Chapter 97
The night’s commotion passed quietly.
[Day 1 of the Founding Ball, a big topic of conversation, including a ‘surprise event’!]
[The Harms of Excessive Drinking: The Memory Loss Symptoms of Strong Alcohol]
What could have been a huge commotion was reduced to a mere surprise event, and the missing people who were unfortunate enough to be sucked into the underworld returned safely, but lost all memory of the night.
A few were reported to be delirious and complained of mental distress, but nothing major.
Halfway through, the news of the Marchioness de Belfort’s disappearance became an issue, but quickly died down.
“An unauthorized person tried to pry into secrets wasn’t supposed to, and if that’s the end of it, it was cheap.”
Her father dismissed it with words she didn’t understand.
‘Is Leslie going to be okay?’
She hopes Leslie is fine?
In any case, after the commotion, Halbern canceled all imperial parties, and Mehen’s overprotection of her grew.
“Are you well?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s see.”
“It’s only been a day, so you might not know the after-effects.”
“You’re worried?”
Mehen nodded. The somber mood that hung over his tired face, coupled with his sensitive, delicate features, gave him a peculiar air.
“It’s my fault.”
“No.”
“If only I’d stuck by Arel that day.”
“No.”
She grabbed Mehen’s hand, who was blaming himself.
“It was an accident.”
“…”
“And it’s okay because my dad saved me.”
When she had sent the violin away and was left alone with Pession, her father showed up, somehow finding her.
It was an easy escape.
That’s when her father looked at Pession very intently.
‘Pession, are you going to be okay?’
Although his father was not the kind of person who would do something like hacking, Pession was worried as he glared at him openly.
Pession glared at her father, worried.
Her father was really strong.
What if she pushed him the wrong way and got in trouble?
“Dad…”
“Huh?”
“Are you properly calling me dad now?”
She suddenly felt embarrassed to see Mehen with a surprised look on his face. Instead of answering, she just nodded, and Mehen smiled at her, which made her suddenly frown.
“I didn’t think he would be recognized so easily.”
“Feeling a crisis?”
“Against a guy like him?”
Mehen snorted, as if that made sense.
“Don’t get too close with him.”
The subtle nudge was so cute, she almost laughed out loud.
“Mehen is my favorite.”
“That’s a given.”
She opened her arms wide and hugged Mehen, and he giggled.
“Because I’m Arel’s mom.”
“Mom!”
Mehen exclaimed, tired of denying his destiny to be her mother, and starting to comply.
“Ha. You made me this way, so don’t pretend you didn’t realize it later.”
“What, you’re worried I won’t call you mom when I grow up?”
“No, no. I don’t think I’ll mind if you don’t call me mom…”
A grimacing Mehen adds.
“I’d feel a little, uh, bad if you pretended not to know.”
Mehen’s expression was bittersweet as he spoke, as if he remembered this as a childhood family game.
Funny, really.
“Why do you act like I don’t know my mom?”
“You don’t know. Maybe when you grow up, you’ll be ashamed of how you used to call me mom.”
“That will never happen.”
“I don’t say ‘never’ lightly.”
“Wanna bet?”
“What do you want to bet on?”
“Hmm. Dad?”
“…We’re running low on merchandise.”
They stared at each other, then both burst out laughing.
Mehen saw her laughing and touched her smooth cheek.
“What’s wrong?”
Mehen’s eyes were sweet as he looked at her.
“I know this may sound strange to say, but after only one day, I feel like something has changed in Arel.”
“I did?”
“Yes. You look more relaxed and happy.”
“Really?”
Perhaps it’s because she’s finally out of the shadows that have plagued her for so long.
The overcoming was not as dramatic as she had daydreamed about alone in the dark.
She was dead, confused, and tortured, and she was already exhausted to the point where even this freakish life didn’t bother her anymore.
As she met Pession, learned of Mehen’s true feelings, befriended the Nursery, met Aaron and the twins, and her world expanded, she suddenly became okay.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t sick. It hurt, but it wasn’t soul-crushing anymore.
She was sad, but not sad enough to cry and get up and do something else.
The self-blame and self-pity didn’t go away, but she stopped thinking about it.
She slowly got better.
And now she’s fine.
Why could that be?
‘I know why.’
There were the uncles who greeted her warmly in the morning when she woke up, and there were the Pession who nagged her to get permission, to be sick, to be healthy.
There’s Mehen, who checks up on her, the twins, who want to be friends, and Aaron, who does everything she asks.
And now she has a father who comes to her rescue.
“I like you, Mehen.”
“I like it too. Arel.”
It’s okay not to be dramatic.
The wound is healed, the scar remains, but it doesn’t hurt anymore.
Isn’t that enough?
“Mehen, I love you so much.”
In hindsight, after being abandoned, it wasn’t like she had no one.
She had teachers who would always come back to her, and people who would text her to see how she was doing after only a few encounters.
She was in good enough company, just not the kind of motherly love and attention she wanted.
She was the one who put up the wall and pushed him away without realizing it.
‘Now that’s what you do.’
“Why are you being so cute today, my dear Arel.”
“Am I cute?”
“You’ve always been cute.”
“Hmm.”
When someone else says it, it sounds flattery, but when Mehen says it, it sounds sincere. Is this a sign of the speaker’s credibility?
Mehen smiled with satisfaction and hugged her. It was the warmest embrace ever.
***
“Lady!”
“Absolutely stable!”
“Don’t even exercise!”
Her parenting group is overprotective of her.
“Honestly, I’m not that bad.”
As if Mehen’s overprotectiveness wasn’t bad enough, there was more.
“No, you mean to tell me that something like that happened to our Young Lady!”
“What did the Lord do, the Lord did wrong!”
“After all, we are the only ones who can protect you.”
“Lady, please accept the allegiance of the Knights of Saren!”
“We will protect you!”
Lines to live by.
She’d be impressed if it weren’t coming from a second-story window.
“Talk away from the window.”
It’s not a ghost.
“Oh no, the lady has seen us!”
“Finally! She finally talked to us!”
“Ow! Don’t push me, I’m falling!”
“Haha! You won’t be able to push me out this far.”
The Saren knights were jockeying for position at the window, and the nursery were mercilessly exorcizing (repelling) the hulks that clung to the window.
“Yippee! Yippee!”
“Oops, falling!”
“Ugh.”
The fallen Saren knights rushed back to their lord, not even dying of exhaustion.
That’s the kind of her should have, being a knight hammock under her father.
“Lady.”
Lena and Yuni looked at her uneasily.
“What are you going to do now~?”
Smirking, Lena and Yuni looked at her uneasily.
“Get out.”
“Suddenly? We can stay here.”
“Yeah, we’re just going to be very quiet.”
She shooed the giggling parenting group out and locked the door firmly behind her.
She nervously pulled out her new gift.
It was a communicator.
