"""
"...Are you sure you want to stay in a place like this?"
Reiger had an odd look on his face.
"Absolutely!" Altoria nodded vigorously, saying, "Compared to where I used to live, even a corner like this is heaven!"
Due to her excessive excitent, Altoria even revealed personal aspects of her life that were not known to others.
Normally, Altoria wouldn’t casually talk about such matters.
Reiger wanted to offer so advice to Altoria, but seeing her look so anxious and fearful, he knew that whatever he said might be futile.
The transition from living in stables, in dungeons to residing in mansions, in presidential suites would be jarring for anyone.
"I should give her so ti to adjust."
After so thought, Reiger made his decision.
"If you’re not going to stay in a room, then I won’t either," said Reiger as he sat down on the sofa, "I’ll sleep on the couch tonight."
"How can that be okay?" Altoria was taken aback, and hurriedly said, "This is your place, you should be the one sleeping in a room!"
"That might be true, but it doesn’t feel right for the host to sleep comfortably in a bed while the guest sleeps in a corner of the hall, sorry, I can’t do that," Reiger shrugged to Altoria, "unless you move into a room as well."
"I can’t do that either!" Altoria sounded on the verge of tears, with an aggrieved tone, "If soone like , a country fairy, stays in such a luxurious room, I definitely won’t be able to sleep tonight!"
"Then don’t stop ," Reiger said decisively, "If you keep stopping , I’m joining you in the corner, okay?"
Seeing Reiger’s sincerity, Altoria was left speechless.
"Alright then, let’s sleep," Reiger smiled at Altoria and said, "After all that’s happened today, even if you have a lot of energy, you must be tired, right?"
"Sleep."
"Once you wake up, it will all be over."
Leaving those words, Reiger lay down first on the sofa and closed his eyes.
"Um... are you really not going to move into a room...?"
Altoria’s weak voice echoed from the corner, still seeming to want to persuade Reiger to go into a room.
Unfortunately, Reiger said nothing more, as if he had already fallen asleep, his breathing and the rise and fall of his chest settling into a steady rhythm.
Altoria watched Reiger like this for a while until she was certain he had truly fallen asleep and wasn’t just pretending, then she gave up.
"What a strange man..."
With that thought, Altoria slumped into the corner as if all her strength had left her.
The floor wasn’t the least bit cold, and the wall she was leaning against had a faint warmth to it, making one wonder if the floor and walls were enchanted with so kind of magic to be this warm.
Feeling this warmth that she had never experienced in her own ho, Altoria’s heart gradually relaxed.
As she relaxed, the events of the day surged into her mind.
Being locked in a dungeon, then being rescued.
eting Reiger, and saying goodbye to Ecter.
The blaze in Tintagel... the villagers fighting each other... Woodworth’s execution squad... Reiger’s fierce battle with Woodworth... the Tusk Clan fairy’s ambush... Reiger’s rescue...
These images, these scenes, continuously erged in Altoria’s thoughts.
"Ah..."
With complex emotions she couldn’t quite define as sorrow or grief, Altoria let out a long sigh.
"The Child of Prophecy, huh?"
Altoria looked at herself huddled in the corner and mocked herself.
"It doesn’t seem like it."
Having said that, Altoria closed her eyes.
"""
Perhaps it was because of the overwhelming events of the day, Altoria quickly succumbed to a wave of sleepiness, her mind cluttered with a multitude of thoughts.
Before long, Altoria fell asleep.
...
"————"
The sound of wind.
A trendously surging wind.
Not a gentle breeze, nor a comforting spring wind, but a tempest so fierce it seed capable of blowing one away, of shredding consciousness to pieces.
Coming to her senses, Altoria found herself amidst such a storm, shaking all over, her skin lacerated as if by countless blades.
It was a windstorm of malice—sothing Altoria was all too familiar with!
"This scene again..."
A faint voice escaped Altoria, trapped in the storm.
It seed like a cry.
It seed like a groan.
The familiar storm of malice appeared in her sleep, tornting her, crushing her, nearly driving her to scream out.
But this had beco all too commonplace.
——"The world is a storm of malice."
This had always been Altoria’s understanding.
Each ti the malice of others struck her, she would witness such a terrifying storm, endure such ntal torture.
Countless tis she wanted to cry, yet she held back.
Countless tis she wanted to scream, yet she stopped herself.
Because Altoria knew that she had to endure.
Otherwise, in a world full of malice, she would surely break.
Endure!
Endure!
Endure!
The tiny fairy girl kept telling herself this as she walked through the storm.
Until a ray of light appeared within the tempest.
"...What is that?"
Altoria stared blankly at the source of the light.
It was a miniature sun.
The sun shone in the storm, expelling the darkness, purifying the malice, making the terrifying storm unable to get close.
"...!"
Altoria, realizing what was happening, dashed toward the radiant sun with all her might.
Before she realized it, the pain was gone.
Before she realized it, the storm was no longer there.
The fairy girl wept with joy, reaching out towards that bright day.
That night, the girl had the happiest sleep of her sixteen-year life.
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