Chapter 8

Time passed, one day turned into a week.

The world had remained dark for so long, but at last, a flicker of light broke through.

Veyna's eyelids fluttered open, her gaze unfocused and distant. The world around her was a blur. Before she could make sense of her surroundings, a sharp, unbearable cold crept through her body, sinking deep into her bones.

She shivered. It wasn't the kind of cold that came from winter's chill. It was something else. Something unnatural.

As her vision steadied, she became aware of two figures hovering over her. Slowly, their faces came into focus.

Her mother. Her father.

Their expressions held too many emotions at once- relief, sorrow, fear. And something else. Something unspoken.

They were looking at her as if she were no longer the daughter they once knew.

Later, she learned the truth.

The moment the words left her father's lips, the world seemed to crack beneath her feet.

Valerin is dead.

Her brother, who shielded her during the explosion, was hit directly by the mana. Sadly, he lost his life at the spot while Veyna who was wrapped in his arms, absorb a numerous amount of mana and magic from the explosion but it wasn't enough to kill her instantly. Instead, she has to suffer the long time terminal illness - the freezing heart.

Miraculously, her heart absorbed the mana without freezing instantly. That made her a passive magician. She has a mana heart with magic power but she couldn't even use it. It is more like, she is a living magical gemstone now.

At first, her mind refused to accept her brother's death. It couldn't be true. It shouldn't be true. But the grief in her parents' eyes told her everything. This was real. This was final.

A raw, broken scream tore from her throat as she clutched her mother's arm, her fingers trembling, desperate, pleading for this to be a nightmare she could wake from.

But no matter how hard she screamed, no matter how much she begged, the truth did not change.

Her beloved brother, the one who had shielded her, protected her, held her in his arms was gone.

A pain unlike anything she had ever known consumed her, twisting through her chest like cruel ice spreading through her veins. Her cries filled the room, her body shaking with the force of her sorrow. Even the tears streaming down her cheeks felt frigid, like frozen raindrops in the heart of winter.

And for the first time in her life, the cold wasn't just around her.

It was her.

Once Veyna had regained enough strength to stand, the funeral was finally held. It should have taken place days ago, but they had waited for her to wake, for her to be able to say goodbye.

Yet, there was another reason for the delay.

Valerin's body had not decayed. Not even the slightest. His corpse remained untouched by time, preserved in an eerie, unnatural stillness. The reason was clear: he had been entirely frozen by the overwhelming magic of the Winter Stone.

Veyna stood before him, staring down at his lifeless body.

His skin was pale as a wraith, drained of all warmth, all color. His hair, his eyebrows, even his eyelashes that once a deep shade of brown, the same as hers had turned white, like fresh snowfall beneath the moonlight.

And so had she.

The girl reflected in the funeral glass was no longer the same Veyna. Her once-rich brown locks had vanished overnight, replaced by strands of silver that shimmered under the dim light. It was an unnatural change, an unmistakable mark of something otherworldly.

Only fairies were born with such hair. Never humans.

The realization settled deep inside her, but she could not find the strength to care.

Tears welled in her eyes again, spilling freely down her ghostly pale cheeks. She was too young for this. Too young to understand, to endure, to lose so much in such a short time.

It was too much. Too cruel.

But even as she cried, something felt different. Before the incident, tears had always come with warmth and hot, overwhelming, desperate. But now, even in grief, her heart remained frozen. The warmth she once knew was gone, buried beneath the bitter, relentless cold that had seeped into her very soul.

Slowly, she bent down, her trembling lips pressing softly against Valerin's forehead.

A final farewell.

The last trace of warmth she would ever share with him.

Veyna's eyes fluttered open, her vision hazy with the remnants of sleep. The familiar weight of exhaustion presses against her body, as if she had been wandering through a storm in her dreams.

She exhales slowly, realizing she had dozed off on the sofa. The fabric beneath her feel slightly stiff, as if she had been lying there for too long.

A groan escaped her lips as reality came crashing back. It was the same nightmare, the same haunting memories that refused to fade. No matter how much time passed, they always found her, pulling her back into the cold, suffocating fate.

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the sight of someone's thighs, clad in black slacks, sitting beside her. The fabric was smooth, well-fitted, and the way the legs were crossed gives off an air of casual confidence.

Veyna's instincts folds in. Judging by the size and build, it is unmistakably a man.

Her breath hitches slightly as she caught movement just above her head. Long, slender fingers wove through her silver strands, twirling them idly as if playing with fine silk.

She remains still, her heart pounding in her chest. The sensation is neither harsh nor careless. There is something deliberate about the way he touches her hair, as if he are fascinated by it.

Slowly, she shifts her gaze upward, her body tense with both wariness and curiosity.

"Ah, wake up already?"

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***