Chapter 240: First Snow (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 240: First Snow (4)
“Hmm—where should I even begin?”
Her mother picked up a cube of sweet red bean jelly with her fork and chewed on it softly. Reading the room, I carefully offered a suggestion.
“If my presence makes you uncomfortable, I can step outside.”
“It’s quite all right. Anyone else might be a different story, but if the Heavenly Sword is willing to listen, I would be grateful.”
“Ah... I see.”
“Living alone has given me so few chances to talk to anyone that the words just aren't coming out easily. I apologize if I've made things awkward.”
She treated me with utmost politeness—so much so that it was almost overwhelming.
I knew this world had a social hierarchy, but being on the receiving end of it like this is seriously embarrassing.
Her daughter, Ryozo, spoke to me casually, yet her mother addressed me with deep respect.
It felt strange to an outsider like me, but to the people of this world, it was probably common sense.
Still, the awkwardness made my stomach churn. Seeing a mother who looked identical to Ryozo acting this way made it even more uncomfortable.
Ryozo only inherited her hair and eye color from the Archery Saint—her face is the spitting image of her mother.
No wonder she looked nothing like her half-sister, Saki Hina. It seemed Ryozo took much more after her mother's Korean blood than her father's Japanese blood.
Lost in thought, I quietly stroked my teacup. The stiffness in my frozen fingers gradually thawed away.
Just then, her mother spoke up.
“To tell you why I left you, Ryozo, I have to talk about your father, Saki Kojima. How about saving your resentment for after you hear me out?”
“……”
Ryozo's expression crumpled slightly as her mother began to speak. It was likely because the Archery Saint's name had been brought up.
Her mother lightly flicked Ryozo's forehead.
“Of course your father is a strange man, but you shouldn't make a face like that in front of the Heavenly Sword, you silly girl.”
Placing her hands on her hips, she scolded her daughter.
“How can you be the same age as the Heavenly Sword and yet lack his composure? You act all grown up, but inside you're still a complete child. Try to be even half as mature as him!”
Ryozo clutched her forehead, huffing softly.
“He chased you out because of me! Do you know what the Archery Saint told me? He said you left me of your own free will! But I know better. I know you didn't leave me because you wanted to...”
“Your father was right. I left the Archery Saint Family of my own accord.”
“What...?”
Ryozo's eyes shook violently as she questioned her. In contrast, her mother's eyes remained calm and settled.
“...Why? Why on earth? You left me? Why? For what reason?!”
Ryozo blurted out fractured, panicked questions. Her mother offered a bitter smile.
“I know my daughter will hate me so, so much when I say this. But—”
Before continuing, her mother turned her gaze toward me. Her lips curved into a meaningful arc.
“Now that my daughter is all grown up, maybe she'll be able to understand how I felt just a little bit.”
“Felt?! How what?! How am I supposed to understand the feelings of someone who abandoned her daughter?!”
“Is it resentment time already? I braced myself, but hitting me so suddenly makes my heart sting.”
Ryozo bolted up from the sofa.
“Honestly, I thought you'd apologize first! If you had given me even an excuse, I was ready to let it slide even if I knew the truth!”
“Excuses won't do. A person must always be honest so that sincerity can reach others. Didn't I tell you that countless times when you were little?”
“Even now! You just compared me to Geomma! What right do you have to lecture me?!”
“I only pointed it out as your conversation partner because you kept straying from the topic, not as your mother.”
Ryozo glared sharply as she pressed her point, but her mother casually parried every blow. The two squabbled just like any ordinary mother and daughter.
Ha.
I let out a dry chuckle to myself. There was a saying that no parent could win against their child—which was probably how terms like "doting mother" came about. But this pair completely defied that common belief.
“You were always like this! No matter what happened to me, you were always the one scolding me!”
“Appealing to emotion alone won't convince anyone, Ryozo. Besides, when a child presents weak arguments, it's a parent's duty to correct them.”
Even as Ryozo snapped at her, her mother conceded what needed conceding while delivering sharp retorts. She skillfully parried Ryozo's emotional onslaught with airtight logic.
“Acting like a mother again after ten whole years!”
“Shall we speak formally like total strangers then, Miss Saki Ryozo? I suppose that would be more comfortable for me as well.”
Her mother wasn't a helpless mother; she was an absolute master at handling her daughter.
