Chapter 93: That’s a gift for you
"You’re really not going to flirt with other girls again?"
"Yes."
"Really, truly?"
"Really."
"Darling, you’re incredibly hard to trust."
"..."
After painstakingly clearing up the misunderstanding and freeing a struggling Viena, Eiros had bravely sacrificed himself, taking on Renessa’s endless suspicious glares.
"Sorry if I was being a bit stubborn. But it kind of hurts, remembering our past," Renessa dramatically put on a sorrowful expression, resting her hand against her cheek, and added,
"I remember it. We promised to go out together, but you canceled because you were sick. And then what? I caught you cuddling with your mistress!"
’That wasn’t me, that was the old Eiros...’
"You told me you were only loyal to me. But right in front of me, you went and hugged another girl and told me it was just a normal hug between friends."
The further it went, the paler Eiros got. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what the old Eiros had actually done before, it was just that the diary had never explained exactly how far the old Eiros had actually gone. So hearing it directly from Renessa genuinely made his head spin.
Was he seriously going to have to carry the weight of things he’d never even done himself?
Sitting at a cafeteria table, across from Renessa, who kept rambling on about this and that, Eiros wearily ordered some food and drinks.
If there was one good thing about his current situation, it was clearly the fact that the food was delicious and free for students.
"Darling? Are you listening?"
"...Yeah."
But could he actually enjoy any of this?
Renessa looked annoyed, letting out a short sigh and pouting at Eiros. Then, after mulling it over for a while, she pulled something out of her pocket.
It was a small, dark red box. The gesture made Eiros glance over with interest as Renessa set the item on the table and slid it toward him.
"...?"
"That’s a gift for you."
"A gift?" Eiros repeated, and Renessa nodded, a bright smile spreading across her face.
Eiros hesitated for a moment, but seeing the way Renessa looked at him, he finally decided to pick up the box and open it.
His face twitched.
"Ta-daa! That’s a nice necklace, right?" Renessa looked practically bursting with excitement as Eiros opened the box, revealing a necklace with a beautiful silver chain, along with a small yet dazzling sapphire.
"Erness... you know, you didn’t have to—"
"—That necklace is an artifact."
Renessa cut him off, making Eiros go quiet, pressing his lips shut the moment he heard the word artifact.
"...An artifact?"
Renessa nodded. "That’s right."
Then, without waiting for his reaction, she added her explanation.
"Just pour your Soul Essence into it, darling, and it’ll automatically create a soul barrier that protects you from an Awakened’s attack. You can only use it three times."
’Oh...’
Eiros picked up the necklace, studying it carefully. He could indeed sense faintly that it was no ordinary piece, its energy far too dense for a regular necklace.
’An Awakened-tier artifact... this is going to be incredibly useful.’
Artifacts like that were exceedingly rare, even for the Awakened Tier. There were quite a few in existence, but most of them were kept under strict lock and key by the authorities to prevent misuse.
That made Eiros look at Renessa in a whole new light. Once again, he found himself struck by just how far from ordinary this girl really was. Sure, they could set aside the fact that she came from the spirit world, and it would still be remarkable.
She’d moved to the human world and somehow had enough wealth and connections to get her hands on an artifact.
Eiros might’ve believed it if Renessa had simply said she stole it...
Wait...
Stole...?
Eiros froze.
"Erness... where did you get this?"
He forced a smile onto his face, doing his absolute best to sound casual as he asked the question. Renessa, meanwhile, blinked, then smiled sweetly.
"Someone gave it to me!"
"Someone...?"
Seeing Eiros looking so unconvinced, Renessa’s expression scrunched up as she glared at him, annoyed.
"Am I really that hard to believe?"
Eiros found himself unable to answer that question. Because honestly, it really was hard to believe pretty much anything that came out of that girl’s mouth!
So he just let out a short sigh and laughed. "...It’s really okay for me to keep this?"
"Of course."
"No one’s going to come knocking on my door in the morning, right?"
"What do you take me for?"
He could only hope Renessa wasn’t joking. Eiros carefully tucked the necklace away.
"Thanks, by the way."
"Hehe~ it’s nothing much. I’ve still got one more thing to give you."
Another one?
Eiros tilted his head, looking up at Renessa as she reached her hand across the table, revealing a tiny plastic pouch.
Inside the pouch were three small, simple-looking pills. Eiros stared at them, confused, then glanced up at Renessa, who was smiling with obvious confidence.
"What’s this?"
"It’s medicine! Medicine to slow down the seed in your body."
"....!"
For a moment, Eiros went completely still. His face seemed to freeze as he stared at the small pills, then he looked up at Renessa, who smiled at him, sweet and bright.
"Seriously? No, you’re not joking, right?"
Renessa puffed out her lips. "Darling, I would never joke about something involving your safety."
Eiros’s gaze dropped back to the pills, cold sweat beading on his face.
’Really? These are the delay medicine?’
He was about to ask how Renessa had managed to get her hands on them, but she cut him off, speaking first.
"I got them while hunting someone down."
She didn’t need to explain any further, but Eiros immediately understood that hunt had to be referring to someone from Black Genesis.
While he sat there mulling it over, Renessa added,
"Darling, you have to take one every three days so there aren’t any side effects. And they’re really effective, they’ll help you a lot."
This time, Eiros had no idea what to say. He just felt deeply grateful that Renessa genuinely cared about his condition. Even if it was probably just her own sense of responsibility, since she still needed time to figure out how to kill him.
That was enough.
He let out a small sigh.
"Thank you, this is really going to help a lot."
"Hehe~ then you should compliment me more often."
His lips twitched at that. He gave a small cough, then changed the subject.
"By the way, have you heard about the announcement?"
"About the trip to the capital?"
Eiros nodded.
Renessa seemed to already know about it too. She went quiet for a moment, then looked over at Eiros with a lazy expression.
"I don’t want to go..."
For the first time, Eiros truly saw the ever-energetic Renessa look completely drained.
What on earth was in the capital?
***