Sunlight streamed through the small, framed window, cutting across the room in golden streaks. The rays touched the sleeping figure in bed, making her pale skin glow faintly. Silvia stirred, lashes fluttering. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and slowly turned her head.
There she saw Lloyd. He had his arms wrapped loosely around her, his lips in a still line. He occasionally shivered in his sleep, probably from the cold. The sunlight further emphasized the fading, red marks on his neck and bites that turned into bruises. Sheesh.
Silvia's lips curved into a soft smile. Her hand rose, brushing against his cheek, and for a moment, she simply watched him in the quiet. She pulled the comforter over them both and pressed herself against his chest, wrapping her arms around his thin waist. Her face nestled into him as she inhaled his scent. It was soothing. Like soft snow nestled on a pine tree with a faint tinge of wet grass.
She had never expected her life to twist into this.
Once, she had been a goddess. Silvia Feylora, Goddess of Land and Fertility.
In those days, she basked in endless worship. Her temples overflowed with offerings: golden grain, ripe fruit, delicate pastries made with love. Every prayer was a song, every shrine highlighted her immense power. Her strength stood steady for many centuries until…it didn't.
Gods starve when forgotten.
As humanity marched into modernity, belief faded to myth. Fewer prayers reached her. Fewer offerings filled her temples. Her strength dwindled. Every year, she felt herself grow weaker, fading like an ember in the wind.
And when she was at her weakest, her enemies struck. The people who she had trusted the most stabbed her in the back, leaving her divine seat desolated.
This weak, mortal body of hers could barely handle what power she had left. So, she was left sick and drugged in the middle of nowhere surrounded by thugs. She remembered begging, begging for someone to save her. She used the last bits of her still-regenerating mana to send out a message: Save Me. And then, her vision faded into darkness.
She would've died if not for Lloyd.
Her eyes softened as she looked at him again. The man who had saved her. Not just from the poison coursing through her veins, but from the filthy hands of those men who would have defiled her.
As a face-con, he was a perfect fit for her aesthetic. His features were a blend of softness and sharp edges, his presence calm yet commanding when it mattered. His words were gentle and he was suspiciously good at coaxing. His blue eyes were as deep as an ocean; she could drown in them without regret.
If he had one flaw, it was his body. Too thin. Far too thin. She could see the faint outlines of his ribs when he moved. That would not do. She would fatten him up, no matter what.
But first, she had to get rid of the excess mana that her stupidly weak body couldn't handle.
She sensed a faint trace of mana on Lloyd. It was tiny and flickered on and off, which was strange. Regardless, he would do as a vessel. Funneling her mana into him would only make him stronger. No harm, no foul.
She placed her palms on the sleeping man's chest and closed her eyes. A warm glow rippled from her, seeping into his body like sunlight melting ice and then…it stopped. The clear pathway in Silvia's mind suddenly disappeared, replaced by a foggy and shadowy scene.
What the hell?! She thought, this wasn't normal.
Silvia forcefully pumped more mana into him, trying to find a different path, but it was as if every entrance into his meridians was blocked.
Her excess mana wasn't enough, she practically drained her entire fuel tank.
But finally, a bit of the fog cleared. Silvia's forehead was sweating greatly and she had to take a few deep breaths.
"What the hell was that?" She mumbled. As a goddess, she had many in the past begging to awaken or begging her to change their meridians in someway. Obviously, she couldn't make that happen. If she helped one individual, thousands of others would demand the same which would suck her dry.
Lloyd's case however, was one of a kind, the first she had seen in centuries. The only way to damage them that badly was to do so on purpose. But who would ever want to purposely damage the pathways that bring power?
Lloyd, who was still sleeping peacefully, suddenly frowned. He felt a comforting warmth but it sadly went away.
Was this what a heated house felt like?
He grumbled to himself a few times, but was too tired to wake up.
Silvia smoothed out his hair and sighed. What kind of anomaly did she encounter?
She continued lamenting while getting dressed. Her clothes were scattered across the wooden floor. She put away the…wet pieces of cloth and put on her scrappy t-shirt and pants.
After getting dressed, she heard a knock on the door.
"Brother?" A childish voice rang in Silvia's ears. The door opened a second late, revealing a tiny little girl with the most adorablest, big brown eyes.
The little bunny froze and tilted her small face.
"...you're not brother." She squinted her eyes real hard.
"That I am not." Silvia got off the bed and cautiously walked towards the child, not wanting to scare her. She crouched down to her level.
"Um, consider me your new…" She paused, thinking before speaking. "Your new sister-in-law, yeah. My name is Silvia" She spoke with a smile.
"Sister? I've always wanted a pretty sister! I'm Nora!" Nora circled her new sister excitedly. There was finally someone new in her house! She completely ignored the fact that a pretty girl was in her brother's bed.
Soon after, Silvia was dragged off to play with a hyperactive dumpling.