Chapter 39 — Grandmother's Embrace
Chapter 39 — Grandmother's Embrace
Translation: Godtl
The door opened, and what entered was the brown-haired woman from earlier, supporting an elderly woman.
The moment Lelia saw the old woman's face, her body stiffened. Then her eyes grew red-hot.
"..."
The old woman, looking frail, stopped walking the moment she saw Lelia. And she narrowed her eyes in disbelief.
Behind her, Duke Superion also entered the drawing room.
The elderly woman with luscious red hair took a deep breath and ran toward Lelia.
"Oh, Elizabeth... my daughter... Elizabeth..."
And she pulled Lelia into a tight embrace.
"Elizabeth... my daughter..."
Lelia, blinking blankly, finally couldn't hold back her tears and sobbed.
The red-haired old woman was the same. She held Lelia's back endlessly, murmuring without cease.
"My daughter... my daughter..."
"...What is this, Father?"
And the brown-haired woman, the Duke's youngest daughter Atias, watched the scene with a scrunched face.
"Father...?"
Atias turned her head to look at Duke Superion. She couldn't believe it. Was her father crying right now?
Duke Superion was an extremely cold-hearted person. He might show weakness before his wife, but never before his children.
Atias looked at the young girl her father brought, unable to understand.
'Elizabeth...?'
Elizabeth was her deceased older sister. She had only seen her when very young and never met her, so her memories were faint.
'Is she a child who resembles her?'
Atias tilted her head. Perhaps her father had deliberately found a lookalike child and brought her.
Her mother's health was poor.
Her mother's health had deteriorated after her sister Elizabeth, who had gone to the imperial palace, died.
Duchess Lysandra, who had been holding Lelia all this time, turned her head to look at the Duke.
She spoke in a voice filled with ecstasy.
"Dear, Elizabeth has returned! See, our daughter couldn't have died. She came back healthy like this."
Lysandra wiped the tears from her wrinkled cheeks and looked at Lelia.
Then she gently stroked Lelia's cheek.
"My daughter, I'm so glad you've returned. Truly glad. This mother has nothing more to wish for now. Hmm?"
Lelia's tearful expression gradually hardened.
She looked at Duke Superion with a questioning face. He said nothing, only shedding tears.
Unable to watch, Atias walked toward the Duchess.
"Please calm down, Mother. Please sit down first. The physician said excitement isn't good for you."
"...Yes, yes, Doctor. I'm fine now. Our Elizabeth has returned, so everything is fine."
"..."
"I'll become healthy now too, Doctor. Right?"
The Duchess murmured incomprehensible words. Atias, as if accustomed to this, said "Yes, yes," and seated her on the sofa.
Seeing the two, Lelia realized.
'She has dementia.'
In the original work, it wasn't detailed, so she had thought she had already passed away.
Once again, tears welled up.
Duke Superion spoke to Atias.
"Atias. When your eldest brother arrives, send word for him to come to the main castle."
"...Yes, Father."
"Tell him to come alone, without his wife and children."
"...Understood."
Atias nodded and rose to send the letter.
Even as she did, she kept glancing at Lelia as if she couldn't understand.
"My daughter, come here. Why have you grown so thin? Hmm?"
Lysandra pulled Lelia onto her lap. And she began stroking Lelia's hair and cheeks.
When Atias left the drawing room, Duke Superion approached and sat across from them.
"...Grandfather."
When Lelia called him while looking at the Duchess, he gave a small nod.
"...Yes, that is your grandmother. She fell ill after losing Elizabeth."
"Illness?"
"Yes. It's a disease that sometimes appears in elderly people. Since it cannot be cured with divine power, it is called 'divine illness,' meaning an illness granted by the gods."
"..."
Lelia narrowed her eyes.
Divine power with healing abilities was not all-powerful, as she had long known.
It could not raise the dead, regenerate severed body parts, or cure long-progressing illnesses.
Also, it could not heal mental problems related to the brain, which led to the emergence of heretics who doubted divine power in the past.
To evade suspicion, the temple created the term 'divine illness.'
They declared that raising the dead was not the will of the gods but the act of heretics, and considered the inability to regenerate body parts to be the gods' will.
Also, illnesses that had progressed too long to cure with divine power were considered 'divine punishment.'
Similarly, mental conditions like depression, anxiety, and dementia could not be healed with divine power, so they were dismissed as 'divine illness.'
It wasn't a punishment from the gods, but because it was an inevitable illness granted by the gods, it was called divine illness.
That was why among the families of those suffering from mental illness, quite a few researched alchemy or were devout believers. Some truly fell into heresy.
"I met many alchemists to cure my wife, but there was no particular solution from that side either."
Duke Superion seemed to be the same.
Being a person with strong power, he would have had no difficulty contacting alchemists while avoiding the temple's eyes.
Seeing Lelia's worried expression, Duke Superion gave a benevolent smile as if to tell her not to worry.
"...I knew my wife would recognize you at a glance when she saw you."
At those words, Lelia turned her head to look at Lysandra, who was holding her.
In her red hair, white strands were visible here and there, and her face was lined with wrinkles. Yet she was remarkably elegant and beautiful.
Lelia gazed at Lysandra, searching for her mother's appearance.
Among the people remaining in this world, the Duchess likely resembled her mother the most.
Feeling a strange envy and happiness, Lelia embraced Lysandra.
"Yes, my daughter. This mother missed you. Why did you take so long, hmm?"
Lysandra, as if returned to the time when Elizabeth was Lelia's age, coaxed and comforted Lelia, pressing her lips to her forehead.
Lelia enjoyed that happiness without worry for a moment.
Before long, the Duchess who had been holding Lelia fell asleep in that very position.
Lelia carefully slid down from her lap.
"She must be tired from crying so much."
At Lelia's words, Duke Superion nodded.
"Grandfather, will you tell all of Mom's siblings the truth?"
"Yes. Don't worry. The Emperor Perseus will never find out."
"..."
"...I can never send you to that man who has no qualification as a husband or as a father."
Duke Superion declared firmly. He seemed to hold much resentment toward Emperor Perseus.
Lelia hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
"...Grandfather. May I live in this territory until I become an adult?"
"You ask something obvious. This old man has no intention of sending you away even after you become an adult."
At his affectionate words, Lelia felt relieved.
One of the resolutions she made when leaving the imperial palace was accomplished. To live safely until she became an adult.
Now Lelia had one remaining goal.
To find the other half of the holy relic that the original male protagonist would obtain and break the spell of forbidden speech.
Then, she wanted to find her friends, confess the truth, and ask for forgiveness.
'But to do that...'
Lelia looked at Duke Superion, who looked stronger and more reliable than anyone.
'I have to change the future described in the original work.'
Since she had already prevented her own death, unlike in the original, this too would be possible.
Lelia roughly knew the reason why the Superion Duke's family, called the Immortal Fortress, would be destroyed.
Duke Superion stroked her hair with a look of pity as he saw Lelia's worried expression.
"Don't worry about anything. This old man will risk his life to protect you."
"...Yes, Grandfather."
Lelia nodded and made her resolve.
Then I will break the spell of forbidden speech and risk my life to protect this family's future.
She wanted to change the future as soon as possible and meet her friends.
'Everyone, don't be too sad and wait just a little. I'll definitely come to ask for your forgiveness.'
Sending words she couldn't speak to her friends in her heart, Lelia nestled in Duke Superion's embrace.
Her grandfather's embrace, her grandmother's embrace, was just as warm as her mother's cabin. Enough to make her want to cry out loud.