Chapter 66 – Aurora

The girl was lying on the floor of the mental world, one arm folded under her body, blonde hair spread across the grass, fingers trembling against the earth.

Matt stood still for a few seconds.

At first he didn't understand what had happened.

Just a moment ago, she had been crouching with both hands pressed to the ground of the mental world, trying to reach something deep inside the soul bond.

She had been focused — eyes closed, expression so determined that even Matt had decided not to interrupt her.

That in itself was strange enough.

The blonde didn't usually stay quiet that long.

But then her body tensed, her shoulders rose, her back arched slightly, and she suddenly toppled sideways.

"What happened to you?"

Matt moved toward her immediately and crouched down beside her. The blonde tried to respond, but she coughed first.

Her body trembled again.

Matt looked down and tensed.

The veins in the blonde's arms stood out under her pale skin — not just in her arms. Also in her neck, her shoulders, her legs, and part of her abdomen that was visible because her mental-world clothing, as always, seemed to exist only when it felt like it.

The dark lines beneath her skin pulsed unevenly.

Matt frowned.

"That doesn't look good."

The blonde breathed with difficulty and raised one hand. The gesture was weak. Still, she held up her thumb.

"I'm… fine."

Matt didn't smile. The blonde noticed, because her own smile wavered slightly before she lowered her hand.

"Master… don't look at me like that."

"Then don't do things that end with you on the floor."

"That's not fair."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't. You do dangerous things all the time."

Matt went quiet. The blonde, even in that state, seemed to enjoy having said something he couldn't deny.

Matt let out a sigh.

"That's not a valid defense…"

"It is if I'm following my master's example."

"Stop following my example."

The blonde tried to sit up, but the moment she pressed a hand to the ground, her fingers trembled hard.

Matt placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Don't move."

"But I have to keep going."

"No."

"Master…"

"No."

The blonde pressed her lips together, clearly frustrated.

Under normal circumstances, she would have puffed her cheeks, made some absurd comment, or complained that Matt didn't trust her.

But right now she didn't even have the energy to do that properly.

And that made Matt more worried.

The blonde looked down at the ground, still breathing unevenly.

"It seems it isn't so simple to remove the modification the queen put into your blood…"

"Don't push it any further today."

The blonde raised her thumb again.

"It's fine. I understand a little better now how to get in. Next time I can do it more carefully."

Matt looked at her, she smiled.

It was a weak smile.

But a proud one too.

"Leave it to me, master. I just need to try again."

She lowered her hand and moved her fingers back toward the ground.

Matt reacted before he'd thought it through. He leaned toward her and wrapped his arms around her.

The blonde went completely still.

Her fingers hung suspended a few centimeters above the grass.

Matt didn't squeeze tight. He just held her against his chest to keep her from pushing herself further.

"Rest," Matt said, quietly. "You don't look well."

The blonde didn't answer. Her body kept trembling for a few more seconds, but then it began to relax, little by little.

Matt felt her slowly rest her forehead against his shoulder. Very slowly. As though she expected him to pull away at any moment.

But Matt didn't.

The blonde opened her eyes slightly.

"Master…"

"What?"

"You're hugging me."

"Yes."

"Voluntarily…"

Matt closed his eyes for a moment.

"Don't make it weird."

"It's already weird," she replied, in a teasing tone.

"Then don't make it weirder."

The blonde swallowed. Her body was still warm from the effort. Matt could feel the small tremors in her shoulders, her back, her arms.

"Uugh~"

Matt glanced down slightly.

"Does it hurt?"

The blonde shook her head gently, without pulling away.

"No."

"Then why did you make that sound?"

She took a second to answer.

"Because it feels nice."

Matt went still.

"What?"

The blonde lifted her face just barely, her cheeks a little red.

"The hug."

"Ah."

"What did you think I meant?"

"Nothing."

"Master."

"Nothing."

The blonde looked at him with suspicion.

Matt looked away.

