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Translator: penny
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Can You Say It One More Time?
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Staring blankly at the ceiling once more.
Normally, this would be the time I'd prepare herbs for tomorrow's business, but nothing stuck in my hands today. I just lay in bed, replaying my conversation with Roselia over and over.
"Family..."
Roselia had said she truly saw me as her daughter. But a corner of my heart kept catching on those words, making it hard to take them at face value.
In a world where even blood-bound families discarded each other like old rags, could a bond forged by a single piece of paper really be family?
Roselia dreamed of revenge. If one day she saw me as an obstacle to that revenge, would she still call me family then?
My answer to all those doubts was "no." The word "family" felt utterly foreign to me from the start.
In truth, it should've been simple—just keep acting as usual without overthinking. Take responsibility for my own actions. Forge ahead alone, without relying on anyone. That was the path I wanted.
But Roselia's gaze on me shone with such tenderness, so gentle it made me desperately want to lean on her. My resolve kept wavering because of it.
"...I don't know."
I rubbed my face, suppressing the tangled thoughts. Truth be told, Roselia wasn't the only one stirring up my mind right now.
I took a short breath and closed my eyes. A tickling sensation prickled from the right side of my face.
Opening my eyes again, I looked in the mirror. A dark red flower had bloomed beside my right eye.
This time, I reached toward the mirror. From between my sleeve, that same tickling sensation emerged as a stem began to grow.
Sharp thorns bristled along it, splitting into several branches that groped at the empty air. Just watching the stems move at my command made my head spin.
"I never imagined I could bloom a Black Ooze..."
The stems whipped through the air before me. Remnants of the Black Ooze I'd encountered before.
One called Cassandra.
Cassandra wasn't some mighty Black Ooze. It was just a low-grade specimen from the early areas. Sierra had dispatched it effortlessly with a casual swing, and it crumpled lifelessly to the ground.
Not as threatening as a troll, I'd planned to leave without much thought.
[Don't take it.]
A splitting headache hit, and a hallucinated voice echoed in my mind. Telling me to eat the flower. That voice filled my head, clouding my thoughts.
When I came to, I was kneeling before the corpse.
I placed my hand on the lifeless body. Soon, a dark red flower bloomed from Cassandra's core and settled into my palm.
The voice in my head endlessly whispered to eat it. So persistent. It wouldn't stop until I did.
In the end, I slipped the flower into my hand behind Sierra's back and swallowed it alone where no one could see. Just like that, the voice and headache vanished as if they'd been lies.
After that, Cassandra's stems became part of me, sprouting from my fingertips.
My Divine Power seemed capable of blooming any flower imaginable. Maybe it was far stronger than I'd ever thought.
"I have to keep this completely hidden..."
I clenched my fist, and the wandering stems quietly retracted into my sleeve.
A power that bloomed Black Oozes? Perfect fodder for being branded a heretic and burned at the stake. The kind of talent that unholy black altar would welcome with open arms.
That's why I had to hide it no matter what.
"Well, let's think positive."
Having a powerful Divine Power was never a bad thing, no matter how you sliced it.
Besides, the stronger it was, the easier it'd be to enter the academy. I might even get a free pass without any entrance exam.
Of course, that assumed I'd reveal my full power—but that's a problem for later.
Plus, the academy would surely teach control methods to suppress erosion. Until then, I'd just keep progressing steadily like now.
Knock knock.
My thoughts were finally settling when the knock came at the door.
Sierra stood outside. Maybe lingering resentment from before? Her eyes were colder than usual.
"Did you have a good talk with Lady Roselia?"
I hiked up my calf to show her.
"I got punished. So please cool off, Sierra."
"..."
Sierra's eyes flinched at the vivid red welts from the switch on my leg. She sighed, her expression softening a bit as she knelt by the bed to examine it.
"Lady Roselia already applied the medicine. It'll heal by tomorrow if you leave it."
"...Yeah."
Roselia's words about seeing me as her daughter suddenly resurfaced. Maybe that's why Sierra's gaze felt different from usual.
