Chapter 319
Aldraya appeared unshakable, her empty gaze still fixed on the silhouettes of Erietta and Ilux in the distance, as if not a single frequency of this world could disturb the focus of her observation.
That perfect stillness only made the strangeness Theo felt grow more vivid and isolating.
He was trapped within the riddle of his own perception, while the world around him—including the partner beside him—continued on with suspicious normalcy.
Then, amid the noise of his inner silence, a new sensation emerged.
Not through sound, but through a subtle touch traveling up through the wooden bench they were sitting on.
Theo felt a faint vibration, a light yet consistent tremor, that seemed to originate from Aldraya's direction.
At first, he assumed it was merely vibrations from the crowd or a generator running somewhere nearby.
But the tremor was too regular, too localized.
His mind, already cycling through possibilities, was immediately diverted.
With a careful movement, as if not wanting to disturb anything, his gaze slowly lowered, leaving Aldraya's face and shifting toward her lower body.
And there, he confirmed something else.
Through the short skirt Aldraya was wearing, Theo could see—or more precisely, sense—a distinct trembling movement in both of her thighs.
It was not shivering from cold or fear, but a subtle, rhythmic muscle contraction, as if a low-voltage current were continuously flowing beneath her pale skin.
The vibration occurred without any obvious cause, without any change in Aldraya's expression or gestures.
It was subconscious activity from a body that should have been under perfect control.
Driven by curiosity and rising alertness, Theo's gaze continued downward.
His eyes traced the hem of her skirt, and there he noticed a visual anomaly that confirmed all his suspicions.
Around the inner area of Aldraya's skirt, right at her lap, there was a faint wet patch.
It was not large, but it was clearly visible as a stain of moisture soaking into the light-colored fabric.
His heart began to pound faster.
Now fully focused, his gaze moved further down, past her slender calves, until it finally reached the grassy ground beneath their bench.
'The flow is far stronger than it should be. This is clearly not normal.'
The truth revealed before Theo's eyes was not a minor accident or a reasonable leak.
This was a phenomenon.
The clear, slightly viscous liquid was unmistakably issuing from Aldraya's body, passing through the layers of her undergarments and seeping out under consistent pressure—not a sudden release, but a continuous, unbroken flow.
Theo's mind, trained to analyze and categorize, searched for a logical explanation.
Not urine, that much was certain.
The volume and consistency were entirely different, and a being like Aldraya would not possess such an uncontrolled biological function.
This was something else.
Something foreign.
The intensity of it only reinforced his certainty about the abnormality of the situation.
This was not mere dampness or moisture.
The volume of liquid that had collected on the ground had already formed a tangible pool, its diameter slowly expanding.
The comparison that surfaced in Theo's mind felt hyperbolic, yet accurate.
Even an industrial gallon of bottled drinking water seemed insufficient to describe the amount that had already flowed—and was still flowing—from the entity beside him.
An unnatural production of liquid, as if an unseen spring had opened within Aldraya, pouring forth without end.
The area around her feet, including the delicate shoes she wore, was now thoroughly soaked, and the fabric of her skirt clung to the skin of her thighs, which still occasionally trembled faintly.
'Fortunately, the surface is absorbent soil, not concrete that would clearly reveal the traces.
And Aldraya looks calm, as if unaware—or completely unconcerned.'
One small blessing in this unexpected chaos was the strategic location they had chosen by chance.
The area around their bench was not a flat concrete floor that would reflect a humiliating puddle, but a neglected patch of grass and fertile soil at the edge of the market.
That ground, usually nothing more than a backdrop for fallen leaves or food scraps, now became a perfect natural absorber.
Theo, deeply grateful amid his confusion, watched as the droplets and streams of the strange liquid from Aldraya's body were immediately absorbed by the loose earth.
The liquid did not pool into an obvious puddle, did not glisten like wet asphalt that would draw attention, but instead vanished into the darkness of the soil, leaving only a slightly darker, damp patch of ground.
It was an invaluable natural disguise, preventing a visual scandal that could have attracted every passerby's gaze.
The second stroke of luck—both more confusing and more relieving—was Aldraya's own response.
Or rather, the absence of one.
Her entire upper existence, from her waist to the tips of her white hair, remained in a state of calm, perfect observation.
There was no change in her blinking, no furrowed brows, no hand movement to check herself, no body language signaling discomfort.
The only physical indication that something extraordinary was occurring was the faint tremor that occasionally passed through her thighs, a subconscious vibration accompanying each wave of liquid flowing out.
It was like the soft hum of a machine at work, not disrupting its overall operation.
This condition, strange as it was, became the primary saving grace.
Because Aldraya showed no reaction at all, no signal of distress or confusion was broadcast to the surroundings.
To any marketgoer who happened to glance their way, they were merely two teenagers sitting casually, perhaps resting after walking around, with one of them sitting very still.
Aldraya did not draw attention.
She did not become a spectacle.
The atmosphere around them remained ordinary, lit by neon lights and filled with the market's constant noise.
No one suspected that amid this normalcy, an unexplained biological or metaphysical phenomenon was quietly taking place.
"Aldraya, come with me. We need to move somewhere else first."
After taking a long breath, Theo raised his arm and wiped the cold sweat dampening his forehead with the inside of his sleeve—a sweat born from a mix of astonishment, concern, and the effort to remain composed.
His mind worked at high speed, mapping an exit from this increasingly uncontrollable situation.
He could not allow Aldraya to remain seated there, with the ground beneath her growing more saturated by the mysterious liquid that continued to flow without any sign of stopping.
Action had to be taken immediately.
With a smooth yet firm movement, Theo turned his body fully to face Aldraya.
The hand that had just wiped his sweat now extended—not to grasp, but to position itself in a guiding manner.
He spoke in a low, calm voice, a simple instruction that sounded more like a request than a command, inviting Aldraya to stand and follow him.
Aldraya, as if responding to a command frequency she already recognized, finally broke her long gaze from Erietta and Ilux.
Her head turned toward Theo, her empty eyes staring straight ahead.
Without question, without hesitation, she slowly stood.
Her movement was slightly stiff, perhaps due to the condition of her damp lower body, yet it remained graceful.
The moment Aldraya stood, Theo moved at once.
To be continued…