"Are you going to keep acting like this toward me from now on?"

Matt didn't answer right away.

The question was simple.

That was the annoying part.

It was simple, direct, and too hard to answer without feeling like garbage.

The blonde didn't move. She just waited, still held against him.

Matt breathed in.

"You could say that, yes."

The blonde blinked.

"'You could say'?"

"I'm not good at this kind of thing…"

"Really?"

Matt looked at her and she smiled. This time the smile had more life in it.

"But I like you."

Matt frowned.

"What?"

"You."

The blonde moved closer to him.

Too close.

Matt felt her body press against his with more confidence. Her fingers curled into his clothing, and her face tucked itself slightly against his neck.

"Your hug feels nice."

Matt swallowed.

"You already said that."

"But the other way had something good about it too."

Matt went still.

"What other way?"

The blonde looked up. Her eyes — one red, one blue — shone with a kind of honesty that was frankly dangerous.

"When you were harsh with me…"

Matt felt his brain stop for a second.

"No."

The blonde tilted her head.

"No what?"

"Don't start."

"I'm just answering."

"You didn't need to answer that."

"But it's true."

Matt looked at her with a blank expression. The blonde kept talking with perfect calm, as though she wasn't saying something deeply concerning.

"When you gave me orders in that firm voice, when you pushed me, when you yelled at me because I did something wrong, when you used me until I felt like I was going to break…"

Matt closed his eyes.

"Don't keep going."

"Except when you ignored me."

Matt opened one eye.

The blonde tightened her fingers in his clothing slightly.

"That I didn't like."

Matt didn't respond.

The blonde lowered her voice.

"But the rest… wasn't so bad."

Matt looked at her and the blonde looked back. For several seconds, neither of them said anything.

Then Matt had a terrible thought.

A very terrible one.

Is she developing a taste for masochism?

The idea was so clear it almost hurt.

Matt knew ego-weapons weren't human.

Not entirely.

Their way of feeling, thinking, and bonding with a human was different. They could enjoy an intense battle in a way a normal person would find baffling.

Eleonora had explained it plenty of times.

Ego-weapons wanted to be used. They wanted to be pushed to their limit. They wanted to feel that their master trusted them enough to risk everything.

That was normal for ego-weapons.

But what he'd been doing with the blonde wasn't just fighting.

He had insulted her.

He had pressured her.

He had only given her attention when she was useful.

And now here she was, holding onto him, saying that some of those things weren't so bad.

Matt felt an uncomfortable chill.

No. I'm not thinking about this anymore…

The blonde watched him.

"Master, you're making a strange face."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No."

"You're thinking something bad about me."

"I'm thinking something bad about myself."

The blonde blinked, confused.

Matt looked down at her.

"I'm going to be gentler with you."

The blonde frowned.

"Why?"

Matt didn't answer right away.

Instead, he checked her condition. The veins weren't standing out as much anymore. The trembling had eased. Her breathing had steadied. Her color looked better too. The blonde no longer looked like she was about to come apart on the mental-world floor, which was a considerable improvement.

Matt decided she was steady enough to let go of. He moved his arms to pull back.

The blonde reacted immediately by pressing closer.

"Wait." Matt blinked. "What are you doing?"

"You didn't finish answering."

"You're better now."

"That's not an answer."

"You're too close."

"Master, that's not an answer either."

The blonde looked up and held his gaze.

"Am I unpleasant?"

Matt went still.

"What?"

"You always try to push me away…"

"That doesn't mean you're unpleasant."

"So am I or am I not?"

Matt let out a long sigh.

"No."

The blonde looked at him in silence.

Matt continued:

"You're not unpleasant."

She blinked.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"You're not just saying that because I'm weak right now?"

"No."

"Or because I'm hugging you and you feel obligated?"

Matt looked at her.

"If I felt obligated, I'd already be saying something much worse."

The blonde considered that. Then she nodded slowly.

