[Tree] Chapter 624: Suffering in Silence

Stella looked down at the radiant pill between her fingers with disgust.

Thanks to the pills Kane and Elder Margret had made from the World Tree's fruit, she had recovered enough to leave the aether bubble and return home a week ago.

"Please, Princess," Kane Azurecrest begged. "It's the last one you need to take to complete your recovery."

Stella side-eyed him, making the alchemist startle into a stiff bow. It felt weird being taken care of by someone younger than her, as despite being rather tall, Kane had the youthful face of a teenager. His long white hair, streaked with crimson, fell over his face, partially hiding his terrified expression.

"Kane, be honest with me. What are you so scared about that makes you act like this around me?"

"N-Nothing, Your Highness," he stammered without raising his head.

Stella sank into the sofa. "I don't believe you. Did my father threaten you?"

"Absolutely not! The All-Seeing Eye has shown me nothing but kindness—"

"My mother then?" Stella asked.

Kane froze as stiff as a statue. "T-The World Tree cares deeply about your health and has been nothing but a pleasure to work with—"

Stella snorted. "That's a lie, but I'll stop pressuring you for now."

"Thank you, Princess."

Stella shook her head with a sigh. The other Grand Elders could be relaxed around her, so why couldn't Kane? There was this clear divide between them that made her rather uncomfortable.

It reminds me of the servants I'd had for years who betrayed me for mere spirit stones. While he's remaining respectful, I'm assuming Ash and Sylva were overbearing to work for, even if they didn't mean to be. While they act human sometimes, they are both spirit trees at the end of the day who interact with and see the world differently than us.

Stella brought the pill to her lips and could feel the acid reflux rising in her throat before she had even swallowed. An understandable reaction, considering the trauma she endured from the last few pills.

"Kane, you promise you've tweaked the formula, and this one won't be as bad as the last few, right?"

Kane slowly straightened and met her gaze. "With my pride as a head alchemist at the Ashfallen Trading Company, I can promise I've done everything I can to make absorbing the life force in that pill as seamless as possible."

Stella didn't believe him for a second. "You said that the last few times."

"I... well, yes. I was put on a rather tight deadline by your parents, and the World Tree's fruit was unlike anything this realm has seen, so the first pill—okay, the first few were rushed jobs. But this one will be better. That I can assure you."

"You're just saying that so I eat it and you're free from this task. Am I wrong?"

Kane looked like he was about to say something, but under her gaze, his professional composure faltered. "That is quite possible, Princess."

Stella narrowed her eyes. "So, is this pill actually better than the others?"

"...No. It's probably worse."

"Worse?!"

"I had to! Your mother forced me to double the dose—"

Stella raised a finger to her lips to silence him. His eyes widened in panic, and he clamped his hands over his mouth.

"Kane, you're a bastard for this, but I appreciate the honesty. I'm sorry you've had to put up with my parents and me. It must have been tough."

The panic and fear faded from his eyes. His hands slowly lowered from his mouth, and for the first time since they had met, he didn't seem as on guard. He didn't answer with words but simply nodded.

Stella felt bad for the teen.

"You can go now. I doubt you will want to be here as I absorb this pill." Stella put it onto her tongue, and it burned her throat as she gulped it down.

Fear returned as Kane scrambled for the door. "Thank you for your kindness, Princess!"

"Keep up the good work—" The door slammed, and Kane was gone.

Ah, here it comes.

Stella felt her eyes watering and a fire of pain brewing in her stomach. She buckled and fell off her sofa onto the hard floor of her home. At her request, nobody else was here, not even Ash's watching presence, so she could suffer in peace without an audience.

It would have been too embarrassing otherwise.

The pain arrived like a flood.

Stella screamed and cried as she writhed around on the floor in the most indescribable pain of her life. It was somehow worse than soul pain, as the tremendous amount of pure life essence packed into the pill washed through her body with the subtlety of burning hot knives. She tore at her clothes and desperately clawed at her skin until it bled, as nothing she did helped numb the pain.

For hours, she barely held onto consciousness as she tore her house apart while fighting her own body. But eventually, the double dose in the pill got the better of her.

She fell to her knees at the doorway to her bedroom.

"Kane..." she rasped, fingers trailing weakly down the door and falling to her side. "Even if it's for my health... you really are heartless..."

Darkness clouded her vision, and she keeled over.

***

Stella's eyes fluttered open as the light streaked through the curtains. Her body felt comfortably warm under the fresh sheets she didn't remember changing. While she was used to sleeping outdoors on a bench, she couldn't deny the feeling of a proper bed.

I survived the life essence pill? Does that mean my body has fully recovered?

