CH 240

What was happening with the water?’ At first, Cecile thought the vibrations resulted from the aftershocks from Estian and Ruin laying waste to their surroundings with gusto. However, when she took a closer look at the fight between the two men happening far off in the distance, she realized that it wasn’t the cause of the water’s abnormal vibrations. The water was shaking at a different frequency from the vibrations she felt transmitted through the ground.

‘Could it be the work of Richard?’ she wondered. However, when she looked to her side, Richard was engrossed with playing with his snacks.

Tossing another piece into his mouth, Richard exclaimed, “This time it’s caramel flavored!”

‘If it’s not Richard’s handiwork, then… what’s causing this?’ Cecile scrutinized the water in the cup a little more carefully. Had it perhaps noticed her staring? The vibrating water suddenly turned still. Cecile blinked, wondering if it had all been in her imagination. However, something even more surprising immediately appeared before her eyes.

A small droplet of water was beginning to rise up from the center of the cup. A floating drop of water? Now, this was impossible. Oddly, instead of reacting with surprise to this unrealistic phenomenon, Cecile merely observed it quietly. It felt like an extremely beautiful sound had rung in her ears—clear and clean.

Under her intense gaze, the water began to churn again, but with greater intensity than before. Soon, the liquid was rapidly spinning, as if there was a tiny tornado in the cup. “Oh!” Cecile inadvertently exclaimed.

As the water spun, she seemingly slipped into a trance. All kinds of images flashed past her eyes: an endless ocean, a waterfall cascading from a great height, a mountain valley, a small stream, and the night dew resting on the leaves of trees. ‘These are all images of the water around here.’ Cecile instinctively understood the images flashing before her eyes without anyone explaining it to her. At the same time, she came to another realization.

Raising a finger, she slowly moved it towards the image of the dew droplet resting on a leaf. Even though the leaf wasn’t in front of her and her finger touched nothing but air, a single drop of cold dew suddenly hung from her fingertip.

‘I can do it,’ she thought, as she stretched out her arms. Looking at the cup in front of her, she held her hands above it and the liquid swirling inside it immediately ceased its movement. One by one, droplets of water slowly began to rise into the air. Focusing on the phenomenon before her, she thought, ‘A little more.’

A mysterious sense of confidence surged within her, and she became increasingly convinced that she could achieve something more. ‘Just a little bit more. Bigger. Stronger.’ As her concentration intensified, a sound rang through the air again. It started with a single note, but soon other notes were layered on top until the sounds harmonized.

‘How am I able to do something like this?’ She briefly wondered if she was hallucinating, but this was clearly reality. It would be natural to fear this unknown power, yet she wasn’t afraid in the slightest. Rather, she felt rather sorrowful. This power came to her so naturally, so why hadn’t she known of it all this time? This feeling of regret only fueled her frustration.

By now, all the water in the cup was hovering in the air. When Cecile lifted her eyes to follow their movement, her gaze ended up meeting Richard’s. In that instant, the magic seemed to be dispelled. The water hovering in the air collapsed and splashed across the table. Only the messy table and the empty cup, devoid of a single drop of water, proved what had just transpired hadn’t been an illusion.

Regaining her senses, Cecile exclaimed, “What was that?!” It was a short, yet loaded question. What had just happened? Why did the water move? How was she able to move it?

“Why’re you asking me?” Richard shrugged.

Before she realized it, the archmage had shifted out of his youthful boyish form and into that of a young man. When he reached out a hand and slowly stroked her cheek, Cecile found herself unable to react. The boy bursting with mischief that was sitting next to her moments before had been replaced by a man who fixed her with a sharp gaze. He was eyeing her like she was prey.