CH 2

#Tyrent Lucerne

Daeng!

Geo said the sound of the bell outside signaled dinner time. The children made a fuss about having to eat dinner before curfew.

“Mom, I got bread!”

“Shushushu! The mighty Marley delivers the final blow to the fireplace monster……!”

“Hey, don’t mess around, keep it straight.”-Marley murmured and put a branch inside the stove, and Seti magically lit it.

The children seemed very accustomed to preparing dinner like this. It was strange to see the small children busily moving hand and foot, and it was both curious and sad.

The children’s appearance kept reflecting me as a child. I wanted to do something to help, so I snooped around the kitchen and the table.

“Is there anything Mom can help you?”

Rie, who was coming out of the room with a pillow and a duvet, shouted, her eyes widening.

“Mom just lay down!”

“Huh?”

He laid me on the floor, cut my pillow, and covered me with the duvet.

Seti lined up small old dolls next to me, patted them one by one, and Marley was lying leisurely next to me and hummed.

I asked Seti, who touched my stomach with a touch that I didn’t know if he was patting me or tickling me.

“Seti, can I get up? I think Geo will have a hard time alone.”

“No mom. Go to sleep”.

“Mom is not sleepy.”

” You have to sleep”.

“Yes, yes.”

Rie nodded.

I lay down calmly and looked at the ceiling, feeling emotional. I was thrilled to lie still and be treated to a meal.

Soon Geo came and helped me up.

“Mom, come this way.”

“That’s okay… Mom can do it on her own”, I felt helpless.

“Still be careful. You were always sick after coughing. Even if it’s okay now, it’ll hurt again if you overdo it.”

Well, come to think of it, Astia, the real mother of the children in the novel, coughed or bleed every time. When I thought of it, I understood that the children were worried about me.

But I wasn’t sick at all. Rather, it felt lighter than in reality.

“Guys, mom’s really not sick.”

“Mom, I’ll help you!”

“Do you want me to carry you? I’m strong!”

“Adu Adu! María Adu Marri Atu Oh!”- He chanted something.

He staggered up to the table. It was not because I was sick, but because my feet were caught in the children’s feet. It’s not that I’m being supported. I was hanging on.

It was close to dragging…

I sat around the table with the children. Two soft bread and milk were placed in front of me, but only half a hard bread and water were placed in front of the children.

“Uh, boys.”

“I will eat well!”

There was no time to ask the children why the bread was different. The children were hungry, so as soon as I sat down, they hurriedly started eating.

My heart ached at the sound of crunchy, crunchy, dry bread being opened.

He tore off the soft bread and held it out towards the children.

“Guys, would you like to eat my bread too?”

Unlike the other kids who were busy eating, Geo looked at me with surprised rabbit eyes.

“…… Mom, what did you say now?”

“No, I mean. Do you want to eat mommy’s bread?”

“Uh…….”

I don’t know why, but Geo’s face flushed. The child smiled happily and shook his head.

“It’s okay. We just have to eat this. Eat that, mom.”

“Can I do that? Geo’s bread looks hard, and the amount is too small.”

“My mom is tall and sick, so she has to eat better than us.”

Who said that? No matter how sick it is. You don’t have to give them hard bread, even if it’s a sheep.

I took some of the soft bread and put it in front of the children.

The children, who were eating bread while spilling a lot of crumbs around the mouth and table, stopped eating at once and saw the bread I gave them.

I laughed awkwardly because I was embarrassed by the gaze that was directed at me.

“I’ll give it to you. This will taste better.”

“Oh, Mom.”

Geo blinked embarrassingly.

There were only about half of the bread left after handing it out to the children, but it didn’t matter.

“Mom is fine. I used to starve a lot before because I couldn’t eat this either. This is a very luxurious meal.”

Before I died, what I usually ate was an expired triangular gimbap. There were many days when I couldn’t eat because I didn’t have any.

While trying to drink the milk in the cup, he realized that the children’s cups contained water, not milk, and handed out the cup to Geo sitting next to him.

“Do you want some milk?”

“Mom, what’s wrong with you today?”

<The Tyrant and the Archmage> was mainly told from the tyrant’s point of view.

Thanks to that, the details of how Astia raises the children are not revealed, but it seems that it was not normal. Seeing the reactions like, what’s the deal with giving some milk to the kids?

“Why is this? I just want to share with you.”

I smiled and put down the milk cup in front of Geo Instead; I picked up Geo’s water cup and drank.

