131 – Side Story 5. Last Greetings (3)
Hailey Milerus.
The heiress of the Milerus Viscount, a lineage renowned for curse magic. Known in society as the Dark Lady and a role model for sorceresses, her current situation was far from good.
Blocking out light, she sat in a room with an overwhelmingly gloomy atmosphere, exhaling deeply.
She couldn’t remember how long she had been like this.
To that extent, she had turned her back on the world and lived in seclusion.
The reason? Simple.
“After doing such a thing. Can I be forgiven? No. Seeking an apology would be too shameless.”
Once his disciple, Ian had now become a giant leading an empire.
The memories of causing her irreparable pain weighed heavily on her.
Although she had somewhat relieved herself in the final battle with Lucifer, it didn’t mean the apology was over.
She felt the need to atone for the sins she had committed and that was why.
Having relinquished the position of head of the family. Now, I am nothing.
The reason why Hayley, who had fought hard to secure Miles’s position, handed it over to her younger brother, who was a rival.
That wasn’t the only reason.
My arm is in such a state that I can’t even hold a sword anymore.
Having lost even her right arm, which she mainly used, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say she lost everything she had.
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With Ark’s mentorship also gone. There was nothing left now. Not honor, nor friends.
It was at that moment, in a situation where she felt utterly helpless, that her lips twisted.
Thud!
At the sudden knocking on the door, Hayley’s lips curled in annoyance.
“Ugh… Again.”
Those knocking on the door were probably here at the behest of her younger brother.
With the deadline for the surgery to reattach her arm approaching, she was probably going to tell them to leave now.
Furrowing her brows, she eventually had to raise her voice.
“I told you to leave! Stop bothering me and go back!”
The harsh command that came out of her mouth reverberated throughout the room. Simultaneously, silence fell.
Well, of course. If making such a loud noise would make them run away like scared rabbits, why did they keep coming back?
“We were not sent by the head of the family, though?”
“Whose voice is this?”
The moment she realized the people on the other side of the door were not who she had expected.
Hayley’s pupils dilated at the sound of the pure, feminine voice.
So familiar that she couldn’t possibly forget.
“Reyna?”
Struggling to stand up, she abruptly opened the door. And at the same time, she could see them.
“Hello? Mentor?”
“Nice to see you again, Hayley.”
Reyna… and even Bianca.
Seeing her students after a long time, Hayley Miles felt a sense of joy but also couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in confusion.
“Why are you all here….”
***
“What? There’s a ghost haunting the Volkanov Mansion?”
“Yes, that’s why we came to see you, Mentor. In a few days, it will be Letitia’s ceremony…. If we leave it as it is, the ghost might cause trouble on the day of the ceremony.”
“That’s possible. Ghosts’ actions are unpredictable.”
Ghosts? Weren’t they supposed to disappear with death, wandering in the intermediate realm?
Among the spirits, there were those who became ghosts due to unfulfilled desires in their lifetime or resisted dissolution due to possessing too much power.
“Of course, they might have already dissipated, but as the anniversary approaches, souls returning to the intermediate realm to meet their families again are a possibility….”
Hayley briefly wondered if the soul of Letitia, who returned to the intermediate realm for the ceremony, could be considered a ghost. But she didn’t voice it.
“It can’t be. Surely not.”
Bianca Volkanov. Who is she?
She could be considered the leader of the cradle of dark sorcerers and the gathering of scholars exploring souls.
Upon graduating, she married Ian and dispersed across the continent to gather dark sorcerers, determined to erect a tower to continue her father’s dream.
Furthermore, although she didn’t accept it, rumors reached her secluded self that those rebuilding the tower viewed Bianca as the next tower lord.
Anyway, her message was simple.
“There’s no way a prospective tower lord can’t distinguish between malevolent spirits and souls.”
If it was the Bianca she knew, she would never mistake Leticia’s soul for a spirit.
Being confused was out of the question. Clearly, malevolent spirits existed in Volkanov, and she needed her strength to deal with them discreetly.
At that moment, there was only one thing Hailey had to do.
“What… what should I do?”
The time had come for her to take on the role of a mentor she couldn’t fulfill before.
***
The plan Reyna and Bianca devised was simple.
If the malevolent spirit aimed to cause harm, it would be more likely to start mischief when all preparations were complete rather than roam the mansion during the mourning period. Therefore, on the morning of the ceremony, they would search the mansion’s interior.
“If we find it, Bianca will unveil the veil concealing the spirit, seizing that fleeting moment to seal it.”
Failing meant a considerable risk of executing the operation on the same day with no chance of recovery. If left unresolved, the spirit’s mischief would undoubtedly ruin the ceremony.
Success was imperative, no matter what.
With that in mind, Reyna and Bianca completed their preparations. Hailey cautiously followed them at the mansion’s side.
