Night Monarch's Cannon Fodder Bride-Chapter 37: Awakening of the Ember

[Calm down, Severine. Your anger will burn your life essence. You don’t want to die a stupid death, do you?]

’Who?’ Severine yelled inside her mind. Her crescent-shaped fingernails desperately clawed at the soft fabric of the sheets.

[Who else but you?]

The unexpected answer made her temples throb even more.

[I am Severine Vale, and so are you. But if you want to live, try to focus on the fire burning in your veins. And let it consume you.] 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

’Consume me?’

She had been desperately trying to erase the heat. The more she did, the hotter her chest became.

It was as if her heart was pumping lava and not blood.

Gritting through the pain, she did as the voice instructed, letting the burning sensation fill her every sense.

Anyway, it wasn’t like she had any other choice to begin with.

Then she saw it again—that familiar droplet of ember.

This time, it was attracting the tiny golden specks at a much faster speed.

[These are your powers. Due to your weak body, you couldn’t bear the impact and ended up fainting. Once all those scattered specks gather together, your awakening will be complete.]

The voice inside her mind sounded exactly like her, calm, but it held a strange kind of warmth.

Sure enough, the unbearable pain began to ebb.

Distant murmurs erupted. Something about drugs and blood and... burns?

What did I burn?

Her wet eyelids shut on their own. This time, she didn’t fight when the darkness consumed her again.

.

.

.

"Boss?"

"Boss, can you hear me?"

Dark lashes quivered, trying to open. But the weight that settled on them didn’t allow her the luxury just yet.

An unstable sort of headache thrummed under her skin, muddying her thoughts and leaving a faint, distant hum rattling in her brain.

Was it the morning or the afternoon? She could no longer guess.

The kidnappers, the chase, the forest... everything rushed back to her in torrents.

As events cascaded from the catalyst—the beginning of her prophetic dreams nearly half a year ago—that shattered her once amorphous days, Severine began to understand the enormity of her situation.

The prismatic instability of her frail life bred a seething unease. It was almost a punishment from God, a warning of sorts, for defying the will of fate.

And that voice...

She tried to call again, but there was no response whatsoever.

Oh well.

Slowly, her vision adjusted to the bright light, and she finally got a good look at her surroundings.

It wasn’t her room, nor was it the hospital ward she had expected to wake up in. Nonetheless, the scent of disinfectant still lingered in the air.

Beside the huge bed surrounded by various medical equipment, Samuel sat on a chair, anxiously waiting for her to wake up.

"W-wher—cough. Cough."

Her voice was much too hoarse to form a complete word, let alone a sentence.

That single sound had burned her throat.

Samuel quickly helped her sit, placing a soft pillow behind her back. Then he poured a glass of warm water.

"Here," he brought it to her scabbed lips. "Drink it slowly."

Gulp.

The warmth brought a slight sense of relief. Before she could ask anything, Samuel stopped her.

"Don’t try to speak. The doctor said your throat is injured from the drug."

Ah, so that’s why I can’t speak. Severine nodded.

The bandages on her body and her forehead felt an inevitable end.

"You don’t need to worry about anything for now. I’ve taken care of the important affairs and asked for leave from the academy."

She pointed to the IV clinging to her hand and then at her bandaged head.

As her assistant, Samuel was aware of her dislike for hospitals. So, he answered with an assuring voice, "You hit your head, but it isn’t severe. As for the IV, you might have to bear with it."

Severine stared at the long white gown covering her body. The scratch marks were scabbing, while some were already healed.

It was clear some time had passed since she fainted.

What about my parents? She wanted to ask, but decided against it. From the looks of it, Samuel hadn’t told anyone.

The young assistant stared at the pale-faced girl dressed in bandages and a gown too big for her frail body. A sense of pity rose in his heart.

She should be enjoying the riches and her parents’ love, not surviving such an ordeal with no one by her side.

"Your father," he said at last, "he asked about your whereabouts after you vanished from the party. I told him you have a meeting which might take a month."

Her injuries might heal in a few weeks. Then, she could use the rest of the time for recuperating before returning to the academy.

"W-who?"

Samuel instantly understood it.

"I apologize, boss. I couldn’t find any clue about the culprit." He shook his head. "When I received your message, I followed your location, which led me here. Then I find you’ve ... fainted."

I see. She hummed softly.

Worried that Damien might cause trouble for her, she had added a tracker to her watch and asked Samuel to remain on standby near the banquet.

Much to her dismay, her gamble had worked.

The moment she realised she was drugged, she pressed the diamond-studded button. Back then, she was still trapped in the guest room with her captors.

All her hopes hung on Samuel’s arrival before anything tragic could happen.

Luckily, those idiots didn’t throw her watch away.

"It’s been three days since you fell asleep, Boss."

Samuel had retrieved her purse from Austin while informing Mr. Victor of a fabricated emergency, though he didn’t dare tell his boss how Austin was clutching her purse in rage.

What a menace, he thought with a wry smile.

Austin’s past behavior wasn’t exactly gentlemanly, so Samuel first ran a test on the device. Only when everything was fine did he give it back to Severine.

His boss’s dislike for Austin was clear to all of the staff, especially to him.

Then again, who could blame her?

If he were in her position, he might not have just ignored Austin. He was sure to get into a fight every time they met.

Cough. Cough.

The sound startled the assistant into realizing that he seemed to have forgotten the most important thing.

"Wait a sec, boss, I’ll call the doctor right now."

Samuel rushed out of the room.