The next morning.
Lorevil woke up and ate the steaming breakfast Noxia had prepared. Today was a rare bit of relaxation, so she planned to visit Mahina’s workplace.
“Noxia, I’m heading out for a while. I’ll be back to keep you company in a bit,” Lorevil said, watching Noxia carefully tidy her clothes.
Noxia’s body stiffened, but she didn’t say a word. Lorevil took a breath of fresh air and walked slowly down the street. The cafe run by Madame Audrey was already overflowing with people. Through the cafe’s glass window, Lorevil immediately spotted Mahina wearing a waitress uniform and a small cap.
Mahina was already adorable, but the uniform made her waist look even slimmer. Her long black hair was tied into a ponytail, making her look very capable. Mahina moved between the tables, carefully asking for customers’ orders before serving cups of coffee. It was surprising how familiar Mahina had already become with the cafe’s operations.
Lorevil planned to take just one look and leave, but as if by some telepathy, Mahina suddenly looked up and saw Lorevil about to depart.
“Shh.”
Lorevil held one pale finger to her lips and stepped back toward the window. Mahina’s expression brightened with joy, and she nodded.
After a while, the flow of customers decreased. Mahina pulled herself away from the bustle, spoke to a nearby waitress, and ran out to Lorevil.
“Lori — Lorevil, what are you doing here?”
“I came to see how your work was going. You seem very skilled already. You’ll be able to collect your salary by the end of the month. I’m really happy for you, Mahina,” Lorevil replied.
“I haven’t seen you in so long. I thought you weren’t going to come find me,” Mahina said, sounding slightly aggrieved.
“I’m truly sorry. I was at the Holy Blood Academy for three days of practical training. We had to eat and sleep there, so I couldn’t come out to meet you,” Lorevil said guiltily.
“It’s okay, as long as Lorevil is willing to come see me.”
Mahina threw herself into Lorevil’s warm embrace, her eyes narrowing as she looked extremely happy.
“It hurts!”
Lorevil suddenly felt a sharp pain in her neck.
‘What’s happening…’
In her blurring vision, Mahina’s smiling face was covered in blood. Mahina’s eyes were wide, staring in horror at something behind her. Lorevil endured the pain and turned her head with great difficulty.
“Noxia?”
Her wife, Noxia, stood behind her. Dark mist, overflowing from a Blackened health bar, swirled around her like a living thing. Her face was as pale as paper, and her burgundy eyes were hollow, devoid of any warmth. She held a bloodstained kitchen knife in a death grip.
*Drip, drip…*
Blood from the blade slid down the metal, blooming into jarring blood-flowers on the ground.
“Wh… Why…”
Lorevil managed to choke out a few words. Her consciousness blurred rapidly, and her body slumped over. Then, an endless darkness rushed in, and she gradually lost all awareness.
Lorevil was dead.
In her tumbling perspective, the final scene she saw was Mahina holding her, eyes filled with tears.
***
“It’s okay, Lorevil. Didn’t you say you were attending the practical training at the Holy Blood Academy to improve your strength? That’s a good thing. As your wife, I should support you.”
Noxia’s gentle voice sounded in Lorevil’s ear. Lorevil looked at her wife in a daze.
‘What just happened to me…’
Noxia had stabbed her in the neck with a kitchen knife. Lorevil touched her neck with lingering fear. The skin was smooth and intact without any wounds, but the sensation of the knife piercing her artery and blood gushing out still seemed to remain.
She was absolutely certain she had died once and returned to a point before her death. It wasn’t a dream or a hallucination.
‘Is it some kind of regression ability?’
Lorevil didn’t stop to think if there were any limits. Since she was back, the most urgent thing was to figure out why Noxia had followed her to find Mahina. If she only had one use of this power, then only death awaited her!
‘Come on.’
Lorevil’s palms were covered in sweat. She took a deep breath. She had no choice. After their normal conversation, Lorevil found nothing unusual. Noxia’s Blackening Value was stable, at less than 10%.
‘That shouldn’t be right.’
Lorevil handed her coat to Noxia. Watching Noxia’s back as she headed to the cloakroom, Lorevil carefully recalled every single event since she had returned home. Suddenly, a spark of inspiration hit her. When the water glass broke earlier, Noxia’s face had turned pale. It wasn’t because she was startled. It was very likely she had discovered something but hadn’t said it.
“Wait, Noxia.”
“Hmm?”
Lorevil called out to her. “Give me the coat. I’ll hang it up in the cloakroom. I’m especially hungry right now, and I really want to eat the dinner you’re making.”
Seeing Lorevil’s poor complexion, Noxia cautiously handed the coat she was holding to Lorevil. Although she didn’t know what Lorevil wanted to do, she did as she was told.
However, seeing Lorevil’s moody expression, Noxia felt that perhaps the three days of practical training had put a lot of pressure on her. After all, in their chats through the Communication Blood Crystal, Lorevil always mentioned things like rankings, which Noxia couldn’t help with.
In her memory, it wasn’t the first time Lorevil had been temperamental. Maybe she hadn’t recovered from the training yet. Noxia decided she wouldn’t mention the training results in front of Lorevil for now, so as not to hurt her pride.
