Chapter 971: Chapter 971: Artemis’s Time
Upon reaching the upper floor, in a spot where almost no one would notice him, Bell concealed everything about himself.
"Ah..."
His heavy eyelids sank almost instantly.
A ton of exhaustion flooded over him all at once, leaving his mind blank for a brief moment.
"I really couldn’t hide it from them."
Bell had always been fully aware that his condition wasn’t good.
It had been too rushed.
In the past, Bell had always advanced by taking steady steps, so even after leveling up, he could quickly adjust his state.
But this time was different.
Before even reaching five digits, he had fully accepted the ’Simulated Star Creation Chart’ and leapt straight into the four-digit range. If not for the interference caused by the ’Type-Moon System,’ the jump might have been even greater, and his body’s rejection far more obvious.
Rapidly crossing realms was never a good idea. Sometimes, advancing steadily was far better than skipping levels outright.
Unfortunately, Bell hadn’t had any better options at the time.
The situation had already been pushed right in front of him, leaving him with only one choice: to cross over.
’If I keep forcing myself in this state, my mind might start to waver. I really can’t keep pushing like this.’
Even an iron man couldn’t keep going forever while stacked with debuffs.
And in truth, Bell’s mental state had already begun to deteriorate ever since he started conquering the dungeon.
Although he rested after clearing parts of it, those breaks weren’t for restoring energy, but for adjusting to the effects of his leap into the four-digit range.
His actual rest time was practically nonexistent.
As a result, Bell was often not in peak condition during dungeon expeditions.
Even after fully clearing the dungeon and successfully advancing into the three-digit range, his state never truly improved.
Those three days of rest had been spent entirely on adjusting to the new tier.
To keep Hestia and the others from worrying, he had even used his own methods to hide his condition.
He kept pushing, kept enduring, but in the end, he still hit his limit.
With his hand braced against the wall, his eyelids felt unbearably heavy. This time, he needed a much longer rest. Otherwise, the fatigue he’d accumulated so far would never truly fade.
"Darling?"
Bell’s body stiffened where it leaned against the wall. Artemis had just stepped out of her room, and for a moment, she seemed stunned.
"Yeah, it’s me."
Hearing his reply, Artemis immediately snapped back to herself and hurried over, carefully pulling Bell into her arms.
"Darling, why are you this weak?"
Her voice was filled with worry and confusion.
In her memory, Bell had always been able to manage his condition well. He rarely ever showed weakness so openly.
"Haha... because boys tend to push themselves too hard."
"Mm... honestly, Darling."
That vague answer made Artemis puff out her cheeks slightly. But as she looked at Bell’s frail state in her arms, what she felt far more strongly was pain for him.
To force himself so much that he ended up like this—there was no telling just how far Bell had gone.
Holding him carefully, Artemis shifted her body and carried him into her room.
Still cradling him, she lay down on her side on the bed, letting Bell’s head rest against her chest. She used her body to support him, doing her best to guide him into the deepest, sweetest sleep.
"Huu... huu..."
Sure enough, once she settled him like that, she could already hear Bell’s steady breathing as he fell asleep.
Her hand gently stroked his hair.
"Darling, sleep well tonight, right here with me."
Though Artemis didn’t know why Bell was so exhausted, she understood one thing clearly.
Right now, he needed proper rest more than anything else.
A soft, pale white glow began to spread from Artemis’s body, gentle and luminous, like the moon in the night sky.
Bathed in that moonlight, Bell’s expression relaxed even further. This wasn’t ordinary relaxation, but the kind that only appeared when someone was sleeping beside a person they truly trusted.
That was simply the kind of person Bell was.
Watching Bell sleep soundly in her arms, Artemis felt her affection overflow.
"Ah, Darling is really so cute~"
If Bell were in perfect condition right now, she definitely wouldn’t be able to stop herself from wanting to devour him whole.
But for now, it was better to let him sleep properly.
With that thought, Artemis hugged Bell a little tighter.
...
While Artemis slept holding Bell, the other Artemis, resting in a different room, suddenly jolted awake.
"Hm?"
Although she and her other half were separated, they were still two halves of the same whole, sharing a subtle connection. Especially when one side’s emotions surged, fragments of what the other saw would inexplicably appear in her own vision.
And so Artemis saw it.
Her other self was sleeping on the bed, Bell’s face buried against her full chest, held tightly in her arms.
"!?"
Artemis’s cheeks instantly flushed crimson, and a strange thought popped into her mind.
’She’s trying to steal a march on me!’
That single thought made Artemis leap straight out of bed.
Even though she and her other half were fundamentally the same person, they had different ways of thinking, and both possessed an intense sense of possessiveness. After becoming two halves of one whole, that possessiveness had only grown stronger, almost as if it had doubled.
And whenever Bell was involved, it became impossible to suppress.
Normally, Artemis didn’t show it so clearly. But when it came to her other half, that possessiveness surged without restraint.
Just imagining her other self monopolizing Bell made Artemis knit her brows, unable to think about anything else.
So she acted.
There were many rooms on the second floor. Since Bell, Bell’s mother, and the two ’worlds’ were discussing important matters on the first floor, everyone had been staying upstairs.
But Artemis hadn’t thought about that at all.
’I can’t let the other me hog Bell.’
It was a bit love-brained, but that really was the only thought in her head right now.
Driven by that feeling, she quietly opened the door. Before stepping out, she carefully checked the other rooms, confirming there was no movement. Only then did she slip outside and gently close the door behind her.
Keeping close to the wall and lowering her footsteps, Artemis moved toward her other half’s room like a thief.
She carefully turned the doorknob and peeked inside.
And there she saw it.
Bell, held tightly by her other self.
More importantly, the two of them were lying together on the bed.
A sharp wave of jealousy surged up inside Artemis.
She hurried into the room, closed the door behind her, and quickly walked over to the bedside.
But once she got closer, her attention was drawn to Bell in her other half’s arms.
’His complexion doesn’t look good. He seems weak... and like he could wake up at any moment.’
’That’s strange. Bell... shouldn’t he be downstairs discussing things with the two "worlds"?’
This time, Artemis finally realized something was off.
When she looked again, she saw that her other half had already opened her eyes, even deliberately glancing at the empty space on Bell’s other side.
"Eh!?"
Artemis immediately understood what that look meant.
She desperately wanted to figure out what was going on with Bell, but seeing him sleep so peacefully, she couldn’t bring herself to wake him.
After hesitating and struggling for a while, Artemis finally sat down on the other side of the bed, her expression conflicted.
She carefully lay down, turned onto her side, and slowly edged closer to Bell’s sleeping back.
Closer.
And closer.
Until she was finally pressed right up against him.
