"Oh. How strange. You're awfully calm about this," she said, rubbing her chin in thought.
"Far from it. I'm actually holding myself back from beating you up." I replied through gritted teeth, my hands curling into fists at my sides for good measure. Celestine laughed, a sound like tinkling little bells. It would have been pleasant to hear on any other day, just not this one, while I was thoroughly furious.
"I see. I suppose I do deserve a beating. I'm the one who dragged you into this situation, after all. A thousand apologies wouldn't make up for that." Her laughing face gave way to something apologetic.
I sighed, exasperation evident. "Care to explain, then?"
"You really are kind, Miss Bai Feng Jiu. No wonder so many people like you in your world." I didn't answer her compliment, only waited for her to elaborate. She stared at me a while before a forlorn smile touched her lips. It tugged at something in my chest, honestly. I guess that's the advantage of being beautiful. Everything they do just gets to you.
Annoying.
"You know my story. You know how I ended up. You saw, in your memories, how you cursed me and laughed when I died." She paused, turned to my horrified, guilty face, and smiled teasingly.
"I don't blame you. Even I thought that way, when I saw that future. It was a genuinely pathetic sight. But it's unquestionable that I would have ended up there, had it not been for the prophetic dream." She continued, more solemn now.
"Prophetic dream?" I asked, tentative. Celestine nodded.
"You're aware that in my world, magic exists. And if you sift through my memories more carefully, you'll find that I'm actually something of a genius in this aspect. A one-of-a-kind genius. I'm not tooting my own horn here. You'll realize that soon enough." She said it with an undeniably proud smile. Right. Not tooting her own horn, is it? Yep. I could see that alright.
"The Trier family is known for its magic knights, capable of wielding the elements alongside Trier and Imperial swordsmanship. My elder brother Carlisle and younger brother Clarion both inherited that. My own abilities, I got from my mother's line. The Liszt family is renowned for its expertise in arcane magic, and I'm adept in that too. But there's one more thing. A legacy only my grandfather still remembers." Celestine paused, watching the intrigue settle slowly into my face like it always did whenever she talked shop.
"The Liszt house carries Eashen blood. One of our ancestors married a woman from the East, someone with great divination and soul powers. The ability thinned over the generations, diluted the way most bloodline gifts are, until barely a trace of it remained in most of us. It's a difficult magic to learn, let alone master, unless one is born with enough talent for it. My grandfather is the only one in every generation since who's accomplished enough with it. He kept it hidden, for safety's sake, since a power like that draws the wrong kind of attention. But it helped him stabilize the family and lead it into an even more prosperous era."
I nodded in understanding. "So you're saying you're also a genius in divination and soul magic?"
"Quite." Celestine answered succinctly.
"And that's what gave you the prophetic dream? But why didn't you have this dream in the novel?" I asked, curious, leaning forward slightly. If she had such power, why did she end up in that sorry state to begin with?
"I wonder. If my assumption is correct, that novel is a representation of one possible future. What you read was merely a possibility, one I seem to be treading toward closely enough that my divination magic showed it to me as a warning. You see, Miss Bai Feng Jiu, magic isn't merely a tool. It's part of one's nature, one's self. It will always try to safeguard its own being." Celestine explained it patiently, like an eager teacher.
'Okay. So we're having magic lessons now. Go on, Celestine-sensei. Carry on.'
I didn't say that part out loud. It was painfully obvious, in Celestine's blissful, excited expression, just how much she yearned for someone who would sit down and actually talk with her, the way we were doing now. She spoke like someone starved, filling every pause before I could even open my mouth, as if silence might mean I'd leave. Something in my chest tugged again. Beauty aside, she was, in fact, a neglected child.
"I see. So what's my significance in all this? How did I end up in your body, of all the vessels available?" Celestine gazed at me with sorry eyes. I felt the danger creeping in the moment I saw that look, and braced myself as best I could.
"Well, after I saw that horrid future, I was desperate. I didn't want to end up that way, not even a version of me who'd end up that way. So I tried to divine a way out. But I paid a great price for it, a steeper one than I expected. No wonder the answer pointed to you."