“Yin and Yang, like ice and fire, using her body as a vessel, constantly tearing at each other. It must
have been excruciating for her.”
Kael listened, his gaze distant, almost dazed.
No wonder these past years, I’d constantly coughed blood, clutching my chest in agony.
And he, countless times, had dismissed it as me being overly delicate, believing I was deliberately feigning weakness for pity.
By the time he snapped back to reality, blood was already seeping from his tightly clenched palm.
Kael lowered his head, his voice hoarse and raw: “This strange illness of hers… these parasites… where did they come from?”
“Shadowfen Thicket,” the Elder Healer said. “I gave them to her.””
At the first three words, Kael’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Then, as the second half of the sentence registered, a cold glint of metal flashed.
Kael held a dagger, its tip pressed directly against the Elder Healer’s throat, his voice dangerous:
“You harmed her, and you dare show your face before me?”
The Elder Healer showed no fear, merely stating casually: “She took them willingly. I did not force
her.”
Kael clearly didn’t believe him. The dagger’s tip pierced the skin, drawing a bead of blood.
“I know Lyra! She hates bitterness, she’s terrified of pain, and she can’t stand bugs! How could she willingly consume such a vile, harmful concoction?!”
The Elder Healer chuckled. “You know her? Then tell me, how much do you know about how deeply
she loves you?”
Kael’s eyes trembled.
He knew, of course, how I felt about him.
“What does that have to do with this?” he asked, his hand so unsteady the dagger almost fell from
his grasp.
The Elder Healer noticed the detail, easily pushing the blade away from his throat.
“It seems you’ve guessed.”‘
“She did it all to save you.”
The Elder Healer recounted everything that had happened that year to Kael.
The room was utterly silent.
Yet I felt something cold splash onto my face.
Like water droplets.
Kael was weeping.
He hadn’t shed a single tear even when he heard of his kin’s deaths, only his eyes burning blood-red
Now, he wept for me?
“Is there more of that elixir?” Kael’s voice was hoarse and broken. “Whatever the cost, you must save
her”
The Elder Healer shook his head. “She cannot be saved. Once the parasites enter the body, death is
inevitable.”
Kael lashed out, like a madman, swinging his dagger.
This time, it plunged directly into his own palm.
Blood flowed onto the floor.
The searing pain brought him a semblance of calm. He took a deep, shuddering breath: “Then what
else can be done to wake her?”
The Elder Healer gave him a different medicine. Kael personally fed it to me.
During the long wait, he went to the solitary chambers where he had imprisoned me.
So cold, so desolate, the air itself reeked of decay.
In a corner, he found a stack of moldy letters, piled high.
