Reborn After Betrayal: The Frail True Princess Decides to Give Up

Chapter 223 : Falling Sick with Fever Again

Noticing Ariel's expression, Celitia was very puzzled: "What's wrong?""Nothing," Ariel shook her head at her. "I'm leaving."

Watching Ariel's hurriedly departing figure, Celitia was momentarily speechless.

Probably Ariel was still bothered by what happened earlier.

She was the one who said Ariel was Ariel first, and she was also the one treating her as the church's Saintess.

Why were people always so contradictory?

If only worldly matters could be simpler.

Unconsciously, a faint bitter smile appeared on Celitia's lips.

Parting from Ariel, the three returned to the village.

When they left it was afternoon; when they returned it was already evening.

The sunset had completely sunk below the horizon, and the sky was about to turn completely dark.

"Lily! Benita!"

Shanie's calling voice came from not far away.

Seeing the two figures, Shanie shot toward them like a rocket.

"My goddess, where on earth did you go? How is it that when I woke up, both of you had disappeared?!"

Running to their side, Shanie grabbed one in each hand, holding onto Celitia and Benita and not letting go, her cheeks flushed red from running, gasping for breath.

"Mom said you went strolling around the village, but I searched for ages and couldn't find you!"

Shanie spoke rapidly like machine gun fire. "I just asked around and someone said they saw you heading toward the village ruins. That place is supposedly haunted—what did you go there for? Were you trying to catch ghosts??"

Having searched for so long without finding them, Shanie was truly anxious.

If something happened to the friends she had invited to play while she was sleeping soundly, Shanie would never forgive herself for the rest of her life.

Seeing the sweat on Shanie's face from worry, Celitia quickly comforted her:

"Something did happen. We'll tell you slowly on the way back. For now, let's first send Granny Monica home."

"Granny Monica?"

Only then did Shanie notice Monica beside Benita, looking completely bewildered.

Hadn't they just had an argument this morning, when Monica almost came to blows? How did they end up strolling together this afternoon?

"I'm sorry," Monica said hoarsely. "It's all because of me that I dragged the two young ladies into trouble..."

"What exactly happened?"

Shanie tilted her head, then broke into a smile. "Anyway, it's good that you made up. I knew Lily is so kind that Granny Monica would definitely understand her!"

Finally sending Monica home, amid her repeated thanks, the three left her house and finally set out on the journey back.

Along the way, Celitia picked out the key points and told Shanie about what happened in the dreamscape.

The more Shanie listened, the wider her mouth opened, her eyes gradually becoming rounder than almonds:

"What? So much happened and I missed all of it??"

Recalling those two bizarre dreams of Ariel's and Benita's, Celitia suppressed her laughter and said:

"Not going was a good thing. Otherwise, having beautiful dreams followed by nightmares, who knows how terrible you'd feel when you woke up."

Shanie pouted unhappily: "That's still better than nothing! I know what my beautiful dream would be—definitely having tons of delicious food and fun things, then making lots of like-minded friends!"

Shanie rubbed her chin, thinking for a long time.

"But what would the nightmare be? I can't quite imagine..."

"The nightmare would probably be..." Celitia paused slightly, "forcibly taking away the most precious thing from your hands."

Shanie looked thoughtful.

"Then I think things are very good as they are now."

Shanie broke into a smile. "I don't need to gain more. Everything now is already precious enough to me—I don't want to lose any of it."

Celitia replied gently: "Yes, this is very good."

Though sometimes, when heaven wants to take something away, it won't reason with you at all...

Looking at Shanie's smile, Celitia just silently smiled along with her.

When they returned to Shanie's house, Judy had already prepared a table full of dishes.

However, Lake still hadn't returned.

"It's okay, Dad sometimes comes home very late, or even stays out all night."

Shanie greeted them. "Don't wait for him. You've been busy all afternoon and must be tired—eat quickly!"

Facing the table full of sumptuous dishes, Celitia had no appetite.

Forcing herself to eat a little, Celitia put down her knife and fork.

After completely relaxing, her limbs became limp and weak, and a wave of fatigue arose from within her body.

Forcing her body to accept dark matter energy was still too much of a strain.

Fortunately, the monthly "curse" episodes had improved her tolerance considerably.

Thinking of it this way, she didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse.

But her body had indeed reached its limit.

"Sorry, Shanie, Aunt Judy," Celitia stood up from her chair. "I'm a bit tired and want to rest for a while."

"Your complexion looks very poor. Hurry and rest," Judy said worriedly. "If you feel unwell in any way, remember to tell me."

Celitia nodded and pushed her dining chair back to its original position.

Just as she took one step outside, Celitia felt her legs go weak, and her whole body involuntarily began to fall forward.

Celitia instinctively grabbed tightly onto the nearest chair, barely steadying herself and leaning against the chair back.

Her other hand held her forehead, waiting for this dizzy spell to pass.

"Lily?!"

Benita in the chair was so frightened her face went white. She hurriedly stood up and supported Celitia.

"It's nothing..." Celitia tried to push her away. "I'm just... a little tired..."

Benita didn't believe her at all. While firmly supporting her, she reached out to feel her forehead.

Sure enough, she felt scorching heat.

"So hot! Lily, how did you get a fever?"

Benita was so anxious tears were about to fall. "It's all my fault for dragging you down. Your complexion has been poor ever since you woke me up."

Her physical constitution was really too poor—not being able to withstand that dark matter energy was one thing, but how could she even catch a cold?

Celitia smiled bitterly repeatedly, complaining about herself countless times.

By now she was used to it, but the people around her always made such a fuss, which made Celitia very uncomfortable.

"It has nothing to do with you, Benita. I probably just caught cold from being in that windy place all afternoon."

Shanie rushed over from the opposite side of the dining table and, together with Benita, supported Celitia on both sides.

"Stop saying such useless things and go rest quickly!"

Shanie was both complaining and blaming herself. "To let things get this bad—I won't dare invite you to play again next time!"

Celitia's head ached from their nagging: "Alright, alright, I'll go sleep right now. Is that okay?"