Nighttime Encounters - Chapter 42
Kaiden sighed in self-pity, looking at the woman lying on the bed, still motionless.
Her eyes remained closed, and her pale white skin lacked any signs of vitality. The only hopeful movement came from the silent rise and fall of the blanket. If she never woke up again, if someone died due to his misunderstanding and misjudgment—the mere thought felt like a heavy stone pressing against his chest, making it difficult to breathe.
In his growing anxiety, Kaiden gently brushed her face with his dry hand. Just as he did, a faint moan echoed through the silence.
“Hmm.”
Kaiden watched over Rosiana, forgetting even to breathe. Her body twitched slightly. Her long lashes fluttered, and her eyelids slowly rose.
She opened her eyes, and Kaiden felt his stifled breath finally release.
“Are you okay?”
At the simple question, Rosiana’s eyes widened. She blinked a few times, taking in her surroundings, then sat up angrily.
Clutching the flowing blanket and pulling it up to her neck, Rosiana shifted her body as far away from Kaiden as possible. Like a deer ducking for cover in the face of a predator, Rosiana scrambled to the end of the bed.
When she was blocked by the wall and could no longer escape, she looked at Kaiden. Her violet eyes, trembling with vulnerability, made even Kaiden’s heart ache.
“This is the Kantaea infirmary,” Kaiden explained, realizing she might not be aware of her surroundings. “You had collapsed, Miss Rosiana, so we had to bring you here.”
Kaiden assessed the woman’s condition and asked again, “Are you feeling well?”
Rather than giving a straightforward answer, Rosiana, still visibly on edge, responded with a question.
“What the hell did you do to me?”
Rosiana’s face contorted in agony, recalling the pain she had felt back then. She lowered her head, pressed her hand to her forehead, and mumbled, “I feel horribly dizzy, like I’m going to throw up.”
Kaiden felt a bitter taste in his mouth seeing Rosiana’s stark reaction. Perhaps this naive woman didn’t even know she had magical abilities. Given how she meekly submitted to those thugs and her disastrous cooking, it seemed absolutely plausible.
If so, he might have just…
Kaiden’s anger at Trinity had gotten the better of him, and he had unjustly targeted the wrong person. He sighed in self-reproach.
“Different magical forces clashed within you, Miss Rosiana, causing these symptoms.”
It felt like he had done a terrible thing to a powerless weakling. He was no better—no, maybe he was even worse than those thugs. He made her cry just like she had when she faced those rogues in the alley.
Regretting his rash actions, Kaiden said, “If you truly had no magical ability, no matter what magical force clashed within you, it would have ended without any issue.”
For a regular person, there would be no magical force to collide with in the first place.
“However, judging by your reaction to external magical forces, you must indeed possess magical abilities.”
Sometimes that was the case. There were late bloomers unaware of their magical potential and only discovered their abilities later in life. Nowadays, thanks to a tight and precise system, it was more common to catch them early and nurture their talents. But that didn’t mean there weren’t any who fell through the cracks.
Additionally, given the Delcondas’ untimely deaths thirteen years ago, it was possible that Rosiana had absolutely no exposure to magic until now.
However…
Did she really not know?
Unable to let go of the last trace of doubt, Kaiden asked, “Did you really not know you had magic, Miss Rosiana?”
Kaiden’s strand of doubt was cut by Rosiana’s furious voice. “Young master. I don’t understand anything that you’ve been saying.”
She looked at Kaiden with frightened eyes—like a deer cornered on a dead-end road fighting for its life. Her desperate voice shook the Kantaea infirmary.
“Are you saying that I intentionally hid it? If I knew I had such power, would I let myself be treated this way?”
Her hands clutched tightly at the blanket, her knuckles white with the effort.
“If I knew I had magic powers, I would never have gone with your plan.”
Her amethyst eyes, moist with tears, peered at Kaiden from behind the blanket. Just like the moment she glared at Kaiden when encountering the thugs, Rosiana averted her eyes.
“If I knew it would hurt so much, I would never have done it. I thought you were helping me….”
Kaiden shut his mouth, feeling the resentment in her clear and pure voice. Further suspicion was cruel and pointless. It was his own fault for jumping to conclusions without evidence, relying on vague intuition.
Her trembling voice pointed out his mistake clearly.
“It’s horrible. I don’t want to be here anymore.”
With a choked voice, Rosiana forcefully threw off the blanket and stepped down from the bed. As the aftermath of the shock still lingered, her body swayed weakly like a paper doll caught in the wind.
“Miss Rosiana.”
Kaiden rose abruptly from his chair. He pulled Rosiana’s delicate body into his arms, making her lean against him.
Feeling dizzy, she rested her head on Kaiden’s chest and breathed heavily. Her slender shoulders rose and fell gently.
Kaiden’s voice was unbearably heavy. “Are you okay?”
Rosiana slowly shook her head and struggled to speak. “I need the young master’s help, but I’m scared and uncomfortable.”
Kaiden’s body stiffened at Rosiana’s almost chilling words.
“So, please don’t pay attention to me anymore.” Rosiana raised her trembling hand and pushed Kaiden’s chest away.
Free of his embrace, Rosiana wobbled but stood upright with determination. Then, she walked towards the door, passing by Kaiden.
Just before opening the door, she stopped in her tracks. With visible effort, she grabbed the door and exhaled sharply.
“I never want to see you again, young master.”
With those words, Rosiana stormed out of the Kantaea infirmary. As the door slammed shut, the gust of wind it caused shook Kaiden’s hair.
She disappeared without even bothering to tell him if she was okay. There was a heavy weight in Kaiden’s chest.
Amidst the wind stirred by Rosiana, Kaiden’s deep breath permeated the air.
