Sincerely, Vanessa [EN]: Chapter 104

To Teacher, From Vanessa (104/146)

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

When Vanessa, Daloise, and Sleiman returned to the old man’s house, Noah was already awake.

The child, who had been huddled in the corner of the room, started crying again when he met Vanessa’s eyes. Vanessa handed him the picture frame she had been holding. He hiccuped, swallowed hard, hugged it tightly, and bowed his head.

Vanessa was so exhausted she felt dizzy just standing. Overusing her magic power—performing two consecutive spatial movements was definitely a bad idea—without rest had taken its toll.

Still, she gritted her teeth and pushed on. She couldn’t start complaining about wanting to sleep on her first mission. Of course, most new recruits complained and collapsed on the floor during their first mission, so her dedication was perhaps misguided. Unfortunately, Vanessa, who had always been diligent, didn’t realize this.

The special forces members all advised Noah to go to an orphanage in another village. They explained that no matter how innocent the child was, the villagers would likely blame him. They’d seen too many cases like it.

After much persuasion, Noah nodded, a single tear escaping his eye.

“I, I will….”

“Good, you’ve made the right decision.”

Colonel Liet patted the boy’s back. Tears welled up in his own eyes and dripped down at the rough gesture, a display of hidden emotion.

“Are you ready?” Sleiman asked curtly. Noah wiped his wet cheeks.

“Yes….”

“Okay. Let’s go then.”

Andalus picked up the child and held him. Noah kept looking around the whole way. As they passed the half-destroyed house through the forest path, his eyes turned dark with grief.

After passing the house, they finally arrived at the dug-out spot. Noah couldn’t bear to look at his mother lying under the sunlight filtering through the leaves and buried his face in Andalus’s arms again.

“You don’t have to look,” Andalus said, patting him gently. Noah gasped for air for a moment, fighting back tears.

However, the child was stronger than they thought.

Noah finally mustered the courage to face his mother’s last moments. The child wiped away his tears and placed a small winter-blooming flower on his mother’s hand.

Andalus briefly paused in a praying posture. Soon, dirt piled up on the body. Noah’s mother was finally embraced by the earth, beginning her final journey.

Noah patted the slightly clumsy mound of dirt, smoothing out the bumpy spots.

“Well, we need to set up a tombstone or something,” Liet said, clearing his throat, but Noah shook his head.

“Just, just enough to recognize it….”

Vanessa looked at his tearful eyes and said, “We’ll plant flowers on top of this. When you grow up and come back here, the flowers will be in full bloom.”

“That’s good. You’ll be able to recognize it even without a tombstone!” Daloise said cheerfully, and Noah nodded almost imperceptibly. Vanessa and Daloise immediately ran off to buy seeds.

After everything was done, Andalus took Noah to another area, explaining he knew a place where the child could stay.

And before sunset, dozens of soldiers appeared.

“See? The captain said he wouldn’t sleep,” Liet grinned and led them into the village.

The special forces members, who had already toured the forest during the day and checked all the trees near the village, asked the soldiers for a final confirmation. They carefully checked the handover items and wrote down all the information about ‘Dotram’s Branch’ [a specific type of plant or resource].

“There probably won’t be anything left around the village. It will only be in the deep forest, and it doesn’t matter if that much is left. Unless you deliberately grow it, it doesn’t propagate easily.”

The soldier who checked the contents nodded.

“I think this is enough for us. Thank you for your hard work.”

Liet packed his bags and said simply, “Return.”

The special forces members quickly left the village and headed to the portal.

As soon as they arrived in Fydom, Colonel Liet left for the royal palace to report, but not before giving a firm order to rest until tomorrow and then return to work the day after.

Vanessa and Daloise now felt like they would get angry if anyone even touched them.

“I’m so sleepy,” Vanessa groaned.

“Let’s go and sleep quickly…,” Daloise mumbled, blinking heavily.

Vanessa staggered as she walked, and Daloise blinked and nodded. The two walked weakly, and when the road split, they parted without even saying goodbye. It wasn’t the time to worry about such formalities.

It was Vanessa’s first time not sleeping for such a long time, and it was truly painful. It wasn’t just the lack of sleep; she had also overused her magic power, so she felt nauseous enough to want to throw up.

The owner of the accommodation looked at Vanessa, who was in very bad condition, and handed her the key from a slight distance.

It was a suspicious look, wondering if she had caught some disease, but Vanessa didn’t have time to care about that.

