Weiss gave the final push to Bella, as she pushed her inside the sleeping bag —made of plastic.
The wings stayed outside but were far away from the walls to cause any problem. She even had Winter see if there was a serious risk of anything catching fire, but she found none.
She looked at her work and nodded while heading over to the washroom. She threw her evening dress on the rack and anything else and slipped into the pre-warmed bath.
It was heaven on earth. She usually had no time to bathe likes this, but now that she forgo-ed her nightly training, she had all the time in the world to linger in the water. What made the warm water feel even better was the usually cold temperature of the mansion. It did have a giant snowflake on top of it for a reason. In the winter it was even worse, but everyone eventually got used to it.
The bath was big. Big enough that 3 people could comfortably fit inside. The only person other than Winter she could even imagine herself sitting here with was of course Bella. She was innocent as people got. If she believed what the books told, then they were in essence the same two people, as a Summon consisted of the user's Aura. While this didn't make sense with Bella —like many things— it was still entertaining to think about.
Eventually, she did leave the bath, but she was quickly under her new warm blanket. The old one had to go.
Weiss watched at the unconscious girl while covered in her own blanket. Actually, the girl looked to be sick more than anything. The bright red blush, sweating, and a constantly uncomfortable face were all saying so.
While she wanted to just turn around and finally get to sleep, it was hard to not worry for the girl. Her condition had been worsening for most of the day had flattened out by the evening. How long the condition would last was something that was still a mystery.
The reason for it was also unknown. She could make a good guess about what caused it, and that was the attack she used. It was destructive but was likely as draining. The amount of Aura Weiss would have to use to cause destruction on the same level would probably drain her Aura empty, so the fact Bella had been able to even do so was a feat.
Where she even got the power to do so was one question to add to the pile.
But Weiss could do nothing but wait for Bella to recover. She'd asked Doctor Magna if giving more Aura crystals could help, but she said that the Aura from it had to settle before taking effect. Though she did say that the consumption of the crystal directly might have accelerated the process, if only slightly.
So she sighed as she forced herself to sleep —slowly, but surely.
She'd done it again. She had hurt her. She had disappointed her. She failed her.
There was no place for her besides her. It was already filled by someone more capable, and likeable.
She had no reason for her to exist. The only thing she was good for she had failed in.
So she willingly remained asleep.
It was like it had been before she had mistakenly summoned her. It was quiet and peaceful. Things she didn't deserve, but still took for herself. It made it even clearer that she had failed in her role.
The times she had seen that face on her face was too many, far too many. She was supposed to ease her worries, not increase them. All that she did while having been granted the privilege to serve had lead to nothing but failure.
If there was nothing before and only failure after, then she was nothing but a failure.
She didn't want pity nor should she want. No one would suffer if she only stayed away from them. Forming a bond would only make her sadder when the inevitable happened. The shallow one they had was already enough to make her cry. If it had been deeper then the pain would have been even worse.
Such failure was to be expected from her. She had failed her Queen somewhere in the past, so it was only logical.
Queen…
A violet-haired figure formed in her mind as a blurry image. That was all she deserved to get for her failed services. She didn't even remember who that person was, but she was still her Queen.
And surely she had served her, but the anguished face told she had done the same to her as she had done to her new master.
She had tried to redeem herself but had only worsened the situation.
There was no third time. She had already proven herself to be worthless two times, hadn't she? She just needed to give up now and all would be over.
Yet that was impossible.
As her eyes began to involuntarily open.
She had already woken when she realized what was happening. She knew her falling asleep voluntarily was an impossibility, that she had learned in the void. No amount of effort could make one fall asleep when the body was already awake.
The room was dark and she had been laid on the floor next to her master's bed. Luckily her master had already fallen asleep.
She didn't want to do what she was about to do but had to be one, for the sake of all.
She pulled herself out of the sleeping bag and got on her feet. Now was the perfect and only chance to do what she had planned.
She carefully sneaked over to the balcony door while checking that her master didn't wake up. Then she silently slipped past the doors and was now the balcony. She still checked if she had alerted anyone, but she couldn't hear anything, so she turned her back to the manor and prepared to leave.
She hadn't planned any of this, so she just followed her instincts. She blindly jumped off the balcony while still being careful not to make a sound. But her feet didn't reach the ground. Instead, she floated mid-air almost silently —disregarding the slight sound her wings emitted.
And with her escape path and transport secured she took one last look back as she rose up into the night sky —leaving a small trail of blue stardust behind her.