Chapter 56: I Hired a Champion-Tier Trainer to Protect Me
The thought was strange, but it flickered through Lillie's mind for only an instant before passing.
The estate was utterly still. Lusamine set her teacup on the side table and regarded Lillie with a gaze that was equal parts detached and complicated.
"Sit."
The single word carried an authority whose meaning Lillie couldn't quite read. A tremor ran through her, but she made herself walk to the opposite sofa and sit.
Yet the fear rooted deep inside her kept Lillie's hands clenched in her skirt, her eyes fixed on the floor. She couldn't bring herself to meet Lusamine's gaze.
Seconds crawled by. Lusamine had been waiting in silence for Lillie to speak first, but as the silence stretched, her expression grew colder. Disappointment gathered behind her eyes.
"You came back of your own volition, so I assumed you'd steeled yourself for this. What is this timid display supposed to be?"
Lusamine's frigid voice broke the quiet.
"How disheartening, Lillie. Don't you have anything you want to say to me?"
Lillie flinched — but still couldn't raise her head.
"I have loved you both so deeply. I poured so much love into you." Anger was creeping into Lusamine's voice now. Her pupils were losing their light. "And yet you betrayed me!"
Yes — that was how Lusamine saw it.
She loved her children with everything she had. And these children — her closest family — had turned their backs on her.
Not only had they run away, they'd taken Type: Null and Cosmog with them. How could that be anything but an act of fury-inducing betrayal?
"No… that's not—"
"Children who rejected my love and abandoned me — Lillie, you—"
"THAT'S NOT HOW IT IS!"
The girl's stubborn voice rang out, cutting Lusamine off mid-sentence.
Lusamine stared, visibly startled. This was the first time Lillie had ever raised her voice at her. The first time Lillie had ever interrupted her.
"Mother, you always just talk at us! Why did you become like this?!"
Lillie bit her lip and lifted her head. Red-rimmed eyes met Lusamine's gaze head-on — bravely, unflinchingly.
"You—"
"The mother I remember was truly gentle! I loved you more than anyone — so did my brother!"
Lusamine went still, staring blankly at her daughter.
"But ever since Father disappeared, you changed! Why? You stopped considering what we thought or felt. You just imposed your decisions on us — you never cared whether we were happy!"
"The mother I admired was never like this!"
It poured out of her like a dam breaking — the girl throwing every last ounce of herself into the cry she'd been holding back for years.
Fat tears rolled down her cheeks.
"And you're still doing those dangerous experiments — the same ones that made Father disappear! You're doing them anyway!"
"If… if Mother disappeared too, just like Father… then what would happen to me and my brother? We… we don't want to lose you too… hic…"
By the end, Lillie couldn't hold it together anymore. She dissolved into heaving sobs.
These words had been locked inside her for so, so long — a mountain pressing down on her chest until she could barely breathe.
Watching her daughter weep with raw, unguarded emotion, Lusamine went blank.
She'd never imagined Lillie felt this way. Something indescribable surged up from the depths of her heart.
Silence settled over the room again, broken only by Lillie's quiet, stifled sobs.
She didn't want to cry. But she couldn't stop. The tears had a will of their own.
Then — a warm hand came to rest on her back, rubbing gently.
Lillie opened her tear-blurred eyes. There was Lusamine, right in front of her — but the cold mask was gone. In its place, nothing but tenderness.
"My Lillie… you've grown up, but you're still a child, aren't you?"
That gentle, motherly voice broke the last of Lillie's composure. She threw herself into Lusamine's arms.
The mother from her memories had finally come back.
"Mother!"
"Shh~ I'm here. I'm so sorry, Lillie. I put you through so much."
Lusamine held her daughter close, her voice thick with guilt.
Why hadn't she listened to Lillie's feelings before?
Lusamine embraced her daughter tightly, genuinely reflecting — for the first time — on whether the way she'd loved her children had been right.
Looking back now, her obsession with Ultra Beasts had blinded her to understanding what Lillie actually needed.
Lusamine did love her children deeply. She always had. She'd simply never thought to ask what they wanted — stubbornly believing that children only needed to obey.
But Lillie's outpouring had finally made her understand.
Mother and daughter reconciled. There was so much to say. They settled back onto the sofa together.
Lillie talked about everything that had happened since she'd left Aether Paradise, and Lusamine listened attentively, offering her thoughts from time to time.
The atmosphere was warm and easy. And then—
"Mother… you haven't given up on that plan, have you?"
After a moment's hesitation, Lillie mustered the courage to ask.
"The Ultra Wormholes?" Lusamine replied.
"Yes. Mother, it's far too dangerous. Please, can you just—"
"Lillie, as much as I'd like to give you the answer you want to hear, I won't lie to you." Lusamine sighed.
"We cannot abandon the Ultra Wormhole research."
"But why? You know how dangerous the Ultra Beasts are!" Lillie's voice rose with urgency.
"I do. And that's precisely why we can't stop." Lusamine's tone was firm and clear.
Lillie blinked.
"Lillie, researching the Ultra Wormholes isn't just for my sake. The threat Ultra Beasts pose to all of Alola is very real."
"Do you know why Alola has never established its own Pokémon League?"
Lillie's small face scrunched as the pieces fell into place. She'd always been a sharp girl.
"Professor Kukui has been working tirelessly to create an Alola League, but it's been an exercise in futility — because Alola's fundamental problem remains unsolved." Lusamine shook her head.
"Because of the Ultra Beasts…"
"Exactly. You know Kahuna Nanu? Before he became Ula'ula's Island Kahuna, he was one of the Interpol agents the Pokémon League dispatched to Alola to investigate Ultra Beasts."
Lusamine revealed this closely guarded fact.
"During one of those missions, it went wrong. An agent was killed — by an Ultra Beast called Guzzlord."
"Until we understand the Ultra Beasts, the Alola League can never be established. Alola will never be able to hold its head up among the other regions."
Lillie bit her lip. She wasn't an immature child. When something affected the entire Alola region, she couldn't selfishly demand her mother abandon it.
"Don't worry, Lillie. I know what you're afraid of. But I've made thorough preparations this time. I've even secured the services of a powerful Champion-tier trainer as protection."
Lusamine stroked Lillie's soft cheek with tender affection.
"A Champion-tier trainer?" Lillie's eyes went wide. Even she understood the weight that title carried.
"That's right. He's very capable."
Something complicated flickered in the depths of Lusamine's eyes.
But Lillie was far too innocent to catch just how many layers of meaning her mother had packed into that single sentence.
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you