The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 228

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 228

 

A firm permission filled with certainty fell sweetly. What she had been desperately holding onto snapped. Instinct took over her entire body.

 

The monster frantically lapped up Lillieta’s magical power. Its thorn-covered front paws gripped her left hand and buried its nose into her palm.

 

Before long, the black smoke that had been seeping out from the black dragon’s eye sockets began to subside.

 

Rita continued producing magical power and breathed a sigh of relief.

 

‘Thank goodness. It doesn’t seem like it will go berserk.’

 

What wasn’t fortunate was that corruption was spreading madly up through her left hand.

 

She processed the Oath within her body into magical power and expelled it while simultaneously channeling it into her left hand to push back the corruption.

 

It was an impossible feat, and a foolish act like continuously bailing out muddy water without stopping the flow of mud pouring in. It was something that would make Sera faint if she saw it.

 

Nevertheless, she had no choice but to do this now.

 

‘Gid… going berserk would be more dangerous.’

 

As that state continued, her vision spun and something surged up from within. She thought it was vomit, but the metallic taste in her mouth suggested it was blood.

 

‘This is… a bit harder than I thought…’

 

As she swayed from dizziness, something slipped out of her pocket and fell with a thud. It was the pouch containing the moon bone she had received as a gift. A small bead rolled out from the open pouch.

 

“Ah.”

 

Before Rita could pick it up with her right hand, the black dragon, sensing something moving right beside it, instinctively pressed it down with its front paw.

 

Then the corruption that had been crawling up her arm suddenly stopped.

 

“Gid?”

 

The black dragon stopped eating and looked down at what it had pinned down. Soon after, black smoke explosively burst out from the black dragon’s entire body.

 

“Gid!”

 

Rita, terrified, reached her hand into the smoke. Her fingertips touched him.

 

Not sharp thorns, but smooth skin like that of a human.

 

‘…?’

 

Rita was bewildered by that sensation and froze in her crouched position with her hand extended.

 

Meanwhile, the black smoke surrounding the black dragon began to be sucked into one place. Into the tiny moon bone rolling on the ground.

 

Through the black energy that was being sucked in and diminishing, a familiar form became visible.

 

Broad shoulders, thick neck, an Adam’s apple protruding from that neck. Sharp jaw, neatly closed lips, straight nose bridge, deep-set eyes.

 

Long eyelashes cast under closed eyelids, black hair flowing down over a straight forehead.

 

Lillieta held her breath.

 

The beloved face half-wrapped in smoke opened its eyes. Golden irises reflected her.

 

Gideon.

 

Her mouth opened as she silently called his name. She was so surprised that no voice came out.

 

He too said nothing. Gid, wreathed in black smoke, just stared at her blankly.

 

Before this unbelievable miracle.

 

She recalled the last words they had exchanged before he became a monster. She remembered what she had planned to say when she got him back.

 

She couldn’t forget everything as he had wished, nor could she return to a time when she knew nothing, but nevertheless, the reason she had come to find him.

 

Something she wanted to tell him.

 

“Gi—”

 

The moment she opened her mouth, crack, the sound of something splitting was heard.

 

It was a very small sound, but in the quiet forest it was loud enough to sound like thunder to Rita’s sensitive hearing. She reflexively looked toward where the sound came from.

 

Small dragon footprints remaining in the pristine snowy field. The bean-sized ‘moon bone’ placed within them had a crack in it.

 

As it absorbed the black energy from Gideon, it emitted aurora-like colors and vibrated finely. In the dim forest shade, that light rippled like firelight reflected on water, coloring the surroundings.

 

‘This is, this phenomenon, could it be…’

 

Rita reached out as if entranced. But before she could grasp the bead, her body suddenly tilted. Due to the weight that was suddenly placed on her.

 

“Ah.”

 

With a short moan, she lost her balance and collapsed backward. Thanks to the accumulated snow, she avoided hitting the back of her head, but the cool, crushing sensation wetly soaked her neck and head that weren’t covered by clothes.

 

She lay on the white floor of the black forest and looked up.

 

A ceiling formed by tangled pointed coniferous leaves and bizarrely overgrown tree trunks, the mysterious light coloring that dim space in various hues, and clearly outlined in that light.

