Chapter 183

Her body had no strength. It felt like she was losing her mind.

'Why?'

It was the first thing that Aria thought of.

She wasn't that bad as before to suddenly collapse, almost like dying. Not yet.

'Maybe already....'

Has her death advanced?

It was frustrating. Because she thought at least there was half a year left.

'But that was just my wish.'

in fact... She had a foreboding for a long time that she might collapse and die without notice, even though she looked fine on the outside.

The confusion only lasted for a moment. She soon gave up.

She now felt sorry for Lloyd, who would bear all the burdens if she collapsed.

"…Aria, Aria!"

As Lloyd rushed to hold her, Aria recognized her surroundings belatedly.

She slowly blinked her shaky eyes.

Damn it, he swore while he held her and moved quickly.

It was the same when he met the doctor.

His words seemed to snap off. He couldn't quite understand what he was saying himself.

"There were no signs. Obviously, she had her check-up a few days ago, she was the same as usual…"

It seemed that the doctor did not know how this happened either.

"…Is it because of Valentine's malice?"

Lloyd, who looked rather grim, spoke first.

It was called a curse, and even though it was the malice that originated from God, no one questioned it.

He thought she would be fine. Everyone thought she would be fine.

Because it was none other than Aria who purified Valentine's curse.

As God's feeling passed through the Siren's blood from generation to generation, he thought it would not hurt her.

But maybe that was just his thoughts.

"Your Grace...."

Cuirre's words trailed off and he looked confused for a moment, then he shook his head for a moment.

"It's not because of that. The symptoms that Madam showed me before aren't showing up at all."

"..."

"For now, I can only see that her body has reached its limit due to the toxins that have accumulated in her body."

The doctor seemed to be unsure of something, but he made a diagnosis like that for now.

Lloyd didn't answer. But he could feel Aria in his arms.

He knew that she had just given up on the extreme thoughts she had in her mind.

The gloomy energy pooled in her and made her whole body become numb. Rather than embracing an open murderous energy, it was more of a destructive energy.

'I don't know exactly what you were thinking.'

He knew it because he had been with her for a long time.

And, it just broke his heart that she thought like that.

"It would be better to return to the Attis region as soon as possible."

Cure quickly made a decision. Even if she wasn't under the influence of malice, he was certain that her condition was unusual.

"Have you heard of the side effects from Young Madam? So, in the Eastern continent…"

"I don't think I understood it well either. Please elaborate on the point."

"...What?"

What does he mean by elaborate? A long silence surrounded them.

"That, I mean, that…"

While the doctor was sweating, Aria slowly felt that she was at her limit.

'Now I have no choice but to leave it to the sky.'

Fortunately, Aria's coming-of-age ceremony is in winter.

Ice flowers only bloom in winter. Although it's still early winter.

'Please, I wish the snowy mountains were in full bloom....'

Aria closed her eyes as she felt her consciousness gradually blur.

"I told the shaman to learn how to use the Freeze technique immediately at any time."

As Valentine's doctor had done the work ahead of time, the work progressed quickly.

As Cuirre explained, Carlin headed straight for the Gona Mountains of Attis with the two of them.

"Keep this with you."

He handed over the movement scroll to Lloyd, which has now become an almost necessity of life.

As they headed towards the center of the mountain range, the extreme cold of the north came.

At the center was a cave.

"Legends and all, there must have been a reason why no one has set foot here for so many years."

Carlin muttered, his head spun unknowingly. He spent years just finding this cave.

'The unknown energy surrounding the cave continued to hinder the search.'

The ice flower that freezes everything around it. It was no ordinary place where such ice flowers grew.

'I heard from Young Madam that there is an unusual energy in the Attis region, but....'

It was not enough with just a cold protection spell, so he covered his body with fire magic, but there was no way to stop his body from trembling from the cold.

"I'm sorry, but I can't seem to get in anymore."

Even if he is a genius shaman himself, it will be possible if he goes beyond the limits of human beings.

As he thought so, Lloyd answered.

"I'll be back."

As expected by Carlin, the Grand Duke, Lloyd was fine.

Even though Carlin was barely able to stand with his magic, it was freezing cold. If he had been an ordinary human, he would already freeze to death.

Lloyd added, handing over Aria that he was holding in his arms.

"Protect her well."

He was ready to kill Cuirre if Aria felt any discomfort.

"I'm going too."

At that moment.

Aria, who had lost her consciousness for a moment, murmured, her eyelids trembling. She gripped Lloyd's coat tightly.

"Aria."

Lloyd quickly cupped Aria's cheek.

At the tip of her nose, he breathed a small sigh, and then took her back into his arms, warm by his heat.

"If you get out of the cave anyway, the flower will melt."

"There is no definitive information."

"It's highly likely that's why it's been staying here all this time."

Lloyd, who was trying to make sure the inside was safe first, gave up quickly.

In fact, he didn't even have time to do that anymore. Because this was already an emergency.

Lloyd immediately ordered Carlin.

"Go ahead."

"I'll engrave the magic right now."

He laid out the items necessary for the magic on the floor, took out his brush, and quickly drew bright red characters on Aria's wrist.

It was because it will be the most effective when engraved on the spot.

"Is it alright if I just engrave the text?"

Lloyd, who watched it, narrowed his eyes and asked suspiciously.

"If you read the book and follow it, anyone can try it. Of course, there are very few who can withstand this technique."

Above all, in order to see the effect of the Freeze technique, two conditions follow.

First, they need to know how to manage their energy.

From Carlin's point of view, the energy of the Eastern continent was very similar to qi. Of course, digging into the details, it's completely different.

The shaman concluded that at least the source was the same.

"After you consume the ice flower, you have to continue to channel the energy throughout your body. As you know, the moment the flow stops, you will stop breathing."

And the second time she used energy, she had to endure the extreme yin and cold that rapidly accumulated in her body.

Without Lloyd by her side, it was a method they would not have even tried.

"If you don't use energy, nothing will happen. But it starts the moment you use it. Once you start, you have to hold on to the end."

No matter what happens. Carlin repeated it several times and insisted firmly.

"Then, I hope you're safe."

Carlin was afraid that it might get in the way, so he canceled all the layers of cold protection spells that he had hung on her.

Aria curled up in the cold for a moment, but that was all. It wasn't so painful that she couldn't even try to enter the cave.

"You're really going in."

Carlin muttered as he looked at the backs of the two people who had disappeared into the cave unharmed.

'As expected, though.'

Aria was just as unusual as Lloyd.

Therefore, she must give hope to countless people, including Valentine.

'How should I say this, I wonder if the ice flower is God's arrangement for the two of you....'

Carlin stiffened for a moment.

There was something he had been insisting on for a long time.

The theory that if one were to try to change the future, only new laws will be applied, and in the end, the world will inevitably return the same. The theory that each person has their own destiny and cannot go against rules and providence.

But Aria shattered his theory.

All fate was reversed and twisted.

'I wonder if the world is leading the Young Madam to make such a choice....'

No, no. It was an absurd idea.

He shook his head tormented by the endless stretch of thought.

And he waited for Aria and Lloyd to come out.

The silver-haired knight barely lifted his feet from the large magic circle engraved with blood on the floor.

"Are you satisfied now?"

The blonde woman raised her head in a low murmur of gloom. As she chanted the incantations, she said with her golden eyes dazzling.

"Of course."