Reborn After Betrayal: The Frail True Princess Decides to Give Up

Chapter 217 : Always So Gentle

Ariel rushed to Celitia's back in her urgency, spread her arms wide, and steadily caught her."What's wrong? Are you feeling terrible?"

Holding Celitia in her arms, Ariel felt the girl's body unconsciously trembling slightly, unusually cold all over.

What exactly had Celitia done to wake herself and Benita from their dreams?

She was always like this—even when suffering to the extreme, she never made a sound and insisted on enduring it alone.

Thinking of this, Ariel's heart filled with an indescribable feeling.

Celitia leaned against Ariel's embrace, her mind dizzy for quite a while before she recovered.

Pressing her hand to her chest and waiting for the coldness to gradually recede, Celitia took several deep breaths before barely managing to suppress her body's discomfort.

"I'm fine..."

Smelling that faint, clean fragrance that wasn't her own, Celitia felt somewhat embarrassed and tried to push Ariel away, but instead found herself held even tighter.

Ariel's arms pressed against Celitia's ribs, and in her nervousness, she used even more force, making her ache.

"You don't look fine at all. Stop trying to act tough."

Ariel became increasingly agitated.

She could sense some mysterious abnormality in this dreamscape.

But at this moment, as the church's Saintess, Ariel could do nothing about it.

This sense of powerlessness made Ariel deeply uncomfortable.

"Don't move around. Let me heal you."

Holding Celitia, Ariel cast a healing spell, using her own body temperature to warm her.

The residual coldness and pain in her body were gradually dispelled, strength returned to her limbs, and Celitia finally fully recovered.

"I'm fine now," Celitia forcefully pried at Ariel's hands. "If you keep holding me like this, I might suffocate to death."

Ariel had to release her and looked her up and down: "Really fine now?"

Celitia nodded: "Really!"

"Good." Ariel accepted her answer.

Celitia thought she'd escaped this ordeal, but unexpectedly, Ariel continued asking:

"So, what did you do in this dreamscape? How did you wake us up?"

She clenched her palms, unwillingness surging in her expression. "You can choose not to answer. I just... hope I could be useful."

Celitia was stunned.

She indeed had many things inconvenient to tell Ariel, since Ariel was from the church after all.

Celitia had originally thought that if Ariel didn't ask, she could just gloss over those matters.

But for Ariel, being trapped in dreams and helpless, only able to follow her actions and become the protected one, must be very difficult.

Unconsciously, Celitia's heart softened slightly.

Celitia considered her words, trying to explain in terms Ariel could accept:

"In the dreamscape, there's a strange energy. Can you feel it, Ariel?"

Ariel nodded.

She was certain she'd never seen this type of energy before, but somehow, she vaguely felt a trace of familiarity.

Could she have encountered something similar somewhere?

But Ariel couldn't remember.

"Let's call it 'dream energy' for now," Celitia didn't tell the complete truth. "As long as you can break free from its influence, you can wake up."

What Celitia said was completely foreign to Ariel.

"So you can control it?" Ariel frowned deeply.

Celitia answered: "I can barely resonate with it."

Ariel had heard that in Celitia's attribute testing at the academy, she hadn't shown any aptitude at all.

This was an extremely rare situation.

Yet she could resonate with this mysterious power?

In Ariel's understanding, making connections with things beyond common knowledge never led to good results.

After getting Celitia's explanation, not only did Ariel not feel relieved, she became even more worried.

"In any case, the immediate priority is leaving this dreamscape." Celitia smiled bitterly. "So let's not worry about this for now, okay?"

Ariel had to nod and temporarily gave up questioning.

At this moment, Benita, who had been keeping her eyes closed, finally opened them groggily.

Her vision gradually cleared, and looking at the two people in front of her, Benita struggled to recognize them: "Ariel... Lily...?"

Her eyes suddenly widened, and Benita rushed forward, pushed Ariel aside, and held Celitia tightly.

"Thank goodness, thank goodness! Those were all dreams—Lily, you didn't die! Thank goodness!!"

Benita cried and laughed like a madwoman, touching Celitia all over, confirming her existence again and again.

"Enough, enough."

Celitia felt itchy all over from her touching and quickly pushed Benita away.

"So in your dream, I was already dead? No wonder you looked like you'd seen a ghost when you saw me earlier, constantly repeating something about 'punishment sent by the Goddess.'"

Hearing this, Benita's face, which had barely recovered some color, instantly turned pale again:

"I... I'm sorry... truly sorry..."

Celitia found it amusing: "What's there to apologize for?"

"Because I was the one who caused your death," Benita answered through sobs. "It was all my fault."

"It was just a nightmare, Benita." Celitia smiled carelessly. "You don't need to feel guilty about it."

"You don't understand, Lily."

Benita shook her head forcefully, her expression full of regret.

"I never want to do such things again... The intense pain from the dream hasn't faded even now… I did get what I dreamed of, but I lost so much more. Only when I looked back did I realize how precious it was..."

Was she referring to her death in the dream?

Celitia speculated but didn't want to press for details.

She just comfortingly patted Benita's shoulder, her voice gentle and calm:

"Forget the nightmare and keep only the beautiful parts of the dream, Benita."

"Why are you always so gentle?" Benita murmured. "If you knew what I was planning to do..."

"What?" Celitia asked in confusion.

"Nothing."

Benita slowly shook her head and bit her lower lip bit by bit.

Perhaps she should be grateful for this dream.

It made her realize just how much regret she would feel if she did something unforgivable.

Seeing Benita refuse to speak, Celitia didn't pay it much mind.

The nightmare had probably left too deep a shadow on Benita—even now, her mind was still immersed in the nightmare, unable to break free.

Demons were such creatures—human negative emotions were their food.

Using rumors of "wishes coming true" to trick people into coming here, then making them have endless nightmares—

That little rabbit-shaped thing just now, right?

Just wait—if it dared appear again, she would definitely catch it!