Chapter 261: Maybe I Was Allowed to Dream Too
[Rosalin’s POV]
Rosalin’s eyes slowly lowered.
—"It’s time for the two of us... to let those dreams go."
Calyra’s words continued to echo inside her mind.
Her lips parted as she let out a small cough, some of the river water catching in her throat before she lowered her gaze to the muddy ground beneath her, watching droplets fall from the ends of her crimson hair and disappear into the earth.
One drop after another.
Drip.
Drip.
Her gaze remained fixed on those ripples.
Without realizing it, her thoughts drifted back to the countless days she had spent chasing the impossible — doing regular rehabilitation and training sessions so that she was able to move, walk and run.
Rosalin slowly clenched the grass beneath her palm.
"No... this isn’t the place where I’ll bury my dreams."
Mud squeezed through the gaps between her fingers as she planted one hand against the ground and forced herself back onto her feet, her body shaking from the effort.
Only after standing did the pain finally catch up to her.
Every cut left by the ice spears burned across her skin, her muscles cried out in protest, yet she still raised her head and searched for the person waiting above.
Her golden eyes found Calyra hovering quietly in the sky.
The distance between them was no more than a few dozen meters, yet it felt far greater than that.
No matter how many times Rosalin charged forward, no matter how desperately she tried to close the gap, Calyra always slipped away before she could even touch her.
Even throughout this entire fight...
She had not managed to land a single blow.
A bitter smile slowly appeared on Rosalin’s face.
"...You’re really amazing."
Her voice was soft, almost drowned out by the wind.
Without realizing it herself, faint wisps of white steam began to rise from her soaked clothes as the growing heat surrounding her body slowly warmed the water clinging to her skin.
Rosalin let out a small, admiring sigh.
"...You’re also so far ahead that I still can’t catch up to you."
Her eyes remained fixed on Calyra.
As she looked closer, something about Calyra’s expression caught her attention. It was only a tiny change.
But Rosalin knew exactly what she was looking at. Calyra was trying to hide it, but grief, anguish, reluctance, guilt, sorrow, loneliness, frustration, and longing had already found their way onto her face.
"I’m sorry, Calyra," Rosalin said, her voice gentle despite the blood running down her arm. "But I still can’t give up, not until I wipe that expression off your face and help you become your old cheerful self again."
"Until then, I won’t stop reaching for you."
The last trace of steam around her body slowly faded away. Her soaked clothes were already dry, and the heat surrounding her quietly settled back into her body.
Then a tiny white ember flickered to life above her chest.
It was small enough to fit inside her palm. It swayed gently with the wind, yet its light never weakened. Then, it slowly drifted around her body like a lonely firefly.
The moment it brushed against one of the wounds on her shoulder, the bleeding stopped. The torn flesh slowly pulled itself back together, leaving only a faint scar behind.
Then it floated toward the next wound.
One after another.
The cuts left behind by the ice spears began to close. The bruises covering her arms slowly faded, while the pain that had weighed down every movement gradually became lighter.
*****
[Calyra’s POV]
High above the ground, Calyra’s eyes remained fixed on Rosalin.
Just as she was trying to understand how her injuries had healed so quickly, another strange feeling brushed against her senses.
It was faint, but it was enough to make her frown.
"What... what is that?"
To make sure she was not imagining it, Calyra cast another spell.
[Heightened Sense]
The flow of mana around her became clear before her eyes. When she looked at Rosalin again, her expression slowly changed as the mana surrounding her was unlike anything she had seen before.
It was bright.
And warm.
Yet what shocked her the most was not its color, but the way it moved.
Instead of simply surrounding Rosalin, the mana slowly gathered behind her and began to take the shape of a woman standing quietly at her back, as though the figure was guiding Rosalin holding her sword.
Calyra blinked.
For a moment, she thought she was only seeing things after using so much mana.
But no matter how many times she looked, the figure remained there, unmoving and unmistakably real.
She had never seen mana take such a form before, and every instinct told her that something about Rosalin had changed.
’There is something different about her, I need to stay—’
Before she could finish the thought, her brows shot up.
Rosalin was gone.
The empty patch of ground where she had been standing only a moment ago filled Calyra’s vision, making her heart skip a beat. She had not seen Rosalin move, nor had she sensed the moment she disappeared.
Without hesitating, Calyra [Blink].
She reappeared dozens of meters away in the next instant. She had no idea whether Rosalin was already attacking or not, but she refused to stay in one place when she had completely lost sight of her.
The moment she appeared, Calyra quickly looked around.
Rosalin was already there. She was still several meters away, yet she was rushing toward her with frightening speed.
Faster than before.
Calyra’s pupils shrank.
[Blink]
She doesn’t know why she blinked instead of casting [Magic Barrier] to defend against Rosalin’s attack. But she had a feeling that the spell wouldn’t work anymore.
Space twisted once more, carrying her to another part of the area.
Yet before she could even steady herself, Rosalin had already changed direction as though she had expected Calyra to appear there all along.
Calyra [Blink] again.
Then again.
Every time she [Blink], Rosalin was already charging toward her new position; the distance between them growing shorter with every jump instead of farther.
Then another.
Then one more.
[Blink]
By the next flash of light, Calyra’s body tensed as the blazing sword rushed toward her.
’How...?’
Only then did she notice something was wrong, because there was no one holding the weapon.
