The Guardian Knight of Affection-Starved Young Ladies

100 – Laris (02)

101.

“Ah…?”

Swoosh.

The grayish-white hair softly settled down.

The shining eyes through it had an even cleaner color.

As if the accumulated fatigue had been relieved.

Laris blinked her eyes slightly and sat up.

Laris herself had fallen asleep with her head resting on Kalen’s thigh.

Since Kalen would never abandon Laris and leave, there was no other way to understand the situation, even if her eyes were not fully open yet.

Before falling asleep, only Kalen and Laris were warming their bodies together in the crystal cave.

There was no possibility that Kalen would not wake her if someone approached.

Even in the situation of just waking up, Laris’s mind began to work quite quickly.

The conclusion she reached now was in that context.

However, if that were the case, it could not be explained.

Holding Laris’s hand tightly.

The woman who was smiling so sadly.

“…”

No, the word “woman” does not suit her.

Laris knew this woman well.

She had never forgotten her.

She always cherished the necklace and longed for her.

“Ah…”

A drowsy head just waking up.

Yet, in her blurry vision, the figure of someone was vividly drawn.

“Mo…ther…”

There could never be any misunderstanding.

At least for Laris, her mother and sister were precious enough to exchange for her life.

But her mother had already passed away.

Laris was only satisfied with burying the necklace instead.

It could be seen as a form of self-consolation.

So, she had never thought of or wished for such a situation.

Laris herself had directly seen her mother’s corpse disappear.

But-

“…Laris…”

“…”

The woman released her clasped hands and gently cupped Laris’s cheek.

Her hands were extremely cold, but somehow, Laris found them so warm that she couldn’t help but shed tears.

Tears flowing down the cheeks.

A cold hand warmly cupping those cheeks.

Though awake, now beyond the tear-stained vision, a longed-for face appears.

– To deny the woman before him with such trivial reasons was far too pathetic.

Laris slowly placed his hand over the one cupping his cheek, fearing that this unbelievable reality might slip away.

The hand was still cold, but precisely because of that, he could plead that this was reality.

“Don’t cry, Laris.”

“Sniff…”

As the woman wiped away his tears with her thumb,

Laris could finally see her clearly.

A slightly different appearance, as if Laris himself had been sent ten years into the future.

“Mother…!”

There was no question of how.

The mother he could only meet in dreams was now within reach.

It was laughable, but Laris believed in Kalen more than anything.

Though not a childhood friend he had been close to since young,

the way Kalen had acted up to this moment made Laris trust him.

Kalen was by his side, and his mother was in front of him.

As the last barrier crumbled, Laris threw himself into his mother’s arms.

The woman embraced him.

Tears flowed from the eyes of both mother and daughter,

but anyone witnessing the scene would not be able to deny that those tears were not of sorrow.

A third-rate play is obvious and childish.

The ending must always be happy, and the protagonist must achieve a miraculous conclusion.

Kalen suddenly thought of this.

Why do people continue to seek out such third-rate plays?

Perhaps people, while criticizing such obvious and childish endings,

believe that they are the correct ones.

Obvious and childish, but therefore, happy endings.

If the story of Laris and her mother were such a third-rate play, one could think of no other ending than this.

Kallen held Laris, who was sobbing in her mother’s arms.

He looked at the woman who was holding Laris warmly and crying with joy.

“…Maybe.”

Did Kallen himself want such an ending?

Kallen watched the ‘mother and daughter who had a happy ending’ for a while, then quietly stood up.

*

Everyone has a side they want to hide from others.

It’s not that Laris’s appearance is something to be ashamed of.

But Kallen is an outsider, so she wouldn’t want to show her pitiful sobbing in her long-missed mother’s arms.

Both as a noble lady of Plache and as a girl reunited with her deceased mother.

Of course, that’s not the only reason Kallen stepped aside.

One of the reasons he accepted Laris’s long-standing wish was to satisfy his curiosity.

