Chapter 220: Deserve
"No, Lai. I won’t feed from your energy," Mineah firmly answered as Nikolai gently put her down on the warm water of the bathtub.
He frowned at her and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Feeding energy from a powerful entity is one of the signs that I’m cursed by the heavens. The insatiable and uncontrollable need for power will lead the cursed ones to bring about abominations and chaos not upon themselves, but to everyone around them as well," Mineah explained. "From that alone, it’s not advisable for me to do so. It’s also not good for me to feed on your energy anyway. I should do it through the elements around me, seeing as that’s the proper way to do it."
Despite her long-winded explanation, she couldn’t help but smile at how attentive Nikolai was being as he listened to her.
"So you already knew that and yet you continued to feed on me to save your brother," he pointed out with knitted brows. "You knew you’ve been compromising yourself and yet you still continued?"
"I’m sorry, Lai," Mineah apologized as she bit her lower lip. She then let out a sigh as she couldn’t help but ask, "Although, can I ask you a question? Is there nothing you should do for your family? For Ezme? For the Queen Mother?"
An uneasy silence settled between them as those two questions lingered in the air. Somehow, Mineah was hoping that Nikolai could somehow understand where she was coming from. After all, before she met Nikolai, her family was her everything, and she was willing to do anything, even sacrifice herself for them, without any hesitation at all.
"They are my life before I knew you... And now, you’re also a part of my family and my life. Again, I’m sorry, and as I promised, I won’t make any moves without consulting you first or telling you about them," she sincerely stated as she moved towards him for a hug. "I was wrong for keeping you in the dark, and I’ll make sure not to make the same mistake again."
Seeing her sincerity, Nikolai let out a heavy sigh before leaning forward to kiss her forehead. "How can we know when it’s safe to use the new energy awakened in your body?" he asked.
"I believe it’s safe to use so long as it won’t trigger my chaos. I can feel it. I think everything is up to me now on how I’ll manage the energy inside of me," Mineah explained with a soft smile. "My mother’s also been assisting me through this even if she’s not with me. Trust me, they’re working hard together with wizard Lurio to look more into my case."
She then gave him an awkward smile as she added, "I also believe that something similar to my case had already happened back in the past, and Valcrez’s library is the most reliable source to look and search for evidence of it. So, I’ll be asking for full access to the library."