Caught between the two, I couldn't do a thing. Awkwardly sipping my tea, I watched from the sidelines, knowing that meddling half-heartedly would only draw sparks my way.
It wasn't as if I could draw my Sashimi and snarl at them to stop, either. My Sashimi only bared its fangs at villains.
Still, her mother is impressive. She isn't losing a single point against Ryozo.
Her mother was eloquent. Even Ryozo's sharp tongue—the skill of the top student in our year—couldn't match her. The longer the bickering went on, the more her daughter was backed into a corner.
Ryozo huffed and puffed before finally flopping back onto the sofa. Smiling, her mother popped another piece of sweet red bean jelly into her mouth. Her smile was sweet.
“I had a feeling this would happen, which is why I suggested talking over sweet red bean jelly. Nobody knows my daughter's temper better than I do.”
Ryozo abruptly whipped her head toward the window. Realizing belatedly that I was still in the room, her face flushed red.
“Anyway, now that you've gotten all your anger out, may I share my story?”
“Whatever.”
Her mother shrugged and spoke again.
“I admit it myself. I was a selfish person who abandoned her daughter. I have no excuses for that. I will spend the rest of my life making amends, but I don't ask for your forgiveness. I don't want to be an even more selfish mother than I already am.”
The mother sighed self-deprecatingly.
“But you see, Ryozo... back then, I was far too foolish to be a mother. I was more conscious of being a woman than being someone's mother.”
Silence fell over the living room as the storm settled.
“It's embarrassing to say, but... I genuinely loved your father.”
“......!”
Ryozo's eyes widened. She looked completely stunned, as if she had just heard something utterly unthinkable.
“Saki Kojima?! Are you serious?! Were you brainwashed?!”
Ryozo shrieked in near-disbelief, looking as though she were about to grab her mother by the collar and shake some sense into her.
“Look at you, saying such things to your mother. Feelings are incomprehensible by nature. They can't be explained by logic. That's why people become foolish.”
“No, but still! How could you love that scoundrel...? How many wives does that man even have?!”
“That doesn't really matter. Polygamy is common in hero society, after all.”
Ah, boy. To think the party involved accepted it so casually. Even after living in this world for over two years, I still couldn't get used to this feudal mindset. I still had a long way to go.
“I know your father is a neat freak and totally out of his mind. And he isn't faithful to his family either. Except for his first wife, Lady Cheolsim, he doesn't give a damn about any of his other wives.”
Her mother agreed with Ryozo. Going beyond empathy, she joined in criticizing him. Her calm, quiet tone made it sound all the more terrifying.
“But what could I do? It was love at first sight. You could call it a bad-boy complex, I suppose. And even if they were political marriages, having that many wives is purely a testament to the Archery Saint's capability. He has immense power, sure, but above all, he's handsome.”
“No, but still! No matter how much you sugarcoat it, that guy isn't a 'bad boy'! Seducing multiple women like that just makes him a scumbag—!”
Ryozo yelled, only to freeze mid-sentence and turn her gaze toward me.
What? Why are you looking at me right after saying "scumbag"?
Watching the two of us, her mother muttered softly.
“It seems my daughter has taken after me a little too much. Even the bad parts.”
* * *
After that, Cynthia's story continued for about two hours.
“I genuinely loved your father, the Archery Saint, even though I knew it was an unrequited love.”
Back in her early twenties, Cynthia was simply a young bride who was faithful to her feelings.
But the Archery Saint, true to his rotten nature, did not betray expectations. He gave her not an ounce of attention. While he didn't cold-shoulder her outright, he treated her with total indifference. Consequently, Cynthia's passionate love slowly cooled. Unrequited affection had its limits.
Several years passed like that.
Realizing Ryozo's extraordinary talent, the Archery Saint separated Cynthia from her daughter. It was effectively a warning from him: stay away from Saki Ryozo.
“By that point, I couldn't take it anymore.”
Cynthia willingly walked out on her own feet. It was a kind of childish defiance—a naive hope that if she disappeared, the Archery Saint would regret it.
“Keep this in mind, Ryozo. I walked out on my own feet, not because of Saki Kojima.”
Cynthia was a woman from Busan. She possessed a free spirit as vast as the open sea, along with unyielding resolve and strong principles. Loving the Archery Saint and leaving him were choices she had made herself. Every choice carried responsibility, and the guilt of leaving her daughter behind was a debt she would have to carry for the rest of her life.
Anyway.
