Chapter 633: Welcome Back
They held each other for a long time.
When Roland finally pulled back, he touched her face. “You’ve become thinner.”
Anna’s eyes were still wet, and still as clear as lake water—he could see his own reflection swimming in the blue of them. But her cheekbones stood out now where they hadn’t before, and through her clothing he could feel the ridge of her spine and the sharp angles of her collarbones. The soft, round shape of her face had gone somewhere.
“I’m sorry for worrying you.” The scent of her hair settled something in his chest. They had been apart for what felt like centuries, though he knew that made no sense.
She shook her head, wiped her face against his collar. “I’m all right. As long as you woke up.”
“How long was I out? Three days? A week?” Her thinness made him afraid to name a larger number.
“More than a month.”
“What?”
“Fifty-two days, to be exact.” A small laugh broke through her expression at his face. “It’s autumn now. You should notice the curtains were changed.”
He moved his arms experimentally, curled his toes under the blanket. No pain. No weakness. Nothing wrong. “How did I eat?”
“You didn’t.” She leaned into him, both hands gripping the fabric of his clothes as if he might slip away again. “Someone ate in your stead.”
“That’s—possible?”
“Nightfall, from the Bloodfang Association. She planted a Seed of Symbiosis in your body. She ate more than usual and it sustained you both.” Anna’s voice was matter-of-fact, but her grip didn’t loosen. “Your muscles didn’t atrophy. Wendy told me that meant the symbiosis was connecting two living circulatory systems, not just keeping you breathing.”
Roland looked down at the wooden tub on the floor, the water still steaming faintly. “Thank you. For taking care of me.”
She said nothing for a moment. “Compared to what you’ve done, what I did was nothing. You honored your commitment to the witches. You destroyed the church’s army. Every witch in the Union would have cared for you gladly, without me.” She paused. “But I preferred to do it myself.”
“So did I.” He tilted her chin up and kissed her.
Afterward, her cheeks were red. She straightened and smoothed her sleeves with the brisk efficiency of someone reclaiming composure. “I need to tell the others. They’ve been waiting a long time.”
“We could continue,” he said.
She slanted her head, almost involuntarily. “You’ve only just woken. You should rest—”
“I feel completely fine.”
“Even so.” She raised her hands and struck his chest twice—lightly, with no real force. Then she picked up the tub and moved toward the door. “I’ll be back soon.”
He smiled at her retreating back. “I’ve had more than enough sleep.”
The door clicked shut.
His smile faded.
Why did I sleep for two months?
He should have woken sooner—the soul-duel was over, Zero was defeated. But he hadn’t. And unlike a normal dream, this one hadn’t dissolved on waking. He could still recall it in sharp detail: the apartment building, the summer heat, the television broadcast, the girl with white hair who’d called him uncle with genuine alarm in her eyes.
Was that really Zero?
And why had she called him that?
He turned it over. The city in the dream hadn’t been his—the skyline was wrong, the building styles mismatched across decades, the tube-style apartment entirely out of place against the glass towers in the distance. None of it cohered the way a false memory should. Everything was real-seeming, and everything was subtly wrong.
Before he finished the thought, the door burst open.
Lightning arrived first, dropping her backpack mid-stride and wrapping her arms around his neck. Behind her, Wendy stood with her hands pressed to her chest, relief spreading across her face like sunrise.
“You finally woke up,” Wendy said.
Lily crossed her arms. “What a troublemaker. You’ve had us worried all this time.”
“Are you worried about others?” Mystery Moon peered at Lily with open surprise. “That’s very rare.”
Agatha stepped forward holding a Stone of Measuring. She held it up before him without preamble—measuring, not greeting. “No magic reaction. You didn’t inherit Zero’s abilities.” Her eyes narrowed. “What do you remember? Specifically, do you have access to the Pope’s memories?”
“You know about that ability?” Roland blinked.
“We have one of the church’s pure witches in custody. She explained it.” Agatha lowered the stone. “Well?”
“I… don’t think I received any of her memories.”
Ashes stepped into the center of the room, her expression flat and assessing. “How do we know he’s still Roland? He was submerged in over two hundred years of memories. He could have been overwritten.”
“Come on.” Andrea rolled her eyes. “Must you do this now?”
“I’m quite certain he’s His Majesty.” Nightingale’s voice came from the empty air beside the bed. Roland turned toward it—and something registered in him at once. She sounded steadier than he would have expected. Controlled. A careful neutrality he recognized as effort.
Then Nana, Scroll, Leaf—each voice came in turn, each face carrying some version of the same relief. The room felt warmer than its walls warranted.
Last was Tilly.
She took his hand in both of hers and looked at him the way she’d always looked at him: measuring, fond, and entirely sincere.
“Welcome back, brother.”
Chapter 633: [Welcome Back]
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
After clinging to each other for a very long time.
Roland stroked Anna’s face and said in a gentle tone, “You’ve… become thinner.”
Even though there were tears in her eyes, Anna’s eyes were still as pure as lake water. Roland could clearly see his shadow in her blue eyes. But Anna looked much thinner. Through her clothes, Roland could feel her slightly raised backbone and see her prominent collarbones. Her face was not as mellow as before.
“I’m so sorry for letting you worry about me.” Smelling the fragrance of Anna, Roland felt quiet in his heart again. It was just a blink of an eye but they felt like that they met each other after a few centuries apart.
Anna shook her head and wiped her tears with his collar, saying, “I’m okay, as long as you woke up.”