"Morning, sunshine," a voice Stella knew all too well called from across the room.

She groaned and buried her head in her pillow. "Why are you here, Diana? I thought I said no visitors."

"Surely I'm an exception?"

"No," Stella said flatly.

"Ouch, an arrow right through my heart. And after everything I did to make you comfortable..."

"Huh?" Stella's brain slowly kicked into gear as she realized the implication. She rolled over and narrowed her eyes at Diana, who was sitting beside the open window, the breeze playing with her hair and wings.

"Were you the one who changed my sheets?"

Diana smiled at her. "I did more than that, as I found you in quite the state, you know?"

Stella looked down. While her memory of battling the life essence pill wasn't perfectly intact, she did remember destroying everything around her, including tearing apart her clothes. Yet, here she was, in her pajamas.

Wait, are these new pajamas?

Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment as she realized who had cleaned her up and put her to bed.

"Diana!" Stella yelled, gripping her pillow and hurling it at the demoness with the strength of a Monarch.

Diana effortlessly blocked it with her wing, the pillow exploding on impact into a cloud of feathers that filled the room. "Hey—" Diana began, but Stella had already leapt into action. Phasing through the aether onto Diana's shoulders, she choked her out with her legs and grabbed her horns.

"I said, no visitors! What part of that don't you understand?!" Stella yelled as Diana rose to her feet and staggered forward while Stella pulled on her horns. "You make it sound like a heroic act, but you wanted this, didn't you?!"

"So what if I did? I was worried about you and enjoy taking care of you," Diana grunted as she grabbed Stella's arms, pried them off her horns, and hurled her onto the bed. Stella felt the bed snap under the force and the floor crater beneath her.

Stella stayed there, panting, and stared up at the ceiling.

Diana loomed into view. "Why would you rather suffer alone than accept my help?"

"I'm just... tired of being a burden on everyone. It's embarrassing, you know?" Stella sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry. It's childish, I know. But I feel like I hardly do anything for others, yet everyone does all they can for me."

Diana wordlessly pulled the chair closer to the ruined bed and sat down. A calm silence fell between them until Diana spoke. "I understand that. But isn't it nicer to have people who love and care for you than to fight all alone?"

Stella didn't answer right away as memories of her childhood flashed through her mind. She had been so lonely and desperate that she even began talking to a tree for years without getting much of a response and latched onto the first person who didn't show her hatred.

"Yeah, you're right." Stella opened her eyes and tilted her head to look at Diana. "I'm sorry for lashing out. Is there... a way I can make it up to you?"

Diana smirked and answered without hesitation.

"A date would be nice."

Stella rolled her eyes. "Diana, even I know that a date is supposed to be between romantic partners. And out of everyone, you should know that despite my best efforts, I'm totally numb to that stuff..."

"I know."

The bluntness of Diana's words threw Stella off.

"It will be a date between friends," Diana assured her, and her expression turned serious. "And I promise, with hand on heart, that I will not try to push for anything more."

"Why call it a date then if we're just hanging out?" Stella asked, propping herself up on one elbow, her head resting against her palm.

Diana searched for a response. "I'll be honest, I just like teasing you because your reactions are cute, and it's nice not having to be on guard all the time around you."

"You have to be on guard around others?"

Diana nodded, letting out a tired sigh. "While I'm proud to inherit the Ravena Clan legacy and become an Archdemon, the gazes I receive from cultivators and mortals alike have become notably more... lecherous. Some have even been brazen enough to confess their love for me through letters."

"What?! You receive love letters?! Wait, why haven't I gotten any?"

Diana burst out laughing. "These horny bastards are foolish and blind enough to go after me, but they are not suicidal. Everyone knows you are off-limits, Stella. Your savage reputation preceded you, but you are also the All-Seeing Eye's daughter. Nobody has the balls to ask a Celestial Empire-conquering spirit tree for your hand in marriage."

Stella frowned. "Not even you?"

Diana froze and then waved her off with a nervous chuckle. "I told you, we are friends. I just liked teasing you."

Stella face-planted the soft bedding and mumbled. "Does this mean I'm going to die alone?"

"As in, without a romantic partner?" Diana tapped her chin in contemplation. "Mhm... at this rate? Probably."

Stella groaned. "That sounds quite depressing."

"I wouldn't worry about it, Stella. You have a long life ahead of you to figure things out. Anyway, we can speak more about this on our date." Diana stood up, pushing her chair backward. "I'll wait outside while you change."

"No, wait." Stella held up an arm in protest and floated a spatial ring over to Diana. "I'm too tired to figure out what to wear. Can you pick for me? It's unlocked."

Diana accepted the ring and checked the contents with a frown. "Stella..."

