Bloodbound Codex: I Grow Stronger in Secret

Just as she was thinking all of this, Atlas narrowed his eyes and asked, ”Seraphiel, what are you thinking?” His wrist was still clutched in her hands, but he didn’t try to pull it away. Instead, he simply looked toward her lowered head while noticing her trembling figure. Without waiting another second, he completely turned toward her and lifted her chin with his left hand.

The moment he did, his eyes widened when he saw tears falling from her dazed eyes. ”Seraphiel...?” His heart immediately felt numb as he removed his hand from her clutch and began wiping her tears with both hands.

However, despite his actions, the emotionless look in her eyes made his mind go blank for a moment. He didn’t understand why she was crying or what had caused her to become like this, so the only thing he could think of saying was, ”Why are you crying? Don’t do that, Seraphiel...”

The words came out instinctively once again as he held her face with both hands. ”What happened? Tell me, Seraphiel!” he finally shouted when he received no response from her dazed expression.

Seraphiel’s eyes snapped back into focus as she looked at Atlas, but when she was about to lower them again, Atlas immediately spoke, ”Don’t lower them. Look toward me and tell me what happened.”

Seraphiel’s expression turned into a painful smile before she muttered, ”I-Its nothing, Atlas. D-Do not worry about me... do not worry.” Atlas frowned for a brief moment before letting out a small exhale. He could tell that something was bothering her, but she was trying to hide it from him, and he didn’t know what else he could do except ask her directly.

”Please tell me, Seraphiel. If you do not, then how will I be able to understand? You know that I am still not good at understanding you, right?” he said honestly in his usual calm voice. Seraphiel continued staring at his face with that painful smile, but her heart seemed to clench even more as she finally began speaking about what had been bothering her.

”I-I am... making you worry about me, Atlas. I am being protected even when you are not there, and I feel like I am not standing beside you even when I am.” Atlas widened his eyes as he finally understood what she had been thinking about all this time.

’I see now...’ Atlas thought as he considered the situation from his own perspective. Seraphiel was the person who had been keeping him sane and giving him a place in her heart. She was the person who had made him feel that he finally had something in his life that he wanted to protect and something that gave him a reason to continue living.

Yet she had been interpreting his actions in a completely different way, believing that his protection meant he was constantly worried about her?

A long moment of silence passed before Atlas spoke up, ”Seraphiel, you know what I think when I am with you? I see you as my life itself, you are the reason I want to live even more now, and it is not that I am protecting you out of worry. It is simply a feeling of ’Wanting’ to protect you.” Seraphiel widened her eyes at his words, and although she still didn’t completely understand what he meant by that last part, she could understand what he was trying to tell her.

”Even if you did not need any protection at all, my mind and heart would automatically tell me to protect you, I do not know why it feels like that, but that is the truth.” The moment he finished speaking, Seraphiel’s pupils contracted as the thoughts that had been weighing on her heart only moments ago began to loosen.

She had believed that Atlas protected her because she was someone who constantly needed his help, but he was telling her that his desire to protect her had nothing to do with whether she was strong or weak.

Atlas spoke again after that, ”Do you understand now, Seraphiel? You are not someone who worries me constantly... you are someone I ’want’ to protect you.” His words made Seraphiel remain silent for a moment as she tried to fully understand what he was saying, but before she could respond, Atlas did something he had never done before.

He initiated a hug and pulled her into his embrace, holding her tightly just as she had always done whenever she wanted to comfort him. His hands rested against her back and wings as he tried to understand the feeling of embracing someone by his own choice.

”Is this what it feels like to hug someone by yourself? It’s... a strange feeling...” he spoke as he continued holding her.

Seraphiel couldn’t even begin to find the words to respond as she remained in his embrace. Most of the doubts that had been troubling her had already disappeared after hearing his words, although one thought still remained in her mind.

She was still weak, and she knew that Atlas’s words could not change that fact. She still wanted to become stronger, and she had already planned to work on it once she had the time, but she decided to leave that thought for another time because she didn’t want to think about anything else at that moment.

For now, all she wanted was to embrace Atlas for as long as she could. ’I need to reduce my overthinking and doubts about my love.’ She suddenly remembered something her mother had once told her when she was a child. ”Seraphiel, you should keep ’doubt’ inside you when you are doing business, but that cannot be said for matters related to family, matters related to love.”

”Once doubt sprouts in your heart and mind regarding any circumstances, it cannot be solved until your own mind realizes what was wrong with its own thinking.” At that time, Seraphiel had been around seven years old and couldn’t even begin to understand what those words meant.

She had simply remembered them because they had come from her mother, but now that those words had surfaced again in this exact situation, she finally understood what Maristella had been trying to teach her.

’Mother is really knowledgeable and experienced about these matters, Thank God I overcame this hurdle before it escalated any further...’ Seraphiel thought as she continued hugging Atlas. She didn’t want to think about the doubts she had created inside her mind anymore, at least not while she was finally able to understand what Atlas actually felt toward her.

For the moment, she simply wanted to stay close to him and enjoy the time they had together.

After several moments passed, Atlas was about to pull away from Seraphiel when he suddenly narrowed his eyes after sensing a presence behind him. He recognized it immediately and turned his head toward the person who had appeared behind them. ”You... What are you doing here?”

It was none other than Aurelis, the Angelic woman who was one of the four people residing in the Realm of Astraya. Aurelis looked toward the two of them before speaking calmly, ”I hate to be an interruption to your good moments, but there is something I would like to speak with that girl of my race.” Atlas pulled Seraphiel away from the embrace and turned toward Aurelis, while Seraphiel also looked in the same direction.

”What is it? Speak while I am present.” Atlas’s expression remained indifferent as he spoke, making Aurelis’s mouth twitch slightly. It was obvious that he didn’t care much about what she was about to say, and she could only sigh before accepting that there was little point in expecting any other reaction from him.

She then spoke directly, ”I am here to take that child and train her to control the special power she possesses.”