How long had it been since they moved cautiously, using mana to conceal their presence, after completing the search on the first floor? As they were about to ascend to the second floor through the central staircase,
“Oh, there!”
“Sister, what’s wrong? Is it because of Ian?”
“No, it’s not! There’s a spirit in the corridor, walking right next to Ian!”
“Oh my!”
Upon hearing that the spirit was next to Ian, Bianca and the others turned their eyes.
Although they anticipated a mess on that day, were they really targeting the host, Ian?
Ian wouldn’t be an easy target. However, the threat to the most important person was intolerable to them.
“Reyna, prepare to shoot here! Hailey, go!”
“Y-Yes!”
Bianca immediately gathered mana in her hands, loosened her concealment, and ran down the corridor.
Whoa!
“Huh? Bianca? Reyna? And… why is the instructor here…?”
It was the moment when they were about to unveil the veil that concealed the spirit’s appearance.
“Huh? Is that…?”
-Oh my.
“Bianca… do you have some business with Mother?”
“Mother?”
The moment Ian’s mother, and also his mother-in-law, Leticia Volkanov, looked down at her with widened pupils.
She wasn’t the only one surprised. Hailey, who had halted the sealing spell preparations, also looked at Bianca.
“Bianca, are you saying Leticia is the spirit you mentioned? Surely you didn’t call for the one who should be mourned to be sealed?”
“No way! Did I mistake Mother-in-law’s soul for a spirit? That can’t be…”
Eyes that seemed to ask, “What on earth is going on here?” were directed at Bianca.
Bianca felt like she could go crazy any minute now.
What on earth was happening? Was it possible that a dark sorcerer like herself couldn’t distinguish a specter?
Bianca, clueless about the situation, kept nodding her head.
“Mom! You were here? Where did you go? I was bored!”
“Yes, Nathalian?”
The moment Nathalian, holding food prepared for a ritual, grabbed her leg tightly.
Looking at her with a worried expression, Nathalian said, “Mom, you don’t look well! Is it because you can’t sleep? That’s why I gave you a sleeping pill. Let’s sleep together!”
“Huh? A sleeping pill? What do you mean?”
She was given a sleeping pill? When did that happen? Amid a series of incomprehensible events, Bianca felt her mind freeze.
Nathalian, faced with her rigid demeanor, blurted out a shocking fact.
“You looked tired, so I put sleeping pills in the water you drink before bed! I did well, right!”
“A sleeping pill? Where did you get that?”
“Huh? It was on your desk, Mom.”
“On the desk… No way!”
A sleeping pill on the desk. Could it be that it had turned into a failed attempt due to side effects?
“It was meant to be a fatigue recovery potion because Ian seemed tired due to excessive work…”
Initially planned as a fatigue recovery potion, a mistake led to the creation of a sleep-inducing potion, left forgotten on the desk.
And the effects of that potion were not just limited to inducing sleep.
“According to my memory, it was a drug that severely impaired cognitive abilities as a temporary side effect…”
They gave her that?
Then… this strange sensation of feeling weighed down in recent days…
With the thought of “No way,” Bianca summoned her mana to dispel the strange energy that enveloped her body.
Only then could she see.
“This can’t be…”
As Letitia’s soul, bewildered by the suddenly cleared vision,
collapsed to the ground in the corridor with a thud, Bianca said, “No, Mom, you can’t sleep here! Go back to your room!”
Though Nathalian’s voice could be heard, sadly, it didn’t register in her ears.
***
Thankfully, the specter issue caused by Nathalian’s sleeping pill was quietly swept under the rug.
If rumors had spread about the specter wandering the mansion, it would have delayed the ritual preparations. But since they moved cautiously to avoid alerting the departed spirits, nothing leaked out.
Although there was a brief stir when Hailey Millers, who had stepped down from the position of matriarch and chosen seclusion, reemerged,
it was only murmurs of “So she’s here?” and nothing more.
It was all thanks to that.
“Is this the end of the ritual then?”
The reason why she could relax, gazing blankly at the darkening sky from the balcony,
was that just a while ago, she had been tormented by countless handshakes and blessings, but as time passed, things began to settle.
Ian watched the procession of carriages heading back to catch a breath.
“It’s like looking at stars scattered across the sky.”
It was a moment when she swirled the glass, taking comfort in the scattered lights visible in the dark forest.
Clank!
“Ah… Ian?”
“Hmm? Professor Haley?”
The moment Haley, with flushed cheeks, absentmindedly stared at her back.
Seeing him leaning against the wall and walking with a twisted gait, it seemed like he had come to the balcony to catch some fresh air after getting drunk and ended up meeting her.
Swish!
In that moment of uncertainty, Haley, as if realizing she shouldn’t show herself too much, swiftly turned around.
