Chapter 15.6: 12.2 - Special Abilities
~Whoosh
Today was not a very sunny day, but instead the wind blew. Annette reflexively raised her hand and swept her windswept hair away from her face. Her blond hair glistened with a light platinum color, just like a flax thread on a cloudy day. As her view became clearer, the passage of the book she had read before caught her eye.
‘…Regression is an extremely rare experience, but once you regress, you may acquire a special ability that you never had before. A prime example is the prodigal daughter Natalie, who had the ability to attract men by releasing special pheromones after returning. In this way, regressors acquire rare abilities one by one, ranging from spirit skills to the ability to make sugar cubes at a small level.’
Annette snorted a little at the phrase ‘the ability to make sugar cubes’.
However her mind became complicated. It was because of the thought of what her special ability could be. ‘I hope it’s not making french fries out of the nostrils.’ Annette did not like fried foods very much .
‘Whatever it is, please, I wish it is a helpful ability.’
Unfortunately, this book did not say when and how the regressors came to realize their new abilities. In the first place, there were too few known cases of regression. Annette couldn’t hide her disappointment and looked back to see if there was anything she missed.
At that moment, a sudden gust of wind blew away the book she was reading. At the same time, the hem of Annette’s dress flipped over. A surprised Annette hurried to pull down her skirt and bent to look for the book that had rolled away.
“Oh dear, what shall I do?”
Annette sprang to her feet and scurried towards the book. It was quite humid today, so she was afraid to get the book stained. The book was taken from the study of the Marquis of Carnesis, and if it was damaged, she would not have the face to see Rafael.
~Whoosh
The playful wind ruffled her braided hair. Before she knew it, almost half of her hair came out of the thin hairpin. The blonde hair fluttered and kept obscuring her view. Because of this, Annette, who bowed her head to pick up the book urgently, did not sense the pillar in front of her in time.
“Ouch!”
Suddenly her eyes flashed, and she felt quite a sharp pain in her left temple. Annette picked up the book with one hand, and touched her forehead with the other. The bump seemed to burn, and a warm liquid trickled down between her fingers.
“Blood…isn’t it blood?”
Annette was startled. As a well bred girl, she hardly ever got hurt. It was even more so because she was generally a very cautious person. Annette futilely caressed the place from where the blood was flowing. She was embarrassed and didn’t know what to do.
Fortunately, the knowledge she had once seen in a book soon came to her mind. In this case, to stop the bleeding, she had to press on the wound. Annette tried hard to stay calm and pressed down on the wound. However, theories and realities were so different.
“Ouch!!”
When she applied pressure on her hand, it was so painful that tears fell from her eyes. Annette finally gave up on stopping the bleeding and removed her hand from her temple, but the blood dripped down and stained the dress. She felt that she might need some help.
Annette staggered and turned toward the front door of the mansion. At that moment, a solid wall suddenly appeared before her eyes. She was so surprised that she couldn’t scream and her body stiffened.
Only
“Are you hurt?”
What appeared in front of her was not a wall, but Rafael. He was so tall and well built that Annette’s confused eyes thought it was an illusion. Rafael, looking down at Annette with disapproving eyes, reached out and looked at her forehead.
Fortunately, Annette’s wound wasn’t big. The skin where the blood vessels covered was torn, but the bleeding seemed to be severe. For Rafael who had spent the majority of his time on the battlefield, it was just a minor wound.
Nevertheless, the pale face of Annette and the crimson blood on her light blond hair looked somehow sinister. Rafael felt like a person who had been pushed back from a cliff. Annette’s pain made his heart sink. Somehow, he felt like he had been through something like this before.
Rafael, trying to shake off this nasty feeling, made a bitter rebuke.
“Well, are you stupid? Do you think those eyes are for decoration?”
Annette opened her mouth and lowered her gaze weakly. She was speechless, because it was true that she had gone to the pillar and foolishly hit her head. But because of Rafael’s harsh words and her surprise upon seeing the blood, Annette felt extremely upset and tears welled up in her eyes.
Annette blinked her eyes and inhaled to avoid crying. Then, unintentionally, a little sniffling sound came out. At that moment, Rafael’s hand, which was grazing Annette’s forehead, hardened. Annette looked up at him, wondering why he was doing this.