Chapter 38 : Awakening the Star: A Bond Unveiled

Calm, white, short hair that looked like snowflakes had settled on it.

Distinct facial features that composed a beautiful appearance.

A straight nose, calmly closed eyebrows, a small mouth.

It was all the image of a princess that Rachel had imagined. No, it was more beautiful than she had imagined.

The princess, who looked to be about the same age as her, was sleeping soundly with her eyes closed.

“Then is this the princess’s room?”

Only then did Rachel realize why this room was so dark.

Because the princess was a late sleeper, she hadn’t woken up yet.

Rachel went closer to the bed to examine her more closely.

While looking at the girl with her eyes closed, she noticed something strange on her neck.

“What’s this…?”

There was something like a black stone near her neck. When she looked closely, it wasn’t just on her neck.

There was something similar on her wrist, which was slightly sticking out from under the blanket.

The black stone had an appearance like a flower blooming in spring.

Seeing that, Rachel instinctively realized that this princess was not simply sleeping.

“Princess, are you sick somewhere?”

Rachel suddenly felt anxious. She stomped her feet, repeating, “What do I do? What do I do?”

‘I think I should tell Daddy… But if I tell him, he’ll find out!’

It was clear that she would be scolded if she revealed the fact that she had secretly followed him here.

No matter how much she liked Jonan, she didn’t like being scolded by him.

But if she didn’t say anything, she was worried about the sleeping girl.

Cough, cough.

“Uh, ahhh!”

In the end, when the girl coughed, Rachel was startled and unknowingly grabbed the girl’s hand that was out of the blanket.

She felt the texture of a small stone on her palm, but Rachel didn’t care and held her hand tightly.

“Don’t, don’t be sick…”

Rachel remembered when she was sick, and Sophie and Jonan had held her hand to comfort her.

It was the only action Rachel could take, as she had no knowledge of medicine and couldn’t tell anyone about this.

It was a simple, childlike gesture of comfort.

But the next moment, light emanated from Rachel’s hand.

“…Huh?”

Before Rachel could properly grasp the situation, a swarm of golden stars began to illuminate the room.

The warm light thus wrapped the hands of the two girls warmly.

“Ah!”

Only then did Rachel realize the situation and hurriedly put down the girl’s hand. In an instant, the light that filled the room disappeared.

She did it.

Embarrassment was evident on Rachel’s face. She began to dominate her thoughts with the question of what to do if this was discovered by the people outside.

‘Should I go to the bear uncle now…?’

“…Star?”

“Eek?!”

Rachel, who was thinking of escaping, was startled by a sound from behind and slowly turned her head.

The princess, who had been holding her hand a little while ago, had raised her body and was looking at her.

“Hello…”

All Rachel could do was politely greet.

A vast meadow spread out under the night sky that formed the ceiling of the world. Aria, who was sitting in the middle of it, suddenly felt that the golden star in the east forest was getting closer and closer.

The star arrived at the edge of the meadow where she was and moved around.

Aria thought it would be nice if the star came straight to her, but the star just wandered nearby and showed no sign of coming closer.

Meanwhile, the blue light in the sky also came near the star. The huge blue light that cut through the night sky was a landscape that Aria liked as much as the star.

Aria observed the blue light steadily, thinking that she wanted to show it to her dad.

But the blue light, unlike the star, did not come near her. However, unlike the star, the blue light sometimes looked at her.

It might seem absurd to say that the star is looking at her, but at least Aria felt that way.

Aria, who liked this scenery so much, continued to think in a corner of her heart that she wanted to leave this place.

It had been a long time since she couldn’t see her beloved family, and she didn’t know how long she had to be alone here.

That’s why when she first fell here alone, she cried a lot and looked for her dad.

Now, after a long time, it had improved a lot thanks to the star and the blue light, but she still missed them.

‘…Daddy.’

The dad who loves her, the dad she loves.

Aria was just a seven-year-old child.

How much time had passed, Aria was staring blankly at the star and saw that the star was getting closer and closer.

The star was coming straight toward her.

‘Huh? Huh?’

As the star approached, that golden, brilliant light began to gradually envelop her surroundings.

As the star, which was moving at a slow but hurried pace, got closer and closer, the night sky gradually changed like daytime.

Accordingly, Aria unknowingly checked her clothes and swallowed.

One step, one step.

When there were less than five steps between the star and Aria, Aria could see the identity of the star.

‘Bead…?’

Something like a golden bead emitting light was floating and approaching her.

Aria tried to touch it, but her body didn’t move, as if it were frozen.

Even her legs lost strength, and she fell down as if lying on the meadow.

