CH 148

“Thou, lone one.”

The employees who heard the song were at a loss and opened their mouths blankly. Their eyes fluttered incessantly until they understood what it was.

‘Young Madam…….’

She spoke in a clear and mellow voice. She sings a song that is transparent and pure like a stream.

“I’ll not leave thee, thou lone one, to pine on the stem.”

They didn’t even think to express the question of how or when.

They couldn’t help but hold their breath.

They couldn’t even open their mouths.

Because none of them wanted to miss a single moment of this song.

Vincent and Cloud also rushed to hear about the incident late.

Tristan, Sabina, and Lloyd were also watching over Aria’s safety.

Gabriel was so surprised that he was stunned, but couldn’t take his eyes off her as if he was possessed by Aria.

And Laura.

“Since the lovely are sleeping, Go, sleep thou with them.”

The song gently softened and comforted the wounded, exhausted, weary, and defiled soul.

It washed them clean.

Treated them kindly.

How can they feel so many emotions in one person’s singing voice? Truly, it was a wave of emotions.

Infinitely soft, infinitely warm, infinitely calm, infinitely happy.

“Thus kindly I scatter, Thy leaves o’er the bed, Where thy mates of the garden, Lie scentless and dead.”

A soft voice came crashing down like a rushing wave. It embraced them with the blazing spring sun.

Everyone in the space was helplessly drenched in the rushing waves. They were immersed in the rush of emotions and felt a sense of happiness that was so deep that they could die.

Peace, comfort, and rest…….

“When friendships decay, And from love’s shining circle, The gems drop away!”

The gentle tone that decorates the finale of the short and calm song whispered.

Now let go of all your regrets and relax. There is nothing here that you have ever valued. It was as if it was saying that.

“Ugh…”

Laura bit her lip. Uncontrollable tears welled up, and immediately dripped onto the grass.

“I, I…”

Laura, shaking her hand, eventually dropped the dagger on the floor. Tired, she murmured as she looked down at her palm.

“…I’m already dead.”

She’s dead. The moment she realized that, Laura put Marronnier down and stepped back.

Aria watched Laura silently, then pulled the necklace around her neck.

“No!”

Laura desperately reached out her hand, despite the fact that the divine power that was bound to the necklace crystal had disappeared.

She looked desperate. She showed a tenacity to take the necklace at any cost.

Aria held her outstretched hand tightly. It was then that she faintly felt an eerie energy that could not be described in words.

‘Chimera.’

A human body that has renounced humanity, making a dead body move like a living person.

Laura is a chimera.

‘She is a chimera…….’

There was a reason Aria didn’t notice it earlier.

Laura didn’t have the horrible stench characteristic of a chimera at all. The reason was soon known.

‘I can feel a divine power.’

It was different from the gutter rat, which had various energies mixed in various ways.

Aria felt only pure divine power. Laura is a chimera that was created only with divine power and moves only with divine power.

‘I think she’s a more evolved form of a chimera than the gutter rat.’

She doesn’t know how this was possible, or who did it. It was possible to infer.

‘The only person who can achieve this is Hans…….’

Currently, Hans is in the Kingdom of Bruto’s research lab, and there was speculation that the Holy Empire, Garcia, might be behind the Kingdom of Bruto.

‘There’s no way this little child would have wanted to be a chimera on her own.’

So she must have been forced to become a chimera by the Holy Empire.

“Laura.”

When Aria opened her mouth, Laura’s shoulders trembled. Her eyes, full of anxiety and regret, fluttered helplessly.

Aria spoke more firmly as she looked down at the child that was agitated and didn’t know what to say.

“It’s okay to stop now.”

“……”

“Let’s stop.”

Laura blinked and shook her head.

And more desperately she clings to Aria’s arms, waving in the air to take the necklace, and in the end, she clings to the hem of Aria’s skirt and weeps.

“No. No. Give it back.”

As the tears dripped onto the pink fabric, it began to turn red. It was as if she shed tears of blood.

“I don’t want to be abandoned…”

Aria’s brow furrowed deep.

Because it matched exactly how she felt before she turned back time, when she was just Laura’s age.

It was a sign of blatant abuse.

“Then, do you think you’ll get compliments if you get this necklace back?”

No. Laura was a smart kid.

‘She’ll know it best herself.’

