When Altair opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a familiar pink canopy. She stared at it listlessly for a long time as she felt the comfortable bed around her trying to pull her back into unconsciousness. However, its attempts were futile. She was completely awake the moment she opened her eyes.
She didn't feel refreshed though. She actually felt like crap. Her arms, legs, and even her chest ached. It felt like her entire body had gotten pummeled into the ground. She even had a terrible headache that made her feel like her head had been split open. It was the entire reason she lay there without moving. She was sure she could move but she was sure it would hurt more if she did. So, she didn't move.
Instead, she reached in to burn some Mana to check her condition and it caused her eyes to widen slightly. The Mana that she had access too grew. However, it was a completely separate pool of Mana from what was still sealed within her.
'My Mana has increased? What happened?'
She only knew of one way to increase it and that was to consume something called Manamium. She didn't know what it looked like or how to get it but she had no doubt that it was used on her at some point after she dealt with Joshua.
Her eyes glowed with a warm light as she stared at her beds canopy, 'So, there's a chance I might actually be able to get back home and survive this curse then.' She had no idea how she was actually going to help her people if she couldn't get back home. She needed a lot more Mana to return and the healer didn't seem to be making much progress on the poison. Since that was the case, she had considered that she would just relax and spend the rest of her days in comfort here if the healer really had made no progress.
However, even if the healer couldn't cure her, if she could just increase the amount of Mana she had to be able to use her Teleportation Magic, and then everything would be fine. She could return to her home, get treated for the Mana Sealing Poison, and then deal with the Humans that constantly attacked the coalition.
She was even a little excited about being able to get more Mana that she could burn. If she could continue to increase her Mana capacity then couldn't she potentially deal with entire cities in the Kingdom on her own? That would mean she could strike at the heart of the Kingdom and finally put an end to their total war.
'If I can kill the King then the Kingdom will fall apart without us doing anything,' Altair naively thought to herself as she raised her right hand toward the canopy and clenched it into a fist in determination.
When she did that, a familiar feminine voice came from nearby, "Eh? The Young Miss is awake?!"
Altair turned her head to see Stacey with a relieved expression on her face rushing towards her. Noel was nearby as well, in the middle of watering some flowers in a new vase that was sitting on a nightstand. Her expression contained shock as she was staring at Altair with the flower vase overflowing with water.
"Young Miss," Stacey said in a tone filled with worry as she reached out to touch Altair. However, she quickly stopped herself from actually touching her and just moved her hands over the space around Altair's body instead. It was like she was afraid that she would hurt Altair if she touched her, "How do you feel? Are you hurt anywhere?"
Altair blinked at her before replying, "It doesn't hurt enough for you to be concerned." It actually did but Altair didn't want Stacey to actually touch her when she couldn't defend herself. This woman was probably more dangerous than anyone else in the mansion to Altair.
Altair burned some of her Mana to check the condition of her body. She sent the familiar energy to all parts of her body and her heart felt like it was being crushed under some weight and immediately stopped. Her face also paled in the same moment which caused Stacey to turn to Noel and shout, "Fetch Liam! Hurry! She might relapse!"
Noel dropped the glass she was using to water the flowers and fled the room. The glass shattered on the ground but Stacey didn't pay it any attention as she quickly asked, "Where does it hurt? How does it hurt? Can you move at all?"
Altair sucked in air in a sharp and reflexive gasp as the pain slowly receded. 'Is this an effect of the curse?' Her brows furrowed as she wondered just why it hurt so much to use her Mana. Although she did find out that her capacity was now about three buckets of Mana. She had gained two more that she could use freely. That would make it a lot easier to deal with problems in the future.
She exhaled slowly before she spoke in a hoarse voice, "Stacey, your voice hurts." With every word that Stacey had said, her head felt like it was being held in a vice grip that tightened more and more the longer she spoke.
Stacey quickly shut her mouth as an apologetic expression came over her. She then walked over to the table in the room and poured a glass of juice from the decanter that was sitting there. She placed a straw in it and returned to Altair's side.
She then helped Altair sit up, which caused pain to shoot to all points in Altair's body, and helped her drink the lemonade.
It wasn't until the juice flowed down into Altair' stomach that she realized that her body was both starving and dehydrated. It caused her brows to scrunch up again as she tried to drink the juice even faster through the straw.
Stacey saw that Altair was trying to drink faster and faster and she quickly spoke in a warm and soft tone, "You need to drink slowly, Young Miss. You have been unconscious for four days." She was concerned that Altair's stomach wouldn't be able to properly handle the fluids after being empty for so long. "Just because your body wants you to drink a lot more doesn't mean you can give in and let it."
