Ch.107Discovery (2)

After leaving the cabin, as I walked with Pia toward Millwood Village, I slowly mulled over the questions that kept surfacing in my mind.

Why did Ms. Sylvia attack me?

Why didn’t she just leave me unconscious, but went so far as to restrain me?

What made her so afraid?

What exactly was Ms. Sylvia hiding?

Even though I loved Ms. Sylvia and knew a lot about her, unless I could look into her mind, everything would ultimately be mere speculation.

I carefully considered the clues I had gathered from her expressions and the look in her eyes.

If you want to share your heart with someone, exchange love, and become family, trying to understand the other person’s feelings isn’t optional—it’s essential.

In truth, I could find answers to most of my questions rather quickly.

The reason she knocked me unconscious, the reason she restrained me, and why she was so terrified—I wasn’t so dense that I couldn’t figure out that Ms. Sylvia loved me, had already lost me once before, and was desperately afraid of losing me again.

That’s why, despite the rough treatment I’d received, I didn’t resent or feel disappointed in Ms. Sylvia.

Even though my shoulders still ached from her grip, my head still throbbed from being hit, and my wrist still stung from the knife cut,

I loved Ms. Sylvia too much to hate her over wounds like these.

To me, Ms. Sylvia was already someone who meant more than just a lover.

She was the world’s hero, my benefactor, the love I wanted to share my life with, and also a lustful female who obeyed my commands at night.

Ms. Sylvia was the miracle of a new family for me, who had lost everyone.

Though my love might not be as great or as obsessive as hers, I wasn’t so indifferent to her that I couldn’t understand what kind of person Sylvia was.

The fact that I could predict the reasons behind her attacking and confining me without even having a conversation about it was proof of that.

Rather, I wanted to use this opportunity to eliminate her fears.

I was determined to teach her that I would not leave her,

That Ash Staff had no intention of ever leaving Sylvia.

That was my resolution.

However, there remained one final unresolved question.

What exactly was she hiding from me?

The moment I learned the answer to that final question,

For the first time, I thought I should run away from her.

For the first time, I couldn’t understand her.

Her violently savage side, so different from the Ms. Sylvia I had known until now.

Only then, for the first time,

I realized I knew nothing about the person called Sylvia.

*

Struck from behind, Sylvia fell forward heavily, but kept her gaze fixed on me.

Seemingly unfazed by the impact, she merely reached out to me pitifully, crying out that it was all a misunderstanding.

But my eyes weren’t directed at the pitiful Ms. Sylvia at all.

At that moment, all my attention was firmly fixed on the naked woman who had attacked Sylvia.

“…Impossible.”

Despite the darkness of night, I could see everything clearly.

The person Ms. Sylvia had been brutally beating was now squirming and recovering,

And that naked woman revealed.

She was unmistakably the holy knight who had stayed at my cabin for a few days before Ms. Sylvia returned.

The one who claimed to be an inquisitor directly under the Pope.

“Alice…”

“…No, no! No! No!”

“Sister?”

“Nooo! Ash! Please, it’s a misunderstanding.”

The unbelievable truth filled my head so completely that Ms. Sylvia’s pleas couldn’t find room in my heart.

How could I not have recognized her?

Of course, it had been a long time, and she had changed a lot,

But how could I possibly not recognize her?

“Sister Alice!”

At my cry, the woman dropped the piece of metal she was holding and said softly:

“I thought so.”

My eyes burned.

To be honest, I had given up.

I wasn’t the hero’s companion, nor did I bear the grand title of being the era’s only spirit mage, but at least there was that peaceful, nostalgic time.

I had thought it would be impossible to reclaim those childhood days when I lived happily with Sister Maria, Laila, and my parents.

Perhaps because I had lost all my family, I thought my past had been completely erased from this world.

But here she was, appearing before me.

Someone who remembered Ash, who had been nothing more than a talentless aspiring mage from the countryside.

A trace of my past that I thought I would never meet again.

“Is… is it really you, Sister?”

Alice Sister slowly nodded and continued:

“I believed… you couldn’t possibly be dead.”

“…Ah, aah.”

“It’s been a long time, Ash.”

“Alice Sis…”

I was too shocked to think.

Why she had appeared in this terrible forest,

What that ability was that restored her body from what should have been death,

And why Sister Alice was fighting with Ms. Sylvia,

If I thought about it carefully, everything was strange, but I was too overwhelmed to have the luxury of pondering.

So, I was too late.

Too late to notice Ms. Sylvia extending her knife toward Sister Alice.

“Ms. Sylvia!”

“Stop it!”

Ms. Sylvia swung her knife at Sister Alice with a scream-like sound.

But Sister Alice, as if she had anticipated it, dodged by bending her waist backward and falling.

As her back touched the ground, Sister Alice sprang up as if rising upside down and kicked Ms. Sylvia in the chest.

Though seemingly unharmed, Ms. Sylvia was pushed back and gripped her knife with both hands again.

I hurriedly approached Ms. Sylvia and grabbed her back.

“What are you doing?!”

“…Ah, ugh”

“Ms. Sylvia, why are you and my sister—!”

“Stop, stop it!”

Ms. Sylvia gritted her teeth and shook her head violently.

Even with just the shaking of her head, my frail body holding her back staggered wildly.

I exerted all my strength in my arms to hold firmly onto Ms. Sylvia’s back and waist, determined not to let her go.

“Ms. Sylvia, she’s not an enemy. She’s someone I know.”

“Aaaah!”

“Ms. Sylvia, please!”

“I said stop it, Ash!”

Ms. Sylvia cut off my words with a sharp, tearing cry.

With that fierce intensity, I unconsciously closed my mouth.

