After collecting the loot dropped by the monster—even gathering the scattered fragnts of its corpse—Steven finally rembered that there should have been an onlooker who had fallen to the ground.
Surveying the mining site, which had now turned into a deep crater, Steven finally spotted the white-haired girl lying on the ground, her face contorted in pain.
She had witnessed everything he had done before, but at this mont, none of that mattered as much as the agony brought on by the Originium in her body.
Already struggling to withstand the damage from her infection, her body had been further ravaged by the radiation from the highly active Originium aura released by the monster. Now, she felt as though she had been thrown into an icy abyss, unable to sense even the slightest warmth.
The cold, accompanied by waves of searing pain, assaulted her consciousness. But she knew that if she passed out now, she might never wake up again.
No, she couldn't die here—not yet. There were still so many things she hadn't done, so many dreams left unfulfilled. She hadn't even experienced the true taste of candy, the kind she had always imagined.
So, she gritted her teeth, enduring the tornting pain and cold, trying to hold on until her father arrived.
But to her surprise, it wasn't her father who ca for her. Instead, a sowhat familiar figure lifted her up.
A faint but nostalgic warmth radiated from the person supporting her. Though it was only a small trace, it was enough to keep her conscious. Summoning her last bit of strength, she forced her eyes open.
The first thing she saw was Steven's face—handso enough, and wearing a slight smile.
"Jeez, you're really in bad shape," he clicked his tongue. "I told you to stay back, but you just had to get involved. Good thing it was you ran into."
In a good mood after scoring so nice loot, Steven supported the girl with one hand while retrieving a healing potion from his backpack with the other.
Without hesitation, he pried open her lips—already stained with blood from biting down in pain—and poured the potion into her mouth. To prevent her from spitting it out, he pressed a hand over her lips.
Fortunately, the girl seed to have lost the strength to resist. She only weakly struggled for a mont before going limp, as if resigning herself to her fate.
With a casual expression, Steven reached out and rubbed the pair of fluffy white rabbit ears atop her head.
After all, he had just saved her life—surely rubbing her ears a little wouldn't be a big deal, right?
Back on Rhodes Island, Steven had always been intrigued by Amiya's fluffy rabbit ears. Unfortunately, Kal'tsit had guarded her like a hawk, always watching him as if he were a thief. Whenever Amiya was around, Kal'tsit was never far behind.
As a result, though Steven had always wanted to touch them, he never got the chance.
But now, with such a perfect opportunity right in front of him, how could he possibly refuse?
He was rarely in the mood to be kind—taking a little reward for his good deed wasn't too much to ask, right?
The girl's ears were soft yet bouncy, and rubbing them felt like kneading a fluffy little furball. There was an indescribable stress-relieving sensation to it.
Just as Steven was thoroughly enjoying himself, the girl he had just propped up finally absorbed the effects of the healing potion. As the excruciating pain subsided, she turned her gaze toward the boy who was apparently unfamiliar with the concept of personal space—now happily playing with her ears.
Their eyes t. Steven's fingers, which had been rhythmically rubbing, gradually ca to a stop.
"You—"
"You what? Keep drinking."
Before she could say anything, Steven raised his hand and pulled out a bottle of milk from his backpack, unceremoniously pouring it into her mouth.
The healing potion had only pulled her back from the brink of death; it couldn't do anything about her infection. Back when they had faced the monster together, the radiation from its Originium energy had nearly activated the dormant Originium inside her body.
She had gone out of her way to help him, and while her assistance had been limited, Steven still acknowledged the gesture. Since that was the case, he figured he couldn't just stand by and watch her condition worsen.
Helping treat Originium infections was no big deal for him—just a flick of the wrist.
But more than that, Steven was curious. The girl's body seed to be emitting a faint chill. Even though her ears were covered in soft white fur, his fingertips, as he rubbed them, gradually felt an unusual cold creeping in.
That was odd. Normally, he was incapable of perceiving temperature at all, yet he could clearly sense the cold now. That likely ant the girl in his arms had an abnormally low body temperature.
