Chapter 55: Rhea’s Nightmares
Andrea paused mid kiss while Fredrinn stopped his hands from going further down her waist.
They separated from each other, a thin strand of saliva connecting their lips as they stared in surprise.
Rhea’s words had pulled the two back into reality and everything dawned back to Andrea who gulped her saliva and licked her lips, lowering her head in shame.
Fredrinn’s guilty expression had shook her so much that she nearly forgot about everything else.
"Uhm... you wanted to activate your skill or something, right? I won’t hold you any longer." She said awkwardly, "I will need to watch over Rhea right now, okay?"
Fredrinn nodded to her words, shooting a glance at Rhea.
His mind was telling him to assist Andrea in tending to Rhea’s nightmares, but he knew that he should let her sister handle that for now.
In addition, he really did need to absorb the mana from the stage 3 zombie’s corpse before it dissipated completely.
"Alright. I will be right back."
Saying that, Fredrinn unwillingly pushed himself to foot and walked towards the zombie’s corpse.
A tent in his pants had formed during the kiss, a normal result of kissing a beautiful woman such as Andrea.
But he ignored it and suppressed his raging hormones.
The sight of the zombie’s corpse helped him with that significantly.
His own hand was torn off the bones ruthlessly, driven straight through the skull as the zombie’s rotten stench assaulted Fredrinn’s senses.
It was horrid and disgusting, but Fredrinn forced himself to close his eyes and focus.
This time, it took him slightly longer to connect to mana.
The cause being the lingering taste of Andrea’s lips and disgusting stench of the rotting flesh.
Both didn’t merge too well together, but somehow, they managed to delay his connection.
The moment the connection with the mana was established, Fredrinn took a breath through his mouth to avoid the stench, pulling all the surrounding mana within himself.
A gust of wind began to blow inside the closed off room, making his clothes flutter wildly while Fredrinn gasped in surprise.
He could feel the strength returning to his body... mana rushing through his veins as his burned mana channels began to heal rapidly.
In just a few moments, Fredrinn had already absorbed every bit of mana that the corpse had to offer.
And surprisingly, once the mana was completely gone, Fredrinn saw the zombie’s skin turning to a sickly pale, as if every bit of moisture was dried up now.
The bones became thinner and weaker.
The dangerous and menacing claws now appeared sickly and weak, like a single scratch would make them snap right off.
Fredrinn hummed at the discovery, stepping on the zombie’s other, still intact arm.
The bones crunched under his feet, as the skin was dented and bones were pulverized.
If someone told him that this corpse belonged to a dangerous stage 3 zombie, he would struggle to believe them.
But, after getting what he came for, Fredrinn closed his eyes in satisfaction and began to walk back towards his resting site.
Andrea and Rhea were both awake, sitting on their knees as Rhea was currently hugging Andrea, head buried into the older sister’s shoulder.
She appeared to be crying while Andrea gently stroked her back.
Hearing the footsteps, Andrea glanced in Fredrinn’s direction, wordlessly shaking her head, telling him not to say anything.
But just as Andrea had heard him, so did Rhea.
She glanced up, her eyes appearing puffy and tears glistening on her cheeks under the bright lights.
She quickly wiped them with her sleeves and put on a clearly fake smile.
"Do– Don’t worry, Mr Bodyguard. I am fine."
Fredrinn smiled at her words, "Alright."
Rhea nodded several times, grateful that he didn’t seem interested in prying into her state.
She wasn’t sure if she really wanted to... appear so weak. Especially to a man as strong as him.
She believed that the strong hated the weak.
So if possible, Rhea didn’t want Fredrinn to dislike her.
After walking back to his original sitting spot, Fredrinn gave them a customary glance before retreating his eyes, sitting cross legged as he closed his eyes.
Just a few seconds later, both the girls felt a gentle breeze ruffling through their clothes, traveling in Fredrinn’s direction mystically.
Their eyes widened in awe.
They had no clue about mana or the invisible energy, but they could feel that whatever he was doing was magical.
Otherwise, how could there be a breeze in a closed room?
Andrea looked back into Rhea’s eyes.
"Sis, I already told you it wasn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself for the deaths of those lowlives." Andrea said in an exhausted tone.
Rhea’s eyes got watery once again after hearing her sister’s tone.
"I know... I know it wasn’t mine, but what do you want me to do? They keep coming in my nightmares and they blame me! They call me a thief for stealing their spot.
They say that if it wasn’t for me, they would still be alive!"
"Yeah." Andrea scoffed coldly, "Alive and dumped into that dangerous pit of hell, filled with infected people and an awakener with the sis-con syndrome."
"Still better than being dead... no?" Rhea asked quietly.
Andrea hummed, looking at the separated area reserved for the unchosen and the infected.
"I wonder about that..." She said, "Would you rather be dead or get scorned by everyone alive, who looks at you as if you should die the most horrible death?
That you don’t deserve to live and just letting you breathe is a charity that they’re doing?"
"I..."
Rhea parted her lips, not knowing how to answer.
Andrea continued, "I would rather choose death over that, Rhea. Believe it or not, but considering their actions, getting a swift death was more of a blessing than a curse.
Instead of blaming yourself, you should be praising yourself for doing a good deed."
Seeing that she was still unconvinced, Andrea looked back at Fredrinn who still had his eyes closed and seemed to be detached from them.
"In addition, if you’re blaming yourself for their deaths so much... Why are you not blaming Fredrinn, who was the direct cause of that?"