Chapter 192: The Pale Green Ring

Chapter 192: THE RING THAT DOES NOT NEED TO BE SEEN

Felyn’s room was at the end of the second-floor hallway, where the window overlooked the lavender garden.

Erik knocked twice.

"Come in."

The room’s lights were off. Felyn did not need lights. Only moonlight cast a pale silver hue over the bed, the carved wooden markers indicating each corner of the room, and the girl sitting by the windowsill.

Felyn wore a simple white nightgown, her legs drawn up, the blindfold still covering her eyes.

"I thought you were asleep already," Erik said.

"I was pretending." Felyn smiled faintly. "Elowen carried me upstairs, and I could not bear to wake up. It was so warm in her arms."

Erik laughed softly, pulled a wooden chair closer, and sat beside her.

Felyn tilted her head toward him, as though listening to his breathing.

"You have something you want to say." She said it. It was not a question.

"How did you know?"

"You sat down without saying anything. You only do that when you are thinking of how to begin."

Erik fell silent.

Then he took a small velvet-covered box from his breast pocket.

He opened it. Inside was a slender silver ring, without elaborate engraving, bearing only a small pale green gemstone like the first leaf bud of spring.

"This is something I have wanted to do for a long time." His voice grew lower. "It is just..."

He did not finish the sentence.

It was just that she would not be able to see it.

Would not see the pale green gem he had spent so long choosing. Would not see the silver gleaming beneath the moonlight. Would not see his face when he opened the box, foolish and nervous like a teenage boy.

Felyn did not ask what he meant by "it is just."

She only reached out, feeling through the air until she touched his face.

Her slender fingertips, bearing a few thin calluses from having to replace eyes to perceive the world, slowly traced across his forehead. Across his furrowed brows. Across the bridge of his nose. Across the corners of his tightly pressed lips.

As though reading a page that only she could read.

"You are frowning," she whispered. "Your lips are pressed together too. Is something worrying you?"

Erik took the hand resting on his cheek.

"I have been looking into the Lord of Seasons."

The fingers in his palm stiffened slightly.

"I know you are keeping something to yourself," he said slowly. "The times you go silent and look toward somewhere far away, even though your eyes cannot see anything. The times someone mentions the four seasons, and your hand tightens slightly."

He gently squeezed her hand.

"I will not force you to tell me. I just do not want you to carry it alone."

Felyn was silent for a long time.

Then she smiled faintly. A smile so light, so gentle, like a petal touching the water’s surface.

"You say that I am carrying things alone." Her other hand rose and rested on his chest, right where the guiding mark lay beneath his clothes. "What about you?"

Erik froze.

"I cannot see, but I can hear," Felyn said. "I hear you sighing every night when you think no one notices. I hear your footsteps pacing the hallway at midnight. I hear your voice change whenever someone mentions Runi, the Council, or the dome."

Her finger tapped lightly against his chest, beat by beat, as though counting his heartbeat.

"You came home today, and your voice was heavier than yesterday. Tonight, you laughed with everyone, but your laughter always stopped one beat too early." She tilted her head. "You are carrying many things alone too, do you know that?"

Erik could not answer.

He had never told anyone about Winter beneath the tower, about what had just happened in the corner of the garden, about the nights he lay awake counting how long the dome could still hold.

Yet this girl who could not see anything had seen all of it.

He slowly lowered his head and rested it in her lap.

Felyn was slightly startled. Then her arms wrapped around him, fingers slipping into his black hair, gently stroking it bit by bit.

Neither of them said anything more.

Erik closed his eyes and let himself sink into that warmth.

Then he sat up and took her left hand.

He did not say, "Do you agree?" He did not kneel. There were no flowers, no candles, no people standing around clapping.

He knew Felyn did not like noise. She liked quiet mornings, the sound of wind passing through curtains, and holding hands as they walked slowly step by step. So he chose this quietness.

The cold silver ring slid over her knuckle and stopped on her ring finger.

A perfect fit.

Felyn froze.

Her other hand slowly rose, searching until it touched the ring. Tracing the slender silver band. Touching the small gem. Then lingering there for a long time, as though trying to engrave every detail of it into her fingertips.

Beneath the blindfold, a tear quietly seeped out.

"...What color is it?"

"Pale green. Like the first leaf bud of spring."

Felyn pressed her lips together. She smiled, but her voice was choked.

"You have put it on me now." She spoke softly. "You are not allowed to regret it later."

Erik laughed. He leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers.

"You are the one who is not allowed to regret it. Once it is on, I will not let you take it off."

"Idiot..."

Felyn searched for his face with both hands and pulled him closer.

Then her lips found his.

...

Outside the hallway, Felyn’s door was not fully closed.

Three people stood in the darkness. No one had arranged to meet. Each of them had their own reason to pass through the second-floor hallway at midnight, and all three had stopped before that gap in the door.

"A ring..." Laviana murmured. The teasing smile that usually sat on her lips had disappeared. "He... put a ring on that girl?"

Meira did not answer. Her hand gently tightened around the hem of her clothes.

In this world, men did not put rings on Succubi. They chose, they commanded, they bound them with devices and pens. A Succubus belonged to a man like an object belonged to its owner. And no one put a ring on an object.

"He did this for me," Meira whispered. "And for Elowen too. I thought I would get used to it after seeing it one more time." She shook her head faintly. "Yet I still cannot get used to it."

