Chapter 453: Not Quite (2/2)

”I'm going to go and see if I can gather any materials from Camelot's warehouses. If I can't, I'll also speak to Em to see if the Demon Empire has the things I need.”

”Materials?” Aina asked softly.

”Mhm.” Leonel nodded. ”I'm not very powerful now so all I can do is make things with my hands. If there's an opportunity, I'll make a replacement for the headpiece you lost.”

”You're a… Force Crafter?” Aina's soft voice carried a hint of surprise.

Leonel grinned. ”How is it, I'm pretty amazing, right?”

Leonel's smile seemed to light up the room. Though this space already had plenty of sunlight rebounding off its white walls, it lacked the same warmth…

Aina didn't move even a long while after Leonel had left.

Eventually, she walked slowly to the bed, crawling onto its head and pulling her knees into her chest.

A touch of redness crept onto her nose as her eyes watered. She stared off into empty space, seemingly looking at nothing and thinking of nothing. But, the emotions threatening to spill over were undeniable.

She squeezed her knees tighter.

At first it seemed as though she was simply in an emotional state, but soon, it reached beyond that.

The crackling of bones sounded in the quiet room. It took only a moment for one to realize that the bones that were breaking were Aina's own.

As quickly as she broke them, she healed them, only for her to fracture them once more.

In any other context, this was just training taken to an extreme. Breaking down one's body and reforming it was the simplest form of training. However, within context, it felt like something much darker, like a heavy fog hanging over a young woman's life.

A person's worst enemy could often be themselves. In the beginning, it might have seemed that Leonel was the only one who needed to grow and to mature, but it was easy to forget that Aina, too, was just an 18-year-old girl.

Aina grew up alone. Under the welfare of The Empire, most in thanks to her Five Star Professional evaluation, she was never homeless nor starving. But, regardless, she was alone.

She didn't meet Yuri until the later years of her middle school days and always had trouble connecting with her or anyone, for that matter.

She was stuck in a quagmire of her own thoughts. Even if she wanted to connect with someone, she had no idea how to.

Aina continued to stare off into blank space, her tears half fallen, but not quite, her emotions half spoken, but not quite, her heart half broken… but not quite.