Chapter 209 - 209: The Effort Alone Counts
Freya spread the scrolls across the worn oak table. The soft crackle of parchment broke the silence. Dust motes drifted through colored beams from the stained-glass windows, but she didn't notice.
Only one thought filled her mind. How to erase a curse.
She flipped through pages, eyes scanning diagrams of mana flows and ancient glyphs. Her fingers traced one symbol, her lips pressed tight.
Every time she thought she found a clue, the answer slipped away. As if the curse itself was mocking her.
"Another dead end? Not good enough."
She pushed back her chair, the legs scraping against the stone floor. She couldn't waste another second here. Not with another trial waiting tomorrow.
She didn't notice the figure watching her from the shadows.
*****
In his room, Jett struggled to steady his mana. Ella rested on his lap, her faint glow pulsing in rhythm with his breathing.
"Five trials left out of fourteen," he muttered.
"Rey thinks I might be targeted again."
"And I still can't get my mana control right?"
He exhaled hard. "This is driving me crazy."
A soft pop echoed through the room. A burst of light shimmered, and Ella suddenly appeared midair before tumbling onto Jett's lap.
"Yay!" she chirped, her tiny wings fluttering.
Jett blinked, caught between surprise and amusement. Ella looked up at him, tilting her head. "Mommy?" she asked, her voice curious as her gaze darted left and right.
Jett rubbed his chin, realizing he hadn't noticed Freya's absence. "Now that you mention it, she's not back from the library yet."
"Li… Bwy?" Ella tried to repeat, her tongue tripping over the word.
Jett grinned. "Awww, that's adorable. Yeah, library. She's probably still there."
He stood, stretching before placing Ella on his head. "She's been spending too much time there lately. Totally unlike her. And this never happened in the novel either, seems like a lot of things have changed but I can't tell if it's for the better." He sighed, then smiled. "Alright, let's go find Mommy."
"Yayyyy!" Ella squealed, clapping her hands as her laughter filled the room.
Jett strode to the door, hand reaching for the handle. Before he could touch it, the door flew open and slammed right into his face.
Thud!
Pain shot through his nose. "Ouch! That hurt," he groaned, clutching his face as blood trickled down.
"Keep it down. It's too late for you to be making noise," Freya said sharply, stepping inside. Her eyes softened when she spotted Ella.
Ella squeaked and leaped into her arms. Freya caught her effortlessly and held her close, stroking her tiny head as Ella giggled and buried herself in her embrace.
Jett lowered his hand, staring at the smear of blood on his fingers. "You slammed the door into me!" he complained.
Freya gave him a quick glance, unimpressed.
Jett frowned, wiping the blood with his sleeve. "A nosebleed? Of course. Damn world mechanics never make sense. 100+ in strength and durability is still paper," he muttered.
"Maybe next time, don't stand so close to the door," Freya said flatly. "And more importantly, not while you're holding her."
She pointed at Ella, who was now perched on her head, proudly chanting, "Li-Bwy! Li-Bwy!"
Freya blinked. "And what exactly is she talking about?"
"Library," Jett groaned, trudging toward his bed. "We were about to come look for you. You've been acting strange lately."
"Oh? You're worried about me?" Freya asked with a faint smirk. "How nice of you."
"Me? Worried? About you?" Jett scoffed. "Keep dreaming. I'm only worried about my roommate doing something that earns us a penalty."
"How blunt." Freya arched a brow. "So you weren't worried?"
"Of course I was," Jett blurted out, then paused. The hell? Why did I say that?
He cleared his throat and crossed his arms. "Anyway, what's so important you've been pulling all-nighters? Don't tell me you're studying. You don't even need to, you're already gifted."
"None of your business," Freya said curtly. She walked past him, expression unreadable.
She reached her bed, drew the curtain between their sides of the room, and sat down. "I had things to do. End of story."
Jett frowned. "It kinda is my business. That's the whole point of being roommates, you know."
The curtain stayed still. The only reply was the soft sound of Ella's laughter as she tumbled into Freya's hands.
"I don't see how that applies to us. You're not my bodyguard," Freya muttered from behind the curtain.
"Well, unfortunately for both of us, Asher would beg to differ." Jett's tone sharpened. "Hold on, why are you even mad? I should be the one annoyed. I have to look after you because you can't be bothered to tell me where you're going."
He clenched his jaw, realizing she could have simply contacted him through her ring.
"Just go to bed, Grift," Freya snapped, pulling her blanket over her head.
Jett sighed. "You're really going to be like this?" he muttered under his breath. 'What's her problem?'
Silence settled between them. The kind that filled the room too easily, broken only by Ella's soft breathing. Minutes passed. Neither moved.
Then, in a voice so quiet it almost faded into the dark, Freya asked, "You asleep yet?"
Jett rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. "Well, I'm trying to be," he said. Sleep was far from reaching him.
Another pause. Then her voice came again, hesitant this time. "Jett… what would you say about someone who did something to their friend which might have hurt them, without meaning to? And then tried to fix it later, even though that hasn't yielded any fruit. Do you think that friend would be angry if they found out?"
Jett turned his head toward the curtain, his expression softening. "If it was unintentional, there's nothing to be angry about," he said quietly, arms cross behind his head as though he had given up on sleeping. "If anything, they'd be thankful. It takes guts to fix something you never meant to break."
The room fell silent again. But this time, it felt different. Less tense. More fragile.
Behind the curtain, Freya didn't answer. She only pulled the blanket closer, eyes half open, as if holding onto his words.
"Hmm." He thought for a moment. "You ever had your console freeze mid-game because you pressed the wrong button?"
Freya didn't reply.
"You didn't mean to crash it, right? But you still feel bad because you messed up. Then you spend hours fixing it so it runs again. Once it's working, you don't hate yourself for breaking it, you're just relieved you fixed it."
He let out a small breath. "If someone's trying to make things right, there's no reason to stay mad. The effort alone counts."
Freya stayed silent. Then, quietly, "That's… a strange way to put it."
Jett smiled faintly in the dark. "Yeah, but you get what I mean."
Freya was silent for a few seconds. Then a soft scoff slipped through the curtain. "Only you would use a console analogy for something like that. You're such a nerd."
Jett raised an eyebrow. "A nerd? Really? I give you a perfectly logical explanation, and that's what you take from it?"
"Logical?" Freya's voice carried a hint of amusement now. "You compared emotional damage to pressing the wrong button on a toy."
Jett let out a tired sigh. "My bad. Next time, I'll dumb it down so it matches your IQ."
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah, sorry for overestimating your processing power."
Freya huffed. "You're impossible."
"Glad we agree," Jett muttered, rolling over. "Well, good night to you too."
He shut his eyes, forcing his mind to quiet.
Behind the curtain, Freya smirked faintly in the dark before whispering under her breath, "Nerd."
Jett didn't answer, though the small twitch at the corner of his mouth said he'd heard her. Moments later, the room fell silent, with Ella's soft snoring being the only sound one could hear.