The Fastest Way to Become a Successful Fan (14)
“Hnngh!”
I glared at my left wrist, which was scrawny like the branches of barren trees in the winter.
I felt my eyes burning up, and for a moment, I wondered if I’d be able to flash beams of light out of my eyes.
Of course, such a thing never happened.
“Who told you to strain your eyes like that?
I told you to focus your mind and sense the energy circulating within you.”
“Excuse me, Your Grace, but if such a thing were possible, I wouldn’t be here.
If I could, I would have been scouted by the holy temple to be the next holy maiden.”
Like Deborah, the competent heroine with max stats in healing.
Anyway, I was in Hades’ room right now.
It turned out he wasn’t kidding when he said he’d try to help me master my powers so I could hide my core.
The moment I finished breakfast this morning, I was immediately summoned by his butler so we could begin.
He kept insisting that I use my powers that all citizens of Crescenta possessed, but that was easier said than done.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t sense anything.
A few minutes ago, I tensed up so much, I almost excused myself.
I wanted to use the restroom, but I couldn’t say that to Hades because he looked so serious.
“What?
How can you be the next holy maiden if you can’t even hide your core?
Your head is full of delusions.” Hades, who was flipping through a thick book, stood beside me and chuckled.
I couldn’t help but sigh as I stared down at the white jewel core prettily embedded in my wrist.
The fact that it was exposed like this was already a critical weakness for me, but on top of that, I couldn’t even tap into my powers.
In other words, this thing on my wrist was just junk: beautiful but useless.
“A third of the population of Crescenta can’t tap into the powers of their core, so don’t worry about being unable to tap into yours.
That’s normal.
It’s said that only those with strong blood of Crescenta flowing through their veins can tap into their powers freely.”
“Like you, Your Grace?”
“Yeah, like me,” Hades agreed with a shrug.
As expected of a narcissist, he wasn’t the least bit embarrassed to brag about himself.
“If it’s so great, then you should show me that awesome power of yours.
I’m curious.”
Now that the topic had come up, I decided to give Hades a chance to brag some more.
He was a kind father to Abel, so as Abel’s stan, I was willing to flatter him if that was what he wanted.
After a moment of hesitation, Hades lifted a finger to caress my wrist.
He carefully traced the edge of my white jewel with the tip of his finger before lightly pressing the spot just below my palm.
Just then,
“Wow!” an exclamation of surprise broke from my lips.
The tip of his finger was warm, like a hand warmer on a cold winter day.
Crescentians with red jewel cores excelled at controlling the energy of fire, but it seemed that their power could also be used to produce heat on a much smaller scale, such as raising their body temperatures.
I’d read about it before, but it was still fascinating to actually witness it.
“This is totally like a portable hand warmer!
I often wondered why you were always wearing such light clothes despite the freezing cold temperatures of the North, but this explains it!” I held Hades’ hand in excitement.
This time, I felt the weight and heat of his entire hand, not just one finger.
Because his room was cold, and the warmth in my hand felt good, I kept touching and squeezing his hand in mine for a long time.
“Wh-what are you doing?!” Hades pulled his hand out in a hurry.
I turned my gaze up to Hades and saw the flustered expression on his face.
Oops.
I immediately apologized to him, “Sorry!
It was just so nice and warm.”
“Didn’t you say it’s too hot up here in the North?”
“Ahaha….
Did I say such a thing?”
I might have said something like that in a panic to explain why I was sweating so much back when I thought he’d found out that I was an avid stan.
Hades said with a chuckle, “I remember you telling me that you’re quite sensitive to heat.
You don’t have to make excuses.
If you want to hold hands, just tell me.
I’m not the one to refuse skin-to-skin contact.”
“…Huh?” He was suddenly brimming with confidence as if he’d never been flustered by our earlier contact.
I’ll gladly sacrifice my hand for you if you so desire — his face seemed to say.
As much as I was amazed by his endless narcissism, I kept quiet and simply shook my head.
“Not at all.
I don’t dare….”
