Chapter 5: The Tip of the Iceberg

"!"

As Soren read the information, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

’T-This...’

His breath caught in his throat.

The words hung in his vision, each line a dagger straight into his chest. He expected her to be in bad shape. He knew she was paralyzed, knew she was crippled after that

But this...

’97% core destruction... 4% functional pathways... Chronic pain level 8 out of 10... Constant...’

’This...’

’This is too terrifying!’

And that line.

’Broken Will - Suicidal Ideation - Resigned to Death...’

Soren’s hand clenched into fists on his knees.

’She isn’t quiet because she’s cold. She’s quiet because she’s already given up!’

He thought back to every interaction since they’d met. The silence. The emptiness in her eyes. The way she flinched from his touch but didn’t fight back. The way she said ’alone’ like it was the only word that mattered.

She...

She wasn’t just rejecting him.

She was rejecting life itself.

And...

’8 to 14 months...’

The timeline echoed in his mind.

If he did nothing, if he just went through the motions of this arranged marriage, Ethea Morvain, no, Ethea Velmere would be dead within a year.

And... Her family probably knew.

Yet... They dumped her here anyway.

"..." Soren’s jaw tightened.

He looked at her lying there on the bed, facing the ceiling, her breathing shallow and uneven. She probably thought he couldn’t see her. Probably thought he was too busy with his own awakening to notice.

But he noticed.

He noticed the way her fingers twitched occasionally, involunatary spasms from damaged nerves. He noticed the tension in her shoulders that never fully relaxed. He noticed that she hadn’t closed her eyes once since he came back.

She was in pain.

Constant, unending pain.

And...

She was enduring it alone.

’Like she’s been enduring everything alone.’

Unfortunately, he didn’t know how to fix her core or how to heal her severed pathways.

But he knew one thing.

He had promised to protect her.

And protection didn’t just mean stopping assassins.

It meant keeping her alive.

Keeping her from slipping away into that darkness she was already halfway consumed by.

But for that, he needed money.

He needed power and connections.

And the only way to get those was to become stronger and use everything to the fullest.

Thankfully, he now had the tools and the path.

All he needed was time.

Time to grow, time to learn, and time to become strong enough to save her.

Eight to fourteen months...

No, five or six months at most.

Soren nodded to himself, and his gaze swept over the overlay one more time, committing every detail before he dismissed it-!

He froze.

His eyes locked onto the blurry line he had almost missed in the shock of everything else.

’...!’

As he read, his blood ran cold.

’A... A curse?!’

He stared back at the obscured text, at the blacked-out name and the ominous grade rating.

’...Eighth Circle curse?’

That... That was almost near the peak of power.

The kind of curse that could only be laid by someone standing at the top of the world.

’Then...’

’Was the incident back then... not a coincidence?’

The thought hit him like a physical blow.

Soren’s mind raced, pieces clicking together faster than he could process.

The Gate incident six months ago. The one that had crippled the Ice Empress. The one that everyone called a tragic accident, a freak occurrence, the unpredictable nature of the anomaly.

But...

What if it wasn’t?

What if someone had engineered the whole thing?

An Eighth Circle curse didn’t appear just by accident.

Either someone paid for it, or someone at the Eighth Circle or above did it personally.

And maybe...

’Maybe her family also found out about it. And decisively chose to abandon her. After all, the enemy was too high for them to handle.’

He doubted whether they even tried to investigate it.

Why would they? Investigating meant risking conflict with an Eighth Circle powerhouse. Fighting meant possibly losing everything. But abandoning one crippled daughter? That was easy. That cost nothing but her alone.

’...Cowards.’

Soren took a deep breath and let out a slow sigh, deciding not to think about them and focus on the issue.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t see the curse’s origin or even name. If he did, maybe he would have some clue to work on. A name. A direction. Something to point him toward the enemy.

Or maybe...

Maybe it was better not to know for now.

After all, knowing too much was also a problem.

Like, what if the enemy behind this was watching?

What if they had eyes on this house, on Ethea, or on anyone who got too close?

If he suddenly started asking questions, digging into things he shouldn’t know yet...

He might lead them back to him, back to her.

Soren’s eyes narrowed.

If so... then he had to be careful.

Extremely so.

Because they could come back to finish the job if they noticed anything wrong.

Or...

’Maybe they already did?’

The earlier scene crossed his mind. The assassin. The blade.

Soren’s blood ran cold again.

Was that a coincidence? A random robbery? Or was it the first move from whoever cursed her, finally coming to make sure the job was done right?

He didn’t know.

He couldn’t know.

And that was the worst part.

Soren looked at Ethea again, squinting slightly.

He wanted to believe it was random. It was just a burglar who picked the wrong house.

But deep down, he knew.

This was just the beginning.

The tip of the iceberg.

And somewhere beneath the surface, something massive and dark was waiting.

’...Hmm.’

Soren took another deep breath and closed his eyes, forcing the mounting dread into a corner of his mind.

’When the time comes...’

’...I’ll have to be ready.’

’For her.’

’And for myself.’