Chapter 246: Encounter, Acquaintance, Understanding, Love
“As long as I stay at Starfall University, then I can be closer to him.”
“Even because the work is leisurely, I can always set aside a fixed time every day to visit the hospital.”
Shiltina smiled faintly, though her gaze still lingered on the ward door at the end of the corridor: “Senior, it was precisely for this reason that you chose to remain at the university, right.”
Such a reason was, for her, far too easy to guess.
Because if it were Shiltina herself, had she not been burdened with the duty of a princess, and the weight of the fate of billions of imperial citizens—if she were as Akxia, living alone without restraint and without ties… then she too would have chosen to remain in the place closest to that boy.
As long as she could guard by his side every day, watching the appearance of that person while he slept, then Shiltina would already have been satisfied.
“Little Tina.”
Hearing this, Akxia’s delicate face, as pure as ice and snow, did not reveal even the slightest ripple of emotion.
She merely raised her hand slightly, and ice-blue handwriting traced itself out in the air.
“You yourself, are you not staying at Starfall University for the very same reason?”
“For the Master of the Holy Sword, for the Empire’s future Empress… this academy should already have nothing left to teach you.”
“Until now, there has never been a precedent of an imperial princess attending Starfall University.”
Compared to two years ago, the words Akxia wrote to communicate were undoubtedly much livelier; aside from still being a little clumsy in punctuation, the rest of her sentences were already no different from an ordinary person’s.
Two years had left no trace on the countenance of this Death God who had slumbered since the Sixth Era, but they had made her more imbued with the vitality of a person.
She was no longer the exquisite doll imprisoned in the Nether Abyss, outwardly flawless but with eyes grey and lifeless… she was now a truly living human being in this world.
“Yes.”
Shiltina likewise nodded in agreement: “So in fact, I am still rather envious of you, Senior.”
“If you miss him, you can directly come here to see him… while I, unlike you, often must endure longing and continue fulfilling my duties as a princess.”
“But—”
Her gaze softened slightly, as if it passed through Akxia before her, and through Dean Silver dozing on her shoulder, straight toward the ward behind them.
“This was what he showed me that day, when he staked his own life… and that was also the day I gave my answer to him and to Father.”
“If I were to betray the oath I swore back then, discarding my other missions and duties for the sake of personal feelings—”
“Then even if he were to awaken one day, I fear I would have no right to stand at his side, to openly proclaim to the entire world that I am his wife.”
Within Shiltina’s words—
Was it self-murmur, or was it a sovereign declaration born from a maiden’s private heart and possessive desire?
As her words fell, the corridor of the hospital’s top floor fell into a strange silence.
Neither Shiltina nor Akxia spoke again; even the fall of a single needle to the floor could have been clearly heard.
Just as Shiltina, by a woman’s intuition, could clearly sense her senior’s feelings for Rast…
Even the doll-like maiden, once as sheltered as a bird in a cage, after two years of the passage of time, had come to understand human emotions, and naturally knew as well that the princess before her was a rival in certain respects.
The hostility born of competition diffused in the silence of the air.
But then, a lively cry broke that heavy stillness in the corridor.
“What, what, what happened here!”
“My gossip radar just went off—I smell the aura of a love-rival battlefield!”
Seemingly at last awakened from the laziness and drowsiness of the afternoon, Dean Silver let out a tremendous yawn, stretched, and blinked her eyes with great interest.
Like a feline catching the scent of prey, her ruby-like beast pupils gleamed with hungry light as she lifted her head, scanning her surroundings quickly.
For a certain ferret who fed on human emotions, capturing the first hints of gossip was equivalent to completing a hunt.
But soon, after clearly seeing the situation in the hospital corridor, Dean Silver instantly slumped, her swaying tail drooping again, as if she had suddenly lost interest.
“So it’s just you two, boring, boring.”
“Little Shiya is a clam, Little Tina’s nature is restrained, burdened… put you two together, and in the end, nothing exciting will ever come of it.”
“I thought it was Grey or Xiao Ai returning from Nightworld—I thought there would be big news to watch… but it’s just false alarm.”
Yet immediately after, Dean Silver caught sight of Ophelia behind Shiltina. Her ruby eyes brightened at once.
Her fluffy body leapt lightly, tracing a graceful arc in midair, and in a blink she landed neatly upon Ophelia’s head.
“Well, well, Little Ophelia has grown so much already.”
“From the annoying, scheming, sister-obsessed brat, into a sparkling, high-quality meal ticket.”
Dean Silver once again curled up atop Ophelia’s head, burrowing into her fluffy tail, soon dozing off.
“Little Shiya, this afternoon I’ll switch things up and tag along with them… I’ll come back to the university tonight to find you.”
“See you tonight, kitty.”
Akxia waved to Shiltina and Ophelia, then walked alone toward the elevator.
Soon, her figure disappeared behind the slowly closing elevator doors.
“How many times have I said it already—this lady is a ferret, not a kitty!”
In the silent hospital corridor, Dean Silver’s resentful cry echoed.
……
Behind Shiltina, Ophelia was still noisily quarreling with Dean Silver.