Altair was stunned at her words. Even though they hurt her head she was more focused on what she was told than the pain she was feeling. She was so stunned she even stopped drinking the lemonade. She turned her shocked gaze on Stacey next to her.
As if predicting what Altair wanted to ask, Stacey continued, "It's true. You have been asleep for four days, Young Miss. Even Liam didn't know why you continued to sleep. He even tried several different medicines that were made to wake people up."
Altair turned her head straight ahead as her gaze grew distant. 'That took four days? It's going to be harder to find the Manamium-like thing that helped me.'
Stacey misinterpreted her actions as she hastily added, "Everyone was very worried, Young Miss. The Master came on the second day and left to talk with Liam about your condition. Their conversation lasted for several hours." She paused for a few moments before she added, "Even the Mistress came to see you! She doesn't even see the Young Master when he's sick."
A surge of warmth splashed over Altair's heart at the mention of 'the Mistress.' It lingered heavily even after Stacey fell silent. It caused Altair's brows to knit together in confusion. 'Why am I feeling this way?'
She had only seen Sarah once when she had arrived at the mansion. She was never visited by her at all, as far as she could remember, during her entire time here. Even when she was in the hospital, Donel had told her that only he went there with her and that no one else came by.
Altair didn't care that none of the people here came to visit her. It just solidified her determination to survive. Yet, at the mention of this phantom 'Mistress' of the house, Altair felt like she wanted to see her all of a sudden. It was an entirely uncalled for feeling and it concerned her slightly. She hadn't even heard anything about the Mistress of the house since she came here. Renald didn't mention her at all. So why did she suddenly come and visit her when she was sick?
Altair turned her gaze to Stacey again and carefully asked, "The Mistress really came?" She asked this because she half wanted it to be a lie and half wanted to hear it again. Even she couldn't explain why she felt that way.
Stacey's returned her gaze with a wry smile, "Young Miss, the Mistress is your mother. You should call her as such. And yes, she really came to see you. She even had everyone leave while she stayed with you alone for a while."
'She cared that much,' ran through her mind in the brief moments before her door was slammed open loudly, causing her headache to explode again.
Stacey turned to the door with an annoyed expression that Liam completely ignored as he walked in while carrying a bottle. His gaze was fixed on Altair on the bed and he spoke with a tone of finality in his strange dual voice, "All of you leave. I must examine the Young Miss' body to make sure that there are no lasting problems."
When Altair opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a familiar pink canopy. She stared at it listlessly for a long time as she felt the comfortable bed around her trying to pull her back into unconsciousness. However, its attempts were futile. She was completely awake the moment she opened her eyes.
She didn't feel refreshed though. She actually felt like crap. Her arms, legs, and even her chest ached. It felt like her entire body had gotten pummeled into the ground. She even had a terrible headache that made her feel like her head had been split open. It was the entire reason she lay there without moving. She was sure she could move but she was sure it would hurt more if she did. So, she didn't move.
Instead, she reached in to burn some Mana to check her condition and it caused her eyes to widen slightly. The Mana that she had access too grew. However, it was a completely separate pool of Mana from what was still sealed within her.
'My Mana has increased? What happened?'
She only knew of one way to increase it and that was to consume something called Manamium. She didn't know what it looked like or how to get it but she had no doubt that it was used on her at some point after she dealt with Joshua.
Her eyes glowed with a warm light as she stared at her beds canopy, 'So, there's a chance I might actually be able to get back home and survive this curse then.' She had no idea how she was actually going to help her people if she couldn't get back home. She needed a lot more Mana to return and the healer didn't seem to be making much progress on the poison. Since that was the case, she had considered that she would just relax and spend the rest of her days in comfort here if the healer really had made no progress.
However, even if the healer couldn't cure her, if she could just increase the amount of Mana she had to be able to use her Teleportation Magic, and then everything would be fine. She could return to her home, get treated for the Mana Sealing Poison, and then deal with the Humans that constantly attacked the coalition.
She was even a little excited about being able to get more Mana that she could burn. If she could continue to increase her Mana capacity then couldn't she potentially deal with entire cities in the Kingdom on her own? That would mean she could strike at the heart of the Kingdom and finally put an end to their total war.
'If I can kill the King then the Kingdom will fall apart without us doing anything,' Altair naively thought to herself as she raised her right hand toward the canopy and clenched it into a fist in determination.
When she did that, a familiar feminine voice came from nearby, "Eh? The Young Miss is awake?!"
Altair turned her head to see Stacey with a relieved expression on her face rushing towards her. Noel was nearby as well, in the middle of watering some flowers in a new vase that was sitting on a nightstand. Her expression contained shock as she was staring at Altair with the flower vase overflowing with water.
