Chapter 122: Would I have been able to be happy too?

“Can I call you Tina?”

In the deep night when thick darkness had settled, only the gentle glow of a candle faintly illuminated the quiet bedroom. Artaşa and I lay side by side, facing each other.

Tina.

It was the new name my mother wished to give me.

She said she only wanted to cherish the past four years of calling me Tina. She insisted several times that there was no other intention behind it.

“If you don’t like it, I can give you a different name.”

Mother spoke cautiously, watching my reaction, as if worried I might misunderstand.

Perhaps she feared I would suspect her of trying to use me to fill the void left by her real daughter.

“I love it, Mother.”

I knew very well that there was no such intention. In the first place, I was only grateful that someone like me was even given a new name.

I gently pulled my mother’s hand and placed it against my cheek. That touch was incomparably warm, as if wrapping around me completely.

“Please call me Tina… Mother.”

Tina Blanc.

It was no longer just the name of a character from a game.

It was now wholly my name—the name I would carry as Artaşa’s daughter.

“Thank you, dear. I look forward to our days ahead, my daughter.”

A gentle hand caressed my cheek tenderly.

If I could, I would have wanted to be trapped in this moment with Mother forever.

“Shall we sleep now?”

“Yes, that sounds nice.”

The candlelight went out, and complete darkness filled the room. I cautiously nestled into Mother’s embrace under the same blanket.

She welcomed my affection with a kind smile.

“Sleep well, my daughter.”

“You too, Mother.”

A night spent sharing warmth with the person I loved most in the world.

Even though I knew I shouldn’t…

At this moment, I found myself wishing I would never have to return to hell.

“Ugh, you don’t have to say things like that…”

Unlike me, who was embarrassed with shame, my mother no longer found this act awkward.

After finishing a simple breakfast, I packed my things and stepped outside.

In front of the main gate, Grandma Miranda was waiting for me with her arms crossed.

My mother seemed briefly surprised by her imposing physique. However, she soon smiled warmly and spoke.

“I’ve heard the story. Please take good care of my daughter.”

“Don’t worry.”

Before boarding the carriage prepared by Grandma Miranda, I hugged my mother tightly one last time.

“Can I… come back again?”

“Who ever needs permission to return home?”

It was just like my mother to say that.

Lifting myself slightly onto my toes, I carefully placed a kiss on her cheek. The soft brush of my lips against her skin made a ticklish sound.

“I really love you, Mother.”

“…I love you too, my daughter.”

There was a brief silence, but my mother willingly accepted even this last bit of my childish affection.

Waving goodbye, I climbed onto the carriage. Opposite me, Grandma Miranda was staring at me sharply with her arms still crossed.

“No matter what, she’s not your real mother. You’re such a sly little fox…”

“Pardon?”

Grandma Miranda muttered something incomprehensible upon our reunion.

“Never mind. Let’s head back now.”

“Wait a moment, Grandma Miranda. Before we go back, can we stop by somewhere?”

“Where?”

“It won’t take long.”

Without much complaint, Grandma Miranda granted my request.

The carriage headed toward a massive mansion not far from the Empire.

It was the estate of the Duke of Merdellia.

I handed two flowers and two letters, which I had obtained in the Empire with Grandma Miranda’s help, to the guards at the front gate before immediately returning to the carriage.

One was for Viviana, the other for Lillian.

In the letters, I reassured them that I was doing well and expressed how much I missed them. I also left a request for them to visit the restaurant sometime.

“Now, let’s go back.”

“How bland.”

The carriage then made its way back to where Grandma Miranda’s shop was located.

I had wanted to visit Viviana and Lillian in person, but I couldn’t leave the shop unattended forever, so I decided to save it for another time.

By the time we returned to Rahel Village, night had already fallen.

“You must have had a hard time spending half the day in the carriage with that frail body of yours. Go inside and rest well tonight.”

“Grandma Miranda.”

“What is it?”

“Do you think even criminals who have committed heinous crimes… deserve happiness?”

“What kind of nonsense is that all of a sudden?”

“It’s nothing. Just a meaningless question.”

It wasn’t even something worth pondering. If they had wanted to live happily, they shouldn’t have done such things in the first place.

It was nothing more than the fleeting regrets of a fool who couldn’t even see what lay ahead.

“Well, it depends.”

But Grandma Miranda had a slightly different perspective than mine.

Life… do you really think it follows a set path? Life is about not knowing what lies ahead. So, worrying about it for days on end is meaningless from the start.

“….My dear.”

It was an unexpectedly serious answer, not quite like Miranda Grandma.

I stared blankly at the sky, painted crimson by the setting sun.

“Happiness…”

I murmured softly, clutching my chest cautiously.

If I had met a mother like Artasha in my past life… would I have been able to be happy too?

Like the clouds stretching endlessly across the sky, that thought suddenly drifted through my mind.

***

Kiraz Frontline.

A tragic land where countless lives were lost in the war between the Empire and the Kingdom of Kaladwen.

The scars of war ran deep, and the children who lost their parents were called ‘war orphans.’ Luella was one of them.

A ruined city devoid of even a trace of warmth. Once again, Luella wandered in search of food to survive.

Her father, a soldier of the Kaladwen Kingdom, had died in battle. Her mother went missing one day after the kingdom was reduced to ruins.

All that remained was a nine-year-old girl. With her hood pulled down low, as if trying to disappear, Luella roamed aimlessly.

A lucky find of a single insect became her only meal, and a pile of rubble served as her bed.

In this lawless wasteland, where order had collapsed, survival was a brutal struggle for a child.

That was why Luella always hid herself beneath her hood.

In this hellish existence, she clung to life day by day, barely scraping by. She had thought, countless times, that it would be better to die.

Yet, the fact that she was still breathing seemed to suggest that even death refused to accept her.

Amid this endless cycle of despair, one day, someone whispered to her.

[Hello?]

The voice was eerily androgynous, neither distinctly male nor female.

Strangely, it was both unsettling and sweet at the same time.

The sound seemed to come from nowhere and yet brushed right against Luella’s ear.

“Who…?”

[I am your savior.]

The whisper continued.

[The ones who killed your parents—I will kill them for you.]

The words were as sweet and seductive as candy. A temptation so strong that it wrapped around the dry, withering soul of the young girl.

[No more eating insects. I’ll make sure you have meat—every single day.]

It was a being that approached in moments of weakness, slowly devouring the soul.

“Really…?”

Luella’s cracked voice escaped in a faint breath.

[Yes, but in return, you must grant me one favor.]

“W-what is it…?”

The voice seemed to smile gently.

[Give me your body.]

A frail, emaciated body, wasting away from malnutrition.

A body eroded by bacteria and disease, suffering in agony day after day. That was all she was asked to give in return.

For the girl, who had endured a life more painful than dying a little each day, that offer was impossible to refuse.

“Alright.”

In the end, she reached out to the devil’s whisper.

“Ghh… Guhk!”

At that moment, her eyes rolled back.

Her small body collapsed to the floor, trembling as if in a seizure. Whether it was a desperate struggle to survive or the final spasms of agony, no one could tell.

And soon, her arms lost their strength and hung limp. At a glance, she appeared lifeless.

But then, as if nothing had happened, she slowly rose to her feet.

“Ah, ah! Hm, hm. What a nuisance.”

The voice that slipped from her lips was entirely different from before—cold, low, and tinged with mockery.

“You must have been recklessly drawn in again. Now there are even more pests to clean up.”

The girl’s once-brown eyes had turned a shimmering crimson, like fresh blood.

Within them, a distinct cross was engraved.

Those gleaming red eyes—were no longer human.