The silence in the room stretched on, thick and heavy with an intensity that made Ethea’s chest ache.

Soren still hadn’t moved, nor had he released her hand.

Instead, his thumb gave a slow, absentminded brush against the back of her wrist, a small, natural gesture that nearly made her entire facade collapse on the spot.

’Please look away... Please just look away...’ she pleaded silently, her mind a chaotic storm of nerves.

She could feel the heat radiating from her face, and she was absolutely certain that the brilliant pink on her cheeks was entirely visible in the growing morning light. Her heart was beating so hard against her ribs that she was terrified he might actually hear it.

Meanwhile, Soren quietly observed her. He noticed the slight, unnatural stiffness in her posture and the faint trembling of her long eyelashes. Sensing that something was amiss, he silently activated Investor’s Insight.

The skill immediately laid out her current status before his eyes.

════════════════

Name: Ethea Everly

Status: Stable (Critical)

[Age: 21]

[Rank: 7th Circle [Crippled / Regressed]]

[Current Mana Level: 0 (Sealed)]

[Core condition: 95% destroyed - severe irreparable damage]

[Mana pathways: 7% functional - catastrophic severing]

[Physical Condition:]

- Paralysis (Near-Complete - Below Neck/Above Wrist)

- Chronic Pain (Level 5/10 - Managed / Temporarily Soothed)

- Nerve Damage (Severe - Permanent without intervention)

- ...

- ...

[Authority Status: Frost Sovereign - Sealed/Dormant]

[Affliction Detected:]

[Curse: ▇▇▇▇▇’s ▇▇▇▇▇ - Grade: Eighth Circle]

[Details: Insufficient Authority - Unable to analyze]

[Effect: ???]

[Origin: ???]

[Estimated Survival Without Treatment: 10-13 months] (Stabilized due to psychological recovery and care)

[Mental State: Acute Panic, Extreme Shyness, Hyper-Flustered]

[Investment Value: SUPREME]

[Potential: Immeasurable]

[Recommendation: Maintain psychological anchorage; proceed with next phase of physical restoration]

════════════════

’Hmm?’

The subtle shifts in the numbers caught him off guard.

His eyes locked onto the structural data of her energy center.

The core destruction had retreated from 97% to 95%, and her functional mana pathways had ticked upward from 4% to 7%.

It was an incredibly minuscule change, just a couple of percentage points in a system that was still fundamentally shattered, but any form of natural regeneration for a destroyed core was supposed to be a mathematical impossibility.

Yet, the sight of those cold, mechanical lines didn’t bring him joy. Instead, a familiar, dull ache tightened inside his chest.

Seeing the raw data laid bare like this served as a stark, merciless reminder of what she was enduring every single second.

Even with those tiny improvements, she was still trapped in a broken body, stripped of the immense power she once held, and forced to rely on others for almost everything.

Soren focused his attention further down, scanning her physical condition with meticulous care. The chronic pain indicator had dropped to a level five, a significant decrease from the agonizing level eight she had been forced to live with. The constant, life-threatening core instability had also settled into a manageable equilibrium.

’Is it because of the Resonant Bond?’ he wondered silently.

It was the only logical explanation.

’Those special meals must have had a hand in it too.’

Nodding inwardly, his gaze drifted lower, searching for any new data on the affliction that had caused this tragedy in the first place.

[Curse: ▇▇▇▇▇’s ▇▇▇▇▇ - Grade: Eighth Circle]

[Details: Insufficient Authority - Unable to analyze]

The blacked-out text remained completely unreadable, a wall of static mocking his efforts.

Soren suppressed a heavy sigh of disappointment.

He was still entirely lacking the necessary authority to even identify the source of her pain, let alone dismantle it. To unlock those secrets, he would need to grow his power exponentially, and the clock was ticking faster than he cared to admit.

Finally, his eyes landed on her estimated lifespan.

[Estimated Survival Without Treatment: 10-13 months]

A complex knot of emotions tightened in his throat.

On one hand, it was a massive relief; the absolute worst-case scenario had shifted from a terrifying eight months up to ten, bought entirely by her psychological recovery and the stabilizing environment of the month.

But on the other hand, the maximum ceiling had dropped from 14 months to 13.

’...Time sure flies fast, huh.’

A whole month had already passed since the day they bound their lives together.

Time was flowing forward relentlessly, entirely indifferent to their struggles, and every passing day was a grain of sand slipping through his fingers.

Yet, as his eyes drifted to the very bottom of the translucent window, the somber weight in his chest suddenly dissolved, replaced by a soft, unexpected warmth.

[Mental State: Acute Panic, Extreme Shyness, Hyper-Flustered]

’Wait...’

A sudden realization struck him as he stared at the vibrant, glowing red text of her mental state.

’Is she... awake?’

He then looked up from the glowing interface, his gaze returning to her.

Her breath was completely shallow, held in a tight, unnatural suspension that no truly sleeping person could ever maintain. Her posture in the chair was rigidly set, and those long, delicate eyelashes were vibrating so fast they practically danced against her skin.

’...Yep, definitely awake.’

He didn’t know exactly what had caused this sudden, massive surge of anxiety. He just knew that her mind was a total storm right now, and confronting her or acknowledging that she was faking it would only make her even more incredibly uncomfortable.

Making a conscious decision to protect her facade and give her some peace of mind, Soren let out a long, theatrical yawn, letting the sound carry softly through the quiet room.

He deliberately relaxed the muscles in his hand, loosening his fingers just enough to give her some breathing room without breaking the comforting physical contact entirely.

With a slow, heavy movement, he turned his head away from her, shifting his weight slightly on the mattress to give her back her sense of personal space.

He let out a soft, sleepy sigh and allowed his breathing to drop back into a slow, perfectly rhythmic pattern, flawlessly mimicking a man slipping right back into a deep, uninterrupted slumber.

Hearing the steady, even rise and fall of his breath, Ethea slowly, agonizingly released the air trapped in her lungs. The burning heat in her cheeks still throbbed, and her pulse was a chaotic mess, but the immediate pressure of the situation had passed.

As the quiet, reassuring warmth of his hand continued to hold hers, she stared wide-eyed at the blank white ceiling, a single, frantic thought echoing repeatedly through her mind.

’He didn’t notice... right?’