Chapter 447
Once again... just as I had pulled myself out of the depths of mental exhaustion, I found myself lost in thought again...
“By the way, Aivina, how are you feeling?” Charles momentarily pulled herself from her contemplation, seemingly unaware that Tara had already left.
“Enough.” Aivina’s cold voice cut through the air.
“Uh?” Charles blinked in surprise, turning to face Aivina, whose expression was as frosty as ever. It had been a long time since she had seen Aivina look at her like that.
“I said enough.” Aivina reached out, her cool fingers gripping Charles’ cheeks firmly. It seemed she was ready to squeeze hard, but in the end, she restrained herself, just enough to silence Charles.
“Just waking up... and you’re already worrying about me again...” Aivina struggled to contain her emotions, her voice trembling as she continued, “Have you ever thought about yourself? Do you really not care about your own mental state?”
“Do you know what I felt when I first saw you in that condition?”
Aivina kept talking, her voice quivering more and more as she went on.
“If it were someone else, I would have assumed they were already dead... Do you understand?”
“What is it that weighs so heavily on you?”
“Adele is in danger; we can take her to a safe place. Nia is being targeted; we can keep her close. Even if the royal family in Beiansu is after us, we can escape to Faluosi, to Devo, even across the ocean if we have to...”
“But why...”
Aivina’s shoulders shook, and by the end of her words, tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
Just moments ago, when Charles had been unconscious, Aivina had felt as if she might lose her at any moment... She couldn’t bear to think about what would happen if Charles really did leave her.
“Aivina...” Charles raised her hand, wanting to comfort her, but the words caught in her throat.
Charles couldn’t make any promises...
The “uniqueness” had already locked onto her. According to the system, the theorem of possible “uniqueness” clustering together meant that no matter how far she ran, she could still encounter the strong sound.
Aivina, who didn’t understand any of this, thought that running away could solve the problem, but Charles knew that this was something that couldn’t be escaped.
Watching Aivina, who was on the verge of breaking down, Charles felt a sharp pain in her chest.
She had indeed owed Aivina too much lately... but there was nothing she could do to make it right in the short term.
And Aivina, who had not received any response from Charles, gradually stopped her sobbing—she had already understood the answer from Charles’ silence.
—There was indeed something that could not be escaped, even by running away, and that was Charles’ unspoken truth.
Aivina turned away, no longer allowing Charles to see her vulnerable side. In a hoarse voice, she said, “I understand... I have just one request.”
“If there’s anything I can help with, you must call on me. We’ll face it together... okay?”
Aivina was not the kind of weak person who wouldn’t listen to reason; she could understand Charles’ difficulties.
Causing a scene wouldn’t solve anything... Only by supporting Charles as much as possible could they find a better solution.
“I promise you.” Charles nodded.
Hearing Charles’ response, Aivina slowly lifted her head to look at the ceiling, sniffed, and then walked straight toward the door, her voice returning to normal: “If you need anything, just come to me.”
“Aivina.”
Charles called out, stopping Aivina at the door.
Aivina paused but didn’t turn around, waiting for Charles to speak.
“I love you.” Charles said softly.
Aivina’s hand on the doorknob trembled slightly.
This was the first time she had heard those words from Charles.
She sniffed again, her voice cold as she replied, “I’ll forget that. When this is all over, you can say it to me again.”
Click—
With that, Aivina twisted the doorknob and walked straight out.
“Let’s go, Nia.”
Listening to Aivina’s footsteps fade away, Charles propped herself up, leaning against the headboard, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts.
It wasn’t until Tara slowly walked in and closed the door, standing beside Charles with her head down, that Charles gently shook her head.
She lifted her head, took a deep breath, and tried to organize her thoughts.
“I’m sorry, Lady Charles, for making this decision without your consent...” Tara said, her small hands tightly gripping the sides of her white apron, as if waiting for Charles’ reprimand.
“It’s fine.” Charles shook her head, speaking softly.
For someone who devoted herself entirely to her, Charles couldn’t bring herself to say anything harsh.
Right now, she was still reflecting on the dream she had earlier.
That space felt so real... even after waking, it remained etched in her mind.
She could still recall everything that had happened in that space, something she couldn’t do after waking from other “nightmares.”
It was very likely that it wasn’t a dream.
The events that transpired there must have meant something.
The white armor... was that the being from the other realm?
It seemed to have injected something into my eyes, and it took the “Silver-white Timebinder’s Echo” and smashed it into my eyeball...
As Charles recalled the details of the dream, she instinctively reached into her pocket for her pocket watch.
But this time, the binding artifact she always carried with her, the pocket watch that wouldn’t be lost even in simulations, was nowhere to be found.
Charles instinctively opened the system warehouse, but still found no trace of the pocket watch... she hadn’t placed it in there.
Just as panic began to rise within her, wanting to throw off the covers to check, she saw her right eye in her mind’s panoramic image.
Her pupils, she realized, had completely changed.
The once dark red right pupil was now covered by a silver-white dial, with the second and minute hands moving steadily and precisely.
Meanwhile, her left pupil was filled with interlocking golden gears, slowly rotating... just like the inner workings of a pocket watch.
From a distance, it looked like a pair of mismatched eyes, one gold and one silver.
But with just a slight blink, the anomaly vanished, and her pupils returned to their normal deep red.
What’s going on?
Is this...
The pocket watch of the binding artifact?
It... has been directly imprinted onto my eyeball.
Charles tentatively raised her hand, and a silver light flickered, the exquisite silver pocket watch reappearing in her palm. This wasn’t conjured from the warehouse... she could feel it was a part of her body.
The silver light flickered again, and the pocket watch vanished from her palm; as long as she wished, it would reappear.
Charles glanced at Tara, who had been secretly watching her. Upon meeting her gaze, Tara quickly lowered her head.
“Look at me, Tara.” Charles said.
“Okay... okay, Lady Charles...” Tara replied, lifting her head to meet Charles’ eyes.
In Charles’ panoramic view, her pupils changed again, but Tara, standing before her, seemed completely unaware.
Can’t others see it... just like the system panel?
What’s happening? Is the system upgrading?
Tara, who had been maintaining eye contact with Charles, pressed her lips together, her face slightly flushed, but at that moment, she felt more pressure than anything else.
Meanwhile, Charles had already lost her train of thought.
“System, what’s going on?”
Charles asked in her mind.
「What’s going on? Aren’t you happy about the compatibility reaching a new level for a free upgrade? ^^」
Compatibility... free... upgrade?
Compatibility with what?
The pocket watch?
Or... the Timebinder?
Is this the system’s doing? And what about the pure white gilded flower-patterned armor from the dream...
Suddenly, Charles recalled the system’s last comment.
【You’ve encountered a new being from the other realm, but... it seems to have said a bit too much.】
The system... went to find that being...
“System, did you go to find that being from the other realm?”
This time, the system offered no reply.
This made Charles think back to what that being had said in her dream.
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