Chapter 608: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: The Final VIII

Count Laverdale signaled for the maids inside the room to leave.

Once they had gone, he released his Cognis.

A thin layer of Cognis spread outward and surrounded the entire room, sealing it from the outside. No sound from their conversation would escape, and nothing outside would disturb what they were about to discuss.

Thomas looked towards Aurora and the Duke of Ashenlocke with a serious expression.

"There’s a probability Vera is going through a recollection of past actions, and it’s overloading her brain too much, causing the nausea. It also seems to be happening while she sleeps, since that’s when we humans usually dream the most."

Aurora Ashenlocke’s eyes widened.

She placed a new white handkerchief she received from one of the maids after the previous one had become stained with too much blood, covering her mouth, as she reacted with shock.

Valentine did not react immediately to what Thomas had said.

He simply turned toward Vera.

"Is that what’s happening to you?"

He asked calmly.

Vera tilted her small head.

Her eyes remained fixed on Valentine for a moment before moving toward Aurora.

"The Count is off by half a mile."

She replied plainly.

Count Thomas Laverdale blinked.

For the first time since beginning his explanation, genuine surprise appeared on his face.

Aurora stood from where she had been sitting and walked over to Vera’s bed.

She sat beside her daughter.

"So, please tell us what is going on. You said it was just a headache last time, but now this is serious. You haven’t slept properly for the past week, and you look like you’re in so much pain."

Aurora reached out and held Vera’s small hand.

Her other hand gently rubbed Vera’s forehead.

"Please, Vera. Just tell us what is going on for once."

Vera looked at her mother.

There was no sign of fear or worry on her face.

She simply began explaining.

"When I sleep, I don’t recollect things."

Her voice remained plain.

That was when Vera began explaining what was really happening to her.

It had started with her ability to read people’s thoughts before they even spoke.

At first, it had only been an unusual ability.

She could look at someone and understand what they were thinking.

But over time, it had developed into something much stranger.

During the night, Vera did not dream like an ordinary child.

She relived possibilities.

At first, it had been simple.

She would see herself performing different actions inside what seemed like a dream.

One possibility would appear.

Then another.

Then another.

But as her Cognis became involved, the phenomenon grew stronger.

Vera had not yet awakened control over her Cognis at that time.

However, because she had already been baptized, when she was still a new born baby, Cognis was getting generated from her brain and entering her Mind Realm.

The amount was tiny.

Almost nothing compared to what an awakened Alchemist could produce.

Because of that, Vera herself had no idea what was happening inside her brain.

All she knew was that whenever she slept, strange images would suddenly appear in her mind.

They looked almost like holographic images.

One scenario would appear.

Then another.

Then three.

Then ten.

Then thirty.

The number continued growing.

Whenever one faded, another appeared in its place.

These were not random dreams.

They were the possible actions created from the thoughts of the people Vera had encountered during the day.

Vera had heard those thoughts.

Her mind had recorded them.

Then, when she slept, those recorded thoughts played out before her as possible actions.

Sometimes the possibilities were harmless.

Sometimes they were not.

Many of the thoughts she had heard were unpleasant.

Some were thoughts from people who had looked at Vera because of her beauty.

Some of those thoughts contained things no child should have had to hear.

Vera explained everything that had been happening to her.

She even described some of the actions she had seen.

Some of them matched things Valentine and Aurora knew they had done in private, despite Vera not having been present when they had done them.

That alone was enough to make the two adults understand that Vera was not simply describing ordinary dreams.

There were things she should not have known.

Things she could not have known unless she had somehow seen them.

And then there were the thoughts she had seen concerning herself.

Some had been disgusting.

Others had involved her mother.

Vera told them everything.

She did not hide the details.

She simply explained what she had seen in the same plain tone she used for everything else.

"That’s almost everything I can say. I can keep on going if y—"

Aurora immediately placed her hand over Vera’s mouth.

"No, it’s okay."

Her eyes had become teary.

She bit her lip.

Anger was building inside her.

Not the loud kind.

The kind that made her hands tremble while she struggled to keep herself together.

She looked toward Valentine.

"What will you do about this, Lord Valentine?"

Count Thomas Laverdale asked.

He had listened to everything Vera described.

The thoughts people had carried in their minds concerning the Young Lady of Ash were enough to make even him uncomfortable.

