Please don't let me die again!
Please don't let me die again!!
Please don't let me die again!!!
I swear, if I die again, I'll kill all of the gods that threw me into this situation!!!
I opened my eyes to see my bedroom roof above me.
Hehehehehehehehehehehehe...
I AM ALIVE! WOOHOO!
THERE WAS NO WAY I COULD DIE A THIRD TIME!!! HAH!
Whoever thought I would die again: You. Were. Wrong.
When I confirmed that I was alive, I tried to sit up but I was too weak to properly move.
So instead, I punched the air with a ton of energy, which turned out to be a big mistake. As I moved my left arm, I received a shock of pain.
Owieeee!!!
I yelped and looked at my arm.
There was no visible mark or scar to my injury, probably due to magic, but there was a TON of pain coming from it that nearly made me cry. I wonder why...
As I was examining my arm, I heard a small snore beside me.
Hmm?
I looked to my right to see my new brother, Ash, sleeping on the side of my bed.
Heh.
This is definitely a cliche moment where a male lead stays by the heroine's side the whole time while she is sick.
Except, I'm a villainess so...instead of being worried for me, he may have been debating on whether to kill me.
I sighed and then shook him awake.
He groaned softly before he sat up to rub his drowsy eyes.
Pffft.
He's exactly like an adorable kid right now and, since he is a male lead, the cuteness overload too much for human eyes.
This is dangerous...
Because he was still drowsy and didn't realize I was awake, I poked his cheek.
It's so...soft! It felt like marshmallows!
Hehehe...This is my chance!
While he was still tired and unaware of his surroundings, I began to poke and squish his cheek.
This is too addicting...The feeling was similar to when I poked at the prince's cheek during my debut.
Every time he nearly fell back to sleep, he would snap himself awake and almost fall back asleep again.
...I will burn this memory into my brain.
After a second or two, he suddenly looked up to see my face.
His eyes widened before he suddenly grabbed me into a hug.
OWWW!
My arm felt like dying once he grabbed me and I felt like yelling at him, but then I realized that he was crying.
"Hey! Why are you crying?!" I asked him with a bit of shock.
Did he have a nightmare?
I let go from his hug and looked at his face.
"You...are an idiot..." he said softly in a shaky voice.
Huh?! If anything, I'm technically one of the smartest people in the kingdom!
"No? I'm pretty sure you are the idiot..." I said with a slight smirk.
For a while, there was an awkward silence while I waited for his reply.
"...I'm...sorry..." he answered softly. He didn't even properly look at me in the face!
"Excuse me? I couldn't hear you~" I said with a teasing smile.
"...I'm sorry..." he said again with slightly more clarity.
"What? I still can't hear you~" I said again.
There was another awkward silence as Ash remained silent.
"...I SAID I'M SORRY, OKAY?!" Ash burst out.
Heh.
"What are you sorry for~ Is it for calling me stupid?" I said with sarcasm.
"No."
"Are you calling me stupid?"
"...No."
"What are you sorry for then? If you don't tell me, I'll never know~"
"...I'm...sorry for...r-running...away...and getting you...hurt," he said with a small blush on his face.
"So are you the idiot?" I asked while cocking my head.
"No! ...Well...maybe..." He said with clear embarrassment.
He admitted it!
"Don't ever do that again, okay?" I told him seriously.
"...Yeah."
"By the way, why are you here? Is it possible that you...stayed by me the whole time?"
"N-no! I definitely was NOT here the whole time!! What gave you that idea?! I was just tired and accidentally mistook your bedroom for mine an-" he said while obviously lying.
"Hah! I bet you love me!!! Don't worry, I love you too, big bro!" I said while giggling.
"NO! I don't love you, okay?! Don't get the wrong idea!!" he said with obvious blushing.
"S-so...you don't love me...?" I replied with a fake tear in my eye.
"N-NO! I...uhh...l-like you...as...a girl...I MEAN, I LIKE YOU AS MY SISTER!!!" he said with a lot of unusual enthusiasm.
I laughed and he began to laugh too...until we were interrupted by the door opening.
Walking in casually, the prince, Florence, came through the door as if he owned the place.
...Nooo! I can't run away!!
When he walked in, his eyes widened.
"You're finally awake...You idiot," the prince murmured with a pained expression on his face.
He sat down on my bed and gave me a heartfelt hug.
Even after thirty seconds, he still didn't let go.
Did he grow a heart while I was unconscious?! There's no way he would actually care about me anyway.
After a whole minute or two, he finally let go of me.
"Y-yeah...How long was I asleep for?" I asked with a little bit of embarrassment from his seriousness.
"Hmm...About a month?" he answered.
Wait...What?!?!?!
"A month?!" I tried to confirm.
"Yes. You've been asleep for too long..." he said with a somewhat dark expression.
I was shocked and looked at both Ash and Florence. Both of them had dark circles under their eyes as if they had insomnia.
Was there a lot of work that needed to be done while I was asleep? Why were they so tired?!
The silence between us was soon interrupted by Ash.
"Ughh...Why are you here again?" Ash said with a bit of spite.
"Huh? What do you mean by 'again'?" I asked.
"This guy came here every day for the past month to check on you. Frankly, this kid is pretty annoying," Ash replied while staring daggers at Florence.
