Orison | Celeste Academy Series BK #3

Chapter Twenty-Nine ۞ Parasite

"Y-you . . ." Bertram gasped, holding his stomach. "You sound so much like uncle!"

She deadpanned. "Yeah. Sure."

The drastic change of mood seemed to help him lighten up, his aura was definitely a lot better. The results were unexpected, although quite effective.

His laughter eventually faded and the boy wiped off his tears with the handkerchief he was offered. After a while, he gazed at Valeriana and put on his poker-face.

Finally.

Just when she thought they could go back to being serious, he cracked up once again.

"HAHA!" He snorted.

"Alright, alright . . . I get it. Please stop. I don't even think you can call yourself a prince with all the noise you're making."

"I'm sorry." Her companion chuckled. "I could not help it." A pause. "Uncle was the only person I truly liked. He made me laugh all the time and gave me all sorts of treats when I was sad."

Valeriana smiled.

Seemed as though the man was not bad at all.

"Just being reminded of him makes me laugh."

Valeriana nodded.

"Even so, I wish to apologize for not having told you who I really was. If someone knew their prince was this way, I doubted what sort of reaction they would have."

"I understand, really." She cringed. "And I'm sorry for punching you that day--"

"Never mind that." He cut her off. "Instead, let's focus. What is this method you speak of?"

She gulped. "I am not quite sure how to do it since it has only happened a few times--twice, to be exact. I don't even know where to start. I don't think I can touch you carelessly because you saw what happened."

He nodded. "This infection has to have somewhere it's coming from. Let's start here. Where do you think it is?"

Her eyes flashed at the realization.

Valeriana then stood, towering over the prince who, in return, watched her carefully. She scanned his aura and recalled the lesson discussed to her by the lord.

"Do you mind standing?"

Bertram did.

"There are five points visible on an aura." She explained, more to herself than him.

Valeriana was not very observant of these things. Usually, the movement of a person's aura was distracting enough.

"I can somewhat tell you're still anxious. I'm not an expert on seeing or examining auras since I haven't exactly had this ability for long. If you can, do you have any way that will calm your aura down?"

"I can't think of anything except . . . meditation, perhaps?"

"Please do that."

"If that is all, then it is nothing."

The prince approached the bed and threw himself on the mattress. After that, he got into that position--his legs folded and both the back of his hands resting on his knees. He then took off his cloak and threw it to the other side of the room. Not long after, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and started relaxing himself.

Valeriana observed his every movement. The result was obvious. The activity of his aura slowly died down until it did nothing but small ripples. The sight of it resembled the calm waves of the sea when the wind was almost nonexistent.