Chapter 207 207 Brave Step 2

Chapter 207 207 Brave Step 2
Antonio Banderas:

Silver hair tickles my nose like a soft cloud. My whole body aches and throbs, as if my insides have been scorched by hellfire. Cracking my eyes open, I see a beautiful angel, light magic flowing from her hands.
Lavi. My Lavi. Is she a mage?
When she lifts her bowed head, I see her doll-like face and those large green eyes full of tears and sorrow. It hurts to see her crying. I want to press my lips to those tempting ones of hers and wipe every trace of sadness from her lovely face. A girl like that shouldn’t be sad. I miss her smile, her ringing laugh I heard that night.
But I can’t get up, can’t move, can’t even speak. My consciousness keeps slipping away and then coming back again. I’m clearly delirious.
I hear someone else enter the room. Iza, maybe? I hear her voice—and the voice of that idiot who thought it was a good idea to fling magic around a palace full of people.
They’re talking about something, but I can’t make out the meaning. Arguing or making up—there’s talk of curses, forgiveness, and other incomprehensible things. After that I don’t hear Iza anymore, but I do hear Lavi and that guy. They’re talking, sometimes laughing, and jealousy eats me alive.
“Lavi!” I finally come to, my mind snapping back into place. But when I look around, I see only Laverna, who seems to have dozed off in the chair by my bed. “Laverna? Where’s Lavi? She was here, wasn’t she?”
“She left,” the old woman croaks, lowering her eyes. “And I’m leaving too…”
“Wait!” I stop her on impulse and see confusion in her green eyes. Honestly, I’m surprised at myself too. “…Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I should be thanking you,” the witch snaps irritably. “You put yourself in danger because of me, which was extremely foolish. I would’ve survived that blow—but you almost didn’t. Why did you do it?”
“I don’t know… it just didn’t feel right to hurt an old woman.”
Laverna sighs heavily, lowers her head, and leaves the room. But her eyes stay with me—bright, unusual, strangely… familiar. Later Iza told me they aren’t related, though there’s definitely something similar about them.
Something was being kept from me, and I felt it clearly. My hands reached for the book Iza had been so insistently pushing on me. I’ll admit, at first I treated everything with deep skepticism—but the fragments of phrases I’d heard at night raised too many questions.
After breakfast I returned and started reading, carefully studying the contents. It all sounded like pure fantasy. I hadn’t really seen magic in this world yet—aside from my sudden ability to read. But after that massive magical wave slammed me into a wall and broke every bone in my body, fine—I believed.
“Anton, you’re probably the smartest guy I know back in our world,” I heard when I once again tried to get at least something out of Iza about Lavi. I hadn’t seen the girl since, and it was tearing me apart. “The answer is right in front of you! Put it together and think it through! Just do it silently and keep your guesses to yourself—for your own good!”
I could clearly hear how angry my friend was at my stupidity, trying to push me toward something. And let me tell you, it’s a horrible feeling when it seems like everyone knows something but stays silent, waiting for you to catch up—and you don’t. That’s what really drives you insane.
Another night filled with hot dreams of my nymph. Her green eyes stare into my soul as I drive her wild with my touches. But suddenly it all ends—she disappears. I search for her and can’t find her, until a small gray-eyed girl appears before me, pouting, arms crossed, glaring at me.
“Anton! Give us back our dear sister Laverna!”
And I wake up.
The gears start turning, and the thought that surfaces in my mind is completely unbelievable. Could it be that Laverna is Lavi?
Idiot. Even the name is the same. It really was right under my nose. Her eyes. The fact that she’d been there all along. And the way I’d hurt her without even realizing it.
Everything fell into place.
When I woke up, I nearly burst into the bedroom of the future newlyweds, whose wedding was already tomorrow. Iza was startled, and Kays almost beat the hell out of me with magic for that. My friend told me where to find the witch’s hut, and I went straight there. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I absolutely need to confirm my guess once and for all.
I find the place and step inside the little house—but Laverna isn’t there. I hear someone come in and turn around.
The old woman drops her firewood when she sees me and gets nervous. I step closer, studying her in silence. And then I realize it—she’s… embarrassed.
I’ve read that witches are VERY lustful creatures who never miss a chance to seduce someone and indulge in debauchery. But this one… she’s standing there blushing, lowering her eyes because I’m standing too close.
“What are you doing here?” the gray-haired woman asks, lifting her gaze at me in fear, like a cornered animal.
“I came for you,” I say with a slight smile.
Damn. It has to be her. Unconscious habits can’t be faked. She lowers her eyes shyly again when I hold her gaze for a second too long.
“Why come for me? I was going to the palace myself,” she says nervously, her eyes darting around as if looking for an escape.
I slowly pull back her deep hood, revealing her long, gray, tangled hair.
I’m serious about this, even though there are tiny doubts. Because if I’m wrong, the most terrifying sex of my life awaits me—and no therapist will help after that.
But I’ve read that curses can horribly disfigure a person, turning them into a cripple—sick, old, and ugly. All of that fits here. It’ll be hard, but I’ll seduce her. Because I love her. Never in my life have I been twisted up like this from green eyes alone! And to my surprise, horror, and joy… I’m hard.