The two boys kept struggling in mid-air. When they had drifted far enough away, Noah judged they could no longer hear what was being said. Of course, with his sharp hearing, he could still catch every word.
With a flick of his fingers, Noah released the spell. Thump! Both boys dropped into the snow.
"Who the hell are you, bastard?! What are you doing here?!"
The black-haired boy scrambled up at once, jabbing a finger toward Noah and shouting.
The boy with silver-blue hair also climbed to his feet, standing shoulder to shoulder with his friend, his dark eyes narrowed with caution.
"Me?" Noah smiled faintly. "I'm just a kind-hearted passerby who doesn't want to see another tragedy happen.
If you want answers, wait until they've finished talking. They'll tell you what they can, if they choose to. This is their private matter. What they decide to share is up to them."
Seeing the boys about to press him further, Noah raised a hand to silence them and pointed toward the two figures still locked in each other's arms, crying as if the world might end.
The boys exchanged a look, then reluctantly stood aside, defeated.
On the other side, the sobs of the woman and the young girl gradually weakened. The woman clutched the child tightly, choking back her tears as she whispered:
"Ultear… my Ultear… you're alive… you're really alive. Thank goodness, thank goodness…"
Ultear froze. Her tears stopped. Her wide eyes locked on the woman in front of her.
Alive? What was that supposed to mean? She'd been alive all this time.
Anger surged through her chest. She shoved against the woman, trying to break free, but the woman only held her tighter, refusing to let go.
"I've always been alive!" Ultear snapped, her voice sharp with hurt. "But you… Mother, you abandoned me!"
The woman's eyes widened, her voice trembling. "But… when I went back to see you, they told me you had died."
Ultear went still, shocked by the words.
Realization flickered in the woman's tearful eyes. She wiped her face with her sleeve, then cupped her daughter's cheeks, speaking with desperate resolve.
"Ultear… listen to me. Let me tell you everything. We must have been deceived."
Ultear's breathing hitched. She looked at her mother, confused, conflicted. Finally, she gave a small nod.
The woman began from the beginning.
Ultear, she explained, had been born overflowing with magic power. As she grew, her magic surged beyond what her frail young body could handle. Fever consumed her, unrelenting. Desperate, the woman searched everywhere for a cure until she heard of a special institution that could treat such an illness.
It was called the Magic Development Bureau.
Believing it was her only hope, she entrusted Ultear to them, praying they could stabilize her child's body and free her from the fevers.
But soon after, tragedy struck. When she returned to visit, the Bureau's staff coldly told her that Ultear had died. That her body had deteriorated so badly, she should not look at it.
The woman had collapsed in grief, forced to accept the cruel truth that her daughter was gone.
And yet today, seeing her child before her eyes, warm and alive she realized she had been lied to. They had deceived her.
Tears poured freely as she pulled her daughter close again, clutching her as if afraid to ever let go. Feeling Ultear's warmth, her breath, her heartbeat this time, she knew it was real.
Ultear trembled, stunned by the truth. Slowly, it sank in. Her mother hadn't abandoned her. She had been deceived both of them had.
Her throat tightened as she whispered her own story.
When she was taken to the Bureau, the staff told her it was by her mother's will. That her mother wanted her magic to be strengthened, and that only when her magic grew powerful enough would she be allowed to see her again.
So the experiments began. Day after day, she was forced through agonizing trials electric shocks, twisted procedures all designed to amplify her magic. The torment drained her body and crushed her spirit.
In the silence of her loneliness, Ultear clung to one thought only: I want to see my mother. I want to leave this place. I want to go home.
Until this morning, she had still wanted to see her mother again. But by accident, Urrutia triggered a burst of uncontrolled magic, shattering the glass in the room.
That was when she seized her chance. After enduring countless ordeals, she finally escaped. Then she met Noah. With Noah's help, she hurried home, her heart filled with hope of finding her mother.
But when she arrived, full of expectation, what she saw crushed her. Her mother was happily talking with two boys, smiling as if nothing had ever been lost.
Seeing that smile, Urrutia believed her worst fear had come true. She thought her mother had abandoned her and built a happy life with other children.
If Noah hadn't pulled her out of that moment and brought her here directly, Urrutia might have left, carrying that terrible misunderstanding forever.
When the woman heard the truth about the experiments Urrutia had suffered at the Magic Development Bureau, her body trembled with fury. Tears streamed down her face, but her teeth clenched in rage. Magic flared uncontrollably from her body, shaking the air and pressing into the ground.
The two boys nearby were terrified. They had never seen the woman look so furious, nor had they ever felt such a crushing aura. Frightened out of their wits, they clung to each other.
Yet in the woman's arms, Urrutia's expression didn't change. She kept speaking through sobs, lost in her painful memories. It was clear she didn't feel the crushing weight of her mother's magic at all. The woman, without even realizing it, was instinctively sheltering her child.
When Urrutia explained how she had escaped the Bureau by chance, the woman finally let out a breath of relief, her expression softening.
But when she heard how her daughter had run all through the night to return home, her heart twisted sharply, aching with guilt.
And when Urrutia admitted she had thought her mother abandoned her, the woman broke down completely. Tears spilled again as she clutched her daughter tighter and cried out, choking on her sobs:
"How could I abandon you? How could I ever abandon you? You are the proof of my life, my precious Urrutia, my tears themselves!"
In that moment, Urrutia finally understood. She realized what her name meant, and what she had always been to her mother. She saw clearly now that her mother would never abandon her. Everything had been a cruel misunderstanding.
Overcome, she broke into tears once more. Hugging her mother tightly, she cried in a hoarse, trembling voice:
"Mom… Mom, I missed you so much… Mom!"
Hearing her daughter's desperate sobs, Ulu felt her heart splitting apart. She clung to Urrutia, crying with her, mother and daughter holding onto each other as if they would never let go again.
The two cried together for a long time, until their strength finally gave out and their sobs slowly faded.
The boys, who had been listening from a distance, stayed silent. They didn't dare interrupt, and only stood quietly, watching.
Noah also stood in silence, calmly waiting. He knew they needed this time to cry, to release everything, and to feel each other's presence again.