So, did the Archery Saint regret it? Of course not. Our Archery Saint was consistent to the end. He didn't try to hold her back.
Still, as a pathetic token of consideration, he bought her a large mansion in the heart of Tokyo—a luxurious estate worth tens of billions of won.
“We weren't even divorced, but he just handed it over like it was alimony.”
Cynthia flatly rejected the gesture. Returning to her hometown in Korea, she began a new life.
I knew the Archery Saint was a nutjob, but he really is a total lunatic.
There was no cliché plot twist like "he actually cared deep down." As Ryozo said, the Archery Saint was non-recyclable trash.
Because he was so consistently terrible, it almost made him seem straightforward—in the worst possible way.
Just how much did he love his first wife?
From what I heard, his circumstances were tragic. But so what? Who in this world didn't have a backstory? Having run a shop, I had seen all kinds of crazy bastards.
Based on my past experience, I could say with absolute certainty: the Archery Saint was just a crazy bastard. No room for argument.
Next time, I'll carve a blade straight into his throat.
Last time, I stopped at his thigh, worried it might spark a diplomatic crisis. But now that I knew how ugly he was on the inside, to hell with diplomacy.
If I heard anything like this again, I planned to teach him a harsh lesson, even if it meant turning all of Japan against me.
I would quell the Japanese invasion with my Sashimi.
Sinking of Japan. The title fits the scale perfectly.
And so ended the secret story between Cynthia and Saki Kojima. Looking beside me, I saw Ryozo looking bewildered. She was caught in confusion between Cynthia the woman and Cynthia the mother. Even so, her pouting glare remained unchanged.
Well, a decade of resentment wouldn't dissolve over a single conversation.
That kind of cheap melodrama was for TV shows. Reality wasn't that dramatic. More often than not, it left a bitter aftertaste.
“Oh dear, look at the time! I'm so sorry, Heavenly Sword. I've taken up far too much of your precious time.”
“Not at all. We came via Subspace Warp anyway, so we can get back quickly.”
“Even so, an important person like you shouldn't be away from the Academy for too long. Come now, Ryozo, get up. We can save the rest of our talk for next time.”
“Uh...”
We left the house.
Her mother walked us down to the apartment entrance. Just before we departed, she offered me one last word.
“I have no right to say this, but please take good care of my daughter. Taking after me as she does, she has quite the temper, so I worry about her endlessly.”
Her mother bowed her head slightly. I offered a faint smile.
“Ryozo handles Academy life just fine without me. She has plenty of friends besides me, too.”
“Friends, you say...”
Her mother parted her lips a few times before letting out a soft sigh.
“It seems my daughter's type wasn't a bad boy, but a clueless one.”
“...Pardon?”
I blinked. Ryozo hurriedly chimed in.
“Mom, what are you even saying?! Hey, don't pay any attention to her. Come on, let's go!”
Ryozo tugged hard at my sleeve. Practically dragged along, I waved goodbye to her mother as she receded into the distance. Despite the cold weather, she remained standing there for a long time.
Step, step.
The view of the apartment complex faded away, giving way to an elevated coastal highway. Perhaps because of the ocean, the salty, briny scent of water seemed to drift through the air. Around that point, I spoke up.
“Hold on a second. We need to catch a taxi to the Subspace Warp Terminal.”
“Let's take an express bus instead of the warp.”
“That'll take five whole hours, you know? Since it's the weekend, traffic might make it take even longer.”
“So what? No, bus anyway. Warp motion sickness is too awful.”
She didn't seem motion sick at all on the way here, though.
“Besides, using the warp for personal matters like this is an abuse of power.”
“...Fine, let's take the express bus then.”
“I want to walk to the bus terminal, too. My head feels flushed, so I want to get some ocean breeze.”
Ryozo spoke while sniffling. Watching her, I stepped forward to face her. Then, I carefully wrapped her scarf snug around her neck.
“If you're going to talk like that, at least don't look so cold.”
“……”
Ryozo looked back and forth between my face and my hands. Her complexion turned a bright, burning pink.
“Um... hey. I...”
Ryozo's lips parted softly. Just then—
Sift.
A pale white flake fluttered down onto her scarf.
We tilted our heads back at the same time. The gray sky, the turquoise coastline, and the pure white powder dancing between them. The landscape, like spilled watercolor paint, blended together exquisitely to create a breathtaking scene.
“This is...”
The first snow.