Soon, we were inside my room. She laid me down on the bed with surprising gentleness. Without a word, she moved to the side table, grabbed the silver jug, and poured a glass of water.
I wasn't feeling thirsty. In fact, my throat felt strangely tight, as if the "Void" had replaced my need for water with a hunger for something else entirely. Maybe it was because of the resonance stability?
"I am not thirsty, Elena," I said, my voice still a bit thin.
I tried to turn my head away, but the glass was suddenly inches from my face.
"DRINK IT!"
Elena's gaze and words sent a shiver down my spine. The crimson glow hadn't entirely faded from her eyes, and the air in the room felt heavy with her command. This wasn't a suggestion; it was an order from her.
I took the glass with trembling fingers and swallowed. The water was cold, but as it hit my stomach, I felt oddly calm.
"Better?" she asked, her voice dropping an octave, though she remained standing over me like a sentry.
"Much," I lied, setting the glass aside. "You can go now, Elena. I'm sure you have better things to do than watch a 'pathetic prince' breathe."
She didn't move. She crossed her arms, her brown hair catching the dim light of the afternoon sun filtering through the curtains.
"I'll go when I'm sure of your safety," she said firmly. "You're hiding something, Rio. You've changed. This morning you were a shaking mess, and now... you're still a mess, but you're looking at me like you're calculating how long I'll stay."
I froze. She was sharper than I gave her credit for.
"I'm just tired of being the family's favorite punching bag," I said, leaning back into the pillows. "I just want a little bit of time for myself."
Hearing my words, instead of leaving the room, she sat on the edge of the bed beside me. The mattress dipped under her weight.
"I am not leaving," she said. "I don't know what has happened, but ever since two days ago, I feel like something has changed. I can't seem to get you out of my mind."
Two days ago. The exact moment the original Rio Aragon died and I took over this failing vessel.
"I won't leave until I figure out why," she added, her crimson eyes searching my face.
[NOTICE: EMOTIONAL FEEDBACK (OBSESSION)]
[RESONANCE STABILITY: 4.1% ... 4.3% ... 4.5%]
The numbers were climbing again. This wasn't just 'care' anymore; it was a fixation. To the Void, Elena's focus was like a spotlight in a dark room—it gave me shape, definition, and most importantly, energy.
'If she stays here staring at me like this, I'll be the healthiest in just a few minutes,' I thought with a trace of dark irony. 'But I can't have a Dragon bodyguard watching me while I try to read a forbidden book of demon ink.'
"Elena, you're being dramatic," I said, trying to force a tired chuckle. "I almost died. Usually, near-death experiences make people a little... different. Maybe I just realized that if I'm going to go out, I might as well stop being so quiet about it."
She didn't buy it. She reached out, her hand hovering near my chest. "No. It's not just your attitude. Your presence... it feels like a hole. Looking at you is like looking at the sky right before a storm breaks. It's quiet, but it's heavy."
She leaned closer, her brown hair brushing against my shoulder.
"The Rio I knew was a coward. He was pathetic, yes, but he was predictable. You? You look like you're waiting for the world to end just so you can see what happens in the dark."
[WARNING: VOID RESONANCE INCREASING]
[STABILITY: 4.8%]
My vision flickered. For a split second, I didn't see Elena as a girl; I saw her as a swirling mass of nutrients. And she, in turn, seemed to see something in me that made her breath hitch.
"There," she whispered. "That look. What 'are' you, Rio?"
The silence in the room became deafening. .
I suppose she can just stay here for a bit more.
I thought if she stayed here I would just keep gaining stability, slowly filling the tank until I was finally out of the danger zone. I figured I could just lie here, play the part of the exhausted patient, and let her obsession feed the Void.
But I was wrong. Just like with Laila, there was a tipping point—a threshold where the emotion stopped being a meal and started becoming a cage.
The numbers on the screen began to stutter.
[WARNING: INTENSE OBSESSION DETECTED]
[RESONANCE STABILITY: 5.4% ... 5.1% ... 4.8%]
[ALERT: OBSESSION CONVERSION OVERRIDE]