Reincarnated Princess Stuck in a Door - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Larissa felt a hot, flickering sensation in their joined palms. She couldn’t tell if it was the aftereffect of the magic or just her own hyperawareness. She couldn’t help but wonder why he wasn’t letting go.

“Larissa.”

As if sensing her wandering thoughts, Lukenian called her name. Larissa was so focused on ignoring the fact that he was still holding her hand, she didn’t even register that he’d used her name.

Break the bonds that had formed between the door particles and her body particles. Then annihilate the door particles. The energy released from annihilation, Lukenian would handle. He was the one who’d blocked her rescue and pushed her to do this. So if something went wrong, it was all his fault. And the only thing that would actually blow up was his personal room.

She tried to go over the plan in her head, step by step, but her thoughts kept scattering. Something still flickered in Lukenian’s palm. Was it heat? Cold? Larissa couldn’t tell. Or was it just his mana?

He’d probably never touched anything but pens and lab equipment in his entire life. Yet his palm was firmer than she’d expected. His interlaced fingers brushed lightly over the back of her hand. She sucked in a breath without meaning to.

Her breathing grew uneven. Casting magic became even harder. Larissa realized she’d fallen silent, and somehow that was far more embarrassing and agonizing than when she’d been running her mouth.

“Focus.”

“Uhh… uhhh…”

If you want me to focus, then let go of my hand! The thought crossed her mind, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud. There had to be a reason. Like he was holding on so he could rescue her immediately if she failed. Though honestly, knowing Lukenian’s personality, there was no way that was it. But she barely had enough brain cells to spare between calculating the spell and being hyperaware of his palm.

Larissa kept calculating desperately. She wasn’t pulling her body out this time. She was annihilating the door particles. So she focused her consciousness on the door particles instead, vibrating the ether with her mana. She shuddered at the sensation of the door vibrating in reverse phase inside her body.

She focused on the feel of Lukenian’s palm. A vague thought drifted through her mind. Maybe this was why he kept holding her hand.

Maybe he was getting impatient with how long it was taking. Lukenian lightly scratched the back of her hand with the tip of his index finger. It felt like her heart had been scratched. Was it because there were still door particles in her hand, affecting the parts where they intersected with her body?

No. That couldn’t be it. The part stuck in the door was her waist. The particles had spread from her abdomen to her hips. If they’d reached a vital organ like the heart—something critical to regulating mana—there was no way she’d be fine right now.

A hot breath slipped out before she could stop it. She struggled to hide it. Lukenian’s mana flowed into her through their palms, traveling along her circuits.

“Nh.”

“That’s too fast.”

Lukenian’s voice was almost a whisper. Somehow his face had drawn close. Close enough to touch. Part of her brain questioned whether that was necessary, but her face flushed bright red anyway.

“I said it’s too fast.”

Lukenian warned her again. She caught on a beat late. His mana was far denser than hers. Running it through her circuits at the same speed was overloading them.

“Ah.”

“Didn’t I tell you to focus?”

Heat surged through her body like violent friction had sparked inside her. Larissa panted, struggling to keep herself under control.

“Slowly, Larissa.”

Lukenian gave the instruction in a low voice, but she couldn’t follow it. The heat rose all the way to her head. Her legs trembled on their own. The hand she was trying to calculate with kept spinning out. She had to guide this mana precisely and cast the spell, but she couldn’t control the sensation of something churning through her insides. She didn’t know if it was the door particles moving on their own, or if Lukenian’s mana was actually raking through her body.

She felt an illusion, like he was opening the boundary of her body with his hand and reaching inside. She gasped for air, and her lungs swelled as if she’d inhaled too much oxygen, the ache pressing all the way to her heart. Somewhere in her brain, it felt like an electrical spark had jumped.