"No command. No device. They do not even have a Contract yet." Laviana spoke slowly, as though counting each thing. "Only a ring, for a girl who cannot even see it." A very quiet laugh escaped her, sounding almost helpless. "In my entire life, I have never seen a man do something like that."

Elowen stood silently between the two of them.

She looked at the ring on Felyn’s finger, at the trembling fingers tracing the slender silver band. She remembered the day he had put a ring on her. Remembered that unbelievable feeling, as if for the first time in her life, someone had seen her as a person rather than something to own.

"Felyn asked what color it was," she said softly, her voice calm but tender. "And he answered as though it were the most important question in the world."

She was not jealous. She only felt warmth spread through her chest, as though she had just witnessed something very beautiful.

Then the soft rustle of fabric came from inside the room.

No one turned away. Meira swallowed softly, her green eyes fixed upon the gap in the door, her tongue unconsciously sliding across her lower lip. Laviana narrowed her eyes slightly, glanced at her, and one corner of her lips rose.

"...It is starting."

Elowen lowered her gaze slightly. She intended to turn away. But her feet did not move.

...

Moonlight spread across the bed like silver silk.

Felyn could not see anything. So she touched.

Her fingertips read every contour of him as though reading a poem written in braille. His broad shoulders. His collarbone. The faint scar on his right arm, where she paused for a long time before gently pressing her lips to it, as though soothing an old pain. Every place she touched was like a flower petal falling there, warm and trembling.

"I want to remember you," she whispered. "Remember you with my hands. Because I cannot see."

Erik took that hand and pressed it against his chest, letting her hear his heart beating wildly because of her.

Then he leaned down and kissed the blindfold over her eyes. Kissed the damp lashes behind the cloth. Kissed the ring on her finger. Kissed down her neck, to her bare shoulder, slowly like a traveler setting foot in a land of spring for the first time, afraid of crushing a single flower bud.

The white nightgown slipped down, like morning mist dissolving over a field.

Felyn trembled slightly. Not from cold. She pulled him down and pressed close, as though wanting to completely melt into that warmth.

The night wind passed through the window, lifting the thin curtain before letting it fall. Lifting. Falling. At first, very slow, very soft, like the first drops of rain tapping upon a lake. Then thicker. More urgent. Like spring rain pouring over a dry field, making every flower bud tremble as it bloomed.

Felyn arched her body, her fingers clutching his shoulders tightly, leaving pale pink marks. The silver ring pressed against his skin, cold at first, then growing warmer, warmer, until it was hot like her own body.

"Erik..."

His name broke into small fragments on her lips, falling onto the pillow like petals.

...

Outside in the hallway, none of the three spoke anymore.

Meira pressed close to the crack in the door, her hot breath falling over the wood. Her face was flushed, but not from embarrassment. Her green eyes had grown hazy and damp. One hand lightly tugged at the silver ring on her collar, as though imagining someone holding the end of the chain. Her thighs pressed tightly together, slowly rubbing against each other. "He has never been this slow with me..." she whispered, her voice turning hoarse. "Next time... I want it like that too."

Laviana leaned close to the gap in the door, her snake tongue extending and trembling in the air, as though tasting the sweet warmth spilling from the room. Her breathing grew heavier.

"Twenty-three minutes," Laviana said quietly, though it was unclear to whom.

Elowen blinked softly.

She remembered her own first time. Like being swept away in a flood, like her whole body was burning from the inside out, and within mere minutes she no longer knew what was sky or earth. She did not say it aloud. She only quietly raised a hand to her chest, where her heart was beating a little faster.

Laviana glanced at Meira, one corner of her lips rising. "I recall someone only lasted five minutes her first time."

Meira did not turn around, her voice indifferent. "Five minutes the first time. But that night, I wanted him until morning. And you only lasted seven minutes."

"Seven minutes was already a record." Laviana shrugged. But her blue eyes remained fixed on the crack in the door, and this time, there was no teasing left in her voice. "It is not that the girl is enduring it well. It is something inside her... responding to him."

Elowen frowned slightly and turned to look at her. But Laviana said nothing further.

Just then, a whisper drifted from the room. Not a moan. It was Felyn’s voice, trembling, broken, soft as breath:

"Erik... do not go anywhere... do not leave me alone again..."

Outside in the hallway, no one laughed anymore.

Meira’s hand fell away from her collar. Elowen closed her eyes slightly, and the corners of her eyes suddenly burned. Laviana silently withdrew her tongue.

The three of them stood still in the darkness, listening as the spring rain inside that room rose to its peak.

...

Then everything reached its peak.

Erik held her tightly, pressed his forehead to hers, whispered, "I am here," and gave her everything he had. Not holding back even a little. Like spring rain pouring entirely onto dry earth after a long winter.

At that very moment, Felyn’s lower abdomen lit up.

Her Succubus Mark emerged, more radiant than any mark he had ever seen. Each pattern spread like young branches reaching outward, like flower buds blooming, the light flooding the entire room and driving away the moonlight.

On Erik’s chest, the guiding mark grew warm as well. A spring flower petal within the wreath of four seasons suddenly blazed brightly, as though it had heard its own call.

Then, in the midst of that light, chains appeared.

From nowhere. They were thin as threads, black as ink, reaching from every direction to form a dense web over the glowing Succubus Mark. Loop by loop, they tightened. The blossoming patterns were forced to shrink back. The light was strangled bit by bit.

A notification panel appeared before Erik’s eyes.

[Awakened Succubus Mark detected.]

[Initiating Contract formation...]

[Warning: The mark has been sealed by an unknown source of power.]

[Contract formation failed.]