Chapter 107
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: Mom Was a Special Person
Sien wore a puzzled expression.
“Hold on. It says right here that you have to leave?”
Asid clutched the prophecy paper and let out a lazy smile.
Watching him, Sien felt a subtle distance from Asid and hardened her expression.
Asid gazed at Sien and whispered softly.
“Yes. To be precise, there is only one way to change your fate. Beyond the ice cliffs, past the end of the demon realm, at the origin of this world lies the god of time, Moira. If you meet Moira and win the bet against her, you can change your fate. That’s what it says.”
“……What? But that’s too vague! How do you even go meet Moira? And if you bet and lose…… What happens?”
The prophecy stated that anyone who loses the bet with the god of time, Moira, would die in some way for tampering with causality.
But telling her that would only make Sien sad, so he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Still, lying to Sien didn’t sit right with him either. As Asid remained silent, Matthias, who was beside him, quietly spoke up.
“More importantly, I know how to meet Moira.”
“Huh?”
Almost nothing was known about the god of time, Moira. Yet Matthias spoke as if he knew her very well. It was then that the curious gazes of Asid and Sien turned to him.
“Anyone seeking Moira must walk endlessly toward the origin of this world until ten pairs of iron shoes are worn through by sunset. From the moment you first set out to meet her, through five passing springs, you must reach the place where the time rift opens on the day the huddled spring flowers bloom.”
He seemed to know far too much about Moira, in overly specific detail.
Asid, who knew the prophecy’s contents, grew even more flustered.
That information wasn’t in the prophecy. It must be knowledge Matthias already possessed.
But how did he know? As if reading his thoughts, Matthias whispered coldly.
“Curious why, and how I know?”
Sien and Asid both looked at Matthias in bewilderment.
A crack appeared in Matthias’s characteristically apathetic expression, laced with boredom. Sien bit her lip hard, visibly shaken as she watched him.
“……Your mother, Yuela, went to meet Moira. Of course, since Yuela had another power, unlike a human, it didn’t take her five years.”
The name “Yuela” from his lips felt as novel as it was unfamiliar.
Sien shot to her feet and grabbed Matthias’s collar, demanding stubbornly.
“Mom went looking for the god of time?”
“Yes.”
Asid quietly watched the father and daughter. Then, in a trembling voice, he asked.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes, I’m certain. Yuela met Moira and said she had to save Sien. I don’t know if the bet succeeded, but Yuela died in Sien’s place. So you…….”
Asid closed his eyes as if he didn’t want to hear the rest, then opened them again.
“It doesn’t matter to me, even if I die.”
But Sien was the wildcard. She bristled, clenching her fists and fuming.
“No! It matters to me! Don’t go. There has to be some other way.”
Matthias gazed at Sien for a moment, then let out a low chuckle.
“No, if the prophecy is Moira’s design…… the only way to change fate is to win the bet against her.”
If Matthias declared it so firmly, his words must be true.
That meant Asid had to leave right now.
To prevent the strange fate etched into his body from harming Sien.
He steeled his resolve, and not even Sien could sway his firm determination.
“……Then, Lady Sien. Before I go, I have one last thing to say.”
Asid decided to reveal the feelings he had suppressed all this time.
He knew he shouldn’t, but this might be the last time he saw Sien. With Matthias there, he didn’t want to hold back his emotions.
“Hm? What is it?”
Sien looked at Asid with a worried face.
Seeing her lips tremble faintly, Asid whispered quietly.
“Please kiss me.”
“……Huh?”
“I’ll swear my oath of loyalty, so please seal it with a kiss, as the oath demands.”
Matthias cut in firmly.
“Just go die.”
“Daddy!”
“……Sorry, Sien.”
Sien’s eyes shook as she stopped Matthias.
Asid ignored Matthias’s blazing glare, closed his eyes gently while facing Sien, and whispered lowly.
“So what I mean is, I’ll become the knight who saves you…….”
“Yeah.”
“So that I can find the courage…….”
Sien spoke, her cheeks slightly flushed.
“I’ll do it! If it helps you.”
Asid lifted his trembling eyelids and whispered.
“……Yes.”
Even if five years passed, as Matthias said, her kiss would be enough to keep him alive.
Sien touched her chapped lips briefly, then brought her face close to his cheek, almost burying it there.
It was so close he could see the bruise on her cheek and the fine down on her skin.
Asid squeezed his eyes shut without realizing it.
