Free Web NovelAurora lay weakly in Vieya’s arms, still seeming half-lost in the dazed confusion of having been saved. Vieya understood that feeling. Someone who once played the role of a protector had now become a monster turning her blade against everything she once guarded. Vieya didn’t know what Aurora had gone through over these years; all she could do was give her as much warmth as possible.
Neither of them spoke. Only the soft crackle of raindrops breaking against the ground sounded around them.
“...Captain.”
Aurora whispered faintly. She saw the tentacles the white-haired girl tried to hide behind her back, and she saw the bewitching golden-red patterns glowing and dimming along the smooth white skin beneath the girl’s clothes, spreading up to her neck with each breath.
No—that wasn’t a pattern.
Aurora remembered what happened to those unfortunate ones whose monster-fusion surgeries failed: the terrifying cracks appearing on their bodies before they shattered inch by inch like porcelain.
What covered the Captain’s body were cracks.
She subconsciously reached toward her, but then noticed she had already returned from a monster’s form back to her humanlike shape. She was only stained with a bit of blood and slime, but the rain had washed most of it off, revealing a body as pale as if she had been soaked in water for far too long.
The Captain had wrapped her own coat around Aurora’s body and wore only a thin, oversized, light-white shirt herself.
Aurora glanced to the side and finally saw where they were. In the half-destroyed forest, an enormous layer of pale snake-shed covered the ground, as if winter snow had blanketed the earth.
It also looked like something had been reborn within those remnants—like a phoenix bathed in tribulation fire, beginning life anew.
She couldn’t help thinking that.
“Captain...”
Aurora turned back, staring blankly as she asked, “What... what did you do?”
“I just patched up your body a little.”
Vieya sighed, gently pressing down Aurora’s lifted hand, and answered with a relaxed tone.
“Come to think of it, I rarely used my Authority in front of you all before, right? I can do it, though. I can do a little bit of everything. Pulling back a little snake about to lose herself isn’t anything impressive.”
Was it really nothing impressive?
Aurora stared at her for a long moment. She wanted to say, Why are you still joking at a time like this? But when she opened her mouth, it only turned into a choked sob—and then she broke into tears.
First her nose stung, and then tears began falling rapidly from her eyes. She sniffled, and finally burst into loud, uncontrollable crying.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Captain, I caused you trouble again, I dragged you into this again—”
“It’s fine. With all the trouble I already have, adding you doesn’t make a difference.”
“Captain, wuwuwu... I actually wanted to do what you told me before, to go back home and live well with my sister, but if I really did that—if I pretended nothing happened, selfishly enjoying the glory you traded your life for—I’d never forgive myself for the rest of my life...”
“It’s okay. Being selfish once in a while isn’t bad. I’m like that too.”
“You’re not like that at all... wuwuwu... Captain, I don’t want to turn into the monster I hate, I don’t want to become a walking corpse controlled by instinct, I don’t want to never see or hug the people I love ever again...”
Aurora wiped her tears while sobbing. Just a moment ago she had been an apocalyptic monster descending upon the world—but now she was crying in Vieya’s arms like a stray kitten abandoned in the rain and kicked a few times.
Only when her tears were nearly gone and her voice had gone hoarse did she pause and soften her voice, murmuring:
“Captain... I like you.”
“...I know.”
“Not the kind of liking between friends. I mean the kind between a man and a woman.”
“I know that too.”
“R-really? Then do you know that I fell for you the day you took me on that boat, when we left my hometown?”
“I know.”
“Th-then, then...” Aurora suddenly grew shy. A woman whose hands had been stained with countless lives now blushed with the timid sweetness of a girl in love. “Then Captain, could you...”
“I’m sorry.”
“Ah...” As if she had expected it, Aurora forced a strained smile. “It’s... it’s fine. Just pretend you never heard those things that would only trouble you.”
Then she muttered under her breath, “Actually, I don’t mind that you’ve become like this... I also don’t mind that you have a daughter.”
“Captain.”
Aurora suddenly remembered something, pursing her lips as she asked softly, “That daughter... did she ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) leave her to you?”
She.
Vieya paused for a moment and nodded slightly.
Her relationship with Flaviel back then had been public knowledge. Not just Aurora, who had always been by her side—countless ordinary people who had only ever heard of her title knew about the gossip.
Aurora fell silent and looked at Vieya’s face, growing quiet.
“Captain... do you not hate her?” After a long pause, Aurora lowered her eyes, asking blankly, “She took everything... she destroyed everything... she hurt so many people... she was the Demon King.”
“I hated her.” Vieya’s voice was very soft, as if all those past pains were just a splash of water on a duck’s back; once Flaviel died, they had vanished in an instant.
“...Captain.”
Aurora closed her eyes weakly. “In a few days, when everything here is settled... can you go back with me to see my sister? And I’ll give you everything I’ve gathered over the years.”
“Okay.”
“Then... Captain... can’t you really consider me? I’ll work hard...”
“Sorry.”
“...Alright, I get it. Someone like me can’t compare to Flaviel. You’ve been used to feasts, so of course you wouldn’t want a small side dish like me...”
“Shut up!”
Vieya’s voice sharpened for a second, but then softened helplessly. “Your body’s still very fragile. I’m putting you somewhere safe. Rest quietly for a while—everything else, I’ll handle.”
“...,” Aurora fell silent. She realized the Captain was going after one of the Upper Three—Youze.
The source of all chaos in the city.
But the girl who had always trusted her Captain blindly was now becoming serious. She studied every detail on Vieya’s body—the bewitching golden-red cracks on her snow-white skin made her uneasy again.
“Captain...”
She breathed lightly, voice trembling. “What’s happening to your body?”
“It’s just the balance of two powers inside me being disrupted.” free𝑤ebnovel.com
Vieya pulled her collar up to cover her skin, but the shirt’s neckline was low and couldn’t hide the markings.
“This little problem won’t matter. I’ll take you back to the inn I’ve been staying at. It’s far from the incident site, and those maids should’ve returned by now.”
“Captain... don’t go.”
Aurora tried to get up but found her arms weak like noodles. Only now did she realize just how faint and powerless she was—she couldn’t even stand.
But Vieya didn’t listen.
The white-haired girl, her entire body shining with magical light, extended a tentacle to coil around Aurora. Azure wings like flowing ocean unfolded from her back, shimmering with the radiance of water—dreamlike and unreal.
The winds surged in the forest as Vieya beat her wings and soared upward, piercing through the clouds at incredible speed.