Geo put down the bread he was holding and quietly looked at me before taking a sip of milk. The half face of the child who ate milk as if savoring it while chewing thoroughly shimmered brightly.

“Wow… It’s delicious…”….”

Oh, my God.

Is it possible to be touched by just a sip of milk and shining eyes like that?

I don’t know where you are, but anyway, God, if you’re looking at Geo’s face, please send these kids a little more milk tomorrow. This face, this is a million dollar loveliness. If what God wants is a beautiful and peaceful world, let this face be revealed to the world!

The children made a mess while talking nonsense in their minds.

“Me! Me! Me too! Why are you the only one eating?” Give it to me! It’s my turn next!”

“Mom, I want to try it, too! I wanted to try milk, too! I’m the prettiest, so I’ll go first!”

I held out the cup I received from Geo to Marley sitting next to me.

“Come on, calm down. I’ll let you eat them all.”

Marley, Rie, and Seti drank milk in the order they sat down.

As if Seti didn’t know how to share, he drank all the leftover milk and provoked his older sisters and older brothers, but after finishing it, I laughed because his face was so cute.

“Seti, did you like it?”

Seti thumps the cup on his table! He put it down and she smiled languidly while stroking my stomach in a circle.

“Yes, it’s tasty. I love you mommy.”

Then, as if remembering something, he tore off a piece of bread I was eating and held it out to me.

“Ummm, this is what it is! This is what I shared. Worth it.”- I ate the piece he gave me

After accepting Seti’s soggy piece of bread, the children each took off the bread they were eating and held it out.

“Mom! Eat my food!”

“No, eat mine first!”

“I’ll leave mine here.”

I had to put four pieces of bread the size of my nails on the table and seriously think about what to eat first.

“Mom! You have to eat mine first! I’m number one!”

“My mom loves me the most, so I think she’ll eat mine first.””

The sun disappeared over the mountains. It was curfew.

The children took a blanket from the room and took a seat next to the stove, and I also brought the blanket and pillow that Rie had covered before meals and lay down between the children.

Marley, who was lying in the middle, said curtly.

“Ah, what is it? The space is too narrow for mom. Mommy should sleep in the room.”

“Ah. Do you have to sleep in your room?”

Well… … It seems that Astia did not sleep with the children.

She regretted that even here she had to sleep alone.

I mumbled and grabbed a pillow, but Rie was lying next to me.

As I mumbled to get a pillow, Rie, who was lying next to me, gave Marley a kick and clung to my thigh.

“Ms. Marley, be quiet! Mom, just sleep with us today. Huh? I wanted to sleep next to my mom! Right, Seti? Don’t you want to sleep with mother too?”

Geo didn’t answer and crawled next to me holding a pillow.

Marley, who was rolling on the floor at Rie’s kick, swung her pillow with a sigh.

She said, “How dare you kick me? Super Villain Rie, I will defeat you! Let’s fight!”

“Take the invincible Archmage Marley’s super pillow attack!”

Rie and Marley jumped over the covers and swung at the pillows. Even though they cursed each other for shit with their mouths, they seemed quite happy with their smiles blooming on their faces.

“Hmm.”

Seti gave a long yawn and lay down on my thigh, and Geo hesitated and lay down as well.

“Even if you break a slave.”

“……slave?”

Seti and Geo sat next to me and talked about it.

Geo laughed, shaking his body. My thighs were ticklish.

“I’m asking you to sing. She usually sings until I fall asleep.”

“Oh, I see. Mmm. What song would you like me to sing?”

“Sing me a lullaby.”

Geo closed his eyes and hummed a song, but it was a song I had never heard before.

She patted the two children’s heads and smiled awkwardly.

“Sorry. It’s the first song I have ever heard. Do I really need to call it?”

“……Don’t you know this song?”

Geo turned his head and met her eyes as if it were strange.

“……Mom is strange. In the morning, she coughed a lot and was bleeding, but she said he didn’t feel sick after taking a nap, she gave us bread and milk, she didn’t know how to sing, and she talked like a different person… ….”

“Uh… … yes?”

Suddenly, a chill went down her spine.

Geo was wondering the difference between me and Astia, his original mother.

“Mom, sing something.”

Fortunately, the short-tempered Seti quickly changed the topic of conversation.

Marley and Rie, tired of the pillow fight, also yawned and settled down next to me.

“Can I sing you another song?”

“Yes I’m okay. Sing anything.”

“I’m fine with anything.”

“Sheesh, I like lullabies.”

