Roxy's furious shouts rang through the silent, empty courtyard of House Boreas.
Her sudden outburst left Cui Ciyou stunned.
He stared blankly at the Blue Hair mage before him and instinctively tried to explain:
"I... I was doing an experiment. To check whether..."
"An experiment? You call this an experiment? Do you have any idea what you were just doing?"
"You were hurting yourself... you were treating your own body like a joke!"
Roxy abruptly cut him off, rushed forward, and grabbed his collar.
Her small body shook violently, uncontrollably, with sheer anger.
Her eyes instantly reddened. Bright tears welled in them, but she fought to keep them from falling.
She pointed at the still-bleeding wound on Cui Ciyou's arm, her voice trembling with emotion:
"Why do you... always do this... why don't you care about yourself at all?"
"You did the same thing when you saved Alice last time."
(During the kidnapping, Cui Ciyou had grabbed the sharp blade of Thomas's dagger with his bare left hand to save Alice.)
"Does your body really matter that little to you?... Doesn't getting hurt cause you any pain?... Why do you always act like you don't care at all?"
Cui Ciyou was deeply confused.
What's... going on...?
It was only an experiment, and didn't I say my "self-healing ability" would work too?
Roxy looked into Cui Ciyou's eyes, which still held confusion and bewilderment.
The anger and hurt in her heart seemed impossible to contain any longer. Her tears finally broke free, rolling down her flushed cheeks.
The thread of reason snapped.
"Do you know... do you have any idea... when you hurt yourself so carelessly like this..."
"I... I... I get upset too, you know?... I worry too, you know?... It... it hurts me too!!"
Her voice thick with tears,