Episode 133 – Why Don’t You Ask Directly?
by Afuhfuihgs
*
Lara couldn’t release the fully drawn bowstring.
For some reason, a familiar scent tickled the tip of her nose.
The unforgettable, impossible-to-forget scent of Ed’s skin.
But, of course, Ed’s figure was nowhere to be seen.
Why, of all moments, at this very instant when she’s about to kill Mella, is Ed suddenly flickering in her mind?
Lara hesitated to shoot the arrow for a moment, lost in thoughts of Ed.
If Ed finds out that Lara killed Mella, how will he react?
Will he get angry? Will he try to kill her?
Regardless of the degree, it seemed clear that she would be hated by Ed.
Like a rain-soaked puppy trembling while curling up, the air around Lara wavered unstably, mirroring her shaking heart.
“Ha,”
Lara scoffed, calming her surging emotions with a cold sneer.
Either way, I won’t be chosen by Ed.
If so, then at least that bitch,
That woman who has everything I can’t have, yet constantly fails, and ultimately drags her own life into the swamp and ruins it-I will definitely kill her.
Regardless of Ed’s revenge, this is my revenge.
Lara widened her eyes.
Her burning gray eyes illuminated the surroundings like stars in the darkness.
Just before Lara released the bowstring, pinching it to add more elasticity and pulling it back a little further, at that moment,
Shwiik- Pik!
The bowstring snapped along with a sharp wind that cut through the air and brushed past Lara’s ear.
The tension that had been fully loaded into the bow, pulling it back, lost its path and spread out in an instant.
The bow, which had been bent by elasticity, made a sound as if bursting the air, just like when shooting an arrow, and bounced up from the impact. The severed bowstring, as thin as a wire, fluttered chaotically, brushing past Lara’s cheek.
A long, thin line was drawn on Lara’s cheek, and soon, red blood that seeped out from that line flowed down in an instant with an ‘Ah!’
“Kuh!”
Lara staggered, clutching her cheek from the sudden sharp pain.
Losing her balance and falling from this high place would be a disaster, so Lara knelt down on one knee and carefully looked at the hand that had been clutching her cheek.
Even though it was getting darker and harder to see, she could still confirm that something dark red was smeared all over it.
The smell of blood surged from her palm.
Lara clenched her bloodied hand tightly.
Then, someone approached Lara and spoke to her.
“Don’t tell me, the person you were trying to kill was Aunt Mella?”
“…Lily,”
Lily looked at the spot Lara was aiming at and asked in a trembling voice.
She didn’t have Lara’s superhuman vision, so she couldn’t see if Mella was in the garden, but she could definitely tell that Lara’s arrow was aimed at that mansion.
Lily knelt down in front of Lara, placed her hand on Lara’s shoulder, and said.
“Mom, let’s stop, okay? Please,”
“…No. I can’t,”
“It’s Aunt Mella… the one Mom cherished so much, so let’s calm down.”
“You don’t understand.”
Lara said with her head down.
She couldn’t suppress the boiling hostility towards Mella, and for some reason, she was ashamed to look into Lily’s eyes.
Lily looked at Lara with a pitiful expression.
“Mom, you know this isn’t Aunt Mella’s fault.”
“No, it’s all Mella’s fault.”
“Why?”
“…”
Lara was speechless and closed her mouth.
It wasn’t because she lacked logic or was being stubborn.
She could explain it as much as she wanted.
Mella had everything she didn’t have,
Yet she lost everything,
She was consumed by the size of her sorrow, gave up everything, and couldn’t overcome it herself, so she ended up relying on those around her,
In the process, she dragged Lara into unfortunate choices and fate,
And despite all those faults, she ended up being etched in Ed’s heart and never disappeared.
To Lara, Mella was a sinner who deserved to die, having ruined her life and made it so that she couldn’t even be proud in front of Ed.
But Lara couldn’t bring herself to say these words.
It was because, like the words Mella had babbled when she had gone crazy a while ago, it would prove that she was just a loser who wasn’t chosen by Ed, and it could also be a denial of Lily, who was born from all that terrible misfortune.
Lara was confused in the midst of ambivalent feelings, hating and regretting all the time she spent with Robin, but unable to hate Lily, who had told her the truth.
Lara bit her lip and said as if squeezing it out.
“…You don’t know anything,”
“Don’t tell me I don’t know anything.”
Lily cut off Lara’s words firmly, unlike usual, and said.
“I know everything too. I knew it before Mom did.”
“… Ugh,”
“How much Mom liked Ed, how much she ached watching him smile and look at Mella, and how Mom also felt like her insides were boiling when Ed died. I know everything. I saw it all!”
Lily’s voice grew louder as she continued, revealing her increasingly heightened emotions.
At the end of the sentences, it was almost like shouting.
Lily grabbed Lara’s shoulders and said.
“I know, I know. But Mom, this isn’t right. You can’t do this.”
“…”
“Doing this… doing this won’t make Ed look at Mom, either.”
Lily spoke those words, knowing that she was touching Lara’s reverse scale.
Lara, who couldn’t even hide her murderous intent towards her own daughter when it came to Ed, was scary, but Lily still thought she had to say these words.
Lily knew.
Although she was a mixed-blood with a human, Lily inherited the elf’s unique sensitive hearing.
On the night Lara broke into Ed’s bedroom naked, Lily overheard how miserably Lara clung to Ed through the sounds flowing through the walls of the room.
And she also overheard how Ed pushed Lara away with a complicated voice.
