Chapter 170: Destined by Fate

Inside a second-floor room of White Oak Manor, the morning sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains and spilled across the soft bed.

Cecilia’s long eyelashes trembled slightly before she slowly opened her eyes.

The very first thing she felt upon regaining consciousness was not the exhaustion caused by magical overdraw.

On the contrary—

It was the immense magic power within her body, so abundant it almost seemed ready to overflow.

Those once-dried magic circuits now resembled riverbeds nourished by spring rain. Not only had her magic fully replenished to its limit, but even her nerve endings continuously transmitted a tingling sensation to her brain that made her scalp go numb.

The feeling was simply too comfortable, causing her to unconsciously let out a soft and sweet nasal sound into the pillow like a kitten just waking up.

“Water…”

After the brief comfort faded, she suddenly felt as though a fire was burning inside her throat, and her lips had become painfully dry.

Subconsciously, she turned her head.

Only to immediately meet Yuna’s sparkling eyes beside the bed, wide open like searchlights.

“Thank the gods, you sleeping beauty finally woke up!”

Yuna let out a long sigh of relief and quickly turned around to grab a cup of warm water she had prepared earlier, carefully bringing it to her roommate’s lips.

Cecilia was truly parched.

Holding the cup with both hands, she gulped the water down greedily.

The cool liquid moistened her dry throat and also caused her previously frozen brain to rapidly begin replaying everything that had happened.

Fragments of memories from the Historical Projection space flooded into her mind like a tide.

Dark golden vertical pupils… scorching heat… herself tightly hugging Senior’s neck… the scene of licking…

As those vivid scenes replayed through her mind like a revolving lantern, that intense electrifying pleasure once again surged violently through her body like a current.

“Cough cough cough!”

The overwhelming impact of the memories caused Cecilia to choke violently on a mouthful of water.

She coughed intensely, and within only two seconds, her fair face instantly turned bright red.

The terrifying blush even spread all the way to her hair roots, turning the pointed ears hidden within her silver hair into the color of fully ripened tomatoes.

Oh gods! Oh gods!

Cecilia screamed internally in complete collapse.

What exactly did I do?!

Senior definitely thinks I’m some shameless Half-Elf now!

All the strict teachings Father drilled into her since childhood, the noble dignity the Rosenthal Family took pride in—

She had personally shredded all of it to pieces last night.

The girl sorrowfully closed her eyes.

How am I supposed to face Senior ever again?!

“Cecilia? Did you suddenly come down with a fever? Why is steam literally coming out of your head?!”

Yuna narrowed her eyes suspiciously and leaned closer.

With her abundant experience from reading countless romance novels, this roommate immediately sensed that something was very wrong.

Very wrong!

That flushed face combined with the evasive eyes!

In Yuna’s mind instantly flashed the classic scene described in 《The Playboy Count and the Elf Maid》.

After the heroine in the novel experienced a certain indescribable intimate interaction for the first time, she woke up the next morning looking exactly like this—ashamed to the point of wanting to die!

Yuna grabbed Cecilia’s shoulders with both hands, her voice filled with uncontrollable excitement and gossip.

“You’d better honestly confess right now—inside that Historical Projection, what exactly did you and Lance do together all alone?!”

“N-No! Nothing!”

Cecilia trembled all over from the question. She instinctively pulled the soft blanket upward and tightly covered half of her face.

However, those watery red eyes exposed outside the blanket, along with her trembling voice utterly lacking confidence, had already completely betrayed the panic hidden within her heart.

Yuna stared fixedly at her roommate’s pointed ears, so red they practically looked ready to bleed.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration split through Yuna’s mind like lightning.

Forcefully piecing together the novel settings with Cecilia’s strange behavior over the past few days, a bold speculation surfaced in her thoughts.

“This reaction absolutely can’t be wrong…”

Yuna released her grip and shouted, “Stay right there and don’t move! Wait for me!”

The moment she finished speaking, she spun around and rushed out of the bedroom like a gust of wind.

Left alone on the bed, Cecilia had absolutely no idea what had just happened.

She could only maintain her defensive posture of clutching the blanket while blankly staring at the white ceiling.

Inside the girl’s mind, those burning intimate scenes from yesterday still replayed uncontrollably on loop.

Less than half a minute later, Yuna stormed back into the room.

In her arms was a thick academic book on Demi-Human Races.

While panting, she rapidly flipped through the table of contents until she quickly found the chapter discussing Half-Elf physiological traits.

“I knew it! I knew this book had it written down!”

Yuna slapped the page excitedly.

“Half-Elves have Blooming Seasons too, just like pureblood Elves!”

Yuna heavily smacked the thick book onto the bedside cabinet.

Placing both hands on her hips, she looked down at the girl on the bed.

“Cecilia, I’m going to ask you a few questions now, and you must swear upon Goddess Aretia to answer honestly!”

“W-What questions?” Cecilia timidly poked half her head out.

Yuna extended a finger toward her roommate’s forehead, speaking with the tone of a veteran constable interrogating a criminal.

“Recently, whenever you get close to Lance, does your skin start heating up uncontrollably?”

“And when he accidentally touches you somewhere, even after an entire night passes, can you still clearly feel that strange tingling sensation there?”

Hearing those two unbelievably precise questions, Cecilia’s already flushed ears instantly became even redder.

She felt an unbearable sense of shame, as though the deepest secrets hidden inside her heart had been stripped bare before her roommate.

“H-How do you know all this?! Was I really being that obvious?!”

The moment Yuna heard the answer, she excitedly slapped her own thigh.

“It’s not that you were obvious at all—it’s because you idiot genuinely had no idea what changes were happening to your body!!”

Yuna directly stuffed the academic book into Cecilia’s arms.

“Cecilia, you already entered the Half-Elf-specific Blooming Season long ago!”

“Blooming Season?”

Cecilia completely froze.

Compared to pureblood Elves, the blooming period of Half-Elves arrived much earlier and lasted for a very short time.

According to the Elven perspective on lifespan held by her aunt, Cecilia’s current age still made her practically a child among Elves, so she had never properly explained this dangerous physiological phenomenon tied to lifespan and reproduction.

“Read for yourself what the book says.”

At this point, Cecilia no longer had the energy to feel embarrassed.

She hurriedly sat upright and lowered her head to seriously read the densely packed words on the pages.

“According to academic research, during the Blooming Season phase, if an Elf encounters someone capable of creating soul resonance, their body will uncontrollably develop skin hunger syndrome!”

Yuna’s finger poked so excitedly it nearly touched Cecilia’s straight little nose.

“Think carefully about all the abnormal physiological reactions you’ve had recently.”

“You weren’t sick at all. Your soul had already secretly acknowledged Lance long ago!”

“Your body craves his touch, craves the scent on his body—those are all instinctive physiological reactions brought about by soul compatibility!”

“I… crave Senior…”

Cecilia blankly held the thick book while softly murmuring those words.

“It’s written clearly right here.”

Yuna simply crossed her legs and sat on the bed, fully assuming the role of a temporary lecturer.

“The method Elves use during Blooming Season to choose partners doesn’t value status, appearance, or wealth at all.”

“It’s a choice completely unrelated to psychology or physiology. It’s fate designated directly by the soul.”

“You could even say that from the very moment your soul was born, it was already destined to be powerfully attracted to another completely different soul.”

Yuna paused briefly before delivering her final conclusion.

“So, let’s make a bold assumption.”

“The moment you first arrived at Graystone Town and your eyes met Lance’s inside the Adventurers’ Guild.”

“Cecilia, your Blooming Season had already begun beneath the turning gears of fate.”