The pounding of his heart drowned out Matthias’s cursing and grinding teeth.
And in that instant.
Sien’s lips brushed Asid’s cheek like a bird and vanished just as quickly.
Asid lifted the corner of his mouth softly, satisfied with that alone.
“Sh-should we do it one more time?”
But there was someone watching the scene with fierce intensity.
Matthias glared coldly at the rogue who had stolen a kiss from his daughter’s cheek, then gnashed his teeth and pulled his daughter into his arms.
“What are you talking about, Sien? That’s the last one. The last of your life. Asid, go die.”
“Ah, Daddy!”
At her light scolding, Matthias blinked and muttered.
“Sorry, Sien. But Daddy’s just so mad…….”
Sien shot her dad a glare.
Watching the father and daughter bicker harmoniously, Asid smiled quietly.
“Please prepare the iron shoes. I’ll leave right away.”
“Asid, at least have a meal—!”
“Before I change my mind, I’ll be back soon. And to Ted too…….”
He recalled his brother, who had tried to stop him from entering the temple.
Even though he knew ignoring Ted wasn’t rational, there was one reason he had kept things distant with Ted all this time.
Fragments of childhood memories were embedded in his mind.
But those memories had gradually faded through encounters with Ted.
And finally, today, Asid fully understood Ted’s desire to protect him.
Ted wanted to protect Asid, just as Asid wanted to protect Sien.
Having fully grasped his brother’s feelings, Asid smiled tenderly, almost blindingly so.
“Please give him my regards. Tell him when I return, I’ll call him ‘brother.’”
“Asid.”
Her kiss on his cheek wasn’t enough.
But he couldn’t afford to indulge in sweet dreams too much. He hardened his expression and bowed his head.
“Seeing you more, Lady Sien, might shake my resolve. I might not want to leave. So I’ll go now.”
“……The iron shoes will be prepared through my aides right away.”
“Yes. I’ll be back, Sien. And, Lord Matthias Mirmod.”
Matthias still looked at him unfavorably, but as Asid turned away, a thought struck him.
It was as if Matthias Mirmod saw “Yuela” overlaid on his own face. So Asid said no more.
And with that, he left the place to escape his fate.
Leaving Sien and Matthias behind him.
From now on, it was his turn to forge his own destiny.
Rejecting the fate given to him as a sword, to survive as a human.
***
Asid left.
Daddy’s henchman, that grumpy-looking villain uncle, prepared the iron shoes.
As I left the temple hand-in-hand with Daddy, clutching his collar, I quietly asked.
“Will Asid come back safely, Daddy?”
Daddy smiled gently.
“Yeah. He’s got some real grit.”
I tilted my head at Daddy’s relaxed smile.
Right now, Daddy seemed to have shifted back from “evil villain mode” to “kind farmer mode.”
But as I observed his expression, he feigned innocence and shook his head.
“Still, no dating Asid.”
Normally, I would’ve laughed it off and shaken my head, but not this time.
Hearing that made my face flush bright red. Like the shiny red apples I loved as a kid.
Seeing it, Daddy started snorting.
“Sien!”
“……I didn’t say anything!”
I quickened my steps, then suddenly turned to Daddy.
“Daddy, how did Mom come back?”
“Mom…… I don’t know. She never told me.”
I moved my lips quietly.
Since learning I had a mom, this felt like the first time Daddy and I talked openly about her.
Maybe that’s why. My heart softened. Watching Daddy’s complicated expression, I murmured.
“……People say Mom was a villainess. Asid won’t end up like that, right?”
Worried I might be hurt, Daddy hurriedly stroked my cheek and shook his head.
“No, she wasn’t. And Mom wasn’t a villainess. Asid will be a good…… person too. Yeah. Even if he’s a rogue.”
Daddy clearly still minded the kiss Asid gave me. His eyebrows shot up in an angry V.
I grabbed Daddy’s arm and soothed him gently.
“Hey, was Mom, like the Mirmods, a good person deep down?”
Daddy gripped my hand firmly and emphasized.
“She was a good person. She’s your mom, Sien.”
“Mm…… They say she summoned demons, though. Is she really a good person…….”
My words trailed off, and Daddy smiled softly.
“Mom loved you and wanted to save you. I still don’t know why she summoned the demons.”
“…….”
“But Yuela was a special person, Sien.”
“……Huh?”
At my question, Daddy smiled quietly, as if sharing a secret no one else knew.