"Young Miss," Stacey said in a tone filled with worry as she reached out to touch Altair. However, she quickly stopped herself from actually touching her and just moved her hands over the space around Altair's body instead. It was like she was afraid that she would hurt Altair if she touched her, "How do you feel? Are you hurt anywhere?"
Altair blinked at her before replying, "It doesn't hurt enough for you to be concerned." It actually did but Altair didn't want Stacey to actually touch her when she couldn't defend herself. This woman was probably more dangerous than anyone else in the mansion to Altair.
Altair burned some of her Mana to check the condition of her body. She sent the familiar energy to all parts of her body and her heart felt like it was being crushed under some weight and immediately stopped. Her face also paled in the same moment which caused Stacey to turn to Noel and shout, "Fetch Liam! Hurry! She might relapse!"
Noel dropped the glass she was using to water the flowers and fled the room. The glass shattered on the ground but Stacey didn't pay it any attention as she quickly asked, "Where does it hurt? How does it hurt? Can you move at all?"
Altair sucked in air in a sharp and reflexive gasp as the pain slowly receded. 'Is this an effect of the curse?' Her brows furrowed as she wondered just why it hurt so much to use her Mana. Although she did find out that her capacity was now about three buckets of Mana. She had gained two more that she could use freely. That would make it a lot easier to deal with problems in the future.
She exhaled slowly before she spoke in a hoarse voice, "Stacey, your voice hurts." With every word that Stacey had said, her head felt like it was being held in a vice grip that tightened more and more the longer she spoke.
Stacey quickly shut her mouth as an apologetic expression came over her. She then walked over to the table in the room and poured a glass of juice from the decanter that was sitting there. She placed a straw in it and returned to Altair's side.
She then helped Altair sit up, which caused pain to shoot to all points in Altair's body, and helped her drink the lemonade.
It wasn't until the juice flowed down into Altair' stomach that she realized that her body was both starving and dehydrated. It caused her brows to scrunch up again as she tried to drink the juice even faster through the straw.
Stacey saw that Altair was trying to drink faster and faster and she quickly spoke in a warm and soft tone, "You need to drink slowly, Young Miss. You have been unconscious for four days." She was concerned that Altair's stomach wouldn't be able to properly handle the fluids after being empty for so long. "Just because your body wants you to drink a lot more doesn't mean you can give in and let it."
Altair was stunned at her words. Even though they hurt her head she was more focused on what she was told than the pain she was feeling. She was so stunned she even stopped drinking the lemonade. She turned her shocked gaze on Stacey next to her.
As if predicting what Altair wanted to ask, Stacey continued, "It's true. You have been asleep for four days, Young Miss. Even Liam didn't know why you continued to sleep. He even tried several different medicines that were made to wake people up."
Altair turned her head straight ahead as her gaze grew distant. 'That took four days? It's going to be harder to find the Manamium-like thing that helped me.'
Stacey misinterpreted her actions as she hastily added, "Everyone was very worried, Young Miss. The Master came on the second day and left to talk with Liam about your condition. Their conversation lasted for several hours." She paused for a few moments before she added, "Even the Mistress came to see you! She doesn't even see the Young Master when he's sick."
A surge of warmth splashed over Altair's heart at the mention of 'the Mistress.' It lingered heavily even after Stacey fell silent. It caused Altair's brows to knit together in confusion. 'Why am I feeling this way?'
She had only seen Sarah once when she had arrived at the mansion. She was never visited by her at all, as far as she could remember, during her entire time here. Even when she was in the hospital, Donel had told her that only he went there with her and that no one else came by.
Altair didn't care that none of the people here came to visit her. It just solidified her determination to survive. Yet, at the mention of this phantom 'Mistress' of the house, Altair felt like she wanted to see her all of a sudden. It was an entirely uncalled for feeling and it concerned her slightly. She hadn't even heard anything about the Mistress of the house since she came here. Renald didn't mention her at all. So why did she suddenly come and visit her when she was sick?
Altair turned her gaze to Stacey again and carefully asked, "The Mistress really came?" She asked this because she half wanted it to be a lie and half wanted to hear it again. Even she couldn't explain why she felt that way.
Stacey's returned her gaze with a wry smile, "Young Miss, the Mistress is your mother. You should call her as such. And yes, she really came to see you. She even had everyone leave while she stayed with you alone for a while."
'She cared that much,' ran through her mind in the brief moments before her door was slammed open loudly, causing her headache to explode again.
Stacey turned to the door with an annoyed expression that Liam completely ignored as he walked in while carrying a bottle. His gaze was fixed on Altair on the bed and he spoke with a tone of finality in his strange dual voice, "All of you leave. I must examine the Young Miss' body to make sure that there are no lasting problems."
