Chapter 46

7 Seven Months, 1 week, and 2 days pregnant.

“Damn it!” Livia hisses and tosses a cracked and warped crystal to the table. It joins at least a dozen others in similar shape, and she quickly grabs for the next one, frustration growing.

“What are you doing, exactly?” Sen asks at her back, strolling closer.

Livia frowns when he casts a long shadow over her, hindering her view. Without looking up or saying anything, she pushes him away with insistent hands and goes back to inspecting her work.

Sen does not stay away for long. He drags up a chair from the small sitting area in her room, places it next to her, and flops carelessly into it. Soon, his long fingers come into view and pluck up a small handful of the clear quartz she had set aside, turning them over in his hand like dice.

“I’m assuming these are failed attempts?” Sen comments lightly.

Livia glares at him silently, then at the botched stones in his hands, before turning her attention back to the one she had picked up. It, like all the others, has been under her spell for over a week. She was slowly unwinding the spells she cast around it, unveiling the end results. It took focus, precision, and only the smallest amount of magic.

From an outside perspective, she was just staring really intently at a stone while turning it over. She almost wished to see sparks and pretty flickering's of light, but all it would do in the end was distracting her.

Just as she is almost done when a crack suddenly splits through the small stone, and it grows quickly, like a web, before a small crunch is heard, and the quartz warps into something beyond nature. Livia drops it with a snarl and bangs her hands against her desk.

At this rate, she would lose her magic before she saw even a hint of success. And if she was to survive the rest of her pregnancy without it, she needed these to work.

Sen continues to play with the stones in his hands and grabs an apple from the serving tray Beth had pointedly placed near Livia after she has skipped lunch with his other. He bites into the fruit like an asshole and chews slowly.

Livia shoots him another irritated look before she grabs another small crystal. She still had at least thirty, but she did not intend to use them all today. It would be pointless to continuously use the same method in the sheer hope that it would somehow succeed. No, she would rather attempt a few more times before giving up and going back to the drawing board to figure out why it was not working.

Livia stares at the new stone in her hand. The spell she placed on it was like a soft buzz between her fingers, waiting patiently to be undone. She hesitates.

“This is the one that has the Beth and the princes' memories, right? The one you made months ago?”

It seems Sen was feeling particularly social today.

Livia hears the dull clatter of stones on wood as the ones he had been toying with fall to the desk. They clunky attempt to roll a few inches before coming to a stop. Then his hand comes into view and it incircles the plain black choker she always wears, completely dwarfing it. She follows the hand and watches as Sen dangles the necklace above his head to view the clear, perfectly sphere quartz that rests upon it. The warm orange glow of the setting sunlight it up, casting small rainbows around the room.

“Back then, it only took you a few days to make use of this,” Sen notes and takes another bite of his apple.

“Well, back then, I had almost full use of my magic,” Livia says and snatches back her independent variable. She could not help but roll the smooth cool stone in her fingers, admiring her own work.

It went from a common crystal to a memory stone.

Not just anyone could do that. Most mages of this world would only find its uses in holding light and amplifying their own magic. It was universal and worked well with all other elements.

It was the reason why she chose it for its use when she and Sen had stumbled upon a deposit, months ago. Clear quartz wasn’t only good with amplifying magic after all. It could also store it and transmit it for short periods of time. With a carefully constructed spell, its natural abilities could be modified and upgraded into something more.

“Why do you need another memory stone?” Sen tosses the apple core back onto the serving tray and leans back to lap at the leftover juices on his fingers like a heathen. It should be disgusting, but Sen painted a silky picture of a big, dangerous feline calmly cleaning off its clawed paw.

Any other heterosexual girl her age swimming in hormones would have likely fainted at the sight after exploding in a blushing volcano.

Livia only wrinkles up her nose and grabs blindly for one of the many fancy napkins just lying about.

“Licking won’t stop your fingers from being sticky,” She snaps, and dabs the napkin in water before seizing Sens's wrists with her hands, and scooting closer to him so she could wipe off his fingers with it.

