Prelude (15)

Aileen looked at me and gave an awkward smile.

“Ah, ha… You’ve arrived?”

Then, she abruptly dropped the hem of Shuriel’s clothes that she was holding. As if she were a girl caught doing something she shouldn’t be, she straightened her back.

Immediately, her chest swayed from the recoil. Her large breasts, flaunting their presence, received the light and cast two shadows over Shuriel’s face.

So, they were trying to get it on, huh?

Judging from the situation, it didn’t seem like Shuriel had volunteered.

I trust him, though.

I just looked at Aileen, who was blushing and straddling Shuriel, with suspicious eyes.

“Aileen. What is the meaning of this-“

“Ahaha! You came so fast! Were you playing at the Astra Dormitory again?”

“….”

I narrowed my eyes like a cat and shut my mouth. She was trying to hint subtly, but I understood that she meant for me to shut up. So, I quietly closed my mouth.

However, Aileen, who had demanded my silence, was sweating and darting her eyes around nervously. That anxious look. But there seemed to be some unease, as if she was hiding something.

‘She’s hiding something.’

I didn’t have to go far. It was a common symptom in children who were afraid of being scolded. Knowing that they’d been caught, but hoping to somehow get away with it.

However, it was questionable why Aileen, who didn’t shy away from skinship with Shuriel, was trying to ‘hide’ something.

I accelerated my thoughts.

‘…My body. She brought it.’

The world slowed down. As I looked around the room a little more, my body, drowned in Breast Milk, came into view.

-How did you die?

‘I drowned in Breast Milk.’

-What?

‘Just like I said. In my Breast Milk. I drowned.’

Hajin was sparing with his words.

That short silence was as if he was saying to me, ‘You’re the same as me.’ Yeah. My clone is Hajin, so it would be more, not less.

I swallowed my sense of kinship and turned my gaze back. This time, to Shuriel, who was being pinned down by my daughter.

‘From the moment I came in, she’s been looking at me.’

The portal disappeared, and even before the residual Mana currents around it dissipated, there was a fierce gaze that flew towards me.

-Mom.

At that moment, something unbelievable happened.

-Mom, can you hear me?

There was someone who had broken into my accelerated thoughts.

‘Aileen? No, how did you get in?’

I asked with pure curiosity. Accelerated thoughts flow differently from reality. And the time created flows only around me. There’s no way to detect this from the outside.

‘I somehow managed to do it.’

Somehow? I was dumbfounded and closed my mouth.

Adjusting myself to others is incredibly uncomfortable, even when just sharing simple opinions.

To make this possible, you need to not only sense the distorted flow of time, but also accelerate your thoughts at the same speed as me without a moment’s error. And it doesn’t end there, you have to do the insane act of interfering with someone else’s mind.

-I’m sorry. I think I did something bad.

Aileen, who had calmly committed such an insane act, suddenly offered an apology.

‘Something bad?’

-I hid the fact that Mom is alive.

‘………Why?’

Actually, I know. Just like Aileen, I hesitated because I knew the reason.

With the hope that she would somehow get away with it, with the hope that I wouldn’t ask about this in more detail and just move on.

-Because Dad was relying on me.

But Aileen didn’t move on.

-While saying he was sorry, he asked me to find a way to save Mom…. Dad asked with a face I’d never seen before.

Aileen said in an excited voice.

-Mom, do you know? Dad has never asked me for anything. And he’s never shown me that kind of face either. Dad’s weak side, the face that looked like it was about to collapse helplessly.

‘…You deceived Dad to see that face?’

-Not at all. I was just comforting him. I haven’t said there’s no way yet.

Ahaha… A mournful laugh echoes in my head.

-I just wanted to feel it a little more. The feeling of Dad relying on me for everything was like… a half-finished heart was finally being completed.

‘Aileen. That’s not reliance.’

-Does Mom feel like this every day?

I face the fact that I’ve been trying to ignore. Aileen was jealous of me. Aileen herself seems to be aware of that fact, but she’s never revealed it so openly as now.

-I’m not greedy. Just today. No, just one hour. If that’s not possible, just ten minutes. Can’t I have Dad for just that short time? I was lonely, you know.

‘Aileen. That’s-‘

-I guess not. Dad doesn’t like it.

Because she knows it’s not allowed. Because Aileen was a daughter. Because she was just an existence that only needed to meet expectations. Because she shouldn’t do things that her parents don’t like. No matter how much she wants to dye Dad in her colors-because she knows he doesn’t like it.

Aileen scolded me in a resentful tone.

-But why does Mom hurt Dad?

‘…Aileen.’

-Mom told me not to do things that Dad doesn’t like.

‘Aileen.’

-So I tried, I lived as a good child. I held back since that day, but when Dad comes to me with this expression, I, I……

“–Aileen!”

Aileen, who had been rattling off words like a machine gun, widened her eyes when I cut off my accelerated thoughts and shouted.

‘I won’t say it twice. Don’t interrupt me.’

I accelerated my thoughts again and said in a firm voice.

‘Aileen. Don’t cross the line.’

-Line, you say?

Aileen scoffed unconsciously. It was as if she was shouting, ‘Does Mom even have the right to talk about ‘lines’ right now?’

It was a very rude and impudent act, but it took a very long time to realize that fact.

-…I’m sorry.

Soon, Aileen, realizing that she had overheated, apologized in a sad voice.

‘Are you a little calmer?’

-…Yes.

‘Okay… It’s not really my place to say, but if you accept your desires as they are, you won’t end up well. If you end up living that kind of life too……. Haa. It might just be my greed in the end, but Aileen. I can’t let you walk this path if I’m walking the wrong path.’

-Still, is there no way?

But she still didn’t give up.

‘First of all, shouldn’t we let him know that I’m alive?’

-Ah, uh. That’s… Then, Dad is…

‘…Dad is?’

-Dad, he didn’t come here for me, uh, that, so…

She had barely gained Dad’s attention, but if she said that, all the attention would surely be focused on me. Aileen wanted to say that.

‘Haa….’

Aileen didn’t want to be hated by me, but she was also afraid of being ignored by Shuriel.

No matter how much it’s me. No, because it’s me, I couldn’t ignore my daