When Valentina woke up the next day, she had a raging fever. Her head and body were aching, her vision felt blurry, and when she stood up, she felt as if she would pass out at any moment. After not getting a fever for a while, she had totally forgotten how bad it actually was when her body decided not to work.

Still, she dragged her aching body to shower and dress up before heading down the stairs. Lia was already sitting down on the living room couch and Luca was nowhere to be found.

“Grand Rising to youuuu my favorite student! Pisces are winning and so am I! I hope you’re ready to work until you- wait are you okay? You look terrible! Did you get some sleep?!” Lia shouted the moment she got a look at Valentina’s face. Valentina looked simultaneously too pale and was horribly flushed.

“I'm fine. I just have a slight fever. It happens all the time. Shall we get to practicing?” Valentina replied with a weak smile.

“…It doesn't look like a slight fever to me but you're an adult. Aren’t you going to eat?”

“Maybe later. I currently have no appetite.”

Lia: “…..”

Without waiting for a response, Valentina slowly walked to the room they had used to practice the day before. She slowly bent over to put on the heels, before leaning against the wall while panting. Her head hurt so much, and her chest felt stuffy again.

“Valentina, I really think you should take a break.” Lia quietly said as she watched Valentina with eyes filled the concern.

“It’s fine. I don’t have a lot of time so we should get started.” Valentina got off the wall and placed one of the books on her head again. Even though her legs felt a bit shaky, she stabilized herself and stood straight. She relaxed her body slightly, focused on the taped line, and began to walk forward.

Looking at Valentina’s determined appearance, Lia couldn't help but sigh. She felt a sense of protectiveness and responsibility for the woman even though they had just met. Still, even though she wanted to tell the woman before her to rest, she understood the hunger that drove her to strive for excellence, even if her body was failing her. After all, she had gone through the same thing in her career. Vowing to let Valentina rest early today, she decided to coach her seriously.

“You're actually doing quite well today for only having one day of practice. You're quite the natural. Just bend your knees slightly, chin up, and work on your gaze. You want to project confidence. Good. Good. Do it again.”

Hearing her words, Valentina wanted to chuckle. It wasn’t that she was a natural, rather it was because the system was helping correct her pose. At least it was finally good for something after giving her body whose only redeeming quality was the face.

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Still, she did her best to persevere as she continually walked back and forth on the line. Her body continued to sweat profusely, and she suddenly felt a tickle in her throat.

Cough.

She did her best to suppress the slight cough but it seemed that was the trigger. Immediately, she began coughing hard, her mouth filling with the familiar salty taste of blood.

Then.

Cough. Cough.

It came flying out.

She immediately fell to her knees, struggling to breathe as her body kept heaving until finally, her chest felt clear once more.

Alaïa watched in shock as the woman before her suddenly fell forward and began coughing profusely. Suddenly she saw, droplets of red leaking through the pale fingers, and she immediately panicked.

“Valentina? What the hell? This is crazy! Are you okay? No there’s no way you could be okay after coughing up blood! We need to go to the hospital immediately! I will call an ambulance right now. No wait, it will be quicker to just drive you. Let’s go!”

“Haha there’s no need for that Lia, this is a regular occurrence since my body is rather weak and I promise I don’t have a contagious disease. Rather if you could quietly get me some paper towels and cleaning supplies, I would really appreciate it.” Valentina laughed weakly as she sat on the ground while doing her best to cover her mouth. She was sure it was a scary sight. After all, it wasn’t every day that you encountered somebody who actually coughed up blood.

“Valentina! This is not at the level of having a weak body. You just coughed up blood! Blood!” Lia almost screamed.

Valentina simply gave her a soft smile, but her tone was firm as she responded. “I know. I've been pushing my body a bit too hard these days. After some rest, I'll be just fine. Could you get the cleaning supplies? I don’t want to frighten Luca or any of the staff members.”

“Fine! You stay seated and don’t get up! I'll be right back!” Lia shot her a glare before dashing out of the room.

As soon as she left, Valentina immediately dropped her head on her knees, trying to stop the entire room from spinning and fighting down her nausea.

She didn’t look up until she heard the sound of the door opening. She saw that Lia had come in with some cleaning spray, gloves, paper towels, and a trash bag.

“Thank you for that. I'll take it from here.” Valentina smiled as she staggered up.

“You sit down and don’t get up! I can take care of it. Just wipe your mouth and rest!”

Lia immediately pushed her down while shoving a pile of paper towels into her hands.

She then put on the gloves and immediately cleaned up the wooden floors, before tossing everything into the trash bag. She quickly left and returned before.

“Valentina, we’ll stop here. Your job is to rest and recover for the next two days before the opening ceremony. We can work on everything else once your body feels better. Lean on me and I’ll help you up the stairs so you can lay down okay?

Chuckling lightly, Valentina unsteadily got up after removing her shoes. Lia immediately went beside her and held her waist tightly as she led her out of the room.

Unfortunately, they encountered Luca who was sitting quietly in the living room on his tablet.

“Auntie Val?” Luca gazed at the two women, especially the paler taller woman. As he saw Valentina weakly leaving against Lia, his eyes became watery.

“Oh, Luca. Don’t cry I'm okay. I just need to lie down and take a nap, then I'll be just fine okay?” Valentina mustered up her energy to give the little nugget a bright smile.

Seeing that he still looked upset, she shook off Lia’s arm and walked over before patting his head softly. “Luca, would you mind getting me some tea and my favorite snacks? That will really help me feel better.”

“Okay…” Luca did his best to wipe his tears before running off into the kitchen.

Valentina smiled before leaning on Lia as the shorter woman wrapped her arms around her waist.

“Let’s get you to bed quickly.”

Although it was a staircase she repeatedly climbed daily, Valentina felt as if she were climbing Mount Everest. Each step felt like a mountain, and she could feel her consciousness waning.

"Good job! You're almost there. Which door?”

“Second on the right.” Valentina huffed as she staggered forward.

“Got it. Come on. You’ve got this. Almost there.” Lia held the frail woman tightly as she slowly walked alongside her.

Somehow she made it to her bed and collapsed face-first. She could feel someone rolling her over and placing the covers on her.

“Thank you. No hospital, please. And don’t tell Kaiser.” She murmured but the words sounded garbled to her ears.

Then she fainted.