Ms. Sylvia slowly turned her head to look at me, who was holding her back, with a sidelong glance.

I could see a demonic light flickering in her red eyes, which seemed to mix resentment and sadness.

“Why… why… why are you doing this, Ash…”

“…Ms. Sylvia?”

“…”

She asked in a low voice:

“Ash, do you love me?”

“…What?”

“…”

I couldn’t make sense of the situation at all.

I also couldn’t understand the intention behind her question.

Why on earth would she ask such a question now?

But, judging that calming Ms. Sylvia was the urgent priority, I nodded vigorously and said:

“Of course.”

“Am I Ash’s family?”

As soon as my answer ended, she asked again.

I nodded again this time.

“Of course, you already know. You know best—”

“Then why ‘Ms. Sylvia’?”

“know… What?”

For a moment, I couldn’t understand what she was saying.

Ms. Sylvia… no, ah.

Ah,

Could it be.

“…Why do you call her ‘sister’,”

“Sister Sylvia, that’s not it. Alice Sister has been since I was young…”

“…because she’s your fiancée?”

At her sorrowful voice, I hurriedly shook my head and said:

“No, that’s not it! You know that the one I love is Ms. Sylvia—no, Sister Sylvia!”

At that moment,

Sister Alice spoke.

“You’re playing around.”

“Sister?”

Looking carefully at Sister Alice’s condition, something seemed off.

The hideous scars on her chest writhed as if breathing, and parts of her skin had holes like melted leather.

And from inside those holes, a faint light leaked out, flickering like sunlight viewed from beneath the water’s surface.

It was an appearance that didn’t look normal at all.

“Ash…”

“…Yes?”

At Sister Alice’s call, she and I slowly looked at each other.

Sister Alice stared at my face for a while and then nodded.

“…My eyes hurt.”

“…Huh?”

“…Sylvia has planted the same curse in you too.”

“…Ah, that’s.”

Sister Alice picked up the piece of metal that had fallen to the ground and held it like a large shield attached to her arm.

Slowly, the shield began to glow with a white light.

“Love, you say… Is that also an effect of the curse? What a vile brainwashing, Sylvia.”

“…Eat shit.”

I shook my head with wide eyes at Sister Alice’s words.

“Sister, it’s not brainwashing. I really…”

“Even if that’s true, it’s still wrong. It doesn’t change the fact that it’s a vile act exploiting your situation.”

“…Wait, I can explain.”

“No, you wait, Ash. Sister will solve everything.”

“No, I’m telling you it’s not like that!”

It seemed that Sister was mistakenly thinking that Ms. Sylvia had forcibly bound me to this forest.

Or perhaps she thought I was being brainwashed by a curse.

I released one hand that was holding Ms. Sylvia’s body to reach out toward Sister Alice to clear up her misunderstanding.

At that moment, Ms. Sylvia spoke.

“It’s useless, Ash.”

“…What?”

“That’s just an intruder. A bitch who walked into our home with dirty feet, trying to take you away.”

“…Sister Sylvia, no. Please…”

“Go to the cabin and wait.”

With those words, Ms. Sylvia lightly shrugged her shoulders.

With just that small movement, I was helplessly thrown to the ground.

Before I could even get up from the ground, faced with the intensity of the two who seemed about to clash at any moment, I desperately shouted:

“Both of you, wait. Wait, stop!”

Before my words were finished, a large spark shot up in the dark.

When I came to my senses, Sister Alice and Sister Sylvia were sprawled far from where they had been standing just moments ago.

It seemed they had collided once and separated in that instant.

I hurriedly got up to stop them, but sounds like something exploding and breaking burst through the air, and the two were already gone from where they had been just moments ago.

Even though it was night, I couldn’t even track their movements with my eyes.

I looked around in confusion, but I could only hear the sounds of the two clashing from all directions.

“Stop! Stop it! Sister Sylvia! Sister Alice!”

The impact of something violently colliding and the wind the two were spreading as they ran made even my stationary body stagger.

I was concentrating all my nerves to somehow track the two.

At that moment, something flew to my side and fell limply with a thud.

“…Aaagh!”

It was someone’s arm.

“…Damn it,”

I looked around.

Seeing an arm flying off, this clearly wasn’t a conflict that would end with just a few words.

Fortunately, if the fight could be stopped even now, neither of them would be seriously injured.

I already knew how strong Sister Sylvia was, and judging by the regenerative ability Sister Alice had shown earlier, she wouldn’t die from losing just one arm.

The eerie bursting sounds that continued to be heard were proof of that.

The problem was that I was the only one who could stop these two formidable people right now.

“Um… me?”

Honestly, it was an impossible task.

The conflict between the two was too fierce to be from a simple misunderstanding, and too intense for someone like me to intervene.

But there was no one else.

No, there was only me and Pia.

“Pia!”

At that moment, a voice came from above my head.

“What?”

Somehow, Pia was already riding on my shoulders.

Pia tapped my crown and said:

“Why did you call me?”

“Help me, we need to stop the fight.”

Pia made a “hmm” sound and looked around.

Judging by her head moving incessantly, she seemed able to track the movements of the two clashing with her eyes.

After looking around for a while, turning her head in all directions, Pia bent her upper body and head forward.

Pia’s face entered my field of vision upside down from above.

Pia drooped her ears and said:

“Um… me?”

The serious face of a six-year-old was surprisingly intimidating to face.

Avoiding Pia’s gaze, which was looking at me with confused eyes, I answered:

“…We have to do it.”

“…”

Pia sighed, then jumped up from my shoulder, did a somersault in the air, and landed on the ground.

Pia made babbling sounds, stomping her feet on the ground, and then soon looked at me and said:

“Alright.”

.