"That does sound like you."

"Thanks for the insult."

"It wasn't an insult…"

"That makes it worse."

The blonde smiled a little.

Matt tried to pull back again, and again she stopped him. Not with force — with stubbornness. And unfortunately, Matt knew that kind of stubbornness very well.

Because he was the same way.

"Master."

"What?"

"Why is it so hard for you to deal with me?"

Matt looked down at her.

The easy answer was to say she was annoying.

Because she was.

Very much so.

Another easy answer was to say she talked too much, didn't respect personal space, was jealous, got distracted by anything, dramatized everything, and had an extraordinary ability to say things that made Matt want to walk to the nearest wall and headbutt it.

All of that was true.

But it wasn't the complete answer.

Matt looked away.

"Because dealing with an ego-weapon is hard."

The blonde went quiet.

"Hard?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Matt breathed in.

"Because I don't know what they expect."

"But I do tell you."

"That's exactly the problem."

The blonde frowned.

Matt went on:

"A normal person wouldn't tell you she likes being used until she's almost breaking."

The blonde opened her mouth.

Matt raised a hand.

"Don't explain that."

She closed it.

"A normal person wouldn't abandon someone else."

The blonde pressed her lips together.

"They started it…"

Silence settled between them. The blonde didn't press closer, but she didn't pull away either. She just stayed there, held against him, watching him with an attention that made Matt quite uncomfortable.

The blonde watched him as though every word he said mattered too much.

She looked down.

"I don't know what a master expects from me either…"

She looked back up.

"I… I just know I want to be useful to you."

Matt said nothing.

The blonde swallowed.

"When you ignore me, I feel like I don't matter…"

Matt tensed slightly.

"When you talk to me — even to scold me — I feel like you're actually seeing me."

Matt closed his eyes.

Damn it.

There it was again.

The guilt.

That annoying thing that wouldn't let him rest even inside his own mental world.

The blonde continued:

"That's why I like when you give me orders. That's why I like when you push me. Because in those moments I know you're thinking about me."

Matt opened his eyes slowly.

He looked at her.

The blonde seemed sincere.

Too sincere.

And that was worse than if she were trying to manipulate him.

Matt lowered his voice.

"That's not right."

The blonde tilted her head slightly.

"Why?"

"Because you shouldn't feel like you only matter when I'm using you."

The blonde went still.

Matt spoke before he could change his mind:

"And you shouldn't feel like my attention is a reward."

The blonde's eyes opened a little.

"But…"

"No." Matt cut in, firmly, though not harshly. "That was my fault."

The blonde shook her head quickly.

"No."

"Yes."

"Master, no."

"Yes."

"But I'm your weapon."

"I'm an idiot."

The blonde went quiet, not knowing what to say to that.

Matt let the air out through his nose. She looked at him for several seconds. Then, slowly, she rested her forehead against his chest again.

"Then…"

"What?"

"Are you really going to be gentler with me?"

Matt looked up at the empty sky of the mental world.

"I'm going to try."

The blonde smiled against his clothing.

"I like that."

"But you also have to stop doing stupid things."

"That… sounds hard."

"Then we're even."

The blonde let out a small laugh — the last thing Matt had said didn't quite make sense.

Matt noticed she had almost stopped trembling.

He could let go of her now.

But he didn't do it right away.

He didn't know why, and he preferred not to think about it too hard.

The blonde, for her part, seemed to notice his hesitation and settled herself in a little more comfortably.

"Master."

"Now what?"

"Have you thought of a name for me yet?"

Matt went still.

Ah.

That.

The name.

The blonde still didn't have a name.

Somehow, Matt had managed to descend into a death cave, awaken multiple weapons, escape death, argue with a resentful sword, deal with the queen, let Noxx take control of his body, and plan how to deceive an entire vampire royal family.

But he hadn't come up with a name for the blonde.

That said something about his priorities.

Matt looked away.

"No."

The blonde's head shot up.