Half-crawling, she climbed the stairs and rushed to the green door at the end of the hallway. As soon as she opened the door and went inside, she didn’t even fold her clothes but hung them roughly on the back of the chair and poured warm water all over her body to wash. Only then did the smell of blood seem to leave her body.

“How did I get so many bruises?” Vanessa wondered, looking at the reddish marks on her white skin and sighing gloomily.

I should get rid of them with healing magic before meeting Gide [short for Gideon]. It’s not a big injury, but the colors are too flashy.

Vanessa roughly dried herself and barely managed to put on a large top without even putting on pajama pants. Then she staggered onto the bed. After that, it was instantly dark.

She didn’t even know that time was passing in her honey-sweet sleep. However, at some point, a small sound was heard from a very far place, shaking her dream. The sound of lightly knocking on an old wooden door.

Vanessa thought she had been completely consumed by sleep.

She knew she could hear something, but her body was still buried on the bed and couldn’t move. The blanket wrapped around her body as if she were trapped in a swamp.

No matter how hard she tried, the curtain of her lowered eyelids wouldn’t lift. Vanessa groped for the blanket without opening her eyes.

Anyway, the only person who would come was the owner of the accommodation. What is it? I already paid the monthly rent.

“Wh-who…,” Vanessa mumbled, cursing inwardly because her voice felt too small even to herself. *Can they even hear me?*

The small room was right at the door when you got off the bed, so there was no need to open her eyes properly. Vanessa opened the door without thinking. Her eyes were still half-closed.

“If you just open it like that…,” a soft rebuke began, but quickly faded away. Vanessa barely opened her eyes. Vivid golden eyes were looking down at Vanessa with a slight frown.

“Uh… ?”

“Not even wearing clothes properly, not even checking who it is. What are you doing?”

Gideon pushed Vanessa inside with a slightly grumpy voice and closed the door. Vanessa blankly raised her head and admired his handsome face.

“Is this a dream right now?” Vanessa asked blankly, and Gideon raised his eyebrows, but Vanessa was still half in a dream, so that was the best she could do. Vanessa rubbed her eyes wildly to wake up.

The man gently pressed down on her hand and examined her swollen eyes. Her sleepy eyes blinked dully.

If Vanessa had seen her face, she would have screamed and buried her face in the blanket, but her sleep-drunk head didn’t even grasp that.

Gideon, who looked lovingly at even that messy appearance, bent down and kissed her round forehead. What started from the forehead went down to her eyes, cheeks, and ears before finally reaching her lips.

However, he only held them lightly and didn’t deepen the kiss. It was as if he was sharing warmth and saying hello.

Vanessa felt like she could count every single one of his eyelashes…. The overly affectionate and gentle movements made her feel like she was still lying comfortably in the blanket.

*Is this not a dream? Isn’t this my small accommodation? Does this happen if my longing is reflected?*

Gideon, who had taken his lips off, picked up Vanessa, who still seemed confused. His intention was to put the half-asleep Vanessa back on the bed.

However, as always, his intentions alone were not enough.

Vanessa, who was held in his arms and had a higher view than Gideon, blankly looked at his face.

Hands that had woken up from sleep and held warm warmth groped the man’s high nose and sunken eyelids. Then she touched the faintly smiling lips.

Vanessa stared at the curve silently. His polite touch aroused her spiteful heart.

So this time, she kissed him first.

Was it because she was half in a dream? Vanessa was so hasty that her nose bumped into his, and she bit his lip a little hard.

But Gideon didn’t seem to be in pain and only heaved unstable breaths as he chuckled. Vanessa, who was annoyed, invaded his mouth first. Only the sound of soft kissing echoed in the room.

She chased his lips mindlessly, several times. She didn’t know how long they had been sharing their breaths. Vanessa was always unfamiliar with this side of herself, so she didn’t try to control the impulse.

Vanessa came to her senses only after feeling the bed touch her back. Gideon pressed down on Vanessa as if covering her and took his lips away. Their eyes met head-on.

The man, looking at her blankly, let out a long sigh on her white neck as if holding something back.

Gideon straightened his back. As he stepped back, his large hand brushed against the top of her knee, and only then did Vanessa realize that she wasn’t wearing pajama bottoms.

“Uh…!”

Surprised, Vanessa quickly tried to pull the blanket around her body, but failed. It was thanks to the man’s hand suddenly grabbing her ankle.