"Oh. How strange. You are awfully calm about this." She said, rubbing her cute chin in thought.
"Far from that. I'm actually holding myself back from beating you up." I replied with gritted teeth. Celestine laughed. It was like tinkling little bells. It would have been pleasant to hear if it was another day, but not now when I am utterly furious.
"I see. I guess I do deserve a beating. I am the one who put you into this situation, after all. A thousand apologies would not make up for that." Her laughing face was replaced with an apologetic one. I sighed at this with an evident exasperation.
"Care to explain then?"
"You are really kind, Miss Bai Feng Jiu. No wonder so many people like you in your world." I didn't answer her compliment and waited for her to elaborate on the situation. She stared at me for a while before a forlorn smile appeared on her lips. It tugged on the strings of pity in my heart, to be honest. That's the advantage of a beauty. Everything they do just gets to you.
Annoying.
"You know my story. You know how I ended up. I saw in your memories how you cursed me and laughed when I died." She paused and turned to my horrified and guilty face. Damn... She knows about that. How awkward! She smiled teasingly at me.
"I don't blame you. Even I thought that way when I saw that future. It was a genuinely pathetic sight. But, unquestionably, I would have ended up that way had it not been for that prophetic dream." She continued solemnly.
"Prophetic dream?" I asked tentatively. Celestine nodded at me in affirmation.
"You are aware that in my world, magic exists. If you could sift through my memories even more carefully, you would realize that I am a genius in this aspect. A one-of-a-kind genius. I am not tooting my own horn with this. You would realize that soon enough." She said with an undeniable proud smile on her face. Right. Not tooting her own horn, is it? Yep. I could see that, alright.
"The Trier family is known for its magic knights capable of utilizing the elements and combining them with the Trier and Imperial swordsmanship. My elder brother Carlisle and younger brother Clarion inherited that. But my abilities, I got them from my mother's line. The Liszt Family is renowned for its expertise in arcane magic. I am adept in that aspect. But there is one more. A legacy that only my grandfather remembers to this day." Celestine paused and saw the look of intrigue on my face.
"The Liszt House has Eashen blood. One of our ancestors married someone from the East. A woman with great divination and soul powers. The ability thinned out over the years. It was a difficult magic to learn and master unless one is born with enough talent for it, after all. My grandfather is the only one from all the following generations who emerged with enough accomplishments with it. He hid it, though, for safety reasons. But it aided him in stabilizing the family and leading it into an even more prosperous era."
I nodded in understanding. "So, you're saying you are also a genius in divination and soul magic?"
"Quite," Celestine answered succinctly.
"And this is what made you have your prophetic dream? But why is it that you didn't have this dream in the novel?" I asked curiously. If she had such powers, why did she end up in that sorry state?
"I wonder... If my assumption is correct, that novel represents one possible future. What you have read is merely a possibility at this point. Except for the fact that I seem to be treading that very path, my divination magic showed this future to me as a warning. You see, Miss Bai Feng Jiu, magic is not merely a tool. It is a part of one's nature and one's self. It will always try to safeguard its being." Celestine patiently explained like an eager teacher.
'Okay. So we're having magic lessons now. Go on, Celestine-sensei. Carry on.'
Though I was thinking along those lines, I didn't voice it out. It was painfully evident in Celestine's blissful and excited expression just how much she yearned for someone who would just sit down and converse with her like we're doing now. The strings of pity in my heart were tugged again. Beauty aside, she was, in all facts, a neglected child.
"I see. So then, what's my significance in this whole situation? How did I end up in your body?" Celestine gazed at me with sorry eyes. I could feel the creeping danger when I saw that look. I thought it would devastate me, so I tried to brace myself as much as possible.
"Well, after seeing this horrid future, I became desperate. I didn't want to end up that way. So, I tried to divine a way out. But I paid a great price for it. No wonder the solution pointed to you."