Chapter 101 37. The Dim Distance
Tears continuously fell from the lady’s crystal-clear eyes in front of me, as she seemed to be hurt by Fisher’s actions, with drops of blood trailing down her fingers, landing on the floor of Fisher’s house.
“Renee, what’s wrong? You locked the room, oh, don’t argue, is there anything that can’t be talked about properly?”
Outside the door, Martha heard the sounds from inside the house, trying to turn the door handle to come in but found it locked. She didn’t continue to try to open the door, instead, she knocked and spoke out in persuasion.
“I’m fine.”
Renee wiped her eyes, and as Fisher approached to hold her injured left hand, she instinctively withdrew, only to be firmly grabbed by Fisher again.
“Don’t move, I need to bandage you first.”
“Let go of me.”
Renee refused to look at him, her right hand clutching his hand as she struggled; however, her physical strength wasn’t enough to break free, and she was dragged beside the sofa. There was a medical kit on the nearby bookshelf, left behind by Fisher during a previous dissection; there wasn’t much left inside, but there was still some gauze.
“We can change to some other medicine later.”
“Martha, we’re fine; she’s injured, I’ll go downstairs in a bit to get some medicine.”
“Oh, that’s good, you really should be more careful; my heart almost stopped from worry. I’ll go look for the medicine box; I haven’t used that thing in a long time, I need to go check.”
Outside the door, Martha’s footsteps grew distant. Fisher held Renee’s pale hand; the cut was deep in her palm, and for a moment he hesitated, but his hands didn’t slow down as he began to tend to her wound.
This girl, Renee, was definitely throwing a tantrum, not cooperating, constantly clasping her fingers together, wanting to pull her hand back, not looking at Fisher at all, and of course, she didn’t say a word.
But how could Fisher let her have her way? He firmly held her wrist, preventing her from retreating. After cleaning and treating the wound, he stood up to go outside and take the medical kit from Martha, and facing Martha’s worried gaze, he suddenly regretted doubting Renee so forcefully, especially since he hadn’t expected her reaction to be this severe.
“She’s crying, you child; you need to talk to her properly. I knew that if you two didn’t get married, something would eventually go wrong.”
“I will talk to her properly; you should go rest.”
Fisher found it somewhat amusing as he sent off the elderly Martha, who turned to look back with worry. He quietly closed the door behind him and returned to the room with the medicine kit.
When he returned, he saw that Renee hadn’t turned ethereal and flown away; she simply sat on the sofa, looking outside, not wanting to acknowledge Fisher, clearly still angry.
As Fisher approached with the medicine, she turned her head in the opposite direction, wanting to avoid Fisher entirely.
Fisher chose not to break the mood, simply sitting in front of her and taking her hand firmly to apply the medicine. She didn’t want to deal with him at all, but as the medicine touched her wound, she flinched, and Fisher even heard her let out a small whimper.
“Does it hurt?”
“…”
Renee remained silent, and Fisher looked up at her, noticing that her beautiful profile still had slightly red eyes, with two tear droplets glistening in her purple irises. Her typically bright face now had a fragile air due to her tears, making one want to protect her, wishing to see her happy, reluctant to witness even a hint of her unhappiness.
Fisher could no longer determine whether Renee’s current display was genuine emotion or just playful acting. In truth, he didn’t care much about how she really felt.
Did Fisher believe Renee’s words?
He believed half of them.
He still felt that Renee could very well be the Undying Sorceress.
It might be due to Renee’s exceptionally dreadful personality; she knew she was the Undying Sorceress but was unwilling to tell Fisher. She enjoyed teasing and toying with him, and all her behaviors toward Fisher were just a poor act.
It’s also possible that Renee genuinely didn’t know she was the Undying Sorceress, even if she indeed was. How would one prove undying? Should one try to kill Renee and see if she could be reborn? Fisher would absolutely never resort to such a method; he couldn’t put Renee’s life at stake, despite her being somewhat unpleasant.
Thus, regardless of which possibility, Fisher could not get the true answer from Renee unless one day he had conclusive evidence.
Speaking of which, wasn’t his goal in finding the Undying Sorceress to keep her by his side, hoping to find a way to change the outcome of the prophecy? If Renee was indeed that sorceress, then whether he knew or not wouldn’t change the result.