Although Kallen was happy that the long-standing wish had a happy ending, he still hadn’t found what he was looking for.

Kallen walked through the corridor of the crystal cave to find out.

“…You were right, Kallen.”

And Kallen was not alone.

A resonance resembling human language.

It was a resonance that probably only Kallen could understand.

The voice belonged to two beings who gently sat on Kallen’s shoulder, speaking in a tone that seemed to score perfect marks in etiquette classes.

“Do you understand a bit, Felicius?”

“Yes. I was just a little surprised. That humans made this…”

Kallen’s spirits.

Strictly speaking, Felicius was not a spirit contracted with Kallen.

But for some reason, since ‘that day’, both Felicius and Tiasse have been contracted with Kallen.

Especially Felicius, who was originally the spirit of Sinat.

But now, they are close enough to defeat the old existence together with Kallen.

And.

“Kallen… You said that human is already dead, right?”

“Yes, Tiasse.”

“Maybe it’s because of that… The human soul is the closest thing to a spirit in essence.”

It was not Felicius who answered, but Tiaze.

Tiaze also did not want to terminate the contract when they parted.

When they examined the altar of Mount Hiatt, the relationship that started unintentionally reached this place.

Thus, Felicius and Tiaze.

The two spirits, in their usual dragon forms, sat quietly on Kallen’s shoulder and spoke.

“But I’m just as surprised… To think that human desperation could achieve something like this…”

“Anyway, Kallen. Is this enough of an answer?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Sigh… Really. Tia and I are already busy to death with what you asked us to do.”

“Thank you, Felicius.”

“…It’s fine.”

“And you too, Tiaze.”

“…Yes.”

If Laris hadn’t asked at the banquet.

If Kallen hadn’t headed to the Flache family, Kallen would have been preparing to go to the spirit world by now.

Before that, he would have to handle the promises he made to Eliana, Selacia, Daphnis, and Richeza.

In the end, Kallen’s goal is to know himself.

Heading to the spirit world was to achieve that goal.

The reason Felicius and Tiaze are busy is also because of Kallen’s request.

The fact that Kallen can understand the language of spirits.

The fact that he could follow Felicius to the spirit world was simply because Kallen was an exceptional being.

The fact that a human goes to the spirit world is originally impossible.

The reason Felicius and Tiaze could persuade their current lords, their respective mothers, was because the danger of the ancient being was confirmed.

For Kallen’s purpose, it took that much effort for a human to come to the spirit world.

“Matching the imagery…”

And what Kallen asked Felicius and Tiaze a while ago was a kind of confirmation.

No matter how much Laris’s mother had a talent for academic attribute magic.

It is impossible for a human to create imagery.

If it is possible, it would only be Kallen himself.

Moreover, Kallen himself didn’t know why he was awakening the imagery, so he asked for confirmation.

From noble mtl dot com

In a way, it aligns with Kallen’s goal.

The reason for coming here with Laris was to understand the causal relationship that made the young ladies awaken their imagery when they were with Kallen.

Since this goal also included heading to the Spirit Realm, understanding this crystal cave was not unrelated.

What he discovered was that this illusionary space was indeed similar to imagery.

Kallen’s suspicion began with the explosion on the cliff.

The explosion he felt at that time was somewhat alien to be called magic.

He thought that the explosion was more similar to spirit magic.

So, if this illusionary space similar to imagery was born from the woman’s magic.

Wouldn’t it be closer to spirit magic than to magic, like that explosion?

Imagery originally belonged to the spirits, Felicius had said when they were together in the Spirit Realm.

“If my thoughts are correct…”

“Kallen? What’s wrong?”

“Kallen…?”

“…”

Now that it was certain.

Kallen felt confident that he was one step closer to what he wanted to know.

And that confidence led him to approach a certain hypothesis.

“…Felicius, Tiasse.”

Kallen slowly spoke while stroking the crystal-like stone in the crystal cave.

“This imagery. Can I absorb it?”

“…What?”

“What…?”

