[You are very fortunate.
At a young age, you meet two childhood sweethearts who are both of noble birth and lively, adorable girls.] [After that first meeting, your family and the Nearl family begin visiting each other frequently, and your bond with Zofia and Margaret grows deeper with each passing day.] [Grandpa Kirill, Uncle Schnitz, Auntie Yolanta, and even Uncle Młynar are all some of the finest people you could ever hope to meet.] [Every time you return home after playing at the Nearl estate, Auntie Yolanta always hugs you at the door with tears in her eyes, sighing emotionally for quite some time.] [And Uncle Młynar, who rarely jokes or smiles, always secretly slips two bottles of the medicine you regularly take into your pockets before sternly ordering you not to tell anyone.] [Zofia and Margaret are both incredibly adorable.
As time quietly passes, you begin to notice that every time you go out, you somehow end up with two cute little followers trailing behind you.] [Meanwhile, the Nearl family gains another equally adorable little sister.
Kirill gives her the name Maria Nearl.] [When you are seven and Margaret is five, the two of you begin training toward the dream of knighthood you both carry in your hearts.] [Zofia does not train alongside you.
Perhaps her family has made different arrangements for her.
Even so, she promises to bring snacks for the two of you every evening after you’ve finished a full day of training.] [As for attending some sort of swordsmanship school…
there is no need.
After all, no swordsmanship instructor would dare claim to be more skilled than Kirill Nearl.] [Auntie Yolanta handles your academic lessons.
After your daytime training ends, she teaches the two of you how to read and has you study books in the evenings.] [Uncle Schnitz is responsible for your daily combat training.
He is stern and meticulous, yet whenever he finds an opening in your defense, he only ever gives your little heads a gentle tap.] [Margaret improves quickly.
Incredibly quickly.
Even though the two of you put in the same amount of effort, little by little, your daily sparring sessions reach the point where all you can do is defend against her attacks.] [Fortunately, you are faster than Margaret.] [After all, if you can’t beat her, you can always run.] [The days pass one after another, and the two of you grow up little by little.] [All while your mother Lucia’s muffled cries of pain continue to sound through the house in the middle of the night.] There were no stars shining in the predawn sky.
After all, the neon lights of Kazimierz shone far brighter than any stars could.
Clarus stood in the darkness of his room with his forehead pressed against the door.
His mother’s screams echoed in his ears.
She was suppressing them with everything she had, yet they remained painfully clear, accompanied by his father’s constant attempts to comfort her.
But gradually, even his father’s comforting voice dissolved into quiet sobbing.
Clarus felt as though he could hear the tears of his father’s guilt falling onto the bedsheets.
One of Clarus’s hands scratched against the door while the other slowly reached behind him, gently touching the small crystal protruding from his lower back.
His mother’s Oripathy had suddenly begun worsening some time ago.
Under normal circumstances, something like this shouldn’t have happened as long as she continued taking her suppressants on schedule.
But…
An abnormally high concentration of Originium dust had been discovered in her cosmetics.
The cosmetics had been a gift from one of his father’s colleagues.
Or, more accurately, from one of his rivals.
His father had already accumulated more than enough seniority.
With one spokesman preparing to step down, another would inevitably have to take his place.
It was an almost painfully clichéd story.
Jealousy between colleagues…
Or rather, the retiring spokesman’s nephew had always believed that the position should rightfully belong to him.
And so, at a banquet, he presented Clarus’s father with that particular gift.
After Cole learned the truth, he stood frozen beside Lucia’s bed for a long time.
The communicator in his hand shattered beneath his grip, blood streaming between his fingers and dripping onto the floor.
Lucia clung to him through her tears.
“Don’t go, Cole.
Please don’t go.” “No…
Cole, think about our child…
and Father and the others…” That was the first time Clarus had ever heard his father break down and cry like that.
What followed was surprisingly ordinary.
The former spokesman and his nephew were both arrested and imprisoned.
Before long, they would face charges from the National Council that included attempted murder.
There was no longer any need to hide Lucia’s condition either.
Every day, countless people came to visit.
They congratulated Cole on his promotion to spokesman while wiping tears from their eyes and expressing their sorrow over the condition of his wife and son.
Yes.
Clarus’s condition was made public as well.
The official explanation was that he had become Infected after accidentally inhaling Originium dust while playing.
Clarus remained hidden inside his room for several days without going outside.
Later, when the former spokesman and his nephew were brought to trial, Clarus watched a recording of the proceedings.
At first, the two men looked unbearably smug and arrogant.
After all, the personal donations and corporate contributions made over all those years had hardly been insignificant.
On top of that, they’d spent an enormous amount of their embezzled money bribing the right people before the trial.
Uncle and nephew exchanged confident smiles.
With that…
A golden Pegasus calmly took a seat on the witness stand.
Everything that followed was little more than procedure.
The former spokesman and his nephew were convicted on seven charges, including but not limited to premeditated murder, embezzlement, and abuse of authority.
Both were sentenced to death.
Clarus turned off the recording.
