DMHS 55

“Yes. I’m alright.”

After the kiss, Lucien’s eyes curved as he smiled.

For some reason, Kian could not take his eyes off that smile.

His golden hair fluttering softly in the wind looked beautiful. Even the slightly messy strands from the breeze seemed to show his free spirit.

Kian’s gaze, drawn for a moment to the straight bridge of his nose and the green eyes deeper than the sea, soon found the corners of Lucien’s mouth, stained with dried blood.

“Why did you do that just now. Were you curious what chimera blood tastes like?”

“Mm… it has no taste.”

“Of course it doesn’t. Did you really have to try it to know?”

“If not now, when else would I get to taste chimera blood?”

Lucien shifted the subject.

“We’ve seen enough of the dolls’ diving show. Then should we go to that Tower Master’s room you mentioned earlier?”

But Kian gave no answer. Lucien looked quietly at his mate.

He didn’t know what Kian had gone through while they were apart, but when they met again, Kian was unstable. His reactions were slow, and the body in his arms trembled slightly.

‘So that’s why he didn’t want us to split up.’

Lucien swallowed his irritation and held Kian again. From the chest pressed against him, he felt the steady beat of a heart.

‘Better than before, but…’

All Lucien could do was hold his mate and soothe him, repeating that it was alright, kissing him like he was calming a frightened child after a fall.

Lucien looked at Kian with eyes as sweet as honey and thought,

‘Should I tear them all apart and kill them?’

His hands almost tightened from the thought. He spread both palms deliberately, suppressing his anger. Turning his thoughts elsewhere was another part of that effort.

‘What did my mate see in the meantime?’

This place was truly vile. From the moment Lucien entered, he only thought of leaving as quickly as possible.

In a place where countless emotions like regret, inferiority, anger, and guilt mixed with sticky mana and piled up like layers of earth, nothing good could happen.

Even in the guestroom they were guided to, he had felt the lingering feelings of someone who had hanged themselves. It was the same when he came out into the corridor. Both above and below the stairs, the air was heavy and foul.

Even so, his mate wanted to search for clues inside. Lucien could not go against Kian’s will.

–I’ll go down. Let’s meet later.

Lucien went to the lower floor. In the corridor there, a doll made a fuss about chimeras appearing.

Lucien cut the doll down with the edge of his hand, then stepped into the open room.

–……

The chimeras inside, who had been tearing one another apart in slaughter, froze the moment they saw Lucien. Soon they bent their bodies and bowed their heads. Lucien swept the room with a cold gaze, then went further down.

The floor below was no different. Lucien destroyed noisy dolls and left the released chimeras alone.

As he continued downward, Lucien noticed a shining light at the end of a corridor.

‘Ha.’

The light was smaller and fainter than a firefly, but it was the only thing here not tainted.

When Lucien caught the light in his palm, the surroundings changed in an instant.

It was a dense forest. The trees grew so tall they covered the sky, making it dark like night even in the day.

As he stood still, a girl with pointed ears rushed from tree to tree. Curious, Lucien followed her.

The girl arrived at a village set in the middle of the forest. Something seemed to have happened, as all the older villagers were gathered in the square. Like the girl, they too had long pointed ears.

‘Elves? The race said to have perished in ancient times.’

The girl jumped down from the tree and grabbed the hand of an elderly woman, begging.

–Please. I beg you, Elder, listen to me.

–We cannot, Beti.

It seemed the girl’s name was “Beti.”

–No matter how many times you ask, our hearts will not change. It’s not because we don’t know what is coming, but because we believe that way is better.

The Elder’s voice was gentle and calm. Her eyes, looking at the girl called Beti, were warm.

But even with the soft refusal, Beti went half mad, crying out. Her small face was wet with tears as she shouted.

–How can that be better? You would die here with the World Tree? The demonic energy has already spread into the forest. In half a day the World Tree will wither!

Lucien could not understand Beti’s words.

‘Wasn’t it that the elves were destroyed by a half-elf blinded by revenge?’

