novelzi Chapter 30
Chapter 30
“Name?”
“Adele.”
“Class and contact information?”
“Class E, Year One. My contact information is...”
Adele dutifully provided the necessary information to the woman in the white coat, her gaze flitting around the small, cluttered office.
Once the formalities were out of the way, the nurse, her face adorned with a cheerful smile, turned to Adele, her voice brimming with a disconcerting enthusiasm.
“So, Miss Adele, what brings you to the infirmary today? What seems to be the trouble?”
Adele couldn’t help but wonder why the nurse seemed so happy to see a patient. Shouldn’t she be hoping for... fewer patients?
She hesitated, unsure how to answer.
“I have a slight fever,” she finally said.
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” the nurse exclaimed, her smile widening.
“?”
Adele’s suspicions grew. There was something... off about this nurse.
As if realizing her gaffe, the nurse quickly added, “I mean... that’s... something we can easily treat here at the infirmary.”
It was true. Besides colds, flus, and the occasional sprained ankle, the infirmary wasn’t equipped to handle much else. And vampires, being naturally resilient, rarely got sick. To have a patient like Adele, a vampire who had actually caught a cold... it was a rare occurrence.
And more importantly, it meant that the infirmary wasn’t completely useless after all. She could finally put her medical training to good use.
“...Thank you,” Adele said, relieved that the nurse hadn’t revealed herself to be some kind of... medical sadist.
“Don’t mention it, dear,” the nurse said, her voice warm and soothing. “I’ll prepare a tonic for you. Once you’ve finished it, you can rest in the next room until you’re feeling better. I’ll write you a note for your professors.”
“Just relax and take it easy for the rest of the morning,” she added, her generosity stemming from the novelty of having a patient who actually required treatment.@@@@
Adele’s eyes brightened. This auntie... she was alright!
Of course, if the nurse knew that Adele was mentally referring to her as “auntie,” she probably wouldn’t be so generous.
“And you, dear?” she asked, turning to Linlang, who was standing awkwardly beside Adele. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
Linlang blinked, her cheeks flushing as she shook her head.
“N-No, I’m just... accompanying her,” she stammered.
“I see.”
Linlang nodded quickly, eager to escape the nurse’s scrutiny.
The nurse bustled around the office, preparing a concoction for Adele. It was probably just a mixture of common cold medicine and some... unique ingredients from the world of the arcane.
Hopefully, it didn’t involve toad eggs or beetle scales...
But then again, those were often the key ingredients in arcane remedies, their properties and uses discovered through trial and error, often at great personal risk to the pioneers of arcane medicine and alchemy.
The mere thought of facing Adele, pure and innocent Adele, filled her with a shame so profound that she could barely breathe.
But that... that was nothing compared to the shame she had felt when she had wrapped her hands around Adele’s throat, her fingers tightening, her mind consumed by a jealous rage.
I was a fool... a monster...
If she could go back, she would change everything. She would never make that mistake again.
She would even... kneel at Adele’s feet, beg for forgiveness, lick her shoes... anything to atone for her sins.
But she didn’t dare. She couldn’t even bring herself to hope for forgiveness.
She was a rat, scurrying through the shadows, seeking refuge in the darkness, unworthy of Adele’s light.
Adele deserved a cat, a dog... not a filthy, disgusting rat like her.
Her heart sank, her spirit withered.
The silence in the room was broken only by Adele’s steady breathing and the frantic beating of her own heart, a rhythm that echoed her pain, her despair.
It was a reminder that she was still alive, that she hadn’t yet become a walking corpse.
But once she left this room, this space she shared with Adele... would her heart still beat? Would it still ache?
She had heard stories of vampires whose hearts had stopped beating, yet they lived on. She had never tested that theory, never wanted to.
But even if her heart continued to beat... without Adele... it would be no different from being dead.
An empty shell, a withered soul.
But even so, she couldn’t face Adele. Not now.
She had to escape while Adele was asleep, like a rat fleeing the sewers, seeking refuge in the shadows, no matter the cost.
She would rather be crushed beneath the wheels of a car, or stoned to death by an angry mob... than let Adele see her in this state, broken and defeated.
Tears welled up in her eyes, blurring her vision.
She reached out, her hand, scarred and trembling, slowly pulling the curtain open just enough to slip through.
She tried to be quiet, to avoid making any noise. If she woke Adele... she would flee barefoot, her shame outweighing her need for shoes.
She slipped on her shoes, her gaze fixed on the floor, her reflection a pale, ghostly image.
And then... a voice, soft yet clear, stopped her in her tracks.
Adele hadn’t been asleep. She had been watching her, her pink eyes, clear and unwavering, following her every move.
“Celeste...” she whispered, her voice a mixture of surprise, curiosity, and... something else. Something that sounded suspiciously like... concern?
Celeste forgot why she was running. She looked up, and there was Adele, sitting up in bed, her face pale but flushed with a faint blush as their eyes met.
Her lips moved, as if she were searching for the right words, the right expression. Then, she smiled, a shy, tentative smile that sent a jolt of warmth through Celeste’s heart.
It was a smile that had captivated her long ago, back when the world had seemed full of promise, back when she had believed in happy endings.
But time had passed, things had changed. She had accepted her fate, her humiliation, her unrequited love. She had given up hope.
And yet... her heart, which should have been frozen solid, ached with a longing so intense that it felt like it might burst.