark magic lingering around her vanished without a trace. After a brief moment of stunned silence, Gloria gasped in delayed fear, her fingers curling in panic. She blinked hard, and after finally managing to compose herself, she could at last discern the direction the voice was coming from.
Kelusta, tormented by her illness, kept her eyes tightly shut, the pale skin at their corners creased into several folds. Her lips, just kissed by Gloria, were trembling slightly, struggling to squeeze out a few syllables in a tiny voice. Though broken, it was a name both deeply familiar and strangely foreign to the silver-haired girl.
“Le…kesi—”
Immersed in her dark consciousness, Kelusta continued to call out softly, forcefully, and full of trust.
Gloria opened her mouth, but only a few trembling breaths escaped. She reached out, her touch as gentle as if skimming the surface of water, and brushed against Kelusta’s cheek. Even as the heat traveled from her fingertips straight to her heart, she was unwilling to let go. Dazed and disbelieving, she finally managed to speak, her voice hoarse as if afraid of waking something. “...Ruth?”
But the girl on the bed could not give her an answer. Lost in the dimness, she continued to murmur a name: “Lux.”
To her, it seemed that name subconsciously represented complete trust and peace.
After a while, the fragmented voice finally stopped repeating those three syllables. The brown-haired girl coughed twice and said in a blurry, aggrieved tone, “I’m so cold… Lux, don’t go. Hold me…”
Gloria held her hand, her own cold temperature a stark contrast to the fire in the other’s palm.
Upon hearing those words, the ducal daughter, who had been sitting upright, finally bent over as if crushed by a heavy burden. She leaned weakly against the bed beside Kelusta and uttered a low, sorrowful apology, tinged with the edge of a breakdown.
“I’m sorry…”
A single drop of water seemed to fall into the scattered brown hair on the pillow.
“I, who made such a solemn vow, should never have left you at your most vulnerable.”
Gloria gripped Kelusta’s hand tightly, not allowing it to slip from her grasp due to weakness.
“I should have always been with you… from childhood to now, from fifteen years ago to fifteen years from now. I should have held you in the palm of my hand, just like that shell, and never let anyone have the chance to hurt you.”
“—Wake up, my Little Shell. Even if you hate me, resent me, never want to speak to me again… as long as you can wake up and stand before me, healthy and well, I’ll do anything.”
She sorrowfully threaded her fingers through the other’s, interlocking their hands in a prayer-like gesture, and whispered, “Goddess of Light above—I offer a lifetime of faith, to pray daily and repent for my sins, asking only that You truly protect her… for eternal peace and health in this life.”
As her words fell, it was as if a stone had been suddenly cast into a calm pool of water, sending ripples outward. In the unseen realm, a subtle change occurred.
Gloria, praying with her eyes closed, did not notice a faint white light beginning to glow between her and Kelusta’s clasped hands—
A sudden wave of heat shot up the silver-haired girl’s spine. The unusual burning sensation made her eyes fly open. Her heart pounded, her blood raced, and the strands of dark magic that had once flowed freely within her were rapidly suppressed. A pained grunt escaped Gloria’s throat. She released her hand from Kelusta’s and clutched her chest, but it did nothing to alleviate the sudden, searing agony that erupted within her.
It was as if someone were pressing a branding iron against her heart. Wisps of black smoke drifted out, only to be devoured by a brilliant light in an instant.
“…Ah—”
A hoarse cry of pain escaped her uncontrollably, and her knuckles tightened around Kelusta’s. Whether it was the Antipyretic Potion finally taking effect or the pain from her crushed bones, the delirious girl seemed to regain a sliver of consciousness from her high fever. She blearily opened her golden eyes, and through her blurry vision, she caught a glimpse of the bright wings that had suddenly unfurled behind Gloria—
“Lux…?”
Kelusta’s eyes widened as she unconsciously uttered the name.
At the same time, the snow-white wings, which seemed like an illusion, suddenly dispersed as if they had never existed. All that remained were soft, fluttering, glowing feathers that drifted down and converged upon Kelusta. Before her disbelieving eyes, they transformed into streams of warm white light and, following a faint chant from the silver-haired girl’s lips, gradually sank into Kelusta’s body.
“…”
Fatigue, drowsiness, weakness, a splitting headache… all these negative conditions began to diminish, one by one, until they vanished completely. Kelusta stared in shock at Gloria, who had finally opened her eyes. Her mind was clear again, and the morbid flush on her face had faded, leaving only a healthy blush and an expression of someone who had just seen a ghost. She stammered, “S-Senior… you—”
“…It’s healing magic.”
Gloria gently wiped the sweat that had trickled down to her chin with her sleeve. She sighed, then suddenly leaned in close to Kelusta.
Before the brown-haired girl could shrink back in alarm, a hand had already slipped behind her neck. Gloria applied a bit of pressure, pulling Kelusta toward her until their foreheads touched intimately, causing the latter’s face to turn red. Only then did she whisper:
“I saved your life, darling… So, shouldn’t you be a bit more proactive and offer yourself to me? That’s the only way you could possibly repay this debt of gratitude, don’t you think?”
Author's Notes
You didn't expect it, did you! In the true ending route, it's actually little Glo who awakens Light Magic first!
Let's recap some previous foreshadowing. First, her name "Gloria" (glory) and her nickname "Lux" (light) were clues set up from the very beginning of her character design. Then, in Chapter 41, the flowers and plants Gloria planted grew exceptionally well. This links to her exclamation to Ruth in Chapter 25: "To be able to rescue nearly dead flowers and trees to this state in such a short time..." (Water magic can't achieve this; saving the roses was the influence of Light Magic). Both instances indicate that they both have the potential for Light Magic and unconsciously release "life force."
This setup is the fundamental reason why the ducal family can abandon their centuries-long faith and completely break away from the Goddess of Deceit to side with Ruth. As for why little Glo has Light Magic and what will happen to her Dark Magic, I'll explain later. There have been some subtle hints about that before, too.
Get instant access to all the chapters now.
Comments
Post a Comment