Chapter 35: Reunion

“……”

Silence dominated the room, creating a heavy atmosphere.

“…Don’t say such things, even as a joke. My daughter… died back then.”

“That might be how you saw it, Master. But wasn’t the body never found?”

Indeed. Noah had searched the entire vicinity after Sia’s abduction day.

Following Sia’s faint blood scent intermittently, she probably reached near the Demon Realm.

When I first met Sia, her presence and aura were so weak that I might have missed her and burned her along with the village.

But Noah didn’t give up and searched for Sia until the end. Noah spent three years wandering the Demon Realm.

Ultimately, after a long, long time, she couldn’t find her daughter. All she found was a pendant Sia had when abducted, containing Sia’s portrait.

Noah found the pendant, collapsed on the spot, and wailed.

I met Master around that time, and we discovered it while scouring the Demon Realm together.

Even in a village slightly away from the Demon Realm, attacks by Majin and monsters were frequent.

Both Noah and I thought her daughter was dead. Because there wasn’t a single child resembling Sia in that village.

We didn’t know. That there were so many villages near the Demon Realm.

Master and I went to the center of the Demon Realm, but we didn’t look outside it.

After that, Noah refused food and drink for a while, lived like a recluse, then slaughtered the Majin who apparently killed her daughter, eventually killing even the Demon Lord.

After killing the Demon Lord, with no target left for her hatred, she returned to the capital and took a position as a swordsmanship instructor in the Imperial Palace.

That led to the present events.

And it was evident just by looking at the locket hanging around Master’s neck now.

“…Don’t give me hope anymore. You damn disciple…”

The trembling in Noah’s voice didn’t stop. Her choked voice pained my heart.

I don’t understand Noah’s feelings. I have no children, and except for Sia, I’ve never cherished anything.

“…Please. Don’t mention my daughter anymore-.”

“Master.”

“……”

Foolish Master. Foolish Noah.

Her words say to let her daughter go, but isn’t she the one who can’t let go?

Well, thanks to that, it seemed unlikely she would deem Sia a fake.

Noah’s emotions were laid bare, still trapped by the guilt of the past, unable to forget her daughter.

Perhaps even if it wasn’t the real Sia, if someone similar appeared, she would treat them like her real daughter.

“The pendant. Could you show it to me once?”

“……”

Noah closed her eyes, thinking, as if trying to grasp her violently trembling heart.

Finally, with trembling hands, she carefully handed me the pendant hanging around her neck.

Taking the handed pendant, I pressed the locket part, revealing Sia’s portrait, which I hadn’t seen clearly back then.

Click!

A faintly lit, cozy home background. And in the center, a little girl sitting on a wooden rocking chair, laughing gleefully.

White hair and golden eyes.

A face full of smiles, looking utterly happy.

And behind the rocking chair, the woman pushing it. Also looking at the child with a happy smile.

It felt so distant from the image of Master I knew.

Looking at the portrait, I imprinted the image in my mind. So I could reproduce it with magic.

“Here you go.”

“Yes…”

While returning the pendant. I could see Noah’s face clearly.

Not much different from when the portrait was taken.

It was because transcendents didn’t age.

Besides, she was rumored to look young for her age anyway. How could that face belong to someone in their forties? She looked barely past adulthood.

Simultaneously, I looked into Master’s eyes as well.

One could see many things in a person’s eyes. Especially emotions.

Expectation and disbelief.

Hope and despair.

There were other emotions besides these, but these four were most prominent in Master’s eyes.

If I had been just a little later. Perhaps emptiness would have taken root in those eyes.

Master entered the Imperial Palace 2 years ago. It seemed it was still too early to let go of hope.

“I won’t ask why you wanted to see it. Perhaps, if you were comparing her to that child-.”

Knock knock knock.

“Your Grace. The young lady has arrived.”

Interrupting Noah’s words, Butler entered with three knocks.

Butler and Diana were receiving treatment and resting at the Duchy estate, but.

-My duty is that of a butler. Therefore, I cannot postpone my work any longer.

Saying so, Butler shook himself off and returned to duty. Diana was still staying in the guest room.

Besides, there wasn’t anything Diana could do here anyway.

Fortunately, she wasn’t being noisy, so I didn’t kick her out.

Hearing Butler’s words, I turned to Master and grinned.

“Perhaps, even if she isn’t Master’s daughter, please refrain from saying unpleasant things to her.”

“Tsk. I am not such a pathetic person. And.”

Noah, following me out the door, darkened her expression and uttered the next words.

“I have already.”

“Yes. Let’s stop there. You’ll know when you see her, won’t you?”

“Yes…”

Noah followed me with a darkly sunken face. However, a slight anticipation also showed around her.

Unable to find her for 5 long years, discovering only her daughter’s pendant.

Honestly, an ordinary person would have gone mad. At least Noah’s mind wasn’t so frail, allowing her to endure until now.

If it were me, unable to meet Sia for 5 years.

The horrific thought sent shivers down my spine.

‘Must never create such a situation again.’

What Master experienced was enough. I didn’t want to lose Sia too.

However, now, no matter how far Sia was, I could probably find her easily. I had smelled Sia’s scent that much, and Sia’s aura was firmly stored in my mind.

