After getting off the ship, they returned to the main house in the valley.
Perfect time. Dinner is ready," Rina said with a smile.
pAnD a(-)n0ve1.com Everyone sat at the dining table, and soon, Elisa also arrived.
But when she saw Arkhen, she was startled, "Arkhen? W-Wow! What happened to you?!"
Arkhen smiled and nodded, "Nice to meet you again."
Elisa walked towards Cyrus, who was sitting at the right side of the table, and said, "Get up, brat. Let me sit here."
Cyrus wryly smiled and got up, causing Grace to laugh and others to shake their heads.
After sitting, Elisa looked at Arkhen with focus and grabbed his hand to check something, "Damn… what did you do in the past three months?"
"Nothing special. Just fought a lot," Arkhen said as he shrugged with a smile.
Grace, who sat at the left side of Arkhen, rolled her eyes. "He is not telling us anything aside from that."
"You look a bit energetic today, though," Elisa looked at Grace with a surprised expression.
"The medicine has started working," Rina said with a smile.
"Medicine?" Elisa raised her eyebrows. She knew medicine was just a ruse, but she didn't press forward seeing Rina's expression. "Well, it's good that it's working."
After eating dinner, everyone went to sleep.
Cyrus and Arkhen sat at the table with a bottle of wine in Cyrus's hand.
"Let's have some talk, Arkhen," Cyrus said with a smile as he made two wine pegs.
"Thanks," Arkhen said as he took the wine glass before sipping it a bit.
Cyrus also took a big sip before looking at Arkhen. "Arkhen, do you love Grace?"
Arkhen shot a glance at Cyrus before calmly nodding. "I do. But I know Grace needs to stay here because of the curse."
"Do you know why Twilight Priestess called us?" Cyrus asked.
"Why?"
"Because she finally found out about Grace's sickness," Cyrus said before laughing and shaking his head. "Truly, it's the most magical sickness."
"What is it?" Arkhen asked, and he also wanted to know.
"It's lovesickness, hahaha."
Cyrus chugged the entire glass as he laughed.
"She got sick because you were not in her life anymore."
"It's because she longed for you unconsciously. Deep in her, she was addicted to you. You were her habit. But after you left, she fell into pieces."
Arkhen was stunned.
"W-What…what did you say?" Arkhen's stammered while asking as his eyes and voice both trembled.
"She l-loves me?"
Cyrus wryly smiled while nodding. "But well, she needs to become conscious of that. However, all the things like the way she was brought up, this curse, her parents are preventing her from realizing that."
Arkhen put his head on the table and covered himself with his arms as tears fell from his eyes.
"I, I will free her from the curse and make her realize her feelings."
"Free her…" Cyrus muttered before he suddenly stood up in shock.
"Y-You… Is that why you were in Origin Nightmare Land and fighting crazily? You want... You want to destroy the origin of her nightmare curse?!"
Cyrus then slumped back on the chair before filling up a glass of wine and chugging it in one go.
"Crazy, but…" Cyrus looked at Arkhen, who was silently crying on the table, and felt like worshipping him.
…
The following morning, Grace woke up feeling better than ever before…
"Wow, the medicine is really working well now," Grace said as she stood up and moved her limbs.
"Don't make too much movement. Eat this first."
Lorail handed a bowl of the nutritional soul to Grace.
"But I am really feeling better," Grace said with a smile. "I can start training from today onwards, haha."
Lorail looked at her daughter's lively appearance after a long time and smiled.
"Training later. Today, you will go to the capital with Arkhen and meet others there. Go and have fun first. You've been sick for too long, so no need to start training directly."
"I wonder how is Maryl doing? She must have gotten more powerful than me," Grace said with a wry smile.
…
Arkhen and Grace left on the Steam Flying Ship towards the capital.
"They will be shocked looking at you, haha," Grace said with a laugh as she looked at Arkhen.
"But really, these hairs look cool."
She ruffled Arkhen's hair while smiling.
"Do it with both hands. It feels good, haha," Arkhen said with a laugh.
"Eh? Does that really feel good? I thought it would be annoying," Grace said in surprise before she used both of her hands to ruffle his head.
"Do it strongly."
"Humph, brace yourself then," Grace snorted playfully before she strongly started moving her hands to ruffle his head.
Seeing Arkhen's blissful expression, she got curious and stopped. "You try it on me. I want to see if it really feels good."
"Alright," Arkhen faintly smiled and nodded before putting his hand on her head and started ruffling her head.
He also did it strongly as Grace felt good and closed her eyes before nodding, "Dang, this really feels good."
After a minute, Arkhen stopped and said with a smile. "Want a hug? It will feel even better."
"You just want to hug me," Grace rolled her eyes but then stretched her arms and smiled. "But, fine."
"Yeah, just think of it as an early farewell hug since I will leave again soon," Arkhen said with a smile before hugging her.
"What?" Grace was startled hearing that he would leave soon, but the moment Arkhen hugged her, her body involuntarily trembled.
"T-This…" she spoke, but Arkhen tightened the hug as a magical feeling passed through her body.
Grace closed her eyes and got lost in this unknown bliss. It was as if various parts of her body were screaming in utmost joy.
"Arkhen…can you hug me more tightly."
Arkhen tightened his arms to hug Grace more tightly while her eyes trembled.
He also felt pure bliss in the hug and felt like saying hugged forever.
"Ahm…" Grace rested her head on Arkhen's shoulder as Arkhen tightly hugged her. She didn't know why she was feeling such bliss and was lost as she actually fell asleep!
Arkhen felt Grace's breath regulating and was surprised.' She fell asleep?'
But it was good for him. He also closed his eyes with a smile and continued to stay in this tight hug full of unadulterated joy.
After an hour, Arkhen separated from the hug and shook Grace's shoulders slightly. "Wake up. We've arrived at the capital."
Grace's eyes moved a bit before she opened them. Surprised, she uttered," Eh? I fell asleep?"
"Yep," Arkhen said with a smile. "We've arrived at your home. Let's go."
…
As they went to the academy, everyone was shocked upon seeing Arkhen with his new look and imposing aura.
He reached the same level as Instructor Klein!
Nobody felt envy anymore because Arkhen had gone too far. They could only feel admiration for him at this point.
After meeting instructors and fellow students, they went to the Royal Palace.
Vanis was always worried about his daughter, but he had to helm the empire. So, he was really joyous to see Grace again.
"Is it okay to come out like this?" Vanis asked in worry.
"It's okay, father. Arkhen received the highest blessing of Twilight Goddess, and his presence can suppress the curse during the day." Grace said with a smile.
"Anyway, where is Maryl?"
"She went to another town. Wait, I'll call her."
"No need. We will go to that town, haha. I want to enjoy today," Grace said with a grin. "Just tell us her location."
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m