CH 22

Wisteria gasped.

Her mind went blank. Her eyes were glued to the young man who bore a striking resemblance to Bright, and she couldn’t move.

——Even though this was simply the most likely possibility, the one she should have guessed, becoming reality.

“Irene.”

Salutis called. There was a scolding tone to it. It might be trying to laugh at her about thinking about the past now.

Still, Wisteria’s ears were deafened by the sound of a noisy, pounding heartbeat.

As if something that had dammed up a long river suddenly broke, something was flowing, trying to wash away her reason.

She couldn’t look away from Lloyd, who face reminded her Bright despite all her efforts.

“Your mother’s name is Rosalie, formerly Rosalie Bettina Lafferty?”

Her voice caught slightly as she asked that.

Lloyd’s brow furrowed in distrust and discomfort.

“…So what if she is?”

He answered with a probing tone.

Wisteria couldn’t respond immediately. She barely managed to squeeze out an, “I see.”

Feigning casualness, she turned her gaze away and looked at the green layer of the sky.

(——Bright and Rosalie married and had children. That is a given.)

It wasn’t something she needed to think about. After she was gone, of course those two decided to do so.

If that was the case, then after that…

Wisteria pursed her lips tightly, almost about to ask him a question.

(Why do I want to know this?)

What happened to the two of them afterward? Were they happy? Those things didn’t matter. It should no longer matter to her.

Her heart shouldn’t be moved by these things after all this time.

She exhaled, as if to let out something that was clutching at her heart. But her eyes were irresistably drawn to the young man with long silver hair.

(…This young man is…)

Bright and Rosalie’s son. He looked so much like Bright that it was hard to look directly at him. The only difference was the length of their hair. Bright’s hair was short, but Lloyd’s hair was tied back behind his neck.

She tried to shut these things out of her mind and look for some traces of Rosalie.

But it didn’t work.

She managed a smile to cover up the tensing of her cheeks.

“It is quite ironic for the son of Rosalie and Bright to appear before me. That makes you my nephew.”

“――I don’t remember being related to a witch like you.”

Lloyd’s face twisted. He didn’t seem to be agitated, and he seemed to know that Wisteria and Rosalie were once non-blood related sisters.

Wisteria laughed a little bit more naturally this time and said, “Indeed.”

“So, you came all this way because you wanted Salutis? Even going to the trouble of opening a <Gate>?”

Lloyd didn’t answer. But he didn’t deny it either.

It was Wisteria’s turn to furrow her brow.

“Why do you want Salutis so badly? Coming all the way here despite not even being a Guardian is tantamount to suicide.”

“…None of your business.”

“Alright. Then I’ll just give you the facts. Salutis didn’t accept you as its master. Give up and go back.”

Wisteria ended the conversation with that.

But the fire in Lloyd’s golden eyes flared up again.

He clenched his back teeth so strongly that it seemed like they would shatter, and tried to force up his body, which was still under the effects of the <Slacken> spell.

Wisteria was startled and panicked slightly.

“Don’t force it! Resisting the spell under this miasma will wear you down even more…it could kill you!”

Even as she shouted that, the fierceness in Lloyd’s eyes only increased. His whole body was filled with the will to resist in order to rebel and try to tear off the invisible chains.

Suddenly, his cheek moved slightly. A line of red streamed down from the corner of his well-shaped lips, and Wisteria’s eyes widened.

“Wha…”

She was at a loss for words.

The young man’s knees stretched out, blood streaming from the corners of his mouth. His arms, which had been hanging loosely, were also rising up. The palms of his hands were smeared with blood.

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Golden eyes shot through Wisteria.

(How reckless…!!)

——In this world of miasma where just being here threatened one’s life, he bit the insides of his mouth just to resist the slackening force, and he even injured the palms of his hands.

The young man’s hand still reached for Salutis.

“I…will bring it back.”

His voice was low yet filled with determination.

Wisteria’s breath caught at those golden fire-like eyes.

Lloyd’s hand slowly but steadily approached Wisteria, but then suddenly dropped with a jerk.

As soon as the light disappeared from those golden eyes, his body collapsed to the ground.

“Hey, you——!”

The blood drained from Wisteria’s body all at once, and she rushed to his fallen body.

His golden eyes were closed, and there was a marked grimness in his brow.

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“Pull yourself together, Lloyd…Lloyd!”