“Okay okay. Marley, I’m sorry. Mom will sing you another song today.”

After getting my voice back together, I returned home from my part-time job and sang to the children the song I had sung to my little cat, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”

“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It shines beautifully in the eastern sky, in the western sky…….”

The children’s yawns became frequent in the slow rhythm.

After two or three songs, Marley, Geo, and Rie fell asleep in order.

Seti, who didn’t fall asleep until the end, yawned while waving his hands in the air, copying my song.

“I’m not going to be able to do that. I can’t wait to see if I’m going to be in the middle of the night. Tocho Kaneido, Seocho Kaneido…….”

Her voice cracked and Seti’s arm fell to the floor only when her throat ached.

I remembered the image of the departed little star sleeping next to me.

Meow…

When we come home after a hard day, we used to end the day by hugging each other and singing.

It would be nice if you were here too.

Geo, Marley, Rie, and Seti. I looked closely at each child’s face.

As if to compensate for the time I had been living alone, I was thrilled to have an evening with the children who came to visit me.

For me, who had never dreamed of getting married in real life, and who longed for a happy family outside the window like a match girl, today was the most valuable time.

One day when I was 20 years old, I decided to give these children the love and attention I couldn’t give to the Little Star who had been with me for 5 years.

I am not the real mother of the children, but I promised to love them as much as a real mother would, at least for the time spent with them.

I decided to pour the love I wanted to receive from my parents, who disappeared too quickly, onto my children.

I made my resolutions over and over again, and only when the twilight was bright, I hugged my children and fell asleep.

***

Doo doo doo, I heard a strange sound.

Countless strange things had happened since yesterday, so perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that it was a normal strange noise.

“Ugh, noisy,” muttered Marley, and the rest of her children grunted and covered their ears in agreement.

I, too, tried to get away from the noise, hiding my face under the covers.

But,

Quaang!

When I heard something explode, I was startled and jumped up from my seat.

The children also rubbed their eyes and got up, as if they felt something unusual.

“What are you talking about this morning?”

“Sleepy.”

It was Rie who was the first to notice the problem.

“Huh! Roof!”

Just as she was about to look at the place Rie pointed his finger to, a huge light suddenly pierced her eyes. The roof, which should have kept out the scorching sunlight, was flying in the distance.

I quickly picked them up and held them in my arms.

Backed by the bright sunlight, a human shadow slowly descended from the sky toward us.

“……Astia. You….”

It was a surprised voice.

The children muttered.

“Oh! My…”

“Ah… That uncle is here again.”

“Mom must have hated it, but I came again… …!”

“Should I kick them out?”

“Can I kick them out? They took off the roof.”

Small bodies in my arms trembled.

A shadow floating in the sky slowly landed on the floor.

He was a very beautiful person in a different sense than children. Black hair waving in the wind, rainbow-like eyes, deep shadows under dark eyebrows and a high nose bridge, wide shoulders and a well-groomed body, pale skin and a blue uniform gave a strong and cold impression.

I realized like lightning.

“Tyrant Lucerne.”

It was Lucerne, a man who became a tyrant after losing Astia in <The Tyrant and the Archmage>.

With a beautiful red rose in her arms, Lucerne licked her smooth lips and let out a heavenly voice.

“……how.”

Lucerne came one step closer to me.

Children shuddered and stood in front of me.

“Why are you here again? Go away!”- cried Marley

“Go as soon as you arrive, the hospitality for the guests is terrible.”

“Someone like you is not even a guest!”

“Kka! Kka!”

Seti shouted and stirred his hands, causing a ball of fire the size of a baseball to rise out of the air and fly towards Lucerne.

But when Lucerne glanced at it, the fireball quietly disappeared as if it never existed.

She sighed and hesitated back, holding the children by the shoulders.

“What is this?”

Lucerne looked up at the empty ceiling, and said in a tone that it was no big deal.

“The door was locked.”

‘The door was locked…’

Suddenly, a phrase from <The Tyrant and the Archmage> passed through my mind.

The next day, Lucerne came back to Astia’s house with roses in her arms. However, unlike yesterday, the door was closed with magic and could not be opened. Lucerne, who nervously flew around the house, eventually swung his arm.

With a crackling sound, the roof of Astia’s old house tore off and soared into the sky.

Roses, locked doors, ripped off roofs.

Oh My God. It’s just like a novel.…!

I gulped and tensed.

Today was the day when Lucerne found out that Astia was dead and decided to destroy the world by turning into a tyrannical villain.