Sen fights off her mothering mildly, faintly amused, “And here I thought you wanted me to give in to my nature,” His yellow eyes glow.

“Sure, go for it,” Livia encourages instantly, “But if you are going to hover around me like a bat, I won’t have your sticky fingers all over my stones.”

Then she pauses, her eyes alight.

“Wait...maybe that is it...”

Sen stares blankly at her, “What.”

Suddenly, she grins wickedly, and her fingers tighten around his.

“Dear Sen-” She starts, fluttering her eyelashes obnoxiously.

“No,” Sen responds instantly.

Livia pouts, “You don’t even know what I was about to say.”

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“No.”

“Fine. Then I guess I will have to ask someone else...” Livia gives up easily and grabs a piece of parchment, and grabs a pen, “Now, where did I put the ink?”

Sen eyes her, “Who are you lettering?”

“Phineas.”

“Who?”

“Finn.”

Sen eyebrow twitches, “And why are you trying to reach out to him? I thought after the last interaction, you wanted nothing to do with any other targets.”

“Well, it’s not like it can be just anyone who can help me. Fin is the only other person that I know who is able to tap into the old well of magic,” Livia says casually, and starts to write out ‘Dear’ in loopy cursive.

Sen places his hand on top of the parchment, preventing any more words from being written as he leans forward to meet Livia’s eyes with a scowl.

“And since when have you known that?” He asks sharply.

Livia taps the feather pen to her mouth, fighting down a smirk, “I suppose it was when I was erasing his memories. I had to glimpse through them to do so. Plus, I had met a bit of resistance, which is only possible if someone has potential. Like you.”

Sen just glares.

Livia is completely immune and just blinks slowly back at him.

“...I’ll help,” he says after a while.

Livia instantly smirks.

“But only if you tell me what exactly all of this is for.”

She pauses in balling up the parchment, thinking it over.

“Fine,” Livia agrees, shrugging, “Hand, please,” She asks after tossing the paper in the trash in a clean shot.

Sen glare has let up. His fingers easily entwine with hers. The deep red mark of the blood pact on the palm of their hands lines up, the connection between them swings open, and the magic begins to flow.

“So...” Sen prompts impatiently, moving his chair closer.

Livia picks up the quartz again, “As you already suspected, I intend to make this into a memory stone,” she starts, “But unlike the first one, these will be for my own personal use.”

Sen remains quiet, waiting for her to continue.

“You see my head...well, it is a bit of a mess,” Livia admits bluntly.

“What do you mean? Beyond the obvious,” Sen says with a faint smirk.

Livia sticks her tongue out at him, and his smirk grows.

“What I mean is that I have an unending library of knowledge stuck in my head, and I thought it was prime time that I organized it properly and put it to better use,” she says.

“Hmm, and these memory stones will help?”

“Yup,” Livia says, popping the ‘p’, “You can think of it as me transcribing all my memories. But instead of using papers, I will use the stones.”

Livia had been thinking about doing it the moment she made the first one. Making them was a bit of a tricky process, but once you got past that, they were like a storage device for videos. The memories could be projected for anyone else to view, similar to a TV back in her first life.

She thought to make use of it beyond a simple tool of definite incrimination.

Livia’s head was full to the point of bursting. She did not know the why or how, but when she recalled her memories of her previous lives, everything sharpened into vivid detail. Instead of vague memories of her childhood that should be fainter now than ever, she could recall upon it as if it was yesterday.

But by the sheer load of it all, it was not an easy task to scour her own mind for specific information. Sometimes, Livia just knew but it came to her without rhyme or rhythm.

She could shoot an arrow without ever having seen a bow before in this life. She knew which herbs were edible, poisonous, good for healing, etc., but had no information regarding some common magical creatures. She knew the obvious ones, but not of that horned boar that had chased her down.

Livia did not like how unreliable her own mind could be at times. And thinking about it, even if she had not been in the state, unlocking all her second life memories would have only added to the load, not relieve it.

