Chapter 43: Phew

The atmosphere had grown silent and quiet. I preferred that better to adults blatantly staring at me and my ears. Hideous already tucked himself under his blanket and faced the opposite side of the room. Seeing that, I guessed I should be doing the same. Sleeping it was then. But just as I started to get down to it, I looked White-haired up. "What are you doing down there?" He had just extended one large sheet on the floor.

"Yes, Princess. Preparing my bed, Princess."

"Ah?" I expressed, raising a brow. "True. You don't have any bed to sleep on, do you?" I honestly thought he would sleep with Hideous, but apparently no. We were three and there were two beds. "Sorry."

He asked why I in the world I would be sorry. If anything, he was sorry. That boy sure was something. "Come up here, White-haired." Rolling to the other side of my bed, I made some room for him. "There's enough space for two." But he refused me. Knowing him, I knew he would. So I insisted, but he refused again. He said he couldn't dare be so casual and familiar with his princess. Was he that willing to sleep on the ground? If so, I was sorry for him, but I wouldn't give in. "That's an order anyway."

We each took a side of the bed. The bed was way large enough. Thus, everything in the world was normal. Perfectly normal. Yup. I insist. Nor-mal. Even the tears I shed back then were normal. Very normal. There was absolutely nothing wrong with those tears coming from me. Absolutely not. It's not like the true elven princess was still here, 'with' me, sharing her body together, and that the tears I shed were actually hers. It wasn't like her true overwhelming feelings of sadness surfaced when Hideous yelled so angrily at her, blaming her and her deceased father. I was so very sure of that fact, so much so that when I tucked myself under the blanket we had, I did absolutely not think of speaking to the princess in my head in order to see if she would respond or not.

Don't tell me she is... no way, I silently thought. She is still in here? The princess? Like, the true elven princess? The real deal? Not just the punk me who stole her body away? I mean, she would definitely be the one crying for that, though... right? Shedding tears is the helpless princess' job, not mine! Man, I have to try something!

"C-Can you hear me...?" I whispered in a hushed voice, under my blanket, well-hidden. My warm breath filled the inside of my hideout, and I waited for my reply. Talking to her directly in my head with my thoughts, nobody responded. I had to take it a step further and be checking out loud. Just to be sure.

Well, I quite disliked them, these tears. I didn't believe they would come from me. I was no crybaby. Aaah, but maybe I was simply super worn out mentally, though. Hence why I teared up a little. Or yeah, teared up a lot. With everything that had happened to me in the past few days, maybe that was just my fatigue playing tricks on me.

"So... can you hear me... or not?" I whispered again, a little bit louder. I really just needed to get this straight. Was she here or not? "Yes...? Or, like, obviously, no...?"

I was given a response.

"I can hear you just fine..."

So she really could listen. She really was still alive. How in the world? And why? How could she even answer me back? Did she have any mouth to speak with or something? Also, why a manly voice!? That was a total shock to me. But soon, 'she' repeated it. "I can hear you just fine, Princess," White-haired whispered. "What is it?"

"Damn it."

"I-Is everything okay, Princess?"

"Quiet," I said. "I'm just trying to sleep."

I guessed I was just tired. Super tired. Worn out to the point of tears. But the fact was that the true elven princess, the girl whom they called Cetha Benelloan, was indeed still with me. And in fact, she was the one who cried back there.

I was a unique monster. That essentially meant I was different, but also that I possessed one or many unique skills. The Dwelling passive was among one of them. For now, at this point in my story, I didn't know anything about it.

Any technical details such as how much mana it consumed or could I use it in depth, or anything related to that was unknown to me. Later on, when I would get to truly figure out my power and the System, I would come to uncover said details. About my skills, mostly. Anyway, that Dwelling Unique Skill, I had gone with the misconception of it killing any Receptacle I would come to 'use', but that was wrong.

That misconception was due to the fact that all previous Receptacles died before I 'undwelled' them. All of them died a death unrelated to the Dwelling skill I had, however. But I didn't know yet. And the elven princess was still here.