Aria felt fear at the fact that she could not control her body, while at the same time, she felt stability from basking in the warm light.

A little later, the bead stopped next to her, and it slowly approached her left hand.

“Star…”

Aria wanted to see that star, but now her eyes were closing. Aria, who blinked her eyes to capture that figure for the last time, lost consciousness.

And the next moment, the ceiling of the room locked in darkness came into view.

‘…Here.’

Even though she had just woken up and couldn’t get her mind straight, she immediately realized that this was her room.

She noticed that there was an unfamiliar presence in the room.

Black pigtails moving around in embarrassment.

Aria thought that the bouncing hair was cute.

And she unknowingly called out the name she had seen in her dream.

“Star?”

It was the first meeting between Aria and Rachel.

In the dark room, two girls were facing each other. One was on the bed, and the other was sitting next to the bed, dragging a chair.

Like the hair color of the two girls, their actions towards each other were also different.

The white-haired girl with a warm and questioning gaze, the black-pigtail girl with a gaze of embarrassment and fear, looked at each other.

Rachel was currently feeling scared.

No matter how innocent Rachel was, she roughly knew what she had done wrong.

From the beginning, she thought that sneaking past the guards by throwing stones was a grave sin that pricked her heart.

But to dare to touch the princess’s hand and wake the princess up, Rachel thought that it wasn’t strange to be scolded severely by her father, Jonan.

But Aria, who was looking at Rachel trembling like a rabbit in front of a beast, had a completely different thought.

‘Did this child wake me up?’

Aria had a different level of understanding from an early age. And that understanding was maintained even after losing consciousness for two years.

There was also knowledge that was lacking because she was a child, but sometimes the purity she had because of her youth helped her.

And now that purity was making her judgment accurate.

Aria was already convinced that she was the golden star she had seen in her dream.

Otherwise, there was no way she would be next to her when she opened her eyes.

It seemed too young to have started working at the mansion while she was unconscious.

Aria smiled at Rachel, who was flinching.

“What’s your name?”

“…Rachel.”

“How old are you?”

Rachel held out her palm.

“I’m the older sister.”

Aria, who muttered softly, nodded.

“I’m Aria Craystist. I’m seven years old.”

“Se-seven years old…”

Rachel held out all her fingers on her right hand and two fingers with her left hand. To her, who was five years old, Aria, who was seven years old, felt like a distant older sister.

“Rachel, did you treat me?”

To be precise, it wasn’t completely cured.

Aria still felt the uncomfortable foreign body sensation in various parts of her body, and she was suffering from it.

It was just that her physical abilities had returned to the point where she could regain consciousness.

But Aria was greatly delighted by the fact that she could regain consciousness.

‘Thanks to this child, I can see Daddy soon!’

However, she put aside her desire to see her father for a while. Before that, she wanted to know more about this child.

Aria wanted to express her gratitude to Rachel, who was staring blankly at her.

“Treatment?”

“Yes.”

“No…?”

On the other hand, Rachel couldn’t understand what Aria was saying.

‘Treatment? I didn’t do anything…?’

To be precise, she did hold hands. And she emitted light.

But Rachel didn’t think of it as treatment. What she thought of as treatment was more… painful and tearful.

Recalling the memory of being treated by Sophie while crying when she fell on the ground someday, Rachel unknowingly shook her head.

The light from her hand was warm and soft, not like treatment.

“I didn’t hurt my sister.”

“Huh? Hurt?”

“Yes. Th-that, I just held hands lightly.”

“Hands…”

Aria looked at her left hand. It was the hand closest to Rachel. At the same time, it was the hand where the star landed.

‘You. The star.’

Aria, who completely understood the fact that she had woken up through Rachel’s words, unknowingly hugged Rachel.

“Eek?”

“Rachel, thank you!”

“…??”

Of course, a simple greeting wasn’t enough. Aria wanted to express more gratitude.

So, she wanted to go to her father, Count Craystist.

Just in time, she felt someone approaching.

Creak.

“Young lady, I’ll be entering…”

A young maid knocked on the door, giving a formal greeting. Then, she waited for a moment for an answer that would not come, and entered the room.

“Katie, Katie!”

“…Huh?”

“Can you call Daddy?”

The maid, seeing Aria get up and call her, thought for a moment that she was seeing an illusion.

So she couldn’t say anything, frozen, until she saw Aria asking her to hold her sleeve as she got out of bed.

“Katie!”

“Huh? Yes? Uh? Ah? Eek? Y-Young Lady?!”

With the maid’s loud scream, Aria’s condition soon reached the Count’s ears.