“Ah… that, that’s…”
‘Is it that she doesn’t want to show the arm she cut?’
Her increasingly reddening expression. Though her gaze seemed to avoid looking back, indicating a desire to escape, her lower body remained stiff as if reluctant to do so.
Seems unnecessary to ask, “Why are you here? What’s wrong with your arm?” in such a tense situation.
There was only one thing to say in this situation.
“Let’s watch the night view together. It’s hard to see this kind of thing now.”
Without seeming to care, without shifting her gaze away from her, easing the atmosphere with a nonchalant tone.
Only after realizing that Ian wasn’t interested in stars, Haley could barely move her feet.
They stood leaning on the railing, keeping a distance where one person could fit.
How long did they maintain silence?
In the quietness, the sounds of insects in the forest faintly echoed. Then, Haley spoke up.
“I’m sorry, Ian.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Many things I regret, but the most regretful is not trusting you.”
Words she had always kept in her heart but lacked the courage to bring out spilled out.
Simultaneously, Haley’s emotions began to fluctuate.
“Back then, in the beginning of the semester when we were cleaning the broken classroom, you talked about the teacher who taught you how to fight.”
“That’s right.”
“I’m ashamed. At that time, I didn’t really understand the meaning of the story you told.”
Simply thinking that a new teacher had arrived, ‘You’re not needed.’ That’s how she took it.
Looking back, Ian had a different reason for saying those words.
As a teacher who, despite lacking great skills and fame, only cared for his disciples.
Haley had what Ian lacked – a teacher who taught him how to fight.
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Ian simply wanted to criticize himself for leaving without listening to the reason why he had no choice but to make that decision.
“When I realized that fact, I thought it was too late to mend our relationship. No, I was scared. What if you didn’t forgive me even if I apologized.”
There’s a saying, ‘The fastest way is when it’s already too late.’
At the same time, there’s another saying, ‘Knowing it’s too late and staying silent is the worst action.’
Despite keeping those two sayings deep in her heart, Haley, knowing that if not now, she couldn’t restore her relationship with her disciple, lacked the courage and ended up making the worst choice of avoidance for a clumsy reason.
“I regret running away because I was afraid of not being forgiven… I regret leaving you, who had nowhere to rely on, and nailing a stake in your heart.”
She kept running until the end. Of course, eventually, she gathered courage, fixed her heart, and helped Ian with all her courage, but Haley did not think that would wash away her guilt.
Throughout, she had behaved so wretchedly that a single act of assistance at the end could not possibly absolve her sins.
The misdeeds she had committed were burdens she would carry to her grave.
That was the reason.
“If you wish… from now on, I will remain inconspicuous and quiet.”
The reason she had relinquished the position of clan leader that she had acquired through fierce competition with her younger sister.
The reason she had chosen not to regenerate her lost right arm from the battle.
She believed that regaining the lost arm was a way to repay her debts, and if she couldn’t earn forgiveness from Ian, then she didn’t deserve the healing.
After finishing her words, Hailey tightly sealed her lips once again.
‘In the end, it came out…’
Suppressing her wrongs out of fear, she spat them out with a sense of relief.
Now, all that was left was whether Ian would accept them.
Of course, she didn’t have high hopes. After all, that wasn’t the reason she had come to him this time. It wasn’t to apologize and bid a final farewell.
‘Yes, he won’t forgive me.’
Expecting betrayal was inevitable. Therefore, Hailey emptied her heart, felt the cool breeze, and closed her eyes.
“I will forgive you.”
“I will… what?”
When the words she thought she wouldn’t hear came out of Ian’s mouth, her eyes widened in surprise.
“I will forgive you. I also intended to visit you once because of this matter.”
“Me… why…”
She looked at him as if she couldn’t understand. Of course, that would be the case.
She believed she had committed a sin worthy of death, and indeed, she had fought in the battle with Lucifer as if risking her life.
Wasn’t the severed right arm a scar from that battle?
Hailey understood Ian’s heart well. Yet, just because he understood didn’t mean he would remain indifferent to her.
‘The wounds I received have already dulled.’
Although some of the pain from the wounds inflicted by the final blow to Lucifer had vanished, even if those memories had not faded, Ian had no intention of being indifferent to Hailey.
Helping her with the readiness to lose her life, which she couldn’t bring herself to say sorry for, meant acknowledging her own fault.
So, there was no reason not to accept.
“I will forgive you. How about letting go of the burden in your heart now? We can treat your right arm again. Since the saint is here, we can heal it quickly.”
“Are you really okay with forgiving me?”
“Well… if accepting it so easily makes you uncomfortable… from now on, why don’t you live by helping me?”
Ian extended his hand with a smile, and Hailey, teary-eyed, grabbed onto it.