164 – Persuasion (4)
While following Lilian up the spiral stairs, I organized the memories that came to mind a while ago.
They were all fragmentary scenes, but I was able to piece together some facts from just those.
It started on an afternoon when the rain was pouring down.
That day was the day I discovered a girl hiding in a corner of a downtown area.
At that time, I had been called by the emperor and had come to the capital and was looking around the market.
Then I went into the downtown area and was looking around.
At some point, dark clouds gathered in the sky and rain started pouring down as if there was a hole in the sky.
It was truly an unexpected misfortune.
That would have been nice.
I was in a hurry to return to the castle.
“… “Huh.”
A cry was heard mixed with the sound of raindrops hitting the ground.
The sound was coming from the darkness between the small alley between the buildings.
After hesitating for a moment, I entered the alley due to an unknown intuition.
Not long after, I discovered the cause of the crying.
There was a small, crouching child hiding in an alley where dirty, muddy water flowed as it rained.
The child was probably around 7 or 8 years old.
The child’s condition did not look very good.
Hair with leaves and dust stuck to the wet and gaunt cheeks and nape of the neck.
The dress, which was originally made of fairly good quality material, became tattered and stained with muddy water.
Blood flowing from skin full of torn wounds mixed with rainwater and flowed down to the ground.
But what stood out most of all was the eyes that had lost their light, as if they had been torn to pieces and were completely empty.
The moment those eyes met mine, an unpleasant goosebump spread throughout my body.
I don’t know what the circumstances were, but it was not a normal condition at all.
Suddenly, I realized what kind of child this was.
‘…Witch.’
Yes.
This child was the witch of the rumors.
The only daughter of the Baron Silverley family who predicts the future with almost accurate probability.
Lilian Silvery.
‘I definitely touched the second prince’s side wrongly….’
The girl who was on a roll through her prophecy ended up getting involved in the wrong situation just as the conflict between the imperial families began in earnest.
The second prince made a bad prediction about Gallant Rodmas.
And unfortunately, the prophecy came true.
Angered, Gallant placed all responsibility for his failure on the child, claiming it was the witch’s work.
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After that, I heard that the Baron family was destroyed and Lilian went missing….
What on earth happened to her to end up like this?
I stiffened for a moment and then picked up the child.
Her child’s body was so light that it felt too light.
Her rain-soaked body there was seriously cold, and even her body was shivering violently.
The condition was rapidly deteriorating due to bleeding.
I gritted my teeth, thinking of the people who put my child like this.
“Wait a minute. “I’ll take you somewhere warm soon.”
It was then.
“… Want.”
Even in the rain, the child’s parched lips were sweet.
No, she kept muttering something, but perhaps it was all drowned out by the sound of the rain.
“Is there something you want to say?”
I brought my ear closer to the child’s mouth to hear the child’s voice better.
Only then did the child’s voice sound faint.
“I want to go back….”
Even when talking about the wind, the child’s voice sounded emotionless, as if all his emotions were fragmented.
Is this what happens when hope is torn and torn and completely reduced to rags?
“Where?”
“… “Anywhere.”
Baron Silverley was completely trampled and disappeared without even leaving a trace in this world.
The place this child will return to is already….
It was cold and the child snuggled into my arms.
I hugged the child tightly.
And, fearing that her voice would be drowned out by the sound of the rain, she opened her mouth to the child’s wet ear.
“Don’t worry. “I will soon have a place to return to.”
I don’t know if Lilian understood or not, but her little body trembled and she just snuggled into my arms.
From then on, my relationship with Lilian began.
*
And in another fragment of memory, Lilian had a completely different appearance.
The slightly older girl was wearing a cute red dress that fit her body perfectly.
A child who was watching while spinning around a room as if dancing slowly stopped rotating her body.
The dress that fluttered with her movements briefly swayed due to inertia.
“Are you going to keep your promise? “Can I really decorate this place however I want?”
Lilian said while looking at the empty space.
The excitedly speaking child’s eyes were full of life due to her bulging hopes.
“For me. I’d like to bring in soft and fluffy things here first. Anything is fine. “If only you would give me permission.”
I of course answered yes to Lilian’s words.
We decided to fill this place with the best things.
But the best thing in this space was already before my eyes.
A beautiful girl full of hopes and dreams was breathing life into an already empty space.