[Your mother’s condition had originally been well controlled, but after this incident, it deteriorates rapidly.] [There is nothing anyone can do.] [Everyone who knows what is happening is powerless.] [More than once, your father weeps beside your mother late at night and begs her forgiveness.
More than once, he cries that he would gladly give up his position as spokesman if it could undo what happened.] [All you can do is watch as your mother grows thinner with each passing day, until eventually she spends nearly all her time bedridden and even tiny Originium crystals begin emerging from her face.] [And yet your mother always smiles whenever she looks at you.] [Uncle Schnitz finds an instructor to teach you Originium Arts, and you finally discover where your true talent lies.] [Darkness flows across your fingertips as fluidly as running water, dancing around them like playful little spirits.] [Margaret also manages to ignite a tiny sphere of light.
When she cheers and runs toward you, you smile, deliberately disperse the darkness gathered around your fingertips, and exclaim in surprise that your darkness disappears the moment it touches Margaret’s Arts.] [After Zofia learns what happened to your mother, she comes to visit with some pastries.
Your mother takes Zofia’s hands and talks with her for a very, very long time.] [Terran Year 1080.] [An ordinary, peaceful day.] Peaceful…
And yet, somehow, not peaceful at all.
Today was supposed to be a rest day.
Uncle Schnitz had said he had something to take care of and canceled training, telling Clarus to go home and spend the day looking after his mother.
But when Clarus returned home, he found a familiar figure trembling as she busied herself in the kitchen.
He immediately rushed inside.
“Mother!
Why are you doing all this?” Lucia slowly straightened her slightly trembling back.
Her smile remained gentle and loving, but the Originium crystals growing across her face had already marred what had once been such a warm and beautiful appearance.
“Little Clarus is home?
It’s been so long since Mommy cooked for you.
I suddenly felt like getting up and doing something today.” “But your condition…
Why don’t you let me cook for you instead?” Clarus looked at her worriedly.
“It’s all right.
It’s all right…” Lucia gently shook her head.
There was a quiet determination behind her smiling eyes.
“Let Mommy do something for her child.
All right, my precious boy?” “Then…
I’ll help you prepare the vegetables.” Clarus stared into Lucia’s eyes for a long moment before finally lowering his head.
Lunch was exquisite.
It tasted exactly as he remembered it from years ago.
That afternoon, Clarus practiced swordsmanship in the courtyard while Lucia sat in a rocking chair, smiling as she watched him.
Clarus showed her the new Originium Arts technique he had recently developed.
Darkness slowly writhed and gathered until it formed a humanoid figure, almost like a living shadow.
The “shadow” silently moved behind Lucia.
Under her astonished gaze, she slowly rose to her feet.
There was no more training after that.
Clarus and Lucia spent the entire afternoon playing a game of chase through the courtyard.
At dinnertime, his father returned home with a smile.
Grandfather and Grandmother had recently gone back to the countryside, so tonight’s meal was a warm and intimate dinner for their little family of three.
Clarus repeated some Leithanien jokes he’d heard from his teacher, making Lucia laugh until she could barely contain herself.
Watching his mother laugh so happily, Clarus wore an equally bright smile as he lowered his head and shoveled a couple of mouthfuls of food into his mouth.
Unfortunately, while eating, he forgot to lower the corners of his lips from the unnaturally high position he’d been forcing them to stay in.
A few grains of rice slipped from his mouth.
After dinner, the family of three sat together in front of the television and watched the latest knight competition.
Lucia gently asked Cole how work had been going, and Cole smiled as he told her about some amusing things that had happened at the office.
Eventually, their warm little evening came to an end.
It was time for bed.
Clarus helped his mother into bed and kissed her goodnight.
“Good night, Mother.” “Good night, my child.” Lucia’s smile remained as gentle as ever, filled with tenderness, longing, and reluctance to part.
“Mother, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Clarus whispered.
“Mommy will always love you, my precious boy.” Lucia placed one final kiss on Clarus’s cheek.
After leaving his mother’s room, Clarus turned to his father and smiled.
“Good night, Father.
See you tomorrow.” Cole returned his smile.
“Mm.
See you tomorrow.” The silence of late night once again settled over their small, warm home.
It seemed that Kazimierz was performing maintenance on its electrical systems tonight.
Even the neon lights that almost never rested had finally given themselves the night off, allowing the starlight that had been smothered for so long to come out and breathe again.
A man supported a woman as the two of them lowered themselves to their knees before two golden Pegasi.
They were caught and helped upright before their knees could touch the ground.
Schnitz gripped the man’s hand tightly.
Neither of them spoke.
Yolanta wrapped an arm around the woman’s shoulders and softly hummed an ethereal song passed down among the Pegasi.
The courtyard gate gently closed.
The only thing it disturbed was an uncaring gust of wind drifting through the garden.
The figure standing at the window slowly drew the curtains shut.
His lips trembled.
He took a deep breath.
Then another.
He crawled beneath the warm blankets and wrapped them tightly around himself.
His mouth opened wide, as though the pain inside him were about to spill out from his throat.
A long time passed.
A very, very long time.
And in the darkness, there came only a quiet whisper.
“Good night, Mom.”