It wasn’t Ed’s or Lara’s fault, but between the two of them, there was a high and thick wall made of painful misfortune and deceived time.
Lara kept getting hurt, but she tried to climb over that wall, and Ed ignored Lara’s efforts with his back turned.
Lily felt sorry for the two of them and buried the tender first love that had arisen in her heart.
She thought that she didn’t need to make Mom and Ed suffer, either.
Even if it was impossible right now, Lily thought that someday, when Ed’s heart healed, if Lara waited patiently until then, she hoped that the two of them would be happy.
But what is Lara doing now?
If she kills Aunt Mella, Ed may never forgive Lara.
Even if Ed has shaken off all his lingering feelings for Aunt Mella, who could love a woman who kills her friend and the other person’s ex-lover for the reason of love?
It would be fortunate if he didn’t lose affection for her.
Does Mom even know how I’ve been hiding my favor for Ed?
Lily shook Lara’s shoulders with a frustrated heart and said.
“You said you’d take your time, you said you’d wait, you said it’s just a fleeting moment in the face of the elf’s long lifespan, so you’d wait, so why are you doing this… huh?”
Lara chuckled and opened her mouth.
“… Lily, that’s not it.”
“…What?”
“No matter how much time passes, I won’t have a chance. Ed can’t be with anyone but Mella.”
“Mom!”
“What am I lacking compared to that bitch!”
Lily flinched at Lara’s beast-like shout.
Lara raised her head and looked straight at Lily.
Lily swallowed and looked into Lara’s eyes.
It was the chilling gaze from back then, when she had stared at her with wide eyes without a single blink after she had talked with Ed in the White Glass Tower Hotel at night.
Lily now seemed to vaguely know what those eyes, which had only been frightening back then, were saying.
Jealousy, hatred, lust, possessiveness.
But Lily thought that the emotion that had grown the most beneath all of that was ‘inferiority’.
“What am I lacking compared to that whore? Was I the only one who was deceived by Robin? Everyone was deceived! Am I the only one who had a child with Robin? Mella had one too, and more than me! Even now, she has that dirty bastard’s baby in her belly! But not once for me!”
Lara paused for a moment and took a deep breath.
Lara’s mouth was usually rough, but she only mixed in curses slightly when expressing exclamations or annoyance. Harsh words insulting Mella poured out sharply from Lara’s mouth, and Lily looked at Lara with a surprised expression.
Lara didn’t care about Lily’s expression.
“Leeway? Patience? Ha, Lily. No. You’re all wrong, it’s all just bullshit. That fucking… Ed has never even thought of someone like me from the beginning. He just hates me.”
“Mom, no.”
“Oh, Lily. You’re so kind and pure, unlike that fucking bastard’s child. Ed, who said he hated me because I was tainted by Robin, kissed Mella. Did you know that? Ha…”
“…Ah,”
Lara lowered her head again.
It was now completely dark, so it was impossible to see whether the liquid that flowed down Lara’s chin and dripped in droplets was blood or tears.
Lara said in a muffled voice.
“Ed is still only in love with Mella like a fool… I was just used by Ed. Ed will never look back at me.”
“…Mom.”
Lily slowly took out a handkerchief from her pocket, carefully wiped Lara’s cheek, and asked quietly.
“Mom, is helping Ed because you want to be rewarded?”
“…Ugh,”
“From the beginning, you didn’t care about Ed’s grudge, and you just followed him to be loved by Ed?”
“…No, that’s not it!”
“Yeah, I know.”
Lily nodded and said.
“And… that… that Ed still loves Aunt Mella, have you ever asked Ed directly?”
“… Lily, do I really have to ask that?”
“You haven’t, Mom.”
“… Ed kissed Mella first. There’s no possibility that I saw it wrong. Lily, you know that too.”
“I know, how amazing Mom’s eyes are. I know it best in the world. But haven’t you ever thought that there might have been a reason?”
“…There’s no way there could be something like that. Lily.”
“Why don’t you ask directly?”
At that moment, someone jumped down from above the head of this giant statue, onto the shoulder where Lara and Lily were located.
Lara was startled and looked at the figure.
His sweet scent of skin wafted strongly at the tip of her nose.
“…Were you, were you listening to everything?”
“…”
“…Lily, you…”
“Talk it out, I’ll step aside.”
Lily smiled and nimbly climbed down the statue.
Ed slowly looked down at Lara, then took large strides towards Lara, one step at a time.
“…Am I wrong? Ed.”
“…”
“Tell me, why can’t it be me? Why can you love Mella even after going through all that fucking shit? I can’t even get a kiss from you even if I approach you without a single thread on!”
As soon as Lara finished speaking, she felt ashamed, realizing how childish she sounded.
At the same time, she felt resentful and bitter towards Ed for not even satisfying her childish heart.
Lara’s voice became even more tearful because she felt so miserable in her situation, having to beg and plead for his love… no, even a simple skinship.
“Why… why can’t you give me even one of the chances you give to Mella so generously!”
Ed stopped right in front of Lara.
His crotch was almost touching Lara’s forehead.
Ed moved his foot, kicked away the arrows scattered on the floor, and then plopped down on the floor, making eye contact with Lara.
Lara’s burning gray eyes and Ed’s cloudy amber eyes collided in the air.
Ed slowly raised his hand and brought it to Lara.
“…E, Ed.”
And then, he struck Lara’s head with the side of his hand.
“Ack!”
“First of all, it wasn’t a kiss, it was a peck. You damn elf.”
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