Kallen’s gaze was directed at the crystal.

But his eyes, unfocused, were looking at a place farther away.

When he cured Eliana’s illness.

When he dealt with the monster at the altar with Selassie.

When he headed to the Spirit Realm to save Sinat and realized how to use imagery there.

Kallen had helped the young ladies awaken their imagery.

He absorbed the magic of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th ranks as if it were his own.

An impossible event.

Blamia referred to it as an attribute-less phenomenon.

A hypothesis that Kallen came up with.

What if.

What if, just like its name suggests, it was nothing.

If Kallen’s own dark world devoured all surrounding existence, making it his own greed…

“…Kallen.”

As Kallen was lost in such thoughts, Felicius quietly called out to him.

“Ah. Sorry. I was just thinking about something.”

“It seems we were of help. That’s fortunate, but someone is coming this way.”

“…Laris.”

Come to think of it, a lot of time had passed since they left Laris behind.

They must have had enough of a reunion by now.

“Alright. It’s okay to go back now. Thank you, Felicius. And you too, Tiasse.”

“…Understood.”

“We’ll see each other again soon, right?”

“Yes. Because you are working hard.”

“…”

“…”

He didn’t tell Laris that he could even handle spirits.

He didn’t want to give her more to think about when her mind was already troubled by her mother’s affairs.

Just as Felicius and Tiasse were about to leave.

Felicius called Kallen in a somewhat displeased voice.

“…That woman has increased?”

“…What?”

“Hmph.”

Without giving him a chance to ask what she meant, Felicius disappeared.

In that moment, Kallen looked back at Tiasse, but her expression was not as kind as it usually was.

In the end, Felicius and Tiasse returned to the spirit world.

From beyond the dark corridor of the cave, the sound of two footsteps could be heard.

“…Kallen.”

Turning around, what came into view was Laris and the woman.

Laris, holding her mother’s hand tightly, looked almost desperate.

“Miss.”

“…Thank you for your consideration…”

Kallen could immediately understand her feelings.

The joy of meeting her long-missed mother.

An inexplicable sense of guilt.

And finally, determination.

“Have you decided to stay?”

“Ah…”

It’s not surprising.

After all, Laris had said she would leave the family after burying her mother.

Compared to the time when she had nowhere to go, being with her mother now might be better.

Laris was surprised that Kallen had seen through her heart.

But then, she tightened her grip on her mother’s hand and spoke slowly.

“Thank you so much… and I’m sorry… but I…”

“Miss.”

And Kallen.

Just as she had done before, interrupted Laris’s words.

Was she startled by that?

Laris stood there, dazed.

“Don’t you want revenge?”

The words, perhaps.

Were something Laris habitually said.

And Kallen, who had watched the story unfold beside her, understood.

That it stemmed from Laris’s anxious heart.

Her mother had died.

Her sister had left.

Her father had abandoned his daughter.

The stepmother’s family wants to deny her existence.

How can she endure it?

It’s not something a mere young girl can handle.

All those countless pains settled inside the girl.

Gradually, they would have erased the girl from within her.

What remains is only an uncertain and anxious heart.

The numerous assumptions that Laris habitually uttered were born that way.

So she asks.

“Standing before the father who abandoned the lady and her family to be with the mother.”

Wouldn’t you want to reclaim it?

Don’t you want to reclaim the lost self?

“Confidently, in front of the stepmother and her family who tried to erase the mother.”

The reason the woman could react to the necklace and leave the cave was because Kalen and Laris, who had the medium called ‘necklace’, existed outside the cave.

The moment the woman wore the necklace, she could no longer leave the cave.

Kalen’s words were not limited to Laris.

“Don’t you want to show that you can live happily without them?”

“…”

The woman forgotten in the cave.

The girl abandoned by her family, who chose to stay by such a mother.

Laris and the woman stared blankly at Kalen.

Around Kalen, reflected in their ashen eyes,

was gradually being dyed in a dark ink color.