“For how long was I in a coma? Three days or a week?” Roland was not sure about the numbers when seeing that Anna had become so skinny.
“Over a month.”
“What?” Roland was astonished.
“To be exact, it was 52 days.” Seeing his stunned face, Anna could not help bursting into laughter and said, “It’s Fall now. You should notice that those curtains were changed.”
“I was unconscious for nearly two months?” Roland disbelievingly moved his arms and secretly curled his toes. But he did not feel any discomfort.
“How did I eat?”
“You didn’t eat anything.” Anna leaned on his shoulder with her hands tightly holding his clothes, as if she was very afraid that Roland would fall asleep again. “Someone has eaten in your stead.”
“Uh… Is that possible?”
“It’s the ability of Nightfall of the Bloodfang Association. She planted a Seed of Symbiosis in your body and so she just needed to eat more than usual.”
“A witch’s ability could be used like this!” Roland thought that it was amazing because this kind of symbiosis did more than just sustain his life. Due to the fact that the muscles in his hands and feet did not shrink, it was able to connect two living bodies together to share one circulatory system.
Roland sighed for a while and looked at a wooden tub on the ground. “Thanks for taking care of me these days.”
“Without a doubt, there must be someone who had cleaned his body and changed his clothes in order to keep him clean in the nearly two-month coma. Besides, this process was very complicated and only Anna who was patient and loving could do it day after day,” Roland thought.
“Compared with what you’ve done, I’ve done nothing,” Anna said gently, “You’ve honored your commitment to the witches. You’ve defeated the corps of the church. Each witch of the Witch Union would like to show their gratitude to you, even without me, someone would take care of you.”
“But I would prefer that you take care of me.” Roland stared at her and lowered his head to kiss Anna.
After a long while, they parted with each other reluctantly. With her cheeks blushing, Anna said, “Well, I must tell the other witches. They’ve waited for this day for a long time.”
“We could continue?” Roland said with a smirk.
Anna slanted her head subconsciously and said, “You’ve just woken up and you should take a good rest…”
“But I feel like I’m full of energy.”
“Even so, we can’t continue.” Anna raised her hands to hammer him a few punches and then turned around to pick up the tub. She walked towards the door reluctantly and said, “I’ll be back soon.”
“I’ve had enough sleep, so don’t be worried.” Roland gave her a smile.
After Anna closed the door and Roland frowned.
“Why have I slept for such a long time? Does this have a relationship with the strange phenomenon in my dream?” Roland thought.
Roland felt a deep sense of unease.
Generally speaking, after people woke up from a dream, they would forget its content quickly, and even completely forget it in less a day. But until now, Roland still clearly remembered what had happened in his dream.
“Was the little teenage girl really Zero?”
“But why did she call me uncle?”
“Besides, she could not disguise the shock in her face.”
The more Roland recalled, the more he considered strange.
The city in his dream was absolutely not where he had lived in the past. The school in the TV represented compelling proof of that. The university should be built beside a mountain and was part of a scenic area. Towering buildings were not allowed around the university, but he had seen a gray skyline formed by skyscrapers in the background of the news story that played.
Something was also wrong with the apartment. Those walkways connected side by side, which were the most outdated tube-styled apartments. They were built in the 1970s and 1980s and were ill-adapted to both the busy streets hundreds of meters away and the skyscrapers afar.
Besides, the ink-green anti-theft door and outdated desk fan looked a strange match to the hanging colorful TV. If an owner did not have a special hobby, no one would decorate his own living room like this.
Everything seemed to be real while everything was problematic.
Before disappearing, Zero had hysterically shouted at Roland that she would never let him go. Were her words a curse or a threat to Roland? Did she count on creating such a bad dream to confuse him? After all, it would only be a little bluff if she only made him dream several nightmares.
When Roland was still lost in thought, there were noises behind the door.
A group of witches rushed over to the bedroom and surrounded him. In front of them, Roland felt somewhat embarrassed.
“Ahem… In a word, I’m alright. These days…”
Before Roland finished his words, Lightning jumped onto the bed and hugged his neck.
“Thank God,” Wendy put her hands on her chest and said in an excited tone, “You finally woke up.”
Lily curled her lip and said, “What a troubling guy. You made us worry for such a long time.”
Mystery Moon murmured, “Are you worried about others? This is very rare.”
“Compared to witches, commoners are much more fragile.” Agatha pulled out a Stone of Measuring, watched it before Roland and continued to say, “En, there isn’t any magic reaction, and it seems that you didn’t inherit Zero’s abilities. What can you remember? How about the memories of the Pope.”
Roland felt a little surprised and asked, “Do you know this ability?”
“We’ve held a pure witch of the church captive. We’ve heard of it from her.”
“Re-really? It seems that I didn’t receive her memories.”
“Wait a moment. What if he isn’t the previous Prince Roland. Maybe he’s been dazzled by the memories of over 200 years?” Ashes stood up and asked, “Who can prove that he’s Roland, not Zero?”
“Come on, don’t make trouble. Can you not?” Andrea rolled her eyes at Ashes and said.
“I’m quite sure that he’s His Majesty, Roland.” Nightingale’s voice came from the other side of the bed, but to Roland’s surprise, Nightingale did not appear her usual self.
Then Nana, Scroll, Leaf… Among all the caring voices from the witches, Roland felt warmth all over his body.
The last one was Tilly.
She held Roland’s hand and said with a smile on her face.
“Welcome back, my brother!”