Nevertheless, after recovering her human appearance, Lady Aeliana was also weak and vulnerable like a newborn baby.
As if she hadn’t exercised her limbs in a long time, she had almost forgotten how to use them.
She remained slumped on the ground
“Congratulations on returning from hell, Lady Aeliana.”
Vaan approached Lady Aeliana with a black cloak he had prepared beforehand and draped it over her shoulders.
At the same time, he carefully observed her facial expressions and body language to grasp her mental state and thoughts.
Even if Lady Aeliana returned, she was likely to develop some mental disorder.
Furthermore, he also wondered if she could still remember who she was or, at the very least, be capable of holding a conversation.
Nevertheless, after he spoke, Lady Aeliana weakly held the hems of the black cloak close to her body with one hand and glanced at her other hand. Then, she felt her face.
She appeared slightly disorientated and out of touch with the world. But as she continued to study herself and her surroundings, she gradually adapted to the present circumstances and collected her thoughts.
At the same time, memories of the past three years came flooding into her mind like a neverending nightmare.
Her expression alternated between anger and despair before gradually settling for calmness—no, impassiveness; she hid all her emotions.
“Were you the one who brought me back?” Aeliana asked as she glanced up at Vaan, seemingly emotionless.
However, Vaan had observed her from the start and understood her aloofness was just a strong front to hide her weakness, an act of self-defense to protect herself.
Nevertheless, he had to applaud her for being to endure hell and making it back without a broken mind.
Something must have kept her from losing the very last piece of her sanity.
“It’s been hard on you, Lady Aeliana. You did very well making it back,” Vaan said softly.
At the same time, he glanced at her sympathetically yet warmly as if he completely understood how much she had suffered and how hard she had endured in the past three years, even though he hadn’t experienced it personally.
That said, his words easily shot straight through her heart and touched her heartstrings. The deep-rooted emotions she tried to keep to herself immediately welled up in her eyes and overflowed.
Tears unknowingly dripped down Aeliana’s cheeks before she swiped them with surprise, startled by her tears.
Even so, the tears continued to pour down her cheeks uncontrollably.
She revealed her anger and frustration as she tried to get rid of them, but the tears wouldn’t stop coming out of her eyes.
“Just let it all out. You’ll feel better afterward. There isn’t anyone else here besides me,” Vaan stated.
Shortly after, Aeliana couldn’t help herself and poured out all her emotions as she cried.
The pain that wreaked havoc inside her body and threatened to consume her mind… The suffering that she endured while being all alone… The questions that she pondered as to why it only happened to her…
Aeliana recalled the despair she felt at her lowest like she was trapped at the bottom of a sealed well without even a glimmer of hope of getting out for all eternity.
But then she suddenly received a vague recollection of a voice whispering to her, “Don’t worry. You won’t have to suffer for much longer.”
Shortly after, light shined into the bottom of the well as someone unsealed it and pulled her out from the depths of despair.
The person did not have a face, only a voice.
But as Aeliana glanced at Vaan’s masked face, the image of the two slowly overlapped and became one person.
Even so, she felt some discrepancies, as Vaan’s voice did not match his face.
After calming down, Aeliana’s eyes flickered. She understood that her savior was using a fake face. It was so well made she would have overlooked it—if not for his voice.
She mustered all her strength to get up as she wanted to rip the fake mask off and confirm Vaan’s real face.
However, her strength failed her.
As she dropped back to the ground, Vaan outstretched one of his arms to support her. But when their hands made contact, Aeliana’s remaining strength was seemingly sapped from her body.
Plump!
Aeliana sat on her knees, deprived of her strength.
“Hm? Are you alright, Lady Aeliana?” Vaan asked after he noticed her abnormal reaction to his touch.
He tried to retract his hand.
But in that instance, Aeliana suddenly burst with strength as she grabbed his hand with both of hers and pulled it towards her cheeks.
She rested her right cheek on the palm of his left hand and closed her eyes with a serene expression as if the warmth from his left hand had some soothing effects on her soul.
In that instance, she also changed her mind as she did not want to forcefully reveal Vaan’s true appearance. Instead, she would only see his real face if he permitted it.
He must have a reason for hiding it.
At the same time, Vaan also noticed the strange turn of events taking place as he continued to observe Aeliana’s emotions and body language.
As the first successful subject of his surgical abomination treatment, Aeliana’s post-treatment actions held a lot of research value.
They would determine whether he needed to come up with a post-treatment plan.
From what he could see, Aeliana was mentally unstable, even defensive. But after coming into contact with his hand, she appeared soothed and calm, even submissive to him.
“May I ask for my Lord’s name?” Aeliana subserviently requested while rubbing her cheeks against the palm of his hand intimately.
“I currently go by the name Van Helsing,” Vaan calmly replied.
However, his pupils shrank at Aeliana’s subservient manner and words. Then, he quickly checked his Heaven-Swallowing Space with his consciousness and noticed a slight difference in the size.
Although it couldn’t be compared to the time he gave Topaz her a True Name, there was no doubt that the size of the Heaven-Swallowing Space had been reduced.
The reduction was so insignificant that he nearly missed it.