No one knew why—the ever-docile, quiet, elegant Ophelia, so skilled in disguising herself before outsiders—every time she encountered Dean Silver, she could not help but drop her mask, revealing the heart of a little girl.
And the always lazy and sly, maliciously cute Dean Silver, seemingly harmless, would also lose her composure before Ophelia, revealing her true self.
In Rast’s words, perhaps this was simply what people called “compatibility.”
This thought only flickered briefly through Shiltina’s mind.
For at this moment, nothing was more important to her than the person beyond that ward door.
Shiltina exhaled softly, pushing open the pale-blue door of the ward.
As soon as she stepped inside, a refreshing floral fragrance enveloped her.
Even in autumn, the ward was adorned with bright blossoms—some bouquets sent by Shiltina herself, others whose senders remained unknown.
She hoped that within this ward, that sleeping boy had finally awakened.
Such a tiny prayer rose in Shiltina’s heart. She knew it was only wishful thinking—if Rast had awakened, Akxia would never have left just now with such a calm expression.
Yet she still clung to that wish, like one chasing the faint light of a miracle.
At the center of the ward was a medical smart-bed made of soft polymer, inconspicuous in appearance, yet a crystallization of wisdom from Starfall University’s Ashen Institute and the Granwell Empire’s Advanced Technology Research Institute, representing the pinnacle of precision medical instruments in all of the Western Continent.
On the bed lay white, clean sheets, carrying a faint scent of sunlight.
And that boy lay sleeping quietly at the center.
The early autumn sunlight streamed upon his sleeping profile, its contours sharp and deep.
This was the boy Shiltina had thought of day and night.
Compared with her memory, after two full years of slumber, Rast’s black hair had grown much longer.
His skin too was far paler, bloodless—under sunlight, almost transparent.
Not far away, the medical instruments monitoring his heartbeat and vital signs showed a steadily pulsing line, no different from the hundred times Shiltina had come before.
Rast remained in his long sleep. Though his life signs were stable, true awakening was still far off.
At least, at this moment, no miracle had occurred.
And in truth, that was only natural.
A miracle was a miracle precisely because it was so improbable—perhaps you might chase such a dream’s light your entire life, yet never see it descend before your death.
Yet Shiltina did not feel disappointment because her prayer was unanswered.
Back then, Rast had struggled for three hundred years before he finally escaped the hell of Deep Blue Port, transforming from a wandering ghost back into a human.
Compared to all he had endured, her two short years of waiting were but insignificant.
In fact, Shiltina had long prepared herself for the possibility that Rast might never awaken again in this lifetime.
That was fine.
So long as Shiltina lived a single day, she would remain by his side, waiting—until the end of time, until death itself parted them.
A thought stirred in her heart, and a ripple of space spread from her wrist.
A massive black stone fragment was drawn from the storage sub-space of her bracelet, placed gently in a corner of the ward.
As though afraid to disturb the boy’s slumber, though the fragment weighed at least half a ton, Shiltina set it down as softly as if it were a feather.
This was the fragment of the Epoch Stele that Ophelia had mentioned.
According to Starfall University’s conjecture, perhaps the Nightworld aura lingering on the fragment could help revive Rast’s soul… Though merely a fragment, given the original stele’s size in the Arcane Tower, even its weathered remains were colossal.
Behind her, Ophelia did not follow inside; she had only allowed Shiltina to bring the stele fragment within, while she watched through the isolation window outside.
For both she and Dean Silver knew—this was time that belonged only to Shiltina and Rast, and the princess would not share it with anyone.
After setting down the fragment, Shiltina sat on the caretaker’s chair by the bed.
She placed her hands over the boy’s hand that rested outside the sheets, so she could feel even a trace of his warmth.
Through the warmth of skin touching skin, it was no different from when they had first met in Deep Blue Port—when, pursued by the Iron Cross tide, they leapt into the sea, and in the freezing waters held hands until it all ended… still the same warmth, flowing with heart-soothing heat.
“Even though it’s been less than five days since I last came to see you, in my perception, it feels like an entire summer and winter have passed.”
“I skipped the less important meetings this afternoon.”
“So today, just spend a little more time with me…”
Shiltina felt her spirit gradually calm in the warmth of that touch.
The latest progress of the Nightworld strategy, the pressure faced by the royal family, the stirrings of the Gravekeepers, and the Empire’s many predicaments… all those troubles faded into the distance, unimportant now.
“Truly, only when I hold your hands can I make myself calm down.”
A faint smile curved Shiltina’s lips.
“In novels and anime it always happens like this, right? The patient in a coma for years… awakened at last by the family’s daily calls and shared memories, finally reaching the happy ending.”
“I know that with your character, you would never need anyone’s calls or encouragement—with your heart forged of steel, you can break through any obstacle.”
“But still, I want to tell you about the past, just as my own little selfishness, for self-satisfaction.”
“As expected, it must begin from our first meeting, our knowing each other, our growing close… I never imagined then, that the boy who in my first impression was a minus score, just a frivolous flirt, would break into my life like the wind—”
“And then become the most important person in my life.”