Even when he had encountered Frostleaf, another rabbit-eared girl, she had erupted with Originium energy while on the verge of death—but he had never felt cold from her.
Still, none of this was enough to stop him from rubbing those soft rabbit ears. Who wouldn't enjoy sothing so fluffy?
While Steven was indulging in the delightful texture of the bunny ears, the girl in his arms was in complete shock.
If the potion he had forced down her throat earlier had alleviated her pain and replenished her strength, then the milk he had just poured into her mouth was having an entirely different effect.
She could feel the heavy burden that had been weighing down her body—seemingly destined to remain with her forever—gradually lifting. Though the process ca with a searing, flesh-cutting pain, it was insignificant compared to the relief of her infection being suppressed.
More than that, for the first ti, she felt her body temperature slowly rising. The warmth from Steven's fingertips against her ears, as well as the heat radiating from his body, was sothing she simply couldn't forget.
What the hell had this guy just made her drink?
There was no ti to question why he was treating her like a pet and rubbing her ears so freely. Her head was swimming with confusion, but with her mouth still full of milk, she couldn't say a word.
And so, despite the undeniably awkward nature of the scene, a strange sense of harmony settled between them—one that neither side seed eager to break.
But, of course, this kind of thing couldn't last forever.
As the last traces of milk were absorbed into her body, the girl—who now felt as if she had been reborn—gradually regained both her strength and consciousness.
"…How long do you plan on rubbing them?"
She blinked at him, her silver-gray eyes carrying a hint of weakness, but the deathly aura that had made her seem on the verge of passing away just monts ago was completely gone.
Not only that, but she had never felt so healthy before. It was as if she had returned to her childhood—back to a ti before she had been infected with Oripathy.
"Ahem— If I told you I was helping with blood circulation and aiding in the absorption of the dicine, would that be a reason you could accept?"
Now that she had directly pointed it out, Steven couldn't just keep rubbing her ears without a shred of sha. Awkwardly chuckling, he reluctantly withdrew his hand and t the gaze of the silver-eyed girl.
He hadn't taken a good look at her before, but now that he had the chance, he realized—she was stunning.
Or perhaps it was just par for the course for a character from a Chinese mobile ga. After all, out of all the girls Steven had encountered in that world, there were hardly any who couldn't be called beautiful.
Even Kal'tsit, that cat girl who is likely older than all of Terra's current nation, was an undeniable beauty in terms of appearance.
Yet, despite all that, Steven found this girl particularly captivating. It was as if every one of her features aligned perfectly with his aesthetic preferences, making her presence feel inexplicably pleasant to him.
That was also part of the reason why he had chosen to save her.
Sure, the previous justification still stood, but the fact that he found her pleasing to the eye was another factor that couldn't be ignored.
He had wanted to help. He didn't want to see her suffer and die from her illness. That was why he had gone to such lengths to treat her.
And in return, he felt an inexplicable sense of fulfillnt. Perhaps this was what they called peace of mind.
"If I don't accept it, will it erase what you just did? If not, then it really doesn't matter whether I accept it or not."
The white-haired girl's rabbit ears twitched involuntarily before she mustered the strength to stand up from Steven's arms.
She still vividly rembered how Steven had single-handedly dealt with that terrifying monster. It was hard to reconcile that image of a ruthless killing machine with the boy in front of her, who seed like nothing more than a friendly neighbor.
No—if anything, Steven felt more like a walking enigma to her.
Who was he?
What was he trying to do?
Why had he appeared alongside that monster?
And most importantly—how exactly had he saved her?
Everything about him was a mystery.
But at least, for now, there was one thing she knew for sure.
Straightening out her slightly disheveled clothes and hair, the white-haired, rabbit-eared girl forced a faint smile onto her face and extended her small hand toward Steven.
"No matter what, you did save my life just now, didn't you?" she said softly. "My na is Yelena. It's nice to et you."
"—And thank you."
< >
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