The sword was flying through the air by itself, spinning straight toward her at blinding speed.
Her eyes widened.
Instinct took over as she quickly tilted her head to the side, trying to avoid the blade before it reached her.
Even so, she was a fraction too slow.
Slash!
The tip of the blade skimmed past her face.
A sharp cut opened just beneath her left eye, close to the bridge of her nose, before running diagonally across her cheek as warm blood slowly streamed down her face.
The flaming sword lost its momentum.
It spun past her shoulder before dropping toward the ground below, sinking into the earth with a heavy thud.
Calyra slowly raised her fingers to her cheek.
When she pulled them away, fresh blood stained her fingertips.
"...She threw her sword?"
Her gaze immediately swept across the terrain until it found Rosalin.
Far below, Rosalin stood where she had thrown the attack, her chest heaved as she struggled to draw air, while the exhaustion on her face could no longer be hidden.
Calyra frowned.
’...Why?’
Her fingers slowly tightened around her staff.
’Just why won’t you stop?’ she thought, carrying both frustration and disbelief.
’Why won’t you just give up?’
Mana gathered at the tip of her staff.
A sphere of compressed water quickly formed at its center, spinning faster and faster until it was as large as a boulder.
[Water Projectile]
Then, the sphere shot forward like a cannonball.
It tore through the air in an instant before crashing straight into Rosalin’s body.
BOOM!
Water exploded in every direction.
The impact lifted Rosalin completely off her feet before throwing her several meters across the ground before sliding through the wet earth.
Calyra’s expression changed.
’...She didn’t dodge?’
Rosalin had not moved afterwards.
Not even after taking the full force of the spell, she simply lay there where she had fallen, her fingers remaining motionless against the soaked ground.
"..."
It was then that Calyra understood.
Rosalin had never intended to take the attack. She simply could not avoid it anymore. Her body had already reached its limit.
Calyra’s grip around her staff loosened.
The frustration in her eyes quietly disappeared, replaced by worry as she stared at the exhausted girl lying before her.
"...Rosalin."
Without another thought, Calyra raised her staff.
[Blink]
The next moment, she appeared beside Rosalin.
*****
[Rosalin’s POV]
The world around Rosalin slowly lost its shape.
The gray sky above blurred together with the falling rain, while every breath grew heavier than the last, her body refusing to answer no matter how hard she tried to move.
"Cough..."
A mouthful of blood spilled from her lips.
Warm blood trickled down the side of her face, mixing with the rain. Her fingers would not move. Her legs would not answer.
All she could do was lie there and stare at the endless sky above.
"So... this is as far as I can go..."
Her voice was barely louder than a whisper.
She had chased Calyra with everything she had, she had burned through every last bit of strength inside her.
Yet it still was not enough.
The pain from her wounds was unbearable.
But the pain inside her chest hurt far more.
Because she was too weak.
Too weak to reach the person she had admired for so many years. Too weak to help Calyra dream again.
"...I’m sorry."
[Blink]
A soft ripple spread through the space above her.
The next moment, Calyra appeared within her blurry vision and quietly knelt beside her.
Rosalin slowly lifted her eyes.
Through her fading sight, she could still make out Calyra’s face.
"I’ve lost...." Rosalin muttered weakly.
Calyra’s brows were gently drawn together. Her lips were slightly parted, countless words had reached her throat but none of them knew how to come out.
Relief, worry, guilt, and hesitation quietly rested inside those beautiful azure eyes, blending together into an expression Rosalin had never seen before.
"You know... I really wish... that I could go back in time, and talk more with you..."
Rosalin whispered. Her smile stayed on her face, but it had already lost its strength.
Rain continued to fall over the two of them.
Calyra’s fingers tightened around her staff. She had nothing to say, and simply remained beside Rosalin, waiting for her to continue.
"During my banquet... all I ever wanted was to meet you again, because I realized that I never thanked you properly," Rosalin said, her voice barely louder than the rain.
"I was really happy when I heard that you came back safely from the dungeon."
She smiled tiredly.
"I’ve been waiting to tell you... that I had finally found... a reason to live," she whispered.
"Before I met you, I never really wanted to live, you know. I never thought I deserved this life. No, I don’t think I was supposed to be born..."
"I heard the servants talking when I was little, they said my family had already decided that it would be kinder if they let me go.... they believed my life would only be full of pain."
She let out a faint laugh.
"And honestly... I understood why they thought that," she said. "If I were them, I probably would have made the same choice."
Hearing those, Calyra could only grind her teeth.
Rosalin continued:
"I also believed it. I thought it would be better for everyone if I never existed. I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t run, I couldn’t even leave my own room without someone... carrying me."
Her smile slowly faded.
"I kept asking myself why I was even born," she murmured. "Why did my sister go so far to save me? But no matter how many times I asked, I could never find an answer."
Calyra lowered her head. A quiet tremble ran through her shoulders.
"Then I met you," Rosalin said.
A little warmth returned to her tired smile.
"You never looked at me with pity," she whispered. "You smiled at me, talked to me like I was normal, and told me about all the places you wanted to see one day, and who you wanted to be."
"Your cheerful smile and your ambitious dream reached me, Calyra."
Her golden eyes slowly met Calyra’s.
"It made me believe that...
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[Chapter 261: Maybe I Was Allowed to Dream Too]