Chapter 171 Guarded
Aleshia lifted her head, clearly picking up on the hate in Daniel's voice as he let the word "noble" out of his mouth. She glanced at the dimming magic circle and recognized the dark silhouette within as a book. However, when Daniel noticed it, he immediately tensed up, adopting a battle stance. He quickly drew his thin sword and raised it as he stared intently at the glowing circle.
Realizing that she was in a precarious situation, Aleshia quickly reassured him, "It's all right; you can lower your sword. There's nothing dangerous in there, just a spell book. I promise."
Daniel seemed hesitant to trust her words completely, but he relaxed his grip on his sword and situated it near the sheath. A few seconds later, the light from the circle dimmed enough for him to see what was inside. He recognized that it was book-shaped, but it wasn't until Aleshia picked it up and flipped the pages to show it wasn't a threat that he sheathed the sword.
"I apologize for being so guarded," Daniel said apologetically.
"No, it's a normal reaction," Aleshia replied, telling a small white lie. "It's completely understandable, considering I'm essentially an unknown in this sanctuary."
"What do you plan to do with this spell book?" Daniel pressed.
"I'm going to use the knowledge in it to cure the curses poisoning your siblings," Aleshia replied honestly. After hearing this, Daniel seemed to calm down, reassured that she wasn't harboring a threat. Lucia, perched on Aleshia's head, released a mental sigh of relief as the invisible tension in the room dissipated. With calm returned to the room, Lucia eagerly moved her body into a better position to get a clearer view of the book's contents.
Feeling Lucia's movements on her head and picking up snippets of her thoughts, Aleshia held the book out more so Lucia could see it.
Through their connection, Lucia expressed her excitement about the book. "These are some very adaptable spells. If you let me study them, I could enhance my magic by at least a leap!"
"You can read them?" Aleshia asked.
"You can't?" Lucia questioned in puzzlement.
Baffled that a witch hat could read the book while she could not, Aleshia tried to change the subject. "Let's not focus on that right now. We should try finding a spell in these pages to help cure our patients."
Daniel observed their silent exchange with confusion but concluded that it was simply a result of being, in Aleshia's own words, "an unknown." and decided to leave it at that.