Chapter 177: Five Days with Nicky

Blanche pulled the duvet up to her chin, curled comfortably onto her side, and closed her eyes again with the fierce determination of someone who had just made a perfectly reasonable decision.

She needed sleep.

Everything else could wait.

Unfortunately, someone else seemed to have decided otherwise.

The sound of hurried footsteps rose from downstairs.

Then another.

Faster.

Closer.

Blanche opened one eye.

She recognized the footsteps immediately.

Nicky.

The Player had sensed her arrival.

Obviously.

He was already charging up the stairs two at a time, making no attempt whatsoever to be quiet, his feet pounding against the steps with an energy that was frankly indecent for such an early hour.

Blanche sighed.

"No..."

As if he had heard her whisper through the door, the footsteps grew even faster.

She buried her face in the pillow.

Too late.

A window suddenly appeared in front of her eyes.

Transparent, luminous, perfectly sharp despite her exhausted state.

Her quest window.

Blanche stared at it with the blank expression of someone who would have preferred to receive a declaration of war.

"Seriously..."

The information scrolled past her eyes, completely indifferent to her desperate need to go back to sleep.

Thirteenth Level: Discovery — Part 3/5

Objective: Spend time in the company of a species other than your own.

Time: Five days.

Reward: To be determined.

Five days...

That was going to be cutting it close if she wanted to make it to the gala on time.

Blanche groaned and pulled the duvet over her head.

As if that could possibly work.

And yet, an almost imperceptible smile appeared on her lips.

Because she already knew what was coming.

Nicky's footsteps stopped outside the door.

Silence.

Then three knocks.

Blanche didn't answer.

The handle moved.

"Neige ?"

She squeezed her eyes shut even tighter.

Maybe if she pretended to be asleep...

The door opened.

"I know you're awake."

She let out a deep sigh beneath the duvet.

Her morning had officially begun.

"Neige ?" the Player repeated when he spotted the red hair sticking out from beneath the duvet.

Blanche groaned.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, breathless and dripping with sweat.

"Oh, because you know how I got here and why?" she shot back bitterly.

Nicky burst out laughing.

"I see someone's grumpy today. It's just that I'm usually alone. And I saw you on the cameras—you were here with the others barely ten days ago," he continued, pointing toward the ground floor with his thumb.

"Sorry for disturbing your peace," she grumbled, staying in bed.

"Are you kidding? I'm super happy to see you! I'm a social creature!" Nicky replied, his eyes sparkling—and he was completely sincere.

Despite herself, Blanche smiled.

It was simply impossible to stay angry around Nicky.

The pixie seemed incapable of staying still for more than a few seconds. He overflowed with an almost contagious energy, talking, moving, gesturing with the lively enthusiasm so characteristic of fae creatures. Even his smile seemed too big for his face, as though he were physically incapable of containing all his excitement.

Blanche watched him for a few seconds, still half-buried beneath her duvet.

Then something caught her attention.

A tiny glowing particle drifted near his shoulder.

She narrowed her eyes.

It remained suspended in the air before twirling around Nicky, briefly catching the daylight.

Blanche sat up slightly.

Fae dust?

She thought she saw a second one.

Then a third, so faint that it could just as easily have been a reflection of sunlight on the ordinary dust particles floating through the room.

She blinked.

Nothing.

Her gaze quickly swept over the space around the pixie.

Nothing.

Of course.

She shook her head.

Impossible.

She was probably still half-asleep.

Or perhaps her brain was desperately looking for something to analyze when she should simply have gone back to bed.

Nicky, meanwhile, continued talking enthusiastically, completely unaware of the little phenomenon that had caught her attention.

Blanche watched him for a few more seconds.

Then she smiled again.

After all...

With Nicky, she would probably eventually find it perfectly normal for magical dust to fall around him whenever he was in a good mood, even here.

"And besides, I'm thrilled I managed to avoid the first snowstorm of the year. I'm restocking the firewood. Give me a hand? You look like you're in the mood to murder the entire world."

"I mostly need sleep. I woke up completely exhausted. Like I haven't slept in ages."

"Weird, huh? It happens to me too. Sometimes I feel like I'm angry because of a dream that's already fading, without even remembering what it was about..."

"I know exactly what you mean. I often wake up frustrated, without knowing why, like I'm missing something," she murmured before closing her eyes again.

Nicky kept talking.

And talking.

And talking.

Blanche nodded from time to time without actually following the thread of his words. She responded automatically, punctuating his monologue with a few "hmm"s convincing enough to make him believe she was still awake.

Her eyelids, however, were growing heavier and heavier.

Nicky's voice eventually became a distant murmur, an indistinct melody blending with the comfort of the bed and the warmth of the duvet. Blanche sank a little deeper into her pillow.

"Hmm..."

One last nod.

Then nothing.

She had fallen asleep.

Nicky stopped in the middle of a sentence.

He remained motionless for a few seconds, watching the sleeping young woman with an affectionate smile. Her breathing had already settled into a steady rhythm, her face once again wearing the peaceful expression she never had when she was awake.

The pixie was anything but normal-sized.

He was far larger than the usual proportions of his species, and his figure, despite being slender and light, almost seemed to belong to a fae creature of an entirely different rank.

A tiny speck of shimmering dust still floated near his shoulder.

Nicky watched it disappear into a ray of sunlight.

It had been happening constantly for the past few days.

And he had absolutely no idea what it meant.

Then he turned his attention back to Blanche.

His smile widened.

"Good night," he murmured softly, fully aware that she could no longer hear him.

He took a step back.

Then another.

With surprising delicacy for someone normally so energetic, he grasped the handle and gently pulled the door toward him.

The door closed without making a sound.

Nicky remained in the hallway for another second, a smile still on his lips.

Then he walked away on tiptoe...

Which, coming from such an excitable pixie, was practically a miracle.