Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Forgetting First Love
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But he had to forget.
'That world no longer exists.'
"Lord Krash, I'm a greedy person. That's why Lord Aslan ended up like that, and I'm afraid I'll keep being greedy. So please don't be kind to me."
He recalled the words she had said as she pulled away from his embrace, sobbing uncontrollably on the day Aslan died.
Who was the one holding back from being greedy, and yet she spoke like that?
Krash had been utterly astonished at the time.
But later, he understood.
After Aslan's death, when he took in the dejected girl and made her his personal maid.
And not long after, when he lost her along with the Green Pine Pavilion to the rampaging World Erosion in Valheim.
That he was the fool who didn't even know how to be greedy.
'If only I had been greedy.'
Krash could never forget the pain and grief he had revisited countless times.
Yet time is a truly mysterious thing.
Pain, too, gradually fades with the passage of time.
Lilina's death had occurred in the early days when the World Erosion first went berserk.
After that, after going through numerous events within the Generation of the Sky, he had somehow managed to forget the pain of losing Lilina.
How else could he have considered going on a date with that woman who had inexplicably followed him around for so long, after she finally asked?
'Well, it all became meaningless anyway.'
Because of Mary Diana and that damned Divine Spear incident, the date never happened.
And after that day, she never said much to him again.
And including those events, everything that happened with Lilina was now as if it had never been.
The Lilina before his eyes was a different person from the one he had known.
"Sadly, the girlfriend thing isn't true."
So Krash slowly smiled at her.
She was Lilina, Aslan's personal maid.
And she would remain his personal maid unchangingly from now on.
Krash's first love no longer existed.
It was a love he had ended long ago.
On the day she died.
Krash had quietly ended that love before her corpse.
'Snow Doll.'
The brief surge of emotion had been swiftly suppressed by the Snow Doll and sunk deep down.
"Lilina."
Thanks to that, Krash could now call her name in a different way than before.
"Let's conspire together to let Aslan live."
So that she could live alongside him.
As Krash said this, Lilina fell silent for a moment before lifting her head.
"I told you to say anything, and I wasn't lying."
"Yes, you're trustworthy."
"Go ahead, order me to do anything. So, what do I need to do?"
Seeing her waiting with her skirt hem lifted as if receiving a command, Krash let out a chuckle.
Then he told her something that would make her flinch.
"Tomorrow, Aslan will attempt self-immolation."
Sure enough, Lilina's body stiffened abruptly.
"In the meantime, infiltrate the vice lord's room with Crim and find Dorothy's crystal for me."
Her body stiffened again at the following words.
"......You really do say anything."
Her face looked utterly dazed.
＊ ＊ ＊
Flame Lord
Aegasa Igrit
A 7th-class Adeptus Major sorceress.
In terms of aura, she was at the Master level—a seasoned expert, one of the world's top sorceresses.
Now an aged, wrinkled middle-aged woman, she sat in her room, pen in hand, lost in thought.
Lately, she had been deep in thought like this more often.
The biggest reason was none other than her worthless son.
When she first became pregnant, Aegasa loved her son more than anyone.
But as he grew, she discovered his abnormality.
He had been born with the Lunar Yin Physique.
Aslan, bearer of the moon's yin energy, could not learn Aegasa's flame magic.
This meant her son could neither receive the Igrit family's favor nor become its lord.
Yet Aegasa still cherished him.
Even at a young age, he studied magic diligently and showed talent for it.
Aside from the Lunar Yin Physique, he was a flawless, proud son.
But that was only her opinion as his mother.
The eyes of those around her were different.
Especially after hearing the words of her father—Aslan's grandfather and one of the Ten Heavenly Powers, the Flame King—she finally realized how everyone viewed her son.
"Aslan is no longer the Igrit heir."
"Father!"
He was the man she had called "family head" more than "father" her whole life.
Yet he, like her and Aslan, bore the blood of the Flame King.
"Aslan is your grandson! How can you abandon the succession? What is Aslan supposed to do then?!"
Though the Flame King had never treated her warmly as a daughter, not once.
Knowing how painful that was, Aegasa cherished and loved Aslan all the more.
So she hoped that, deep down, her father cared for her and her son.
"Sigh, Vice Lord."
But the Flame King was entirely different from Aegasa.
He was the head of the Igrit family before being her father.
He prioritized the future of the Igrit family and the Crimson Tower over the love for his child and grandchild.
In the Crimson Tower, where magic supremacy reigned supreme.
Could someone who couldn't wield the flame magic that Igrit had cultivated her entire life bring glory to the family?
It would be a disgrace instead.
Thus, the Flame King had long closed his heart to Aslan.
"In three years at the tower, even a dog can chant spells. But Aslan can't even become a tower mutt. Making such a one the heir would only tarnish the Igrit name."