Thomas understood that the human mind was not something that could simply be controlled.

Thoughts appeared randomly.

People imagined things they would never say aloud.

They could think about something for only a moment before moving on.

But Vera had no way of simply letting those thoughts pass.

She heard them.

She remembered them.

And now, somehow, her brain was turning those thoughts into possibilities.

Vera was a beautiful child.

As she grew older, that beauty would only become more noticeable.

It was obvious that thoughts like those would sometimes enter the minds of men who saw her.

Thomas had encountered enough people during his usual working time in the Laverdale Mental Hospital to understand how strange human desires could become.

People had unusual preferences.

People had strange impulses.

Some even imagined atrocious things without ever acting on them.

But the fact that those thoughts had been directed toward Vera made the situation different.

She was only a child.

And now she had seen possible futures involving those thoughts.

Thomas felt disgusted.

People are going to die.

His eyes moved toward Duke Valentine.

A lot of people are going to die.

Although...

Thomas looked at Valentine carefully.

The Duke stood with his arms folded.

His eyes remained on Aroura, who was crying while holding Vera tightly.

Valentine was calm.

Too calm.

And somehow, that calmness made everything worse.

Thomas knew the Duke.

He knew Valentine would not allow anyone who had thought those things about Vera to simply walk away if he ever discovered them.

But there was one person Thomas knew Valentine would not be able to hurt.

His own father.

Thomas lowered his eyes.

Elder Fredricks...

What the hell happened to you for you to become something like this?

His thoughts became heavier.

What would she think if she ever knew you had become something like this?

Your own granddaughter.

Thomas shook his head.

He did not want to continue thinking about it.

He stood from the chair and lowered his head toward the Duke and Duchess.

"I will study your case further and find a solution to it. Just hang in there, Vera."

He gave her a warm smile before leaving the room.

Yes. I’d keep the ominous, secretive feeling here, but make the phrasing more natural and let the final lines carry the weight instead of relying on fragmented sentences.

The next day passed, but it was a day known only to the High Nobles throughout the Kingdom.

It was a dreadful day, one that left many members of the Ashenlocke House shaken.

And among them, one Ashenlocke in particular would remember it far more deeply than the others.

Blood was spilled.

A warning was made.

And by the end of the day, everything that had happened was buried beneath silence.

To the rest of Britannia, it was nothing more than an ordinary day.

No announcement was made.

No report reached the public.

No one outside the highest circles of the Kingdom knew what had occurred.

The day was quietly wiped away as though nothing had happened, leaving the truth known only to those who had been allowed to know.

In the later days, the solution eventually found for Vera’s condition was the coating of Cognis.

The coating acted as a barrier, preventing sudden flows of Cognis from reaching the hippocampus, visual cortex, and prefrontal cortex in her brain.

It helped stabilize the strange phenomenon.

But Vera’s condition did not disappear.

As she awakened control over her Cognis and advanced through the Alchemist ranks, her ability continued to grow.

What had once been only fragments of possible future actions based on thoughts recorded in her mind became something much more powerful.

She could now see possibilities generated from the thoughts currently entering the minds of the people around her.

Whenever a thought came from an ordinary human or an Alchemist, Vera’s mind would immediately produce possible actions based on that thought.

Those possibilities appeared before her like holographic displays.

They covered the world as she saw it.

A person moved.

Another possibility appeared.

Someone changed their stance.

Another possibility formed.

Someone thought about attacking.

Vera could see what that thought might lead to.

It was no longer simply a matter of remembering something that had happened before.

Her ability had developed into something that allowed her to perceive possibilities created by the present.

And this was what she was seeing now.

Possibilities upon possibilities.

The battlefield had become filled with them.

Maxwell’s movements were no longer limited to what his body was physically doing.

Vera could see what he was thinking about doing.

She could see the possibilities that came from those thoughts.

Then she could choose how to respond.

Her natural physical abilities already gave her an advantage.

Her Instant Force Martial Art further increased the speed and precision of her movements.

And now, with Cognis strengthening her body and perception, that advantage had become even greater.

Vera’s perception of the entire battlefield had reached a level that was beyond what an Adept Alchemist should normally be capable of displaying.

She could see Maxwell.

She could see his movements.

She could see the possible actions that followed his thoughts.

And somewhere within that endless sea of possibilities, Vera continued searching for the one path she truly needed.