She could hear her heart beating through her ears. The sounds of the blood pumping and then flowing out of torn skin were the rhythm she was sure no one could see her.
Immediately, her legs collapsed in on her, nothing stopping her fall as her hands were clenched around her abdomen to reduce blood loss.
She needed medical attention soon, but she had gone in the opposite direction of the manor, into the woods. Callisto crawled slowly to the nearest tree, propping herself up to examine the damage.
It would kill a weaker man in a few hours, but a body with pure mana like hers had a slow regenerative effect, wounds desperately trying to heal themselves, wisps of red and purple threading in and out of her body as she tore up her sleeves with her teeth to create a bandage.
Unlike the heroes of 'Blooming! Enchanted Fate', she was not gifted with the ability to master anything she wanted. Terrible at support and defensive type magic, it was like God had intentionally made Cordelia commit acts of violence only.
In short, Callisto didn't know any healing magic.
But what she did have was years of patching up a certain man after he got into street fights 'for fun'. She never had to wrap up something as egregious as gaping stab wounds, but her bandaging skills were decent enough to prevent further blood loss.
She dressed her wounds, the main ones being her abdomen and her right shoulder. It should be good for a bit. With a little bit of time, she could probably conjure up a teleportation spell into her room. Hopefully she wouldn't chop her body in half.
Speaking of her body being chopped in half, it certainly already felt like she had done so. Her body felt heavy, and every breath was laborious.
How long had she been sitting there? Minutes? Hours? She could feel her body breaking down, her vision fracturing into a distorted reality.
She could see a little ways off a clearing within the forest. It was a beautiful view, glowing blue grass waving in the air. But she must be hallucinating.
She could see a figure, reflecting a blue light from the brush underneath. The figure's eyes as well were a glowing bright blue. It reminded her of a wolf. Was it? It wouldn't be surprising to see a werewolf here.
After all, there were arcane monsters in the woods, specifically cultivated in the Azel fiefdom to create a special type of magical wood in the trees, and it's one of the main exports of the dukedom.
She was fortunate to not have attracted any of them, but it was not going to last. Not with the scent of blood emanating from her body.
The loud shuffling of brush approaching her reminded Callisto of that fact. Though the adrenaline had long worn off, it came rushing back, alert and ready for fight or flight.
She can't die yet. Not without completing her mission. Not without telling Him how much he means to her…
"Lady Callisto! There you are. How on earth did you get so deep into the woods?" A flash of pink amidst the blue and red foliage cast aside her worries instantly. It was just Luka.
"Luka? Did you follow me?" The man looked disgruntled, like he had gone through a horde of monsters. Did he get the attention of all the monsters instead of her? But that wouldn't make sense, she was the one who was bleeding after all.
"Lord Blake commanded it." So that's what it was. No wonder Luka looked like he didn't want to be there. He was probably expecting to find her dead body and was disappointed when proven otherwise. Luka offered his hand.
Callisto stared at him with disdain. "I can't leave you here, milady. Even if you don't like it, I have to get you to safety."
It would be best to go along with Luka. She had little doubt he would try to kill her, unlike many of the other male leads.
But life isn't about making the best decision. It's about making the funniest decision. Or something like that.
"I can take care of myself." Conjuring up her remaining energy into casting a high-level teleportation spell, she allowed herself a small victorious smile.
It felt good to do things out of spite. She should do it more often. The mana lines swirled bright around Callisto, and she disappeared.
Luka stood there by himself, flabbergasted. He spent a good hour fighting off loads of monsters that were uncharacteristically drawn to him, only for her to rudely ignore his gesture. To think Lord Blake was worried about her.
She did have an odd change to her recently, ever since she had that high fever, as well as changing her name to some foreign word, 'Callisto'. And then requesting access to the royal library…Just what is she planning?
"...I have to get through this damn forest again, don't I."
-----
Well, Callisto had done something wrong. She was in a space between dimensions, floating in an oddly familiar void. Did she not have enough mana?
Or maybe it was her impulsivity to not accept help from the Captain that caused a mistake in casting. Instant karma, huh?
Callisto moved - well, more like swam - around the darkness. Streams of mana ebbed and flowed around the abyss, giving off a faint purple glow, though it hardly helped with seeing anything.
Rather, the sense that was being attacked the most was her hearing. A flurry of voices floated around her, through her, overlapping into a garbled noise that pierced her ears. Callisto covered her ears, wincing from the sound.
The voices faded, leaving only a few distant residuals that seemed to be in a conversation, judging by the tone of voice and pausing. She moved closer to listen in since she had nothing else to do. Maybe it would hint at a way out.
"...ain! Why is my luck so bad?! Darling, come take a look at this shit, it's outrageous."
"As much as I love watching you get mad at RNG, don't you have a long day tomorrow? After all, the Eakins case…"
These are…her memories? What an odd thing to be projected in this place. Not that she cared, but it certainly wasn't helpful. As the conversations faded, she moved on to the next closest voice.
"You don't want to challenge me to a drinking competition. I'm no lightweight."
"Ahaha, no offense, but you're more than a head shorter than me. Besides, I can't ignore a challenge like tha…"
"Urgh… How can… someone that short… Blergh…!"
"All over my heels, seriously?"
Yikes. Callisto swore she had some sort of love-at-first-sight type of thing when she first met him. And weirdly, she didn't seem to remember it. Was it because she had drunk so much?
That must be it. But there was a lingering discomfort as Callisto floated through the darkness, like she was missing something important.
Before she could dwell on those thoughts, Callisto felt a shift in the air, like the space had caught on to what she was thinking.
And immediately, the silver-haired girl was falling, falling into an endless dark… Her body was burning, as if it was set ablaze in an inferno.
The feeling seemed to be coming from where her wounds were, but she couldn't tell as she was free-falling. The mix of the cool air and the burning sensation on her skin was so intense that she couldn't help but close her eyes and-
And then Callisto woke up with a jolt in a plush bed. 'What a familiar scenario,' Callisto thought dryly, before noticing a young maid staring at her in shock, eyes wide and trembling.
"La-Lady Callisto! You, you just- It… Ah… AH!"
"Shh! Just relax, okay?" The maid clamped up, nodding her head vigorously. Callisto turned her attention away from the servant.
Her wounds were noticeably healed, without a trace of them even being there in the first place. Did someone heal her? She looked back at the maid. "What's your name?"
"A-Annette…"
"Annette. Could you tell me why you are so shocked?"
"Well, Milady, you've been missing for a week. And all of a sudden, you suddenly appear in your bed?" Her eyebrows furrowed.
A week? It only felt like a few hours. That was a lot of time wasted. At least it verified that she wasn't in a dream and that she had disappeared into an unknown dimension.
"Alright, well, it would be best to let one of my family members know." Callisto waited for the maid to leave, before addressing the dark shadows behind the curtains of her balcony.
"It's pretty creepy to just be watching a woman through a balcony window, sir." She waited for the figure to reveal itself, having been caught.
After a few seconds of silence, she slowly got up from the bed, noting the residual feeling of heat on her body, as if a fire had just been extinguished.
She could clearly see the shape of a tall person behind the curtains, and it was almost insulting that someone thought she was stupid enough to not notice.
In rapid succession, she strode over and ripped the curtain out of the way, only to reveal nothing but the open air. "What?"
"You just love to cause a scene, don't you? What do you want from me this time?"
She turned around, her confusion morphing into disdain. She didn't expect to see this person this early.
"Prince Nox."
"That's Crown Prince to you."