"What?"

"All you have in here are nine identical cult robes, some random out-of-date dresses you clearly looted from a cultivator's spatial ring, and what you wore to confront the Silverspire family."

Stella glanced at her. "So?"

"Give me a minute." Diana's gaze turned distant, and she stood deathly still.

"O-Okay," Stella sat up and crossed her legs on the bed. Unsure what to do, she looked around for a while until she felt a pressure wash over the room.

"Stella! How are you feeling?"

Stella looked up at the ceiling with a smile. "Hey Ash! I'm doing great. Look," she pulled back her sleeve and showed her arm. The skin she had clawed apart in bloody clumps was now pristine. "I'm all healed now."

"So you are! And the fractal lines are gone?"

Stella nodded. "Mother's life essence was so potent it didn't just heal my body, it rebuilt it out of the very essence of this realm. Even my spirit roots were reforged with the aether, so while I don't have the fractal lines anymore, if I use my Domain of the Aetherial..."

Power rippled through her body, and the fractal lines bled through the surface of her skin like before.

"Does this mean you don't need the Phantom Veil Amulet anymore?"

Stella's eyes widened. She hadn't thought of that. Reaching up, her fingers hesitantly hooked under the amulet's chain and lifted it over her head and held it away from her body.

She braced for the pain.

Yet, reality didn't burn.

For the first time since she had ascended to the Monarch Realm, reality didn't try to purge her existence. A quiet sob escaped her lips, and the air thickened as Ash's presence moved in to support her.

"This is great news. Your mother will be delighted to hear about it," Ash said soothingly. "Also, I haven't felt your unsurpressed spiritual pressure in so long. It's... grown a lot."

Stella wiped the tears from her eyes. "You think so?"

"Absolutely. I'm sure anyone who feels it will be shocked."

"I see. But what about you, Ash? Now that I'm healed, are you finally going to stop holding back and ascend?"

Ash chuckled. "You make it sound like you're the one solely holding me back. There were a few loose ends I needed to tie up first, and now that you're recovered, we'll hold a grand meeting tomorrow to discuss the ascension. Until then, enjoy your time hanging out with Diana."

"Oh, okay. See you later."

"See you. I'll go and tell Sylva the good news."

Ash's presence lifted just as Diana blinked back into focus. "Stella, I—" she began, only to suddenly panic. She unfurled her wings to encompass the entire room and elongated her claws as she assumed a combat-ready stance.

Stella blinked. "What are you doing?"

Diana glanced around the room, checking every corner and shadow until finally settling back on Stella. It wasn't until after a long moment of staring that her wings fell loosely to her sides and her posture relaxed. Somewhat.

"Stella... you scared me. I thought one of the egos attacked."

Stella tilted her head in confusion. "Why?"

"This spiritual pressure in this room," Diana gulped. "It's yours?"

"Oh." Stella glanced at the pendant hanging in her hand as the realization settled in. Putting the Phantom Veil Amulet back on, the moment the amulet settled against her skin, the tension in the room seemed to vanish, and Diana took in a deep breath.

"That was terrifying," Diana muttered and leaned against the doorframe to support herself.

Stella snorted. "Stop overreacting, Diana." She swung her legs off the side of the bed and stood up. "You're an Archdemon, aren't you? I highly doubt my spiritual pressure is that bad."

Diana didn't play it off like she expected her to. She looked genuinely terrified.

Stella pouted. "I don't like my friends looking at me in fear."

Diana blinked and got a hold of herself. "Right, sorry."

"What did you go and do?" Stella asked, and idly gazed out the window to give Diana some respite. "Was it for our date?"

At the mention of the date, Diana snapped back to her usual self.

"Yes, I had my clones organize our date. I've booked lunch and dinner at the best restaurants, and I know how much you hate shopping, so I have tailors custom-making you an outfit right now."

"Oh? That's surprisingly organized."

"Well, we are both busy people, so I want to make the most of the precious little time we can spend together. Now put on whatever you find most comfy, and let's go! A lot has changed in the cities while you've been recovering, and I want to show you around."

Stella had to admit, Diana's excitement was rubbing off on her. Though she just had to ruin it by saying something weird.

"Do you perhaps need help getting dressed?" Diana asked with a teasing smile.

"No," Stella snapped and shooed her away. "I'll meet you outside."

"Okay, got it." Diana dramatically bowed and left with a laugh.

Stella couldn't help but smile.

Diana really was a great friend.

"A date in the city sounds fun. Like something a normal person would do," Stella nodded to herself and used spatial magic to put on her favorite tattered cult robe. "I just hope she didn't go too overboard with the organization, as us walking through the streets is bound to draw enough attention already."