Henrietta's Self-saving

Chapter 11

I still find it strange every time I look at my reflection in the mirror. To see another person's appearance instead of yours, it's still giving off an unsettling feeling.

I looked at my overall appearance. I had trouble sleeping last night because my body ached all over. The sun didn't even rise yet and here I am, already awake. My hair was a mess with strands flying off everywhere. Good thing Henrietta's hair was soft and smooth despite being wavy so it was easy to untangle her bed hair. The dark circles under my eyes were too obvious and my complexion doesn't look good.

The flame on the candle flickered. I asked the maids to leave a box of matches near the candelabra just in case I woke up in the middle of the night. Even though there are maids who do night vigils, I still didn't want to disturb them just to have them light up my room.

I sighed. Yesterday's events felt like they drained half of my life span. That person used his paralyzing spell on me twice.

I brushed my hair to the side to get a clearer view of my neck. Near my nape was a white begonia marking. It was like an artistic tattoo but when I remembered what we talked about yesterday, my mood became even more gloomy.

"Your core is silver."

There are only three colors of mana cores mentioned in the novel.

White cores are the most common ones. People who possess this core are normal humans who cannot use magic. Mages and disciples of the Temple have blue cores. They're the ones who can cultivate mana and turn it into magic spells, curses, etcetera.

And the rarest of the three is the golden core that only members of the royal family possess. And Alaric happened to possess the core that resembles Helios.

The novel never mentioned a silver core.

I sighed, "I'm sorry, I do not understand what you are trying to say."

"It means your core is odd," he said as he continuously threw suspicious glares at me. "It's the first time I saw it and it's troublesome. See these things?"

He pointed at the swarm of mana particles that were restlessly floating in the air. "They're bothering me. The priests and disciples in this temple need these things to cultivate their core yet here they are, swarming towards you. They're even more restless around you than the second prince."

I furrowed my brows. I also don't understand what's going on yet he kept on insisting that I have some explaining to do.

He glanced at my chest once again. And I had another urge to slap him.

"No matter how many times I look at it, your core is silver. The light it's emitting is different from white cores. Don't try to deny it," he warned.

I narrowed my eyes and confronted his glares, "I came to this temple because I need to consult something about my core. I am not trying to hide anything. Now, would you please unbind me from this spell of yours, kind sir?"

He arched a brow. Then a mocking smirk appeared on his face, "You broke free from it, why not do it again?"

I felt a string of sanity snap inside my head. What a lucky day. I had to deal with two people who seem to be lacking lessons in values education.

"I don't know how," I replied, emphasizing every word.

He crossed his arms across his chest. The intimidating aura that surrounded him started to disperse.

"You are odd," he commented. "Your core is the same as the golden core. If there was an appearance of a new and dominant core, I would be able to detect it wherever the location may be. Yet, I was only able to notice your core when you were already inside the temple's premises. And it doesn't look like your core just emerged today."