Chapter 151: You’re not fully recovered yet. You should rest
Opehlia was already giggling with Luca over something Glimora had done—probably a failed somersault or a sneeze that sent petals flying—so they paid absolutely no attention to Cyrus or Isabella. The little group was caught in their own bubble of chaos, leaving the tall, quiet man and the worry-prone woman standing in an awkward-but-intimate standoff over fruit and wellness.
Cyrus tilted his head ever so slightly, watching Isabella with gentle amusement. Her expression had shifted from sweet to suspicious, and now it sat firmly in horrified territory.
She squinted at him like a mother hen who just found one of her chicks covered in soot.
Isabella’s eyes traced the subtle change in Cyrus’s expression as she noticed the odd paleness in his features. He looked... not quite himself. She blinked, taking in the stark contrast between his usual well-guarded composure and the slight slackness in his posture. He looked tired. Too tired, in fact. Pale.
Oh no, not pale—extra pale. The type of pale that could be mistaken for someone who had been living in a crypt for centuries. A crypt where the only food was, of course, crypt snacks.
"Oh good gracious, you’re pale!" she gasped, her voice laced with horror as her eyes went round. Her hand even flew up a little, like she wanted to dramatically clutch a fan but forgot she wasn’t in a historical drama.
Cyrus only gave her a soft, knowing smile as he raised a hand to wave off her dramatics. "I’m fine," he said, his voice smooth and serene, like he was some sort of unshakable mountain of tranquility.
But Isabella was far from convinced. The guy was practically glowing with a sickly radiance. She could feel the guilt blooming in her chest like a stubborn weed. Had she—had she—pushed him too hard? Should she have never asked him to purify the well alone? Maybe it had been a bad idea to let him strain himself like that.
She blinked, a tiny voice of reason somewhere in the back of her mind whispering to her, Since when do you care about someone else’s health?