Chapter 48: A Belated Mistake

The trembling figure in his arms seemed to calm down, which relieved Lyr a bit.

As he breathed heavily, Lyr’s presence continuously washed over Yilu.

‘This guy’s scent.’ Yilu’s reason began to return slightly.

She didn’t push Lyr away; instead, she leaned closer, letting her breath brush against him to draw in more of his scent.

For some reason, she really liked this scent, and now it was helping her calm down.

Lyr didn’t say much; he just wondered if she would end up biting him if she kept pressing in like this.

But then he thought, biting was fine—at least it was better than her strangling him earlier.

As the night grew colder, Lyr thought Yilu had completely settled. He took the blanket the maid had brought and tried to cover her with it.

As soon as he got close, Yilu waved her hands randomly to push it away.

“Don’t… don’t… don’t come near me…”

“Fine, fine, fine.”

Though he didn’t know why, Lyr complied and tossed the blanket aside.

Now he seemed to understand a bit.

It seemed nothing could get close to her except him—not even that blanket.

“Are you feeling cold now?” Lyr still asked.

All along, Yilu was soaked through, and as her cold sweat dissipated, she became even more clammy.

Yilu didn’t answer immediately. She pressed her head against Lyr’s chest and rubbed it a few times, indicating a no.

The next second, she curled up even tighter into Lyr’s arms.

She shrunk into a ball, as if she didn’t want to go anywhere beyond Lyr’s immediate vicinity.

Wasn’t that cold?

If he had to use that phrase “saying no but meaning yes” to describe Yilu right now, it would probably fit.

In her state, she couldn’t even get angry at him like usual.

But saying it out loud would be pointless.

“Want me to close the window?” Lyr continued.

Yilu kept rubbing against him, expressing her wish.

“Alright.” Lyr gave up any further ideas. “Whatever you want.”

Keeping his hand on Yilu’s back, Lyr looked out the window. The night was calm, but the infirmary was a mess.

With nothing better to do, Lyr started muttering to himself.

“How should I put it… you’ve been through a lot today.”

“When I asked you last time, even if you didn’t feel anything wrong then, if things went bad later, you should have told me.”

“If this really started after that day, then you’ve been holding on by yourself all this time?”

In these past days, Lyr hadn’t noticed anything strange about Yilu at first.

He didn’t have magic theory class every day, so he couldn’t just show up to see her for no reason.

If he did, Tif would nag him about it.

“You’re really stubborn.” Lyr laughed as he made that comment.

That had been his first impression of Yilu when he met her, and it had never changed.

Then he pursed his lips, a bit curious. “Hey, if you calm down by tomorrow, the first thing you’ll do when you come to your senses—are you really going to hit me?”

He couldn’t help but laugh.

That was definitely something Yilu would do.

From start to finish, Yilu didn’t answer. When Lyr leaned down to look, he noticed she had fallen asleep.

He sighed. “If you were this peaceful when you’re awake, you’d be pretty endearing.”

Seeing nothing else to do and nothing he could change, Lyr closed his eyes for a brief rest.

He had been in class all day and hadn’t rested properly at all.

He had been looking forward to the weekend, thinking he could sleep in at home, but here he was.

Meanwhile, Nie Qi had returned, now covered in blood.

She looked at the infirmary, taking in the scene clearly.

She tilted her head, blood dripping from her bloodstained cheek.

In an instant, she seemed to understand something.

“Suppress the power of the curse… and also ignore the curse?”

This made her think of her first meeting with Lyr.

Usually, she would feel a craving for anyone with strong magic power.

The stronger the magic power, the harder it was for her to control that restlessness.

Lyr, as the inheritor of the Witch of Nightmare Words’ power, even if his magic was sealed, it still resided within him without leaking an ounce.

Thinking back, faced with such a powerful magic vessel, she had felt no craving at all.

She hadn’t paid attention then, but seeing this scene now, she seemed to understand.

“Heh.”

Suddenly, she let out a cold laugh, for reasons unknown.

“I think I know why that Little Crybaby was killed by him, and why she gave her power to this guy.”

Such an existence was like a suppressor of all witches, and also a redeemer of all witches.

Only such a being could end the eternal suffering of witches.

“Too bad. If someone like you had appeared earlier, it would have been good. But appearing now is completely a mistake.”

If a witch who hadn’t been twisted by the curse had met such a person when she first became a witch, maybe she could have found a way to control the curse.

But if it were later, that was a different story.

“I told you, only when everyone sinks into pain together is it fair for all.”

If one witch could break free from the curse, what about the suffering of the other witches?

“He won’t help you for long.”

Nie Qi jumped down and disappeared into the Academy in an instant.

The night passed without incident. When the morning sun shone down, Lyr felt some warmth on his body.

He groggily opened his eyes, his eyelids sore.

Even when he had stayed up all night at the Frontier, he had never been this tired.

He looked around; the entire infirmary was nothing like its original state.

Good thing it was the weekend. If someone saw this, he wouldn’t know how to explain what happened or what was going on.

Just as he tried to move his stiff neck, his body and the weight in his arms tilted, and he fell backward.

A loud thud echoed through the room.

“Ahh.” Lyr hissed in pain.

The spot on his neck where she had strangled him, plus this fall, made him feel an indescribable ache.

As he fell, the figure in his arms also dropped, never once leaving his chest.

The sudden loss of warmth made her shiver. She instinctively fumbled around on Lyr, trying to find the warmth from before.