BTVF 22

Chapter 22

Vincent was confused because Aria’s blunt words didn’t match the rumors he had heard.

‘That indifferent, cold gaze… I feel like I’ve seen it in my brother before…’

He had heard that she had a cute, lovable personality typical of children her age.

Was ordinary charm completely dead?

‘I didn’t expect her to have this kind of personality.’

Vincent couldn’t shake the feeling that she was unusually rude only toward him.

“So, what do you think your duties are, sister-in-law?”

[Protecting my people.]

It was an answer without hesitation.

Vincent was momentarily at a loss for words.

It was something he would only expect to hear at a knightly oath ceremony.

Without waiting for a response from Vincent, Aria threw all the cards she had just written into the fireplace.

When the time came for her to reveal her abilities, it would certainly be for the sake of that person.

Aria had recently developed a small hobby.

It was wandering through the garden while waiting for letters from Sabina.

How long had she been doing this?

She only smiled brightly after spotting a carrier pigeon flying with wings fully spread in the distance.

‘Wow, a letter…! …Or not.’

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a letter.

Sometimes the letter came, but at times Sabina only tied a flower to the pigeon’s beak.

‘When Sabina doesn’t even have the energy to write a letter.’

Aria raised her hand with a worried expression.

She fed the pigeon that had landed on her arm.

‘I have a feeling another difficult time is coming soon.’

The intervals between flowers had grown shorter.

Even when receiving a beautiful flower she had never seen from Sabina, her mood felt somewhat gloomy.

While she was gently stroking the pigeon’s head, it suddenly cooed and flapped away.

‘What…? Suddenly.’

Aria turned her head in surprise.

In the distance, Lloyd and his jaguar were strolling along.

The boy’s brows furrowed noticeably when he spotted Aria.

‘Is he going to try to chase me out again?’

But since they had already made eye contact, there was nothing she could do.

Aria patiently waited for the cautious Lloyd to approach first.

Unlike its master, his jaguar approached her without hesitation.

‘Hello.’

A black jaguar.

A striking creature covered entirely in black fur.

‘It’s the same color as Lloyd’s hair.’

Aria reached out to pet its head.

But the jaguar avoided her hand and circled around.

Unlike the wolves that would crash into her and wag their tails, this jaguar never approached first.

‘Why does it come close but avoid my touch?’

It nudged her lightly, and when she reached out again, it stepped back.

‘What does it want me to do?’

Aria decided to leave it alone and let it behave as it wished.

By then, Lloyd had leisurely approached her.

“I’ve heard you’ve never used the Grand Prince’s authority I gave you.”

“…….”

“You no longer have that authority.”

Aria simply nodded, as if she had never desired it anyway.

Lloyd twitched his brows.

“Hah. If you want to be driven out with nothing, not even a place to stay or a single coin….”

He muttered under his breath.

At that moment, Aria’s casually extended hand was swatted by the jaguar’s paw.

‘Ah.’

She looked down at her wrist, which was throbbing more than she expected.

If it had hit properly, her bones might have broken, but luckily she had only bruised it.

When she lifted her head, she was surprised to see Lloyd standing right in front of her without any warning.

“…….”

Perhaps because he was backlit, his face was shadowed, giving him an unusually fierce look.

The boy’s eyes glimmered sharply from the darkness.

“Are you sane? Why would you touch a predator like that…!”

He nearly shouted in anger but sighed and rubbed his face.

Suppressing himself, he murmured quietly.

“Give me your wrist.”

Aria obediently extended her hand as if granting permission.

She offered no suspicion or resistance.

Seeing her so defenseless seemed to twist something inside Lloyd, but for now, he carefully inspected her wrist.

“You’re doing all sorts of things.”

It wasn’t broken, but it had already turned red and swollen.

For someone from the Valentine estate, minor injuries like this would heal quickly, but for Aria, it would be different.

Lloyd took a dagger from his chest, trimmed some twigs to make a splint, and tore the end of his shirt to wrap it around her wrist.

‘Isn’t this excessive for a minor injury?’

Aria thought internally but didn’t say it aloud.

Lloyd handled her wrist as if it were a fragile glass bowl and brusquely asked,

“Is this one of your little tricks?”

Aria tilted her head.

―Trick?

“You could get hurt if I try to drive you out.”

―Why is that a trick?

“Is it a trick to make me care about you?”

―You… care?

“…….”

Lloyd pressed his lips together, looking like he had trapped himself.

After a brief moment of slowly blinking his dark eyes, he released her wrist and gestured toward the infirmary.

Clearly indicating that she should get it treated there if she wanted to avoid further conversation.

The splint stayed in place, and it didn’t hurt much, even when she pulled her hand back.

“When you’re fully recovered, leave for real this time.”

Aria stared at Lloyd intently.

‘What is he thinking?’

It seemed he was brooding over something unpleasant, and she couldn’t help but ask.

She quietly moved her lips.

―The jaguar looks like its master.

“What do you mean?”

She meant it literally.

But Lloyd didn’t seem to understand at all.

He looked puzzled, as if thinking, How could a human resemble an animal?

Aria shook her head as if it were nothing.

Aria started humming lightly.

The Siren’s songs were divided into seven main types.

Of course, if broken down further, there were countless subtypes.

She began to sing them one by one.

The Song of Life, Song of Peace, Song of Captivation, Song of Deep Sleep, Song of Oblivion, Song of Healing, and Song of Destruction.

“Ugh…!”

For the other songs, she could handle one or two without special training.

But as soon as she tried the Song of Healing or the Song of Destruction, her body burned painfully from within.

Even without singing properly.

“Huff, huff.”

She fell to the floor, clutching her chest and catching her breath.

‘No improvement at all.’

Her body still couldn’t endure it.

Now she was eating well and exercising regularly, but progress was minimal.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t improved, but it was shamefully slow.

‘It’s no wonder.’

She followed the methods she used in her previous life: trapped in a room, singing until her voice hoarse and broken.

‘If I practice steadily, I’ll be able to do it again eventually.’

It was certainly a crude method.

But she had no other way—she had never received proper training from Count Cortez.

With this approach, she would eventually succeed, but the question was when.

In her past life, she reached mastery at fourteen.

Even with effort, she might shorten it by about two years—but that was still too late.

‘There must be a more efficient way.’

A method to drastically awaken the latent potential stored in her memory over a short period.

“Ah!”

Lying on the floor with eyes closed, lost in thought, Aria suddenly sat upright.

‘The illusionary barrier!’

It existed here in the Valentine estate.

She recalled the barrier she had seen at the entrance to the Ingo Mountains.

The person who created that barrier had mastered the handling of energy to a significant degree.

‘Energy is the same in essence, even if its type differs per person.’

The method should be similar.

‘I might at least get a useful hint from them.’

Aria immediately left the library.

She intended to find out who had created the barrier at the mountain entrance.

‘But what kind of energy do they use? It was an unfamiliar type.’

She pondered.

In the Pineta Empire, the most common energies were Divine Power and Mana, but many others existed.

Minor races like the Sirens also manipulated magical energy.

At that moment, while she was lost in thought at the library entrance, a man leaving the library accidentally bumped into her.

“Ah!”

He cried out in surprise.

Although the contact was light, he dropped the documents he had been carrying.

Aria rubbed her aching arm and glanced at the papers fluttering to the ground.

The Siren’s sharp senses were not limited to hearing.

She instantly absorbed the tiny, meticulous writings with her eyes.

Her eyes widened instantly.

‘This is…’