 

A man’s face.

 

“…”

 

Rita couldn’t continue speaking.

 

It was a strange feeling.

 

To simply rejoice that Gid had miraculously returned to human form, something bothered her.

 

Though he had become somewhat more upright and elegant with slightly changed iris color, it was basically the familiar face of ‘Gid Pascal’ she had seen many times. That familiar face of her 12-year comrade suddenly felt strange.

 

Was it because she had worried she might never see this face again? Was it because she had learned that he, whom she had been confident she knew well, had actually been hiding an unfathomable abyss from her?

 

Or was it because he was now looking down at her with an expression she had never seen before?

 

Gideon was expressionless.

 

Like a statue with no emotions or thoughts. His transparent eyes like gilded glass reflected the woman beneath him like a mirror.

 

It made her realize how gentle his expression had been when looking at her until now, and how full of life his eyes toward her had been.

 

It was strange. Both this situation where he was mounted on top of her, bearing his full weight, and the way he just silently stared down at her without saying anything.

 

The feeling that he wasn’t just ‘Gid’ but a man fundamentally different from her seemed to hit her anew.

 

“…”

 

Even though the back of her head and neck were buried in cold snow and her back was getting wet, she wasn’t particularly cold. Thanks to the warmth transmitted from him covering her above.

 

If anything, it seemed slightly hot.

 

However, being mercilessly crushed by his frame packed with solid muscle made her breathing gradually labored.

 

Finally, misty breath escaped from her parted lips. It mixed with the hazy breath flowing from him.

 

Breath. Breathing.

 

He was breathing.

 

He was alive.

 

He was.

 

Not in the form of a thorny monster, but in the form she knew.

 

Yes, wasn’t that enough?

 

Shaking off the sense of discomfort and subtle tension, she moved her hand. She tried to raise her left hand to cup his cheek.

 

He, who was crushing her beneath him, noticed that movement. With animal-like reflexes, he caught her left hand before it could touch him and pressed it down onto the snowy ground.

 

It was a similar motion to the black dragon that had reflexively used its front paw to hold down the ‘moon bone’ when it sensed it rolling.

 

“Ugh.”

 

Lillieta let out a small moan as the wound that had been bitten and chewed by the black dragon was pressed down. Gideon, who flinched at that moan, slightly lifted his hand that had been pressing her left hand.

 

“…”

 

He alternately looked at the red liquid that had wet his palm and the red color seeping into the white snow, then licked his palm as if to confirm.

 

Rita saw his brow furrow right before her eyes. After swallowing dry saliva, she carefully moved her mouth.

 

“…Gid?”

 

“…”

 

He didn’t answer. After tasting the blood on his hand, he turned his gaze to her tattered left hand. His head moved in that direction.

 

Was the monster’s appetite still not satisfied? Was he going to bite it?

 

Rita, who had reflexively tensed and stiffened her body, soon felt an unfamiliar sensation.

 

Something soft and warm touched her throbbing wound. Then came a moist sensation along with lapping sounds.

 

“…!”

 

Rita was startled and tried to pull her left hand away. Then Gid held her wrist with his bloodied hand.

 

Rather than gripping, it felt like he was pressing to hold it in place, so it didn’t hurt, but her wrist couldn’t move at all due to his strength.

 

‘It doesn’t seem like he’s using Oath either. Was Gid… originally this strong?’

 

She wasn’t sure since he had never used force on her like this before.

 

Bewildered, she turned only her head while lying in the snow to look toward her hand.

 

Gid was lightly holding her left wrist in place with one hand right next to her head, his eyes half-closed as he diligently licked the wound.

 

It was like the behavior of a wild animal. Thanks to that, the tension that had been building up completely dissipated.

 

‘His body returned to human form, but his mind hasn’t properly returned yet.’

 

If it were the him she knew, he would have attempted first aid as soon as he saw the wound. Not just lapping like a beast that thinks licking is the best treatment.

 

What kind of situation is this supposed to be?

 

A deflated voice naturally flowed out.

 

“Gid, what are you doing right now…?”

 

The lapping movement suddenly stopped, and he raised his head to meet her eyes again. His lips moved slowly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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