I think I was very satisfied with that fact.
*
The spiral staircase that went around the library went up endlessly.
Every time I went up the stairs, it felt like the bookshelves filled with books were growing bigger and bigger.
It seemed like an unchanging landscape, but in reality it was changing little by little.
The books in the library on the lower floor had names that seemed important written on their spines.
It was the main character or main setting of the novel. Leonhard, Nias, Livia, Academy…
However, as you go up, the titles written on the spine of the book become simpler or even disappear altogether.
“Just a moment.”
Lilian stopped walking up the stairs when she heard Leonhard’s voice.
When I looked back, Leonhard took out a book from the bookshelf and opened it.
The books in this section did not contain important information, so they were in fact not books, but the thickness of a thin booklet.
“Nucle Nucle Mushroom. A mushroom that produces mild hallucinogenic effects. “It mainly occurs on dead tree trunks and is characterized by a colorful appearance that is both yellow and purple.”
Leonhardt calmly read the words written in the book. The content was simple.
There was a little more information about mushroom vegetation and reproduction in the back, but that was it.
“There are some empty spaces in the book.”
The reason we were able to fill the world with settings was because of that space.
Of course, I can’t fit a lot of settings into that small booklet.
Leonhard said as he pushed the book he had finished back into the bookshelf.
“The book is thin. “There isn’t much content to go into.”
“Why is that?”
At this moment, Lilian caught the tail of Leonhard’s delicate question.
“Are you not sure about something?”
Lilian’s mind was still confused from earlier.
Doesn’t he seem to overlap with someone he has been longing for? The feeling I felt earlier when Leonhard’s hand touched my cheek.
As he continued, only the words that had not changed, which stimulated his longing, kept ringing in his ears.
So he felt like he had to somehow find out the truth and confirm it right away.
But Leonhard only smiled faintly at Lilian’s words.
It was as if it didn’t matter what Lilian thought.
That attitude made Lilian’s mind more complicated.
“I’m just watching.”
When Leonhard’s eyes drew an arc, she reflexively avoided her eyes.
A tickling feeling rose up from her lower abdomen.
“Okay, that’s enough.”
Lilian began to walk with her long strides up the stairs again. She walked faster than before because she was upset.
She even looked like she was trying to run away.
Even though they say they can’t escape as long as their hands are connected.
‘But why wasn’t there anything written in my book?’
It may not be simply because Leonhard is the main character.
The most suspected cause is regression…. Is that really all it is?
If….
Around the time when Leonhard began to finish his family.
The sound of labored breathing began to be heard. It wasn’t the sound Leonhard made.
There were only two people in this space, so of course it was Lilian’s sound.
“What’s wrong?”
“… It’s nothing.”
She shook her head as if to tell him not to worry.
“It’s not nothing.”
Leonhardt realized that sweat was beading on her forehead.
If you look closely, the nape of her neck is also a little red.
I guess this woman….
“It’s a serious lack of exercise.”
“No! “She’s just not used to moving her body.”
She protested, but Leonhard did not even listen.
She seemed to have gained more momentum and became more determined to do as she pleased.
“Let’s go up to magic.”
“I can climb up by myself. “If you use the system, you can go up right away.”
“You can’t use the system.”
“Because it’s not. “Maybe I’m playing with you.”
Leonhard was convinced that Lilian could not use the system right now, so she only smiled slightly.
The images of her childhood that I saw in her memories overlapped for a moment.
In her own way, she is desperate right now.
“And it’s not a lack of exercise. “He just doesn’t want to move his body a little bit.”
“That’s usually…. No, it’s okay.”
Leonhard decided to let her believe that he was playing a tug of war with her.
Is there any need to argue? Leonhard was usually the one who broke her stubbornness, not the one who listened.
He immediately grabbed Lilian’s shoulder.
Although she resisted, he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into his arms with strength, pinning her down.
“Tsk.”
Leonhardt’s lips barely stopped in the ear of Lilian, who was trying to shake off the man who was forcibly holding her.
She stopped moving as her breath reached her ear.
The man then hugged Lilian even more tightly and spoke in a slow, low breathing sound.
“She really is an annoying woman.”
Out of embarrassment, Lilian took a short breath.
In the meantime, her ear was touching Leonhard’s chest.
The sound of his heart beating slowly filled Lilian’s ears.