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Chapter 43 : Forced end of adolescence (2)

The threat to life. Until now, Elia had never felt such a thing.

It was only natural.

Elia herself was strong enough that she rarely had an opponent, and most importantly, Kael and Ruina never allowed Elia to be in such situations.

‘They always stopped me from going too far.’

Kael and Ruina always stopped Elia whenever it seemed she might be in danger.

At the time, of course, Elia thought it was excessive protection, actions that seemed like unnecessary interference.

After all, wasn’t Elia strong?

So, entering into slightly dangerous situations shouldn’t have been a problem, right?

Humans are trained by crises, and they go beyond their limits through trials.

That was the common sense Elia knew, which is why she only felt annoyed by their interference.

However, there was one thing Elia didn’t know.

The two didn’t want Elia, who was still not an adult, to experience things beyond her capacity, which is why they blocked her way.

The dangers Elia was about to step into were all situations that could threaten her life if things went wrong.

The threat to life.

The two knew how unpleasant that experience was, and they knew it was too soon for young Elia to go through it, so they stopped her.

‘I understood too late.’

And only today did Elia realize this fact, feeling her rebellious feelings slowly subside in her heart.

It was only after experiencing such an event today that Elia understood Kael and Ruina’s intentions.

It was natural to feel ashamed of her stubbornness, and how could her rebelliousness not break after realizing that?

So, Elia immediately slammed the door of Zenre’s office and ran towards Kael and Ruina, who were coming into the palace.

“Mom!!! Dad!!!”

“Elia?! Wait, hold on, you’re covered in blood, calm down…”

Kael and Ruina, startled by Elia rushing out while calling them, looked at her.

But that was only for a moment. Kael pointed at the bloodstained clothes and said that, but Elia didn’t stop.

If the blood had been from Kael, she would have stopped, but it was someone else’s blood.

So what was the problem?

Swoosh – !!

Elia, without stopping, ran up and hugged Kael and Ruina, still holding their hands.

It had been a long time since she last hugged them, so she inhaled their familiar scent.

As she smelled it, Elia relaxed and leaned into their embrace.

Before apologizing, she thought, “Let’s just stay like this for a while.”

After coming out of the Delusion Forest, Ruina and I returned to the kingdom’s northern gate, and we explained the situation to the soldier who hadn’t stopped us earlier.

Fortunately, since he had seen our faces, the soldier, who was waiting without making a big deal out of it, understood as soon as we explained and then let us go after reporting to the higher-ups, saying they would go investigate the Delusion Forest.

After leaving the northern gate, we headed to Zenre’s office where we had left Elia.

Worried about Elia, Ruina and I walked towards the office.

“Elia… will she be okay…?”

“She must be shocked after everything that happened… I hope Zenre took good care of her.”

While walking, Ruina gently took my hand.

I, too, held her hand in return and answered her worries.

Being directly threatened by Kali, a member of the Worst, was certainly a terrible experience.

At the time, it seemed like Elia was too tense or excited to properly feel fear, but perhaps after arriving at Zenre’s office and looking back at the situation, she would have trembled in fear.

It was just as I had expected, but imagining that scene made my anger toward Kali boil again.

But it was no use taking out my anger on someone who had already run away.

I suppressed the pointless rage and hoped that Zenre had calmed Elia down.

And so, Ruina and I walked for a while, still worrying about Elia.

Before long, we arrived at the royal palace and headed toward the annex where Zenre’s office was.

Finally, just as we were about to enter the annex…

“Mom!!! Dad!!!”

With a booming voice, Elia called out to us and ran out of the separate palace.

Both Ruina and I were taken aback at the same time, without anyone needing to say a word first.

“Elia?! W-wait a moment, right now, there’s a lot of blood on us, so please calm down first—”

Since the blood from Kali, whom we had just been torturing, was still stuck to our clothes, I tried to stop Elia.

But before I could even finish speaking, Elia threw herself at us and embraced both Ruina and me.

Poof, she nestled into our arms, far gentler than she had ever been before.

Normally, she would never have hugged us—she would have even avoided it when either Ruina or I tried to pat her head.

And yet, now, she was the one coming to us first?

“Ka-Kael…!”

“Yes, I was surprised too.”

Ruina called my name with a touched expression, and I, feeling the same, cautiously raised my hand.

Then, as I gently stroked Elia’s head, she flinched for a moment but did not reject my touch.

Seeing this, Ruina also raised her hand and started stroking Elia vigorously.

Since we were both worried about her, it was only natural for things to go this way.

For a moment, Elia buried her face in our arms, and we continued stroking her head.

Then, slowly, she pulled away from our embrace and, in a small, trembling voice, asked,

“Mom, Dad… you’re not hurt anywhere, right?”

At that single sentence, the anger that had surged because of Kali and the complicated thoughts caused by Chain suddenly cleared away.

At the same time, a smile naturally spread across my face.

Receiving such genuine concern from our child, I couldn’t help but smile as I answered.

“Of course not. Your mom and I are much stronger than you think. There’s no way we’d get hurt by the likes of them, so don’t worry.”

“That’s right, Elia. Your dad is right. No matter how we look, both your mom and dad are famous, aren’t we? That reputation wasn’t won by gambling, you know?”

Showing her our completely unscathed bodies as we spoke, Elia finally let out a small sigh of relief.

She must have already known we weren’t injured, but realizing we were treating this matter so lightly reassured her even more.

Then, stepping back slightly from our embrace, Elia stood straight.

“……”

With a somewhat strained expression, she blushed and fidgeted with her hands.

However, soon, as if she had made up her mind, she lifted her head with a determined look, bowed deeply to us, and spoke.

“I’m sorry for everything… For being so stubborn, for getting angry at you, Mom and Dad… And for running away from home today…”

Apologizing is never easy.

Admitting one’s mistakes and bowing to someone is even harder, especially between close relationships.

For a child who hasn’t had many chances to apologize before, it must be even more difficult.

Even many adults prefer to laugh things off or respond with more anger rather than apologize to close ones.

So, for a child like Elia, who had barely ever needed to apologize, offering such a sincere apology must have been incredibly hard.

Especially considering that just this morning, she had been in the depths of adolescence—seeing her struggle yet still apologize so sincerely struck a deep chord in my heart.

Today must have been an unbelievably tough experience for her, yet she had grown from it.

That was truly moving.

She hadn’t been taught to do this—she had apologized from the bottom of her heart.

So, we had to accept it with the same sincerity.

Ruina and I exchanged glances before speaking in turn.

“It’s natural for people to make mistakes as they go through life. And for someone your age, it’s even more common. People make lots of mistakes at your stage and regret them later.”

“But it’s wonderful that you quickly realized your mistake and apologized. That alone makes you amazing. And today, you worked really hard, our dear daughter.”

As Ruina embraced her, Elia let herself melt into the hug.

Of course, today had been such an eventful day that by tomorrow, her adolescent struggles might flare up again.

But even if they did, they wouldn’t last long.

After all, her rebellious phase had already been somewhat subdued.

Even if it resurfaced, it would calm down quickly.

Just from this one apology, we could tell how much Elia had matured today, so I let go of any minor worries.

Instead, I approached them, joining in their warm embrace.

And so, as the sun dipped below the horizon, bringing both the worst and the best moments of the day to a close, the curtain fell on this eventful day.