“I’m telling you it’s fine.” Hades extended his big hand toward me as if to urge me to grab it.
I shook my head again.
“But we’re not that close….”
“Why do you act as if we’re strangers?
Do you forget that we’re to be married soon?
Why was he suddenly being so childish?
It was as if something bad would happen to him if I didn’t hold his hand or something.
“Take my hand!”
“No, thank you.”
“I said take it!”
“I said no!”
“If you pass up on this opportunity, there won’t be next time.”
Oh geez….
Every time Hades acted like this, I was filled with the urge to tell him the truth.
But I endured it with extraordinary patience, though I wasn’t sure why I was trying so hard not to embarrass him.
“Oh, fine.
If you insist.
Excuse me then.”
I clasped his hand in mine, locking our fingers together.
I guess he never expected me to hold his hand this way.
Hades’ face instantly turned red, even though he was the one who insisted that I hold his hand.
“Now, teach me how to hide this silly thing.” Still holding Hades’ hand, I pointed with my chin at my left wrist, resting upside down on the table.
With a dazed look, Hades soon let out a series of dry coughs.
Then he pulled a chair from the opposite side of the table and brought it next to mine.
Our fingers remained intertwined all the while, even though it might be bothering him.
Sitting side by side, we looked like a high school couple secretly holding hands under the desk during class.
“Yeah, umm, so….”
But for some reason, I could tell that his attention was fixed on his other hand.
Still, I asked, pretending not to notice, “Say… the light element is pretty useful if it can be used, right?”
“Hmm.
I suppose so.
It’s rare enough as it is to find individuals who possess the light attribute in the first place.”
The Heathcliff lineage had maintained a pure bloodline of the light element attribute throughout their family history.
It was one of the few noble lines out there that had managed to keep the rare element’s purity, but it was all surprisingly pointless, to say the least.
This was because they weren’t born with the mana to utilize it.
That Incompetence seemed to have manifested in full force by the time it reached my generation.
That was the only possible explanation as to why I couldn’t even hide my jewel core when everyone else could learn to hide it naturally.
“Ha…,” a deep sigh escaped me.
Feeling somewhat dejected, I stared at the jewel on my wrist when suddenly Hades squeezed my hand in his.
I shifted my gaze to him and saw him staring straight back at me.
“Didn’t I tell you that you don’t need to worry about anything?
There will never be a case where I need your help.
I mean, there’s no one alive that can harm me.”
Again, he was going off on his own….
Well, the reason I felt frustrated about this was that Hades’ misunderstanding wasn’t too far off the mark.
I possessed a type of power capable of suppressing Abel when he loses control over his powers a year later, and a power that could prevent Hades’ death.
It was such a shame that I couldn’t use it.
And at this moment, I couldn’t help but think of Deborah, the heroine.
If the red core jewel of possessed the power of fire and heat, then the ability of the core jewel of the light element could be called ‘purification.’
This ability, more widely known as the power of healing, fundamentally worked by absorbing the target’s wounds or the corrupted mind and purifying it.
Abel possessed extraordinary powers, but that power came with the handicap of being uncontrollable once unleashed, leading to the deterioration of his physical body and mental state.
This handicap put him in a dangerous state between life and death periodically.
There was only one other person with a high-level light element that could absorb his state and purify it.
She was none other than the heroine of this world of <Persona>: Deborah Florence.
Others who possessed the light attribute did not possess the mana to purify Abel’s enormous powers.
Even those who could somehow absorb his condition would only end up dying since they were incapable of purifying the enormous mana.
To Abel, Deborah’s very existence was his only salvation.
They were, without a doubt, a perfect match for each other.
If that wasn’t a plot device that could excite readers, then what was?
A man whose powers went out of control periodically, matched with the sole woman that could stabilize him.
The author of <Persona> created Deborah as a heroine who would save Abel in his time of need.
That was why she was set up to be the only person in this world who could manipulate the power of light to her will.
And at the same time, this was most likely the reason why the rest of the citizens within the story of <Persona> possessed a much weaker attunement to light.