Feeling expectant myself, I descended to the 1st floor. Though it was only a few days, seeing Sia after a long time made me feel even better.

Going down the stairs, I saw the main entrance, and white hair, like threads made of snow, came into view.

“Sia!”

Sia, who seemed to have just stepped out of the carriage, scratching her slightly messy hair, looked towards me, startled by my shout.

“Lilac! Seeing- oof!”

Running and hugging her directly, Sia, fitting snugly in my arms, greeted me with muffled pronunciation.

“Pwah! So mean, abandoning us and leaving first. You should have at least come to the temple and told us.”

“Sorry. The situation got a bit complicated. Next time, I’ll tell you no matter what.”

“Okay. But that person…?”

Being short, Sia sent her gaze sideways and seemed to have spotted Noah.

“Ah. Let me introduce you. This person is my Mast-.”

Tat tat tat.

The sound of urgent running.

Master, frozen on the stairs since earlier, hugged Sia before my words even finished.

“Ugeup?!”

“Sob… Ahk… I’m sorry… I’m sorry.”

As soon as Master hugged Sia, tears streamed down her face. It looked like sobbing, but more than that.

“For not protecting you… Mommy is sorry.”

It was relief. Or perhaps happiness. That the hope she had distrusted was true.

“Uh… excuse me?”

The bewildered Sia glanced at me. As if asking ‘what is this?’, looking at me for help, but.

Turn.

I turned my head away, feigning ignorance.

“H-how could Lilac… do this to me…”

Sia’s betrayed voice sounded desperate. Sorry for Sia, but I didn’t want to be the disciple who interfered with a family reunion.

Suddenly noticing Jahy standing behind Sia with a bewildered expression, I snapped my fingers silently.

Tik.

Then Jahy disappeared with a flash of light, transported somewhere.

Teleported roughly somewhere in the mansion.

“I’m sorry. Mommy… is sorry.”

“Th-there… So what exactly is the situation- Mmhp.”

Before Sia could speak, Noah hugged Sia even tighter.

Gasping for breath, Sia flailed her hands, but Noah seemed to have no intention of letting her go.

Watching the scene, my mouth opened unconsciously.

“Stop it already. Sia is struggling.”

“……”

Master didn’t budge even at my words.

Finally sighing, I forcibly separated them slightly with mana.

“Pwah! Haa… Haa… What is going on!”

Sia gasped for breath and shrieked.

However, a short, powerless girl shrieking looked less scary and more like a pathetic cattle.

“B-baby. Sia…”

Noah, separated from Sia, finally seemed to come to her senses and called Sia’s name cautiously, but.

“Who are you…”

“!!!”

Noah froze with a shocked face.

My face also hardened, and I slowly approached Sia.

“What are you talking about, Sia. Your mother. Don’t you remember?”

“My mother…?”

Seeing Sia trying to recall memories with a slightly bewildered face, I started feeling something was wrong.

Grabbing both of Sia’s arms, I asked cautiously.

“Sia. You really don’t remember?”

Even with a 5-year gap. Her memories disappeared in that time?

Judging by Master’s reaction, Sia was her biological daughter. Naturally, Sia should remember her-.

‘Ah.’

Sia, just like me.

‘Dead eyes. Had no lingering attachment to life before coming here.’

Wondered why she couldn’t remember. Come to think of it, why did I bring Sia here? Now I recalled again.

For a child already broken beyond repair, memories were a luxury. A child who had to live moment by moment without thought.

To attach strength to past memories.

‘She erased her memories. On her own. Damn it.’

This was bad.

This is outside the expected range.

Is there some way…

‘Pendant.’

Quickly turning around, I hastily retrieved the pendant from Noah, who looked like she had lost the world.

“Sia. Haven’t you seen this before? Anything you remember?”

However.

“What is that…?”

Wrong. Memories already gone cannot be return-.

“What is it that you’re doing?”

Lost in thought.

Sia reached out and grabbed the pendant.

“It’s a pendant. A locket? Is there something inside?”

Watching her, I glanced at Noah’s face behind her.

She looked ready to burst into tears any moment, so I quickly turned back and nodded.

“Open it. If you remember anything, tell me.”

“Okay… But I don’t remember anything before meeting Lilac…”

Lowering my gaze heavily, I looked where Sia was looking. The locket containing Sia’s portrait I saw earlier.

“Wow! It’s pretty. But doesn’t this child look a lot like me?”

Hearing Sia’s bright admiration made my heart ache.

If it turns out like this, one side has to bear the painful memories and carry them for life.

“Because it’s you.”

“Huh? What does that mean-. Huh?”

“!!”

Drip drip.

Sia seemed to question, but suddenly her nose started bleeding, forcing her mouth shut.

“Sia!!”

Why does it always end up like this? Stop it already…

“Lilac, I’m fine-.”

Unable to finish her sentence, Sia’s eyes unfocused.

And just like that.

Thump.

Catching Sia’s body as she fell forward, I hastily turned around and ran to find Diana.

Noah also snapped out of it and followed me.

Why did she collapse again this time?

Why are you always hurting?

I know you won’t die.

I know that well.

But seeing you collapse weakly like this keeps appearing as nightmares in my dreams.