Leonel had no idea that Aina had been lit afire. If it wasn't because he wanted to listen to the story to the end and didn't want to leave Aina at this moment, he might have charged off to earn another talisman to Terrain.
To dare have designs on his Aina… If he ever ran into this so-called Puppet Master, Leonel would be certain to rip him to shreds.
Aina paused, her amber eyes scanning Leonel's face as though she wanted to memorize every line and slope.
She always knew that Leonel was quite handsome. His tanned skin, his pale green eyes, his strong jaw… She had to admit that she missed his messy dirty blond hair. But, this long bronze hair made him look particularly masculine, almost like a Roman God, especially when it was paired with his broad shoulders and chest.
It was only at this moment that she realized that she had never observed Leonel so closely before. She had always been too shy to do so in the past. But now she felt many times more comfortable doing so, especially since Leonel's mind was hardly focused on her actions at the moment.
He hung on her every word instead as though trying to visualize the day he would kill this Puppet Master.
"How did you escape?"
Leonel's sudden question shook Aina out of her fantasy land. She blushed slightly, but noticing that Leonel hadn't found anything odd about her actions, she continued.
"… I never expected for my curse to help me in such a way." Aina started again. "I usually use its suppressive effects to help with my training, but I didn't expect for my blood to carry the same effect.
"After it consumed my blood, it became severely weakened and the restrictions on me lessened. I wanted to kill it right then and there, but it began to summon more of its guards. Back then I… I entered a weird state. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I've never felt so powerful before.
"The restrictions on my mind seemed to loosen and I could feel his other puppets coming, but these puppets were completely unlike the uncoordinated ones he used to mine in the mountains. In fact, some of them had consciousnesses of their own and were exceptionally powerful. Most had strength at Tier 7 and above.
"Also, though he was weakened, he was still half a step into the Fifth Dimension. It was fine if he spent all his strength suppressing the curse, in that case, he wouldn't be able to move. But, if I forced him to attack, I was sure that he could still kill me…
"So, taking advantage of my strengthened state, I stole the capsule he wanted to imprison me in and ran away.
"It's hard for me to remember much about what happened after that… it's all so hazy…"
Aina frowned, her delicate brow wrinkling. Though she seemed to have knife wounds across her face, Leonel found her current appearance quite adorable. Or, rather, he would have had he not been so pissed.
"… Wait, your strengthened state? Is that part of your ability?" Leonel asked curiously.
Aina hesitated.
Though she said she didn't know how she got to that strengthened state… She hadn't told the whole truth. She had a vague idea… It was just that…
Her face was already scarred. If Leonel knew that she drank blood, would he really not want her anymore? How could he want to be with such a gross woman…?
How was she any different from the Variant Invalid who had eaten all those people? In fact, if it wasn't for him, she wouldn't have been able to enter such a strengthened state because the blood she got was precisely from those desecrated corpses...
Aina opened her mouth but hesitated again.
'No… I can't not answer again…'
Aina grit her teeth.
Leonel blinked curiously, waiting with patience.
"I… The blood from the human carcasses the Puppet Master had spread across the table… I ingested it."
Aina's words seemed to take all the strength out of her. She felt like she was going to collapse that very moment.
Her voice was as soft as could be, almost beneath what a human could possibly pick up with their ears.
"What?" Leonel responded.
Hearing this, Aina paled considerably, her eyes breaking away from Leonel's as she looked down. Her breathing hitched, she was almost on the verge of another panic attack. What would she do now?
But, Leonel's next words left her stunned.
"That's so cool!"
"… Huh?" Aina looked up somewhat weakly, at a loss for words.
"Just imagine it, if I told the guys that my girlfriend was a vampire, they would die from envy, don't you think?"
Leonel grinned wildly, his face carrying with it a na?ve, boyish charm. It was hard to believe that this was the same man who struck so much fear on the battlefield. At that moment, he was far more like the boy who said Shield Cross Stars had a cool uniform rather than the man who reaped lives with a single thought.
As for thinking Aina was gross, Leonel had never had such thoughts. He so easily accepted the little mink's darkness affinity, why would he care about drinking blood? Though current technology was far beyond it, he had even read about how their ancestors used to use blood transfusions to save the sick and injured. How was that much different from ingesting blood?
Leonel, at least, didn't see much of a difference. All he had thoughts of was having a cool vampire girlfriend. That would definitely give him points to show off to the boys.
He couldn't help but grin like a little boy. And, because he was so busy grinning, he couldn't react before Aina shifted upward, her lips planting firmly against his.
Aina's palms held Leonel's face in place as though she was scared he would run away. At that moment, she only wanted to kiss him, kiss him so deeply that the memory was engraved onto her mind.
Leonel was stunned for a moment, but a heat in his chest tossed such thoughts out of his mind. He wrapped his arms around Aina's waist as her hands traveled to the back of his head.
The two embraced one another, their lips locked.
Aina shivered when she felt Leonel's tongue invade her mouth, but she didn't resist.. It felt like a warm liquid was filling her body, her mind entering a state of euphoria it had never tasted before.