"No?"

"I haven't had time…"

"Master."

"What?"

"That hurts."

Matt looked at her without expression.

"Don't be dramatic."

The blonde frowned, clearly offended.

Matt sighed.

"It's not that I don't want to give you a name. I've just been busy…"

The blonde listened in silence. Then she looked down slightly.

"Ah…"

Matt felt that small response land worse than any complaint.

"But I can think of one now."

The blonde's head snapped back up and her eyes lit.

"Now?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"You're not just saying that to calm me down?"

"Do you want a name or not?"

"Yes!"

The blonde looked at him with a mix of excitement and nerves.

Matt thought. It wasn't that simple. Noxx had chosen her name as a way of existing separately from Iris, and Eleonora… was a different case.

The blonde needed a name. Not just because she wanted one. But because continuing to call her "bow-lance" was a lack of respect.

A lack of respect Matt had maintained for too long out of convenience.

Matt closed his eyes for a few seconds and ran through several names.

Some sounded too elegant. Others too ridiculous. Others sounded like names the queen would choose, which disqualified them automatically.

Then one appeared in his head.

"Alice."

The blonde went still.

"Alice?"

"Yes."

She repeated the name quietly.

"Alice…"

Matt watched her.

The blonde didn't seem displeased, but she didn't seem convinced either.

"It's a normal name," Matt said. "Easy to remember. Doesn't sound like the name of an insufferable vampire noble. That's already a point in its favor."

The blonde considered it.

"Alice…"

"You could also go by Aurora."

The blonde went completely motionless.

Matt noticed the change.

It was immediate.

Her body stopped moving. Her fingers loosened slightly on his clothing. Her eyes opened wider.

"What?"

Matt raised an eyebrow.

"Aurora?"

The blonde stared at him.

"Say it again."

Matt blinked.

"Aurora."

The blonde swallowed.

"Again."

Matt looked at her with tired eyes.

"Aurora."

The blonde closed her eyes for a moment. Her cheeks flushed deeper.

"One more time."

"Why do you want me to keep repeating it?"

"Because I like how it sounds a lot."

Matt let out a sigh.

"It's just a name."

"No."

The blonde shook her head. Then she opened her eyes. The red and the blue shone with an intensity — excited, and far too honest.

"It's not just a name."

Matt didn't respond.

The blonde spoke more softly:

"I like how it sounds." Her fingers curled into Matt's clothing again. "And I like it even more coming from your mouth."

Matt looked at her for a few seconds.

Then he looked away.

"You're so dramatic."

The blonde smiled.

She was happy.

Just happy.

And that made Matt uncomfortable for a different reason.

Because maybe he should have done this sooner.

Much sooner.

The blonde moved toward him again and hugged him tighter.

"Then call me that."

Matt looked down at her.

She tucked her face against his chest.

"From now on, you can call me that."

Matt didn't answer right away.

Aurora tightened the hug.

"Master."

Matt closed his eyes for a second. Then, slowly, he returned the hug. Not much.

But he did.

His arms wrapped around Aurora's back carefully, without pressing too hard. Aurora tensed for a second when she felt it.

Then she let out a small laugh.

Matt breathed in.

"Alright, Aurora."

The blonde went still. Then the laugh came back.

"Yes."

Matt felt her trembling again, but this time it wasn't from pain. She laughed again and pressed herself closer to him.

In that moment, very briefly, both of Aurora's eyes turned purple.

Just an instant.

Then they returned to their usual state: one red, and one blue.

THE 4-CHAPTER PATREON MARATHON STARTS TODAY!

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Yesss! Starting today, I’ll be posting a 4-chapter marathon on Patreon, and I’ll be doing it for 4 days straight~!

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As for here, I’ll also be posting 1 to 2 chapters a day to make up for my absence.

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Seriously, thank you so much for your patience and for continuing to support me despite everything~~

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I hope you all really enjoy the upcoming chapters!

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