Soft enough to make me delusionally think she was genuinely worried about me.
"...Sierra, can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead."
"Back then... why were you mad at me?"
Sierra's eyebrow twitched faintly. After a brief silence, she spoke.
"Miss."
"Yes?"
"If I were found dead one day, how would you feel?"
The question I'd never even considered made my eyes widen. An indescribable pain burrowed into my chest.
"Why say something like that, Sierra?"
My voice came out colder than I'd expected.
"That's how I felt about you."
Sierra's eyes stared straight at me, unwavering. The sincerity in them sealed my lips.
"You were worried about me?"
"Yes. Back then, I really thought something terrible had happened to you... My heart nearly burst."
"...Because of the aftermath?"
Snap!
"Eek?"
A sharp sting hit my forehead. I clutched it with both hands, blinking dazedly.
"You're even worse at accepting people's feelings than Miss Camilla."
Sierra, fingers pinched for a flick, gave a smile devoid of warmth.
"...So you really were worried about me?"
"Took you long enough. Good girl."
Her tone was mocking, but it carried undeniable warmth.
Could I really be someone worth worrying over like this?
"...Was Lady Roselia worried about me too?"
"Do you know what expression Lady Roselia is wearing right now?"
"Huh?"
Sierra flashed a playful smile. She glanced around, then leaned in close to my ear.
"She's fidgeting anxiously."
"...Huh?"
It didn't click easily. Roselia, anxious? No reason came to mind.
"You said you'd give her an answer later, remember?"
"Y-Yeah, but...?"
Roselia had asked me to trust and rely on her. I'd put off answering.
"She's pacing her room alone, muttering worries like 'What if she rejects me again?'"
The unexpected words made me blink.
That authoritative Roselia, talking to herself? Imagining it brought laughter bubbling up unbidden.
"Pfft. Don't lie."
"Remember when you hit your head and passed out?"
The time my circuits overloaded from first using the mana herb, maybe?
"Lady Roselia dropped everything, skipped meals, and nursed you by your side."
"...Huh?"
"She even called the physician every time you mumbled in your sleep, overreacting."
"Really...?"
"I stake my honor on it. It's the truth."
My heart began to race. Uncontrollable emotions surged through me.
"Lady Roselia truly sees you as family."
"..."
Even now, I couldn't easily believe Sierra. Or maybe... I didn't want to.
What if I trusted again? Opened my heart again?
And got abandoned by a third family?
I feared I wouldn't be able to push forward boldly like now.
That's why I didn't want to believe.
Yet my heart was tilting toward Roselia's smile bit by bit.
Just once more. Just one more time.
Wouldn't it be okay to step into that family shelter? Even if abandoned again, I could regret it then.
"I-I... need to go somewhere for a bit."
Sierra nodded quietly and stepped aside.
I flung open the door and ran down the endless Rahel Tani corridor. The path I walked daily felt endlessly long today.
My frantic footsteps halted before Roselia's study. Clutching my trembling heart, I cautiously opened the door.
"...Bella?"
Roselia looked at me with startled eyes. Outwardly, no signs of anxiety showed.
But I'd decided to believe Sierra's words.
"I-I came to give you my... answer..."
"Oh, already?"
Roselia's eyes quivered slightly. Looking closer, a faint tension seemed pooled in her red gaze.
"Um... that is... so..."
I still didn't fully trust. Maybe I never would, not completely, even in a lifetime.
But... still...
A little, perhaps...
"Hey, um. So... dinner... dinner..."
"Yes?"
Facing her puzzled look,
I dragged the word buried deep in my heart up to my throat with effort.
"W-Would you have dinner... with me, Mom...?"
"Hm... Well, dinner's obvious anyway—"
Roselia froze. Her eyes, twice their usual size, stared blankly at me.
She shot up from her seat and approached.
"Can you say it one more time? My ears must be playing tricks..."
"Dinner... together."
Avoiding her heavy gaze, I stared at the distant floor and repeated it.
"...Mom."
My whisper, softer than a breath.
The pen slipped from Roselia's hand and clattered to the floor.
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