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❝ 𝗜 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿, 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻...𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗱.. ❞
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"Lydia?"

"What is it?" periwinkle eyes met with one pink and one purple.

"Can..can you teach me how to play the flute?" Silalynn crossed her legs as she awaited Lydia's answer.

Lydia blinked a couple of times, seemingly taken off guard by the unexpected question. "Huh, I would've thought since you were royalty you learned how to play an instrument, after all, you certainly could afford any instruments-"

"I regret asking you for anything" the royal quickly interrupted her.

"W-wait I was just kidding! I'd love to teach you! I swear it was a joke!!" Lydia almost sounded distressed, Sila had no idea why she'd be distressed over something so small but it was rather funny and got Silalynn to laugh. Usually, it was Lydia who teased her but now she was teasing Lydia.

Lydia pouted. "Come on I'm supposed to be the one who jokes with you not the other way around"

"Now I see why you like teasing me so much, it's fun!"

Lydia crossed her arms against her chest, the pout not fading from her face. "Hmph, forget it I'm not teaching you any-"

The periwinkle eyes girl froze. Time stopped in Lydia's world as she saw a certain dark red liquid flow down from Silalynn's mouth.

"Why is blood flowing from Shiruko's mouth?" Lydia simply stated in shock at her friend, not realizing she voiced out her thoughts.

With a panicked expression on her face, Silalynn quickly touched the corner of her mouth with her hand and felt the blood slowly flowing from her mouth. "What the?-" suddenly the Silva prodigy coughed up a mouthful of blood.

And she didn't stop until a few minutes later.

By then there was a small puddle of the crimson liquid on the floor and some staining the Silva's white clothing. "S-sorry Lydia, I need to go check up on something!" Silalynn quickly rushed out of her cell before Lydia could stop her. But it's not like the music magic-user could, she was far too concerned with what happened to Silalynn.

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"Lady Vanica are you sure? I'm aware I brought her here but the girl just coughed up blood, she's a waste of time! She isn't in And here I was thinking she was even a bit beautiful"

"Hmm, she is frail, however..." a smile was plastered over her face. "She's survived the second-longest here. Only Lydia has survived longer than her" An idea then popped into her head. "Get the girl, I don't think she's realized how powerful her magic really is"

"But Lady Vanica!"

"Now Halbet."

"...of course Lady Vanica"

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"Hey! Let go of me!" Silalynn attempted to free herself from Halbet's grip around her wrists. At one point, she angered the woman so much that she just dragged her to Vanica, using to hair to wrap around her wrists instead. Soon enough they got to the room which Vanica was in and Halbet pushed Sila in and closed the door without a word.

"Geez, I know that my status as a royal doesn't mean anything, but the least she could do is warn me before she pushes me!" Silalynn bitterly mumbled, running her wrists.

Suddenly Silalynn froze. "So you're that infamous Bloody Sila" and on instinct, she created a spike made of mercury and launched it in Vanica's direction. Vanica effortlessly dodged the spike and manipulated her blood magic to stop the Silva from moving. Vanica succeed in making Silalynn immobile and caused her to panic. Plus Vanica walking towards her didn't help either.

"Silalynn Silva, at least I've been told that's who you are-"

"Well Ma'am you're correct, but if you don't mind would you tell me why I'm here?" Sila, against her better judgment, didn't try to escape or even manipulate some mercury. But it's not like she could even if she tried.

"Why would I do that?"

A tick mark formed on Silalynn's forehead. "I'm sorry, but does basic courtesy mean nothing to you people?!"

"I could care less about courtesy, it doesn't exist here" Vanica seemed, bored?.."If you must know you've caught my interest. Managing to fight and kill even with that illness of yours". Silalynn choked on her saliva. "How did you learn about!-"

"I have eyes and ears everywhere" Well damn, that's a simple answer.

"Anyway, I don't want to see a strong person fall apart because of a frivolous reason" Silalynn had confusion plastered all over her face, but that confusion turned into horror within seconds.

"Curse Warding Magic: Malady Numbing"

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Lydia almost felt too relieved when she saw Silalynn again. But there was something off about her. "Sila please...can you tell me what happened, why did you cough out blood. You were fine before!" the Music Magic user's hands gripped onto Silalynn's shoulders.

"Ah"

Ah. why was that all that Silalynn said?! Lydia's grip tightened and Sila knew she wouldn't get out of this without telling her.

Silalynn sighed. "I was born with an illness, it made my body weaker than it should be. Sometimes I cough up blood because my fragile body wasn't able to hold it. However, I can take some medicine that will numb the effects for some time. But now the situation has been handled and I'm fine!" Lydia was able to see through the lie easily, but she could always ask about it tomorrow, Silalynn seemed tired today-

Wait, what is that. Lydia, with no other thought but her friend's safety, lifted the edge of Sila's shirt.

"S-she...she placed a curse on you..." Lydia mumbled in shock. Before Silalynn could speak again Lydia interrupted her.

"We're talking about this. Now." the periwinkle-eyed girl demanded.

Sila looked away for a moment. "First, put my shirt down would you"

Lydia only then realized she was still gripping Silalynn's shirt. "Oh, sorry"

"It's fine" Silalynn sighed. "Ok, and now it's time I explain myself"

Sila gulped. "Lady Vanica didn't want my illness to give me a handicap. So she placed a curse that would stop me from coughing blood"

"And you agreed to that....? I'm sure that curse will have some side effects..."

Silalynn stayed silent for a moment. "Do you really think I would've agreed to that?"

"Of course not!- However, there has been a case where Lady Vanica gave someone a choice with their curse"

Silalynn made a small 'oh' noise.

Lydia was this close to choking Sila. "I'm sure you're happy knowing that your blood coughing isn't happening anymore, but there's going to be side effects that you need to keep an eye out for"

Silalynn froze upon hearing those words. "You make it sound like I enjoy having this curse.."

Lydia flinched at Silalynn's tone of voice. It didn't sound much different but there was something strange about it. "You're taking the wrong way Shiruko, I'm just warning you about it-"

"No, because you're right. I don't think I lament having this curse"

What is she going on about? Someone alright with a curse? To Lydia, these were foreign feelings she would never understand. "Shiruko..." Lydia started. her lips were slightly parted making an "o" but she caught herself and closed them. She didn't have an answer for her"I can't blame you for feeling the way" was what the music magic user eventually settled with as her answer.

"Hey, Silalynn we'll finish this conversation later, I don't think either of us wants to but we have to talk about this" periwinkle eyes met with one purple and pink, begging for them to reason with each other.

Sila wanted to say something more but shut her mouth. "We'll talk later...". Yeah, it's best if they don't say anything right now,

especially when the walls have ears.