While Noxia was coming to this realization, Lorevil took the coat.
“Sorry, Noxia. My tone was a bit harsh,” Lorevil said wearily.
She had been stabbed in the back by Noxia. No one could stay calm after that. The flashes of her life before death and the intense pain of her life draining away were things Lorevil didn’t want to remember at all.
“It’s okay, Lorevil. You don’t need to blame yourself. Just relax now that you’re home. If you’re really hungry, I’ll cook early, even though it’s a bit early for dinner,” Noxia said considerately.
Lorevil’s emotions stabilized. Since she had used the opportunity and saw Noxia’s current Blackening Value, it meant everything was within a controllable range. What did she have to worry about?
Lorevil cautiously took the coat to the cloakroom. While she searched through the coat, she kept a constant ear out for footsteps and Noxia’s movements, terrified that history might repeat itself if she wasn’t careful. She was truly afraid.
In a crevice of the coat’s inner lining, Lorevil quickly found a slightly curly, silver-white hair. Even if Noxia could tell it wasn’t her own hair, she wouldn’t care too much if it was just one hair. She might have been slightly suspicious, but she wouldn’t have been so desperate unless there was key evidence.
Lorevil searched even more carefully. Then, in a very hidden spot on the sleeve behind the shoulder, she saw a small red mark.
A woman’s lip gloss.
‘When did I get that on me?’
Lorevil’s face darkened. She didn’t remember having any contact with other women during the three days of training. Catherine was unlikely. During the training, she and Catherine had maintained a pure teacher-student relationship. She had only seen Fini a few times, so such intimate contact was impossible.
The figure of Madam Sharon then flashed through Lorevil’s mind. Madam Sharon’s hair was curly and silver-white! The fragrance on her body was exactly the same as the scent on this mark. Furthermore, Lorevil had indeed supported her when she was drunk. It was very likely she had accidentally rubbed against it then.
That would explain everything. But it was only a guess. The hair could belong to Catherine, or perhaps Fini…
Lorevil felt both shocked and angry. The marks on the coat had nearly cost her her life. And she had been so careless that she hadn’t discovered this hidden danger in advance or noticed her wife’s abnormality.
Lorevil finally understood why Noxia had blackened. A long hair that didn’t belong to her, combined with a lip gloss mark clearly left after intimate contact, was enough to make a woman who loved her deeply — and had already experienced betrayal — fall into complete despair. Noxia must have discovered these two things in the cloakroom and suspected she was having an affair.
Lorevil took a deep breath and stepped quickly out of the cloakroom, watching Noxia busy herself in the kitchen. Lorevil didn’t dare delay. She immediately left the mansion with the coat and found an ironworks shop. She had the craftsman there completely destroy the coat, leaving not a single trace before she felt safe enough to return home.
As soon as she entered the door, she ran straight into Noxia, who was coming out of the kitchen.
“Lorevil, I was looking for you and couldn’t find you. I thought you had gone out,” Noxia said curiously.
“Ah, that. I was admiring the flowers in the garden. You probably didn’t notice,” Lorevil said, quickly changing the subject. “What are we eating today?”
Noxia felt that Lorevil was being slightly strange in a way she couldn’t describe. Usually, Lorevil wouldn’t be so eager for dinner. However, Noxia didn’t think too much of it; perhaps Lorevil was just too hungry. She couldn’t possibly imagine that Lorevil’s absence just now was to destroy a coat that would have driven her to despair.
“It’s your favorite: bloodberry tenderloin steak, blood marrow baked mushrooms, pan-seared blood cod, cold red berry salad, rye blood sausage bread, and pumpkin soup.”
Noxia puffed out her chest with some pride. This was the first time Lorevil had come home after her training. Noxia had put in a lot of effort, spending the entire morning reading cookbooks and even asking the maids for help so she could prepare four dishes and one soup in a short time.
“Lorevil, go sit at the table first. Don’t worry, I’ll go bring the food.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Lorevil nodded and sat down at the dining table in the living room. Noxia came out carrying a tray and placed the dishes on the table one by one. Unlike the previous night, Lorevil could see that today’s meal had been prepared with extra care.
As expected, Noxia had already been acting a bit off before she started cooking, but Lorevil hadn’t noticed it at the time. There was even an extra serving of pan-seared blood cod.
“Lorevil, let me feed you a bite.”
Unlike her somewhat silent state from the night before, Noxia used a spoon to scoop up a large portion of blood marrow baked mushrooms and held it to Lorevil’s lips.
“It’s delicious. The sauce blends with the fragrance of the mushrooms. It’s soft and savory.”
Lorevil took the bite and gave a thumbs-up.
“Hehe.”
What could be happier than receiving praise from the person you loved? At this moment, Noxia felt surrounded by Lorevil’s deep affection. The exhaustion from the kitchen vanished instantly, and her whole body began to feel warm, as if she had taken some kind of medicine.
Lorevil focused on dealing with the spoons her wife Noxia kept offering. Compared to the kitchen knife Noxia had held after blackening, Lorevil felt that the spoon was much better.