The only question was, how did Fisher view Renee?
Fisher found it hard to answer this question for a moment.
After tending to Renee’s wound and cleaning the room, a complete silence fell over the space, and noticing that she had no intention of speaking for now, Fisher took a book on magic and sat at his desk, pushing open the window he had just closed.
The night outside was hushed; Fisher didn’t see the purple larks that were usually everywhere, unsure if it was because Renee was upset, as if they had hidden away somewhere to cry.
Fisher read slowly, while Renee remained curled up on the sofa, not speaking at all.
Their atmosphere stayed silent until it was nearly bedtime. Suddenly, Renee shifted to wash up. Fisher glanced at her back, and after she was done, he went to wash up too. When he returned, he saw that she had taken out a blanket from the wardrobe and laid it on the sofa, lying on her side with her back turned to him, so he could only see her long, cascading hair.
Interestingly, she had always slept in Fisher’s bed, but now, after this cold war, she had given up Fisher’s bed. Fisher smiled silently, turning off the room light before getting into his own bed.
Earlier, Renee had slept here; Fisher had clearly said he would clean it after she left, but it seemed he had forgotten to do so. Perhaps due to now sharing a room with her, Fisher was filled with her pleasant fragrance.
“Renee.”
In the quiet darkness, Fisher suddenly broke the silence.
“…”
But it seemed the sofa didn’t receive the signal yet, as there was no response. Fisher took it as if she had heard him and continued,
“Do you remember when we first met? You lied to me, saying you were the daughter of a hidden sorcerer from Shivali. If I treated you to dinner, you would take me to see some magic from Shivali, but you brought me into the mountains and then ran away, leaving me wandering around wasted so much time.”
“Later, when you learned I was looking for a sorceress, you deceived me again, claiming you were human; knowing I was seeking the Undying Sorceress, you lied that you knew the clues about her; when we were crossing the Cardu border, and you were aware that my magic was running low, you lied that you could use magic.”
“Honestly, for anyone else, any one person but you, I absolutely wouldn’t have so much patience, tolerating your lies time and again.”
“But I gradually realized you were like a hedgehog, using countless lies and teasing to hide your true feelings; I slowly transitioned from anger over being deceived in the beginning to a calm indifference now.”
“I offered patience towards all your deceptions, and sometimes when separated for a while, I would miss your trademark teasing. It’s precisely because I trust you so much, believing that your heart hidden beneath the lies isn’t truly as vile, even if your exterior seems that way.”
“Yet ironically, on certain issues, I still hope to receive consistent answers from you — whether it’s regarding the Undying Sorceress or your earlier words about staying by my side because you care about me.”
In the darkness, Renee’s fingers gently clenched the edge of the blanket, as Fisher was just staring at the ceiling, waiting to say the next word, when he saw the figure lying on the sofa quietly rise.
There was no moonlight in the bedroom, and Fisher could only see her silhouette approaching his bed. She didn’t say a word, and Fisher couldn’t discern her expression. Renee forcefully pulled the blanket from Fisher’s bed and then lay beside him.
She nudged Fisher back, leaving herself a reasonably wide space before stopping her movements. In the cramped bedding, she turned her back to him, her black hair full of a tempting fragrance, and she curled up slightly, revealing her fair neck like a moonlight glow through her dark hair.
Fisher suddenly wanted to kiss her soft body, but he didn’t.
He looked at Renee, who lay silently beside him, and after a period in the pitch darkness, her voice was calm and soft as she said,
“What I said earlier was true.”
In the hazy fragrance, the truth of this statement was hard to discern because Fisher couldn’t see her expression clearly at this moment.
“…I’m sorry.”
It was unclear whether this apology was for doubting whether she was the Undying Sorceress or for questioning whether she cared about him.
After this apology, she fell silent again, remaining motionless.
This was still the first time they were so serious and intimate without teasing, even more restrained than before; perhaps the closeness was too much, as Fisher could even catch the quickened rhythm of her heartbeat.
Fisher, rarely feeling any desires, still reached out to hold her side-lying body, but accidentally brushed against her bandaged left hand resting on the bed, causing her to pull her hand back suddenly.
“It hurts.”
She said.
“…”
After her simple word, they exchanged no more conversation, maintaining this simple and close position, and the entire night passed like that.
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(The End of this Chapter)
