Heir Of The Supreme
Chapter 64: A Weakling’s Resolve (3)

Chapter 64: A Weakling’s Resolve (3)

"Your injury doesn’t look too bad, actually, so you should be fine for now," Cecelia commented as she wrapped a makeshift tourniquet around Blaine’s shoulder.

Cecelia’s voice was calm, but there was an unmistakable edge to it, a mix of concern and frustration. "But you know... There’s a fine line between courage and recklessness. As brave as you are, that does not make you immortal."

Blaine met her gaze for a moment, his stone-like expression as unreadable as always, before giving her a slow nod.

His apparent disregard for his own well-being was already starting to become familiar. Still, somehow, it made Cecelia uneasy this time.

Letting out a small sigh, she wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead, her muscles aching from the tension.

Treating Blaine’s wound had been a far more complicated and time-consuming process than she had anticipated.

Out here, in the middle of nowhere, they lacked the proper medical supplies. Cecelia had no disinfectants, gauze, or anything else that a self-respecting medic would deem necessary for the bare minimum level of care.

For Blaine’s gauze, she had torn apart her own undershirt for materials.

She couldn’t use their uniforms, as they were effectively Rank 2 Artifacts, not something that she could rip with her bare hands. Even if neither of them properly utilized the true power of their cloth armour, it was undeniable that it was highly durable.

As for disinfectants... The only thing they had in abundance was water sourced from the river nearby.

It wasn’t an ideal solution, but it was better than nothing.

Still, she knew full well that using unfiltered water on an open wound was a gamble... It could either help prevent infection or make it exponentially worse.

Needless to say, using water potentially laden with bacteria and other microorganisms to ’clean’ a wound was counter-productive at best, if not downright harmful.

Thus, her long and arduous task of procuring sanitized water began.

That led to her next challenge... Trying to somehow boil the water.

As long as she could heat the water to a high enough temperature, this would kill the pathogens.

With no matches or lighters, she had initially tried the old ’rub two rocks together’ method she had once read about.

After several minutes of failure, she had to admit that whoever wrote that tutorial online she had once seen was either lying or had left out some crucial details.

As usual... The internet couldn’t be trusted.

Blaine, on the other hand, had a better approach.

Taking the Rank 1 dagger, he bit down on its hilt, freeing his one usable arm.

His eyes scanned the ground before he picked up a rough stone, a grey quartz-like stone that he identified as flint.

With careful, methodical movements, he struck the rock against the blade of the knife, sending tiny bright orange sparks flying.

It took several attempts, but eventually, those sparks caught on the tree roots they had gathered earlier.

Unfortunately, they still seemed a little moist and didn’t work the best as kindling material.

Still, after several minutes of Blaine persisting with sheer willpower, a small fire somehow sprouted from the pile of wood.

Cecelia had never felt so relieved to see a flame in her life.

But that wasn’t the end of their struggle.

The fire was only helpful if they had something to boil the water in.

Blaine was still unable to use his Mana Art effectively due to his low reserves.

He couldn’t create a reliable container with his abilities just yet.

Thus, they needed an alternative.

That was how she ended up using... That.

Tying the tourniquet into a knot, Cecelia’s eyes twitched as she remembered what exactly she needed to do for that.

Not far from where they sat, a massive, hollowed-out monster skull was perched over the fire, filled with murky water that was slowly beginning to bubble.

Cecelia tried not to look at it too much. The thought of drinking from a monster’s remains made her stomach churn, but sadly, desperate times called for desperate measures.

To distract herself from the uneasy feeling curling in her chest, she turned her focus back to Blaine.

For a moment, she hesitated, her hands tightening into fists.

Before the whole debacle with the Unknown, she had been intending to do something important.

Cecelia felt the urge to choke back her following words out of fear.

Fear of how the auburn-haired youth might react, how he may look at her.

However, Cecelia had promised herself that she was done running away.

No matter how terrifying or dangerous it was, she would face it confidently.

Even if it meant owning up to her past wrongdoings and accepting her mistakes.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she finally spoke.

"Hey, I... I want to apologize to you. You know... Not just for earlier, but for everything else as well."

Surprisingly, the actual act of apologizing was far less scary than she had initially anticipated.

It felt so intimidating until she pushed herself to do it.

Yet... The hardest part was still to come.

Cecelia nervously studied Blaine’s expression, not that it usually revealed much about the inner workings of the boy’s mind.

However, this time was different.

Blaine raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Cecelia felt her heart clench. Did he not understand? Or did he simply not care?

Needless to say, his response caught Cecelia off-guard.

"It’s for... How I treated you," she clarified, forcing herself to push forward. "I wasn’t fair to you. My actions were cold and mean-spirited, and despite everything you did for me... I-I verbally abused you. I said extremely hurtful things to you."

A bitter laugh escaped her lips.

"Frankly, I wouldn’t even be surprised if you hated me..."

Blaine remained silent, his gaze locked onto hers. Then, to her surprise, he shook his head.

Now, it was Cecelia’s turn to raise her eyebrow.

"You... You don’t hate me?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "Why?"

Blaine merely shrugged as if the question itself didn’t warrant much thought.

That just served to baffle her even more.

"So even you don’t know why you don’t hate me?" she pressed.

Another nod.

She exhaled sharply, rubbing her temple. "No, seriously... What is up with that?"

The boy’s very existence was becoming an anomaly Cecelia couldn’t quite wrap her head around.

No... That wasn’t right.

She had never even tried to understand him in the first place.

Instead, she had labelled him based on her own insecurities, making him a scapegoat for emotions she didn’t know how to handle.

Cecelia effectively demonized someone she didn’t even know properly as an outlet for all her repressed darkness. Yet, here he was, utterly unbothered by all her disgusting actions.

Or at least, he was very good at hiding it.

A wave of shame settled over her.

’In hindsight... I’m quite the idiot. A selfish, cruel idiot.’

Yet, despite everything, Blaine had given her another chance.

That realization lifted a weight off her shoulders.

If he didn’t resent her, then maybe... just maybe, she could make things right between them.

But the question remained... How exactly would she go about doing this?

She knew close to nothing about Blaine outside of his fighting prowess. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say she knew who ’Sir Lionheart’ was, but not ’Blaine Lionheart.’

That needed to change.

She took a deep breath, steadying herself. If she wanted to start over, she needed to begin with the most straightforward step.

Getting to know him.

As for where to start? Why not with one of her most burning questions?

"I have a question," she said at last, meeting his gaze. "Why do you never talk?"