Aegasa's eyes widened in shock at those words.
She couldn't believe he treated his grandson like a tower dog.
"I could blame you for bearing such a child in the first place. Didn't I tell you repeatedly? That man you brought would surely father a child useless to the Igrit family."
Aegasa's wide eyes trembled.
The Flame King had opposed her marriage to the man she brought home, time and again.
Yet despite his opposition, Aegasa shared her bed with him, conceived Aslan, and eventually married.
But her husband, while not having a full Lunar Yin Physique, was born with yin energy and a frail body.
In the end, under the pressure and glares of the Igrit family, his mind grew ill, his body followed, and he died young.
Knowing how her husband died, she could not accept her father's words now.
Her husband's death might have been due to her own greed.
But now, the Igrit family and her father sought to kill her son as well.
Anger surged from her, and her teeth chattered.
"You swore not to bear another man's child. There's a girl in the Crimson Tower with flame magic aptitude. I'll adopt her as your daughter."
Stunned by the successive shocks, Aegasa nearly collapsed.
The Flame King had truly abandoned Aslan.
Afterward, she looked into the child he planned to bring in.
Her name was Abella. Though not yet formally adopted, her talent was real.
Even at her young age, she wielded flame magic like her own hand—a genius rare even in the Igrit family.
After learning of her, Aegasa grew anxious.
She feared her son might truly be discarded by the Igrit family.
Especially her father—he would surely do it.
For he lived only for the family.
From then on, Aegasa began to change.
The hand that once stroked Aslan's hair in praise now struck him coldly, forcing him to learn magic.
To cure his Lunar Yin Physique, she scoured the world for elixirs, making him swallow them until he vomited.
"Don't act weak! You're the future of the Igrit family! Get up! Aslan! Use magic right now!"
When Aslan collapsed after exhausting his mana, she screamed those words before him.
If she left him be, her son would be forever abandoned by the Igrit family.
Aegasa could not stand by and watch.
She couldn't, even out of guilt toward her late husband.
So she became harsh.
She taught him rigorously, scolded him, forced him to change his constitution through grueling effort.
Yet Aslan endured steadfastly.
He was strong, like her.
But Aegasa failed to notice that his heart was gradually rotting away.
Nor that her own was rotting in the same way.
And in the end, their relationship reached its breaking point.
On the day she saw Aslan attacked by a spirit in the burned academy dormitory.
She rushed in without regard for danger and burned the spirit with her own hands.
There was no hesitation in saving her son.
But afterward, Aslan broke completely.
She realized too late.
That Aslan had formed some kind of bond with that spirit.
Because she later learned he had frantically searched through countless books on spirits.
Yet she could not accept it.
Spirits were taboo in the Igrit family.
Associating with one could truly end Aslan's life.
If word reached the Flame King, she knew better than anyone what would happen.
In her eyes, the spirit was nothing but an Erosion Beast destroying Aslan's future.
So she admonished him repeatedly, but he did not change.
Only when he realized he could not revive the spirit.
Did Aslan finally break completely.
He barely ate or drank, holing up in his room.
Aegasa went to him, dragging him up forcibly, trying to feed him time and again.
By now, she no longer knew how to be gentle with Aslan.
After nearly ten years of treating him harshly.
But the eyes Aslan turned toward Aegasa held no spark of life.
He was like a puppet with its strings cut.
And Aslan's suicide attempts began.
"Ah, ah."
Aegasa covered her face with both hands.
What should she have done?
The world is vast and dangerous.
Thus, for Aslan born with the Lunar Yin Physique, living without the Igrit family's protection was tantamount to a death sentence.
So even if Aslan hated her for it, she wanted to keep him in the Igrit family.
But the result was the worst possible outcome.
'Where did it all go wrong?'
She didn't know.
Too much time had passed, too many things had gone wrong, and she couldn't tell.
Her gaze turned to the drawer.
The crystal discovered in the ashes of the completely burned spirit.
She had ended up keeping it, but never told Aslan.
"Vice Lord!"
At that moment, the door burst open without a knock.
Aegasa startled and looked up to see the head maid, her face pale as a ghost.
"Head maid?"
"L-Lord Aslan!"
Aegasa's face hardened at the sight.
This was already the second time this month the head maid had rushed to her like this.
Now, just seeing that expression told her everything.
Aslan had attempted suicide again.
"He's trying to self-immolate!"
But this report was on another level.
Self-immolation suicide—burning one's own body.
Unlike other attempts, even failure left severe aftereffects.
Her face drained of color at the thought of her son choosing such a horrific method.
"Lead me to him! Now!"
Aegasa kicked open the door and ran out.
Unaware that someone had quietly appeared in the corridor outside her room as she dashed away.