The Abandoned and Terminally Ill Lady Married a Monster - Chapter 99

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I’d never seen anything like it before. When I took Father’s hand, I saw a chaotic tangle of white threads. Strangely, it wasn’t something I saw with my eyes. The information seemed to flow directly into my mind. As I stared at the white threads, a sudden realization struck me. ‘Could this be the “fissure” everyone talks about?’ My intuition guided me as I examined the tangled threads, smaller than my fingernail. This was it, the fissure.

Normally, a fissure could only be found within one’s own body. But what I was seeing now was Father’s ability control center. With a hollow ache, I finally understood the secret of my own ability. I truly didn’t have an ability control center. While I initiated the power, its effect manifested within someone else’s body. That’s why I couldn’t find a control center within myself. Instead, I could see the ability control centers of others. Instinctively, I knew I could either tighten or unravel these threads.

‘But that’s odd. Why have I never seen another person’s fissure before?’ I had just held Kin’s hand earlier, so why hadn’t I seen it then? How could I have missed it every single time? Why? How? Why was it so easy to perceive now, making all my past efforts feel futile? Why didn’t I know before?

“The ripples in a small cup are different from the waves in a large bowl,” Kin’s words echoed in my mind. He was right. Just as a larger body of water calms more quickly, the ability had to be as tangled or as vast as Father’s for me to find the fissure.

But how had I unintentionally untangled Kin’s and Father’s abilities before? Father had said his condition had changed since my arrival. I hadn’t done anything. I hadn’t even seen it, let alone touched it. I needed to hold their hand to even see it, yet I had been untangling their abilities without physical contact. How? Was seeing and using separate actions? Could I untangle the threads, Father’s fissure, simply by focusing, even without holding his hand?

I didn’t let go. I couldn’t risk making things worse. ‘I feel like I’m missing something crucial.’

I carefully untangled Father’s knotted threads. I was doing it, but I didn’t understand how. I simply focused, and the threads unraveled themselves. I had brought handkerchiefs, fearing I might cough up blood from the exertion, but I didn’t need them. Focusing was mentally demanding, but not physically tiring. That made it even stranger.

Father, perhaps not wanting to disturb my concentration, stayed silent beside me, offering encouraging waves. ‘What am I missing?’ I continued to untangle the threads. As they unraveled, they lost their luminescence and faded from my sight. Was this why I couldn’t see my own fissure? My ability only revealed itself in those on the verge of losing control; it didn’t even indicate the presence of an ability otherwise. That’s why I couldn’t see it. But that didn’t seem to be the most important point. Something flickered at the edge of my memory, just out of reach.

‘At this rate, I could unravel it all today.’ I had plenty of time, and while there was discomfort, it was bearable. There were no signs of it intensifying. It would take hours, but it was doable. The ease of potentially healing Father brought a flicker of joy, yet a strange emptiness accompanied it. Once I finished today, would I simply leave? Return to my previous life? Was manifesting an ability always this simple? What was I? Why did I have this power without a control center?

I was untangling another knot when Father gasped beside me. “[My… my dear child. I’m so sorry, but I… I can’t bear it any longer. My ability is subsiding, that much is true… but all the power that’s been adrift within me for so long is settling back at once, and it’s… it’s too much. My body can’t handle it.]”

“A-Are you alright?! Father!” I quickly released his hand. His pale complexion—though it was hard to tell in his spectral form—began to improve.

“[Haa… I’m alright now. It seems we’ll have to do this in stages. Are you alright, child?]”

“I’m fine. Are you really alright, Father?”