Chapter 80: His Test (1) (1/2)
Drip drip drip—
A midsummer shower poured outside the restaurant where Epherene, depressed, nibbled on her food.
“Why does life sometimes go awry like this? I can’t go back in time to fix this.”
“…”
“If despair comes, one would think the hope to overcome it would swiftly follow afterward, but reality is never that easy. There can never be enough compensation for this much melancholy.”
She twirled her chopsticks around her food and eventually dropped them on the table. Teardrops were welling in her eyes.
“What’s wrong? Isn’t it delicious?” Sylvia’s maids, Lete and Endell, were flustered. The steak was delicious enough for them.
“She only likes a certain pig.” Sylvia ate her meal nonchalantly. It didn’t matter to her whether it was rice balls, fried rice, pigs, or cows.
“Why… Why did it have to be today…” Epherene murmured, her misery caused by the [Pig’s Flower]’s decision to not open today.
She thought about the reason behind it as hard as she possibly could but nevertheless couldn’t figure it out. In the end, she decided to ask Julia about it later.
“Stupid Epherene.” Sylvia stood up. Her lips curved upward, finding the evening quite satisfying.
She didn’t have the strength to respond.
One of the three maids left the shop with Sylvia, and the other two remained behind; they sat and talked to Epherene, who looked exhausted.
“This is a first.”
“… What?”
“My lady’s never brought a friend over before since her mother passed away.”
“Ah…” Epherene smiled bitterly.
The truth was, Sylvia was so famous that most information about her and her family was public. Hence, people from the tower and even ordinary undergraduate students at the university knew that Sylvia’s mother had passed away.
Such was the problem that accompanied fame.
“So, you don’t know how happy I was when Ms. Epherene came. You even willingly went all the way to the mansion.”
“Ahaha… it was indeed voluntary, but…”
She was actually just hanging around its vicinity when she was dragged inside because she looked conspicuous. After that, the attendants treated her so well that she even took a shower without realizing it…
“No, really, this is the first time. Everyone finds the lady difficult to handle, but she even twisted your nose. That’s never happened before.”
“… I-is that so?”
“Of course~ That’s why we were wondering if… you could continue being friends with Lady Sylvia in the future as well?”
It was hard for Epherene to answer that request. They weren’t aware of it, but the relationship between Iliade and Luna couldn’t even be considered good.
“Can’t you…?”
“… What? No, no, we should get along well, of course.”
Grinning, Epherene picked up her fork and knife and started eating the steak again.
*****
Sylvia came back home before the evening grew too deep since she had a lot to prepare. Deculein’s test was already next Friday, after all. There was also her application, which she deemed in need of revisions.
“Daughter.”
However, in the middle of the mansion’s unlit living room, an unexpected guest was waiting for her.
Glitheon.
“Oh. My Lord, when did you—”
“Lete, go outside.”
It was a rather cold atmosphere. Even the air itself felt heavy.
“Ah… Okay. I understand.”
Lete was worried but soon went outside, leaving the young lady behind.
Sylvia approached him and tilted her head.
“What’s the problem?”
“…”
Glitheon tapped the application form on the desk silently, causing Sylvia’s eyes to widen.
“Why did you look at it without my consent?”
She rushed to take it, but her hard-faced father blocked her.
“Are you really thinking of applying to be under Deculein’s command?”
“… Yes. Only for six months.”
Glitheon clenched his jaw as he stared at his younger daughter, who looked exactly like his deceased wife.
“… Sylvia. I had hoped you would grow up only listening and seeing the good of the world, unlike me.”
His gaze moved to his wife’s picture frame at the corner of the living room.
She passed away a long time ago, but Sierra’s smile remained radiant in the photo.
“The conflict between the Magic families. The providence of the cold-blooded beasts known as wizards. I thought it was too early for you to learn of such a world.”
Glitheon’s expression slowly collapsed.
He wasn’t acting.
Even though he sometimes did, he couldn’t suppress the emotions currently flaring up within him.
“What do you mean?”
“… Do you know about the history between the Yuklines and the Iliades, Sylvia? Do you know of our ill-fated relationship with them?”
She didn’t answer. Having taken off his usual mask, he became unfamiliar, which scared her.
He thoughtlessly stared at her as she took a step back.
“Sierra.”
The name of her mother, the person she loved the most in the world, caused her shoulders to faintly tremble.
“She was a beautiful woman and a good mother. I was undeserving of her.”
He stood up and approached her. Grabbing her shoulders to prevent her from running away, he looked into her eyes.
“Listen carefully, Sylvia.”
Though he looked like he was chewing something, he continued speaking clearly.
“Your mother was… was killed by the Yukline.”
Her eyes widened slowly, her father’s fury forming on her growing pupils.
At that moment, her world felt as if it was moving away from her, abandoning her. Sylvia couldn’t hear anything but the fearful beating of her heart. Glitheon no longer seemed like himself. Rather, he looked more like a raging flame.
“Deculein killed Sierra.”
Those words brought her back to her senses, reminding her she was no longer a child. She shouldn’t be paralyzed by fear.
“Our families have that kind of relationship. You should know that—”
“Liar.”
He stopped talking, realizing there was already some ‘faith’ inside Sylvia’s mind.
“…”
She pushed away his hand that grabbed her, causing his expression to distort.
“I know. I know the reason why mom left her hometown.”
“What?”
“Mom hated dad.”
“… Sylvia.”
“But dad lied then, too.”
“…”
Glitheon smiled hopelessly.
Deculein’s face came up in his mind, looking like he was the only noble of any importance as he looked down on the world itself.
And the Yukline before Deculein, that fucking cunning serpent.
Their whole family incited his fury.
“… I’ll ask him myself.”
Her tone was gelid.
“He can’t claim my words to be false.”
He looked at Sylvia, who grew suspicious of him. She stared at her own father like something was wrong with him.
Like Sierra did before.
“After you’ve asked him yourself, you’d know how stupid you’ve been—!”
He tore Sylvia’s application apart as he roared.
Up until now, he had never shown this side of his to his child.
Shocked, Sylvia bit her lips.
“Once you feel it in your heart, you’ll know.”
He then left the mansion, opening the front door, seemingly with the intention of breaking it. The restless servants outside could only bow to him.
Glitheon ignored them and went straight to his car.
—… it’ll be alright.
A small voice flowed in from a crystal ball in his possession. Breathing deeply, he replied, “I let my guard down. No matter how peaceful the times are, I should have honed her character harshly.”
—Isn’t that too cruel an education, brother? She’s still a child. It would be difficult for her.
“Ha.”
He thought about his past. At only seven years old, he almost became a tiger’s meal, and when he was thirteen, he was coerced to kill his best friend. At twenty, he went to war and lost his mother.
“If you can’t overcome that much, you’re not an Iliade.”
Glitheon didn’t blame his fate.
Instead, he considered hardship and suffering were the Iliades’ essence. Their ambition was a rage that engulfed their entire lives like firewood incinerated by hellfire.
“You don’t have to worry. Sylvia won’t disappoint me. Even if she makes a mistake once, she’d eventually soar again.”
Just like that, the anger in Glitheon’s eyes slowly subsided…
*****
Friday, early morning.
“Kuuuuung~”
Yawning, Epherene went out of the dormitory.
She had now completed most of her exams, including mandatory subjects such as [Destruction Series Utilization] and [Assistance Series Transition], and even liberal arts subjects such as the [History of the Empire] and [Pursuit of a Crime].