Chapter 96: Rapid Progress

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: posted in discord

Glen's accusation stabbed Letitia's heart like a sharp dagger.

After all, she was the prologue to Glen's misfortunes.

Abandoned in the human realm, Glen grew up in an orphanage. The director at the time was brutal and often beat the children. Whenever the director drank, the orphans would tiptoe down the corridors, trying their best not to be noticed.

Then one day, Glen overheard through a half-open door.

The director had finally decided to sell Glen, who had been strikingly handsome since childhood, to a noble with a taste for young boys.

Indeed, blood will tell - Glen's decision was bold and swift. He escaped from the orphanage with his small body.

Glen was seven years old. It was during a harsh winter.

After fleeing, Glen became a beggar. He settled in back alleys and started begging, offering his meager earnings to thugs. He considered himself lucky to eat just enough to stay alive. At least until the security force investigating a murder case started combing through the back alleys.

With nowhere left to go, Glen wandered aimlessly. He roamed day and night, wherever his feet took him.

When he was truly on the brink of starvation, he would steal. Once, right after snatching an apple, he tripped on a rock and fell. He was beaten within an inch of his life. The memory still haunts him.

And so, barely surviving, he greeted the dawn of his ninth year.

Glen was kidnapped.

The reason was his resemblance to the royalty of a fallen kingdom.

Thrown into the slave market, Glen underwent months of training. It was a process of thoroughly breaking the wild look in his eyes, gained from weathering the harsh world.

He repeatedly practiced submitting to his future master.

Later, when he was finally put up for illegal auction as a slave.

Glen saw a divine warrior descending from the heavens.

God's vanguard, wrapped in golden radiance, judging evil. His voice recited divine words, and his hands held miracles that mended wounds.

It was a moment of salvation unlike any other in his life.

Following that line of mercy, Glen had now reached this point. Face to face with the beginning of everything, the first severed connection.

"I..."

Letitia couldn't continue.

The situation wasn't good. Back then, she had no choice.

...But such excuses felt too flimsy in the face of the heavy regret sleeping in those black eyes that resembled her own.

"..."

Of course, the situation at the time had been an unprecedented political crisis.

Letitia's tearful plea had resulted in the complete annihilation of many elite demons. The baptismal name child who appeared alone was strong enough to overturn the earth and split the sky.

It was utterly overwhelming.

Even if other mistakes were overlooked, the fact that the holy maiden who was to become the next High Priest had perished put Letitia, a human, in a tight spot. It wouldn't have been strange if the demons' antipathy turned to hatred and directed their blades at Letitia. Even if she was the Demon King's only companion.

Glen had been a child who could barely speak. No matter how much she tried to protect him, it wouldn't have been strange if he died in an instant, caught up in some conspiracy.

So she sent him to the human realm.

Since he wasn't a demon anyway, he could never hope for the Demon King's throne. She believed it would be better for him to grow up among his own kind.

Ironically, that one decision reversed the situation.

The Demon King's companion felt threatened and abandoned her own child. Moreover, it was her firstborn son, conceived after countless women's sacrifices. The impact was huge because no one expected Letitia to go that far.

Before long, the pressure on Letitia disappeared, and everyone was watching the Demon King's reactions.

In a way, it was a twisted scenario where the mother benefited from her child's sacrifice. Therefore, it was only natural that Letitia found it difficult to even utter an excuse.

"...I can hardly imagine how I should apologize to you."

"There's no need to apologize."

"Why..."

"Whatever the past was like, I'm living well enough now. With people who care about me."

Glen's next words pierced Letitia's guilt even deeper.

"...So I want to leave the past in the past now."

"Ah..."

From Letitia's perspective, Glen had always been an ongoing concern. No matter how much time passed, he was always the precious child she had to reclaim in the end.

But Glen was saying he had already buried Letitia in the past. Letitia was no longer necessary for Glen's happiness, which had grown surrounded by various connections.

Realizing this asymmetry in their relationship, Letitia could only groan.

"I'm... sorry, Glen."

"I told you, there's no need to apologize."

"But, but... I... to you..."

"It's really okay."