He had looked at the elves’ graveyard when he was in eagle form.

The murals carved there showed the last moments of the elves, when an outsider girl, rejected and consumed by hatred, finally set fire to the forest.

But what Lucien was seeing now was no mere imagination. In these dreadful emotions, this light, the only thing left alive, was a memory held by someone.

‘The old story was wrong. This is the real truth of the past.’

The Elder stroked the girl’s head.

–Beti, my beloved child.

–……

–You are different from us. That is why you were all the more a gift.

At the same time Lucien recalled something.

The young Betias was rejected by the village because of her unusual appearance. Tired of bullying and discrimination, Betias left her father’s side and went to the Eternal Forest. The elves who first saw Betias were greatly unsettled by the unfamiliar being. In the end, Betias could not blend into the elves’ world.

This much Lucien already knew. But a moment later, a line struck through the last sentence, and a new one continued.

The elves who first saw Betias were greatly unsettled by the unfamiliar being. In the end, Betias could not blend into the elves’ world.

And yet, they…

–Do not hesitate, come here. You are our child.

They accepted Betias without hesitation.

Betias became the adopted daughter of the Elf Elder. She had a new family.

Because of that, she could say a word she had thought she would never in her life speak.

–Mother.

The four older sisters who became her new family warmly embraced her.

–Thank you.

Betias grew up in the Eternal Forest. Like other elves, she communed with nature, practiced archery, and learned knowledge in the Eternal Library.

In particular, she showed astonishing talent in learning knowledge related to mana. As an elf, her rare ability to learn and use magic on her own became a unique trait that enriched the lives of the elves.

The elves cherished Betias.

Betias also loved the elves sincerely. Enough that she could do anything for them…

‘So Betias did not burn the elves out of resentment.’

Lucien, arms folded, watched the exchange between Betias and the Elder.

The Elder held Betias’s shoulders and looked into her eyes.

–You will always be my child. That will not change. But we know you can live even if you leave this forest. So… go. Leave, and experience the wider world on your own.

Betias let out a tearing scream.

–Mother!

–I am sorry, my daughter.

Betias screamed as she covered her ears and stomped her feet.

–I won’t allow it! I won’t go outside the Eternal Forest alone! You all have to leave with me! We can live in the outside world too! I’ll make it possible for us to live there!

In the end, Betias ran out crying. She went west, toward the part of the forest that touched the village.

Beyond the dense trees, the ground had turned black. It looked like dried lava, or like a mudflat. The blackened land spread wider every moment.

On that black land, nothing remained.

Huge trees instantly lost their vitality, withered, and sank into the earth. Grass and flowers disappeared as if they had never been there.

Betias threw down a fallen branch. The moment it touched the blackened land, it turned to ash and was absorbed.

Next, Betias pulled the bow from her shoulder. She fired arrows imbued with the power of creation again and again.

But even the glowing arrows were no match for the black land. On the contrary, the black land absorbed the arrows’ energy and spread faster.

The same was true of magic. Betias could not stop the land that threatened the Eternal Forest.

–Don’t come! Get away! Damn land, don’t come any closer!

Once more, Betias’s face was soaked with tears.

–Not here! This is the land blessed with the goddess’s sacred command!

Her voice broke.

–Don’t come. Please… no… I can’t lose them. Mother, sisters, my beloved family… if I lose them, I can’t… live anymore.

Betias clutched her head and collapsed.

–Ah… O Goddess.

She raged, begged, acted like one possessed, then suddenly stopped.

–I will make them leave. No matter what, I’ll make them leave with me.

Betias’s watery eyes gleamed with madness. Mana gathered at her fingertips. Betias tilted back her head and laughed wildly.

–Ahahaha! So this is what I should have done, why didn’t I think of it sooner?

A storm began to rise around Betias. That much mana had gathered.

Her silver hair whipped in all directions.

–Hahaha!

In the storm of mana, Betias stretched out her hand.

From the sky, burning fireballs began to fall.