Chapter 274: Could It be?
A sharp spike of sunlight pierced right through my eyelids, forcing me to squint against the sudden, blinding brightness.
I let out a low, rough groan. My head was spinning with a dull, heavy throbbing, like my brain was wrapped in thick cotton.
And I felt an unfamiliar, plush warmth underneath me.
As my eyes slowly adjusted to the light, I realized I was lying flat on my back in a massive canopy bed, tucked neatly beneath a thick, heavy velvet blanket.
I went to rub my face, only to realize my heavy uniform jacket was completely gone. I was wearing nothing but my black undershirt.
I sat up and rubbed my temples, trying to piece together the fragmented ending of last night.
A brief wave of dizziness made bedroom tilt for a split second. I groaned, shaking my head to clear the fog, but as I lowered my arms, something caught my eye.
I winced, staring down at my forearms.
There were several faint, shallow scratches tearing across my skin. I frowned deeply, my brow furrowing.
That doesn’t make sense. Aria had literally just healed every single one of my injuries right before we walked over here.
How the hell did I have fresh scratches?
I looked around the spacious room. The bed was massive, and the indentation on the mattress beside me indicated I definitely hadn’t been sleeping alone.
Emma wasn’t anywhere in sight, but the steady, muffled rushing sound of running water echoing from behind the frosted glass door told me she was currently in the private washroom.
I threw the velvet blanket aside and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Standing up, and stretched my stiff muscles, my joints popping in the quiet room.
Did I really just pass out from exhaustion? I wondered, my internal thoughts were racing.
Between the mana depletion from the Ursa fight, and carrying those heavy brass trunks, it wasn’t entirely statistically impossible for my body to have just forced a hard shutdown.
I walked over to the large, gilded vanity mirror near the wardrobe to check my reflection.
My hair was a messy, tangled disaster. I leaned in closer, tilting my chin up to inspect my jawline, and my eyes instantly narrowed into razor-sharp slits.
Right on the side of my neck, resting directly over my pulse point, was a faint, highly suspicious red mark. It was roughly the size of a coin, blooming slightly purple at the edges, and completely slathered in a clear, glossy layer of medicinal healing salve to mask the bruising.
My hand instinctively came up, fingers hovering just millimeters away from the mark. Before I could touch the salve or command my interface to analyze the tissue, the sharp click of a lock echoed through the room.
A cloud of warm, floral-scented steam rolled out into the bedroom. I turned around just as Emma stepped out, wearing a white bathrobe, her damp blonde hair clinging slightly to her shoulders.
"Oh, so you’re awake, Jin..." she started, her voice light and musical.
A bright smile automatically forming on her face.
But the moment her bright blue eyes locked onto me, her voice completely died.
She froze dead in her tracks. She looked at me standing directly in front of the mirror, and then her gaze darted straight to my hand hovering right next to the freshly treated red mark on my neck.
A deep, panicked crimson flush instantly rushed up her cheeks, and she frantically gripped the edges of her towel, losing all of her usual sweet serenity.
"Ah... t-that!" Emma stammered, her voice pitching up an octave as she took a clumsy step forward.
"That... that was from when you suddenly passed out, Jin! You... you stumbled forward so fast and hit the sharp edge of the bed’s frame! It looked so painful, so I... I just put some healing salve on it! Don’t worry, it’s an excellent medicine, it will heal really quickly!"
I stood perfectly still, my eyes locked onto hers.
I looked at the plush, rounded, heavily upholstered velvet edges of the bed frame.
Then, I looked back at her.
She offered a wobbly, innocent, highly concerned smile.
I just gave a slow, measured nod, keeping my face entirely blank.
"I see."
Then turning around, I walked calmly toward the chair where my uniform jacket was neatly folded.
I picked it up, slipping it over my shoulders to hide the fresh scratches on my arms.
"Sorry for worrying you the whole night."
Emma quickly shook her head, her cheeks still sporting that faint, delicate flush as she twirled a strand of her damp brown hair.
"Oh, it’s really no problem at all! I actually enjo—"
She cut herself off mid-word, her eyes widening slightly before she offering a sweet, hasty correction.
"I mean, I’m just so relieved that you’re fine."
I fastened the silver buttons of my jacket, deliberately pulling the collar up slightly to obscure the slathered mark on my neck. I looked at her one last time.
"Okay. I’ll go now."
"Okay!" Emma chirped, her cheerful, bubbly demeanor returning in full force. She waved happily as I walked toward the door.
"I’ll meet you down in the lounge in just ten minutes! Don’t eat breakfast without me!"
"Right," I muttered, pressing my palm against the lock.
The heavy oak door clicked open, and I stepped out into the quiet, carpeted hallway of the top floor.
The moment the door slid shut behind me, the neutral mask fell off my face.
I let out a long, ragged exhale, violently clutching the side of my throbbing head as I walked down the empty corridor.
"Just what the hell is going on..." I whispered under my breath.
And pulled back the cuff of my sleeve, staring down at the faint, stinging scratch marks running along my forearms.
They looked exactly like defensive marks—or the marks left behind by someone tightly gripping my arms to pin me down.
Could it be...?
I stopped at the top of the grand stairwell, staring down at my boots. I shook my head violently, forcing the dark, absurd thoughts out of my brain.
No. It can’t be, I reasoned, desperately leaning on basic logic.
Emma is such a decent, sweet girl. She wouldn’t do anything like that. I’m just letting the lingering paranoia distort my reality. It was probably just an adverse reaction to the high-density mana in the fruits I ate yesterday.
I took a deep breath, smoothing down my uniform jacket, and glanced up at the large, ornate clock tower visible through the grand window at the end of the hall.
The hands were already moving dangerously close to the morning bell.
"Well," I muttered, dropping my hands into my pockets. "I need to get going for now. Otherwise, I’ll be late for classes."
I hurried down the stairs, pushing the unsettling mystery of the night deep down into my subconscious as the reality of the Academy’s academic schedule rushed back to meet me.