Glen exhaled with a detached air, like someone who had let go of many things.

"Actually, I was troubled until I came here. I had a lot of worries about how to start talking, whether I'd be welcomed, things like that..."

"...Yes."

"Somehow, I've forgotten all of that now. Right now, I just want to go home and rest."

"What...?"

Letitia was startled. She was so shocked that she grabbed Glen's sleeve.

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She tried to finish the sentence, but Letitia's lips wouldn't move any further. It was too shameless, even to her own ears.

Given his hazy memories and weighing the parents who abandoned him against his current connections, it was clear which side would come out on top.

"Ah... uh."

Still, she couldn't let go of the sleeve she had grasped. How pathetic.

She had finally met the child she had longed for every moment, and she didn't want to part ways indefinitely like this. Her desire was too strong to bury all her longing with just the fact that he was living well.

She wanted to grasp even a sliver of opportunity.

An opportunity to win the child's heart by raising him preciously, even if starting now.

"Mother."

"Yes, Glen..."

"I can't live in the demon realm now."

"Ah, no... That's not true, I'm sure things can change to suit you..."

At that moment, Glen cut off Letitia's desperate words. It was an uncharacteristically bold move for the usually polite Glen.

"I've found someone I like."

"...Huh?"

In the instant Letitia's thoughts were colored with blankness, Glen continued.

"There's someone who took me in knowing my entire background. And there are kids who are still my friends even after I revealed my secrets to them. And there are servants who always smile at me... There's also someone I respect endlessly. I like those people."

"..."

"And... there's someone I like a bit more, in a special way, than the others."

The place Glen had to return to now was only one. A home full of people he liked in all sorts of ways was close by.

Unlike before when he wandered and suffered abuse. If he hadn't met them, Glen would have taken Letitia's hand without hesitation.

"Couldn't you... stay here even for a little while? If you'd give me a chance to change your mind... I..."

"I'm sorry."

"Too... too much time has passed..."

"I felt that way too."

He had been alone for far too long. He had trudged through that pitch-black landscape like a night sea to finally reach the present. Holding onto connections he absolutely couldn't give up...

"...But your family is here."

"They're here 'too'."

Glen quietly corrected her desperate plea.

Suddenly, he remembered warning Rochelle Peter at the hunting festival.

[Why are you so kind to Echo? She's not prettier than me, and she's not family either...]

Glen had answered that question without hesitation.

[She is family.]

With a gentle smile he rarely showed.

[Maybe someday... it could become even more real than it is now.]

Yes, they were family.

Even without blood ties, they cherished each other and didn't abandon one another. Harte had personally defined that relationship as family to Glen, who had been alone. From that point on, Glen's place to return to was decided.

"...Hm."

Having thought that far, Glen made a small sound. He imagined how Harte and Elphisia would think about this situation.

Those kind people didn't come all this way just to destroy blood ties.

It was Glen's role to resolve his inner conflict and sever ties. And it was also Glen's role to have the will to rebuild the relationship somehow.

They came here to respect Glen's choice.

'But if I cut ties completely... the Director and Vice Director would be very worried.'

After all, it was they who brought him to the demon realm and gave him this chance to choose. It was natural for them to be concerned about a bad outcome.

'But... I...'

He was conflicted. The moment he recognized this, Glen realized.

That he harbored anger.

That he resented the parents who had abandoned him, regardless of the circumstances.

If he considered Harte and Elphisia's discomfort, it would be right to show a willingness to improve the relationship. There were countless ways to part on good terms without Glen necessarily staying in the demon realm.

The reason he ignored those methods and maintained a cold attitude was precisely because of anger.

"...Hah."

He had been sure he'd buried it long ago, but seeing her face in person seemed to have ignited emotions that had been gathering dust. As soon as he became aware of this, his head cooled down again.

Glen, now much calmer, spoke up.

"As I said, I have no intention of staying here."

"Glen..."

"However."

Glen cut off his words with a firm tone and offered an alternative.

"I should be able to visit often."

Remembering Harte and Elphisia's other purpose.

"For that, I'll need your help, Mother."

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