Florence just kept on his dark smile during this.
"Oh, really? I find it annoying that you are always here when I come. Do you live in her bedroom or something?" Florence replied with a dark smile.
I'm pretty sure I could see sparks flying between the two...
Maybe it's because of the gap in social class between them.
Ash used to live in the slums after all.
So I guess they aren't getting along well because they don't know each other well? I can't think of any other reason why they don't get along...
"Anyway! Where's Ace?" I asked while trying to change the topic.
"Hmm? He's here. He's just hiding in your shadow...he said something about calling him only when you need him," Ash said.
...Why?!
"He's been pretty depressed this past month. I think...he might be blaming himself," Florence said with a sigh.
"WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?! I WAS STUPID FOR JUMPING IN FRONT OF THAT MONSTER!!! HE DID NOTHING WRONG!!!!" I yelled while jumping up on my bed.
I winced in pain as my arm flared from my movement.
"Cordelia, it's great to finally have you back, but make sure you don't permanently ruin your arm for something stupid!" Florence said while laughing.
"I won't do something so stupid!" I protested.
"Who knows? Maybe you will. But, I'm the only one who can hurt you, okay? You're my toy after all," Florence said with a glare towards Ash.
"Hey! Cordelia is not an object! She's my little sister..." Ash said with a small blush on his face.
"Yeah...and you're a sis-con," Florence said with a glint in his eye.
"N-no I'm not!!!!!! I DON'T LOVE HER, OKAY?!" Ash yelled loudly.
"Well, that makes her mine, since you don't love her!"
"N-no! I l-love her too..."
"That makes you a pervert."
"I'm not a pervert!"
"Then, I love her more! She's my fiance!"
"She's not your's!!!"
...
"SHUT UP, YOU IDIOTS!!! I DON'T BELONG TO EITHER OF YOU, OKAY?" I yelled after a while of their bickering.
Seriously, they are pretty annoying...
"This guy started it!" Ash said childishly to Florence.
"Well, you're the one who continued it!" Florence also complained childishly.
...These two kids are getting on my nerves.
"THAT'S IT! GET OUT NOW!" I yelled loudly.
"B-but...bu-" Ash tried to say until I interrupted him.
"THIS IS MY BEDROOM!" I nearly screeched.
The two boys looked to one another with an angry look on their faces and left with dismay.
Humph.
Those two are equally annoying.
But...that's not the reason why I sent them away.
...I need to talk to Ace privately.
I rubbed the small dragon's mark on my ankle and watched it glow gold.
Then, I saw a small figure come out of my shadow slowly. Ace came out, revealing his soft fur and emerald green eyes.
"Hey...it's been a while..." I said to the tiny dragon before me.
Before me, was a weak-looking thing.
"Cordelia! You're alive!" Ace said with shock.
"I'm not going to die that easily!" I said with a bit of sarcasm.
"I know...I can't get rid of you sometimes," Ace said with his own sarcasm.
"So...why are you so...weak?" I asked with worry.
"I feed off of your mana. So when you were unconscious, it was a little...difficult," he said with a small chuckle.
What happened to Ace?!
I barely ever hear him say anything sarcastic or even chuckle ever! He's always calm!
"Ace...you don't have to blame yourself you know," I told him seriously.
The fact that he was frozen in time was definitely not his fault.
"...Cordelia, if I wasn't so weak, you wouldn't have gone into a coma for a month. Do you understand how worried everyone was?!" Ace said bitterly.
"Ace, we all know you are literally one of the strongest living things in the kingdom. There's no way you were too weak. That's ridiculous," I told him.
"But if I was stronger, I could've protected you from that weak beast! Yet...when you were in danger, the only thing I could do was watch you get hurt..."
"...If you're that worried about being weak, why don't you just get stronger then? I can train with you."
"...?"
"Just work out or something! I don't mind exercising with you too much, you know?"
"That's not the point..."
"Shut up. I don't like hearing you be so...sad. Besides, I don't blame you for a single thing that happened."
"Cordelia..."
"It's not your fault that you were frozen in time against your will. However, I will blame you for something, though."
"W-What do you blame me for other than being unable to protect you?"
"Pfft! You never gave me a hug when I woke up! Everyone hugged me the moment I was awake and you didn't! Idiot," I said while laughing.
I grabbed Ace from the air and squished him for a hug.
For a moment, Ace was shocked. He was tense for a while before he calmed down.
"I'm sorry, Cordelia...for being so weak," Ace said with a small chuckle.
"I forgive you for not giving me a hug," I said with slight defiance.
I smiled at Ace and then went back to sleep while using him as my teddy bear. I could feel him relax in my arms.
It wasn't until the next morning when we woke up.
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A/N: Whew... This chapter was a difficult one to write!
I guess I'm probably not good at writing dialogue or human emotions? Idk...
Anyway, thanks AGAIN for every single piece of support that I received in the past few chapters! It makes me happy every time I watch my notifications fill up!
Also, I am BACK IN SCHOOL!! This means that the chapters will be a little shorter (around this chapter's length) and will be updated a few hours later than normal!!!
Thank you for understanding!
Okie byeee!
Word Count: 1993