Before she could even attempt to do that again, Livia needed to organize her thoughts, and the only way that was possible was with the memory stones.

Until now, she had placed a wall between the chasm that was her head between herself just to maintain a sane state of mind. Livia was sure it had happened almost instantaneously. The moment her memories had rushed back into her like a tsunami, the wall sprouted up. She hadn’t even had to think about it. Instinctively, she had somehow known to do it, and it had not budged in all this time.

She knew that wall was key to gaining everything back.

Before, she had tried to break it by force, but now, Livia thought it was better to slowly lower it, filtering everything as she went. This way, she would not endanger herself. This way, she could control the flow.

But first, she needed to get the stones to work before she lost her magic entirely. If she couldn’t, she would be forced to wait until after she had her baby, and just the thought of it was upsetting.

What would she do while she waited to give birth if she did not have the stones to occupy her?

Livia had once been a young woman living in a society where entertainment could be easily accessed with a few swipes of her fingertips. She was an expert in passing the time procrastinating and doing everything but what she should actually be doing. Coming off that mindset, she also has developed a very short attention span.

To be frank, Livia did not do well with boredom.

Even now, in a different world, she was set firmly in her ways. Faintly, she thinks this might be a heavy contribution to why her mind is in its current state. Her second life had been long, it only made sense she would have to find many ways to pass the time.

So, what would she be left with without the stones?

Working out was all fine and dandy, but it was not the least bit entertaining when she was so limited in what she could do. Plus, it was only a matter of time before Beth became anxious and stopped it altogether.

She already combed through the books she stole from White Castle, and as informed as they were, they did not hold her attention for long.

Livia also had used the last bit of her own personal money (which she stole happily from the fools who thought they could kidnap her) on the crystals and supplies for her baby, so she could not purchase anything even relatively interesting anytime soon. And that was a whole other headache she will have to deal with pretty soon.

She also still had two months to go, ideally, to give birth, and until then, she was limited to the property of the Valentine Estate.

And her revenge. Well, that was currently on standby. Soon to be resumed at a more convenient and less vulnerable time. The moment her magic returned to her, she will happily resume it, until then, she was stuck.

So, really, she was going to die of boredom before she gave birth.

Was she being dramatic?

Probably.

Did she care?

Nope.

Better to admit it now, so when she finally went stir crazy and did something foolish, her excuse will be ready.

“And this...will keep you occupied?” Sen knows her too well.

Livia squeezes his hands and smiles too wide, “Yup.”

Sen stares a second long, before he nods, “Alright. Tell me what to do.”

Livia's smile turns a bit genuine, “You don’t have to do much, since I still have access to my magic. Well, what little there is left after placing the spells I did on the stones.”

She risked it all for those little bastards. The least they could do was corporate and stop crumbling under her exquisite spell work. Honestly, it wasn’t that heavy.

“Ah, so I am just a ‘battery’ as you call it,” Sen says, and the word sounds foreign on his tongue.

“Mmhm,” Livia hums, and carefully, starts turning the clear quartz around, her gaze sharpening. Sen goes quiet, letting her work.

At the last tendrils of her spell, Livia holds her breath. Slowly, she undoes it and waits as the pressure inside the stone builds. It trembles in the palm of her hand.

One...two...three...and then it calms.

She lets out a little huff and slumps over. In her hand, the quartz becomes clearer by the seconds, and soon it resembles the one dangling on her choker.

It’s done, finally.

So, it was a matter of power. How annoying. She had been just a bit too weak. But now, with Sens help, she had been just strong enough to see it through.

Livia's eyes turn to the other stones, a determined gleam in them as she silently did the calculations in her head. She could do one more and use her remaining power to place her memories inside them.

But no matter what she decides to do her magic would be gone by the end of the day. When it recovered, it would belong solely to her son until he was born.

By the time that he is, Livia intends to arm herself and be ready for whatever might come her way, to sink into a self-study of sorts.

Her face smooths out, and she comes to a decision.