By the time she was caught stealing in front of the Valentine’s people, she knew that she was already going to be abandoned.

“Laura, I don’t know where you came from…”

In fact, she can only guess. Aria had something to say.

“…don’t ever go back to the place where children get abandoned and killed.”

“……”

“Only you will get hurt.”

“I, I don’t want to. It’s scary. I’m already too late. I’m broken. No one wants a monster like me.”

Aria actually knew. That it’s already too late.

After Laura’s abuse, she became a chimera, neither living nor dying.

No matter how much Aria sang the Siren’s song, she could not turn the chimera, which was nothing more than a corpse, back into a human. Her limit was to just soothe her soul.

“Have you ever killed anyone?”

“N, no.”

“Then let’s stop here.”

Aria put Laura in her arms and wrapped her arms around Laura’s trembling back and stroked her hair.

“Laura, don’t ever let your heart be broken. It’ll stay with you after you die.”

Laura probably just didn’t want to be abandoned. She couldn’t see anything as she was terrified of being left alone in this world. But she couldn’t bear to let the people and animals do things they didn’t want to do.

‘Then Laura will just give up everything and leave herself to instinct.’

She should not think that she is broken both physically and mentally and become desperate. Because that was the most dangerous situation.

“I’ll take care of all the injured people and animals. Let’s pretend it didn’t happen. Laura didn’t hurt anyone.”

“……really?”

“Yes.”

Laura didn’t say anything for a while. Desperation and anxiety filled her lifeless eyes,

“It’s okay. You can sleep. So that your precious heart doesn’t get broken any more.”

A word sweeter than a lullaby began to slowly spread relief in her heart.

Laura’s legs lost strength and slumped into place. And Laura closed her eyes.

A dreadful suffocation came over.

Aria sat in the garden and laid Laura on her lap.

“Huuu…”

The child took a deep breath.

Laura realized. That she was dying.

‘No, she’s already dead.’

It’s not that she’s dying, it’s that she accepted Aria’s song the moment she heard it.

Her own death.

The child whispered slowly. Her voice was so low that only Aria could hear it.

“I was told to secretly find and steal something that would increase divine power from the Grand Princess….”

Something that increases divine power. There was only one person who came to mind from those words.

‘Veronica.’

Aria glanced at Gabriel for a moment.

A lot of confusion was read in his gaze, which had been directed at Aria from the beginning.

And the mysterious heat.

‘He’s the most suspicious, but I don’t think he mentioned it directly to Veronica about the necklace…….’

Because Laura said that she was told to find ‘something to increase divine power’, not a ‘necklace’.

“Who made you like this?”

“The director did.”

Director?

“The orphanage director?”

“Yeah, after the death of the director, the wizard did.”

“How did they do it?”

“I was locked up in a room with no one around, and I kept getting injections. I was fed strange things. They hung strange things on my body. I woke up sick enough to die, but I lived alone among my close friends.”

Laura stuttered as if recalling her painful memories.

“They said I was the first to succeed. The grown-ups said I was a chosen child. I was blessed.”

“……”

“But, there are still a lot of kids locked up in the room other than me. There are so many….”

Is it because she heard the song? Or is it because Laura has decided to stop now? She blinked her eyes very slowly, as if drunk from sleep.

“Sister, I’m sorry…”

And she apologized.

“The saint told me to infiltrate the imperial palace and kill the animals. And she told me to hide and watch.”

But I’m afraid……. Laura snorted and spoke.

“I couldn’t let them kill each other, so I made them fight each other.”

“Yes, I know.”

It was a courageous confession. However, Aria answered bluntly. Laura’s eyes widened in surprise.

As if Aria didn’t know how to react calmly without being angry.

“Actually, she asked me to find out exactly what Sister’s identity was. If I didn’t tell her, she would throw me away, so I told her everything. That Sister’s song seems to have a special ability…”

Laura revealed Aria’s identity to Veronica. That would mean that the words also went to Garcia…….

Aria didn’t answer for a while. She didn’t know her identity would get out so quickly.

‘You’re really going to hit me this time.’

Laura thought as she was dying. After she said this, even after death she might be beaten and spit in her face.

Aria whispered in Laura’s ear with her eyes closed in resignation.

“It’s okay. Those bad people, I just need to get rid of them all.”