The Cursed Extra-Chapter 151: [3.24] When the Healer Starts Asking Questions

Chapter 151: [3.24] When the Healer Starts Asking Questions

"The worst thing about smart women is that they’re smart. The second worst thing is when they notice you noticing them noticing you."

***

"Wait." I pressed my face against the crack. Let my voice fill with hope. The desperate kind. The kind that might come from someone who’d just found a potential escape route. "I feel something. Air movement. There’s definitely air coming through this crack."

Marcus looked up from his manual. His scholarly instincts momentarily overrode his panic. "That’s impossible. The schematics don’t show any branching passages in this section of the mine. I’ve studied the official surveys extensively, and there’s no indication of any—"

"I don’t care about your schematics!" I turned toward them. Let desperation bleed into my expression. Let my voice crack just slightly at the edges. "There’s a draft coming through this crack. A real draft, not just settling air. Feel it yourself if you don’t believe me."

Thomlin approached cautiously. His hand extended toward the fissure like he expected it to bite him. He held his palm flat against the stone for a long moment.

His eyes widened slightly. "He’s right. There is air moving. It’s faint, but it’s definitely there."

Of course there was.

The maintenance tunnels formed a complex network throughout this section of the mine. They connected various work areas and provided ventilation to prevent the buildup of dangerous gases. The crack was probably a natural ventilation point. A gap in the stone that the original miners had left intentionally rather than sealing completely.

But my teammates didn’t need to know that.

More importantly, they didn’t need to know that these maintenance tunnels would lead me directly to where Rhys was trapped.

"It could be another passage," I continued. My voice gained momentum as I built the lie layer by layer. "Maybe a way around the collapse. An old service tunnel or something. If we can widen this crack enough to squeeze through, we might be able to find a route that’s still intact."

"That’s not on any of the maps," Marcus said. But his voice lacked conviction. The manual in his hands was useless here, and we all knew it. All his carefully memorized protocols and procedures meant nothing when the stone itself was trying to kill us. "The academy surveys are supposed to be comprehensive. If there were passages here, they would have been documented."

"The maps are wrong about a lot of things," Seraphina said.

She moved closer to the crack. But those gray eyes were studying my face instead of the wall. Searching for something in my expression.

"Aren’t they, Kaelen? Maps always leave things out. The interesting things, usually."

And there it is. She’s not talking about tunnels anymore.

"I don’t know anything about maps," I said. Let hurt creep into my voice at the implied accusation. "I’m not exactly the scholarly type, remember? I just know we can’t stay here waiting for the ceiling to fall on our heads. Look at the ceiling. Look at those cracks."

Another chunk of mortar chose that moment to break free. It crashed to the tunnel floor between us with a sound like a gunshot. The impact scattered debris across our boots and made everyone jump.

Including me. That part wasn’t acting.

Stone might not be able to kill me easily with my real stats, but getting brained by a falling rock would still hurt like hell.

"If we’re going to explore this," Seraphina said. Her tone was maddeningly neutral. Gave nothing away. "Who goes first? Someone has to squeeze through and see what’s on the other side. It’s too narrow for us to go together."

This was the moment.

The trap I’d been building since we entered these tunnels. Since I’d maneuvered our team toward this specific section of the mine with a series of subtle suggestions and fortunate accidents.

Everything had been leading to this point.

"I’ll go." The words came out before anyone else could volunteer. Tumbled from my lips with an eagerness I immediately tried to mask as resignation. "It should be me. My ribs are still healing from the match with Vance. I’m the slowest member of this team. The weakest fighter by far. If something goes wrong on the other side, you lose the least useful member. That’s just logic."

Marcus opened his mouth to protest. Probably to cite some regulation about team cohesion or proper scouting protocols.

I cut him off before he could start.

"Think about it logically. Just think about it for a second." I gestured at each of them in turn. Sold the argument with everything I had. "Thomlin’s our best fighter. He’s the one who can actually protect the team if something attacks us. You know these tunnels better than anyone, Marcus. You’ve memorized every map, every survey, every safety procedure. If anyone can find an alternative route, it’s you. And Seraphina..."

I met her eyes. Let my gaze linger on her silver hair. Her composed features. The way she held herself with that quiet confidence.

"You’re our healer. The only one on this team who can fix injuries. If someone gets hurt, you’re indispensable. I’m just... dead weight. A liability with damaged ribs and no useful skills."

"Kaelen, that’s—" Thomlin started. His expression twisted with the kind of awkward sympathy people showed when they wanted to disagree but couldn’t find the words.

"Smart," Seraphina finished for him. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

She stepped closer. Close enough that I could see the flecks of darker gray in her winter-sky eyes. Close enough that her apothecary’s scent filled the space between us. Herbs and something sharper. Medicinal.

"It’s tactically sound. The most expendable member scouts ahead while the valuable assets remain safely behind. A coldly logical approach."

The words stung. Even though I’d engineered them myself.

I’d set the trap. Baited the hook. Walked right into it.

But that was the point.

Let them think I was sacrificing myself out of noble stupidity. Some misguided attempt at redemption by the family disappointment. Let them see the pathetic third son trying to prove his worth through self-destructive heroism.

See, Seraphina? Just a broken boy trying to be useful for once. Nothing suspicious here. No hidden agenda at all.

"But Kaelen," Seraphina continued. Her voice dropped to barely above a whisper. Pitched low enough that Marcus and Thomlin would have to strain to hear. "Your ribs aren’t the only thing that’s been... interesting... about you lately. There have been some inconsistencies I can’t quite explain."

"I don’t know what you mean." I forced confusion into my expression. Summoned the same bewildered look I’d spent weeks perfecting in mirrors throughout the academy. The expression of someone who genuinely had no idea what was happening around them.

Please buy it. Please just buy it.

"Your vital signs during the goblin fight. Your breathing patterns when that ceiling cracked just now. Your reaction time when Marcus stumbled into that pit trap two hours ago." She tilted her head slightly. Studied me like a puzzle she was close to solving.

"For someone who’s supposedly terrified and incompetent, you have remarkably steady nerves. Your heart rate barely changed during any of those moments. A normal person, a genuinely frightened person, would show more physiological stress."