The bracelet slowly crawled towards Kyle's wrist and, with a click, snugly settled itself around his wrist.
Instantly, a wisp of white smoke hissed out from its surface, causing the icy layer on Kyle's wrist to melt a little.
However, only after a minute, a faint cry pierced the room, and the bracelet was flung in a different direction. Countless tiny blue particles gathered around Kyle's wrist, and once again, a delicate layer of ice formed on his skin.
Another frustrated voice resonated from the bracelet as it crawled back towards the bed. Yet, the peculiar cycle repeated itself, and the bracelet was once again forcefully flung away from Kyle.
"This pesky... mortal!"
Once again, the bracelet crawled its way toward Kyle's wrist, but this time it wasn't flung backward. Instead, the blue particles around Kyle's wrist seeped into its body, and a crack appeared on its surface.
"Fuck...??"
A loud curse filled the air, and this time the bracelet distanced itself from Kyle on its own. The blue particles tightly clinging to Kyle's skin finally calmed down and settled on his skin once again.
"No way... what's wrong with this bastard? Doesn't he know how much I've suffered under that dwarf for the past few years just to reach him again? I do want to eat his lifespan, but how am I going to enter his consciousness?"
After grumbling for a while, the bracelet tried once more, but once again, it failed. Nevertheless, the delicious treat right in front of it was too tempting to resist. And so, the cycle continued for a long time... until the room door slowly creaked open and a beautiful figure stepped inside.
The bracelet next to Kyle's hand completely stilled as it watched the figure slowly approaching the bed.
Her amber eyes had a faint coral color in the center, and her hair flowed down in long, lustrous waves. The strands shimmered in the soft light, like spun gold cascading over her shoulders. The attire she wore was crafted with intricate details and exquisite fabrics, almost as if she had just come from a grand occasion. It hugged her figure in a way that accentuated her grace and elegance.
And in her hand, she carried a silver crown adorned with delicate jewels that glimmered in the dim light.
She sat down beside Kyle and looked at him with a faint smile.
"It's been a while, right?"
Yue hummed softly and placed the crown beside Kyle. Her eyes were faintly red, but she didn't say anything for a while. She silently stared at his face.
"I remember...."
She raised her hand and touched Kyle's forehead. It felt cold, even colder than she remembered. Her finger slowly traveled to the tip of his nose.
"We have met before, haven't we? A long time ago, when we were kids. It took me a while, but I remember."
Once again, there was silence in the room, which was broken by a faint sob. She didn't want to cry, but she had experienced too much in such a short time that it felt a little unbearable.
"I'm not crying! Okay... I know Alec and the others come here when they want to cry, but I'm not here for that!"
She wiped her eyes and looked at Kyle.
"I'm just here to see you."
After another pause, she started speaking again, trying to tell the man beside her that she had lost her father. The newly constructed elven Kingdom was named after her father because he had sacrificed his life to defeat a powerful enemy.
"You know, Dad left behind something special... Those two porcelain bracelets, do you remember them? They were actually pieces of an artifact. He collected all the parts and left behind another divine artifact for me."
A tear trickled down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away.
"Now I have two divine artifacts... The first one was given to me by my brother before his death."
"But they're not useful at all..."
More tears trickled down her cheeks, and she bent down to place her forehead above his.
"Now that mom and I are alone... the elves crowned me as the new queen because the elven King died. Also, I just reached the (SSS+)-Rank. You might be wondering how I did it when my talent was lower. It's because of the artifact Dad left behind. The artifact is a little bit different. It didn't give me power. Instead, it summoned someone from a faraway place..."
She closed her eyes, and a few tears dropped onto Kyle's face. The layer of ice on his face cracked a little, and one of his fingers twitched slightly. However, the elf beside him had her eyes closed.
The bracelet, which had been observing everything from the sidelines, quietly leaped out and clung to Kyle's wrist the moment it noticed the small crack in his defenses. Yue raised her head slightly and let out a faint smile.
"Just look at me crying beside you when I said I'm not here to cry."
She stood up and smoothed out the faint wrinkles in her clothes.
"I won't be able to come see you for a while. Maybe the others won't come as well. We have a lot of work to do. Don't be lonely."
"Ah... right, Bia, she also reached (SSS+)-Rank recently. Now she has the authority of a monster lord. She wanted to come see you too, but as one of the guardians of the new continent named Coexis, she has been staying around the border with your family to control the monsters, who, for some reason, have lost their minds."
She paused in her tracks and once again bent down to drop a fleeting kiss on his forehead.
"Ah... your skin is cold. Well, it's not like you will know."
Yue stepped back and left the room, wearing a faint smile. She had a lot of work to do, and after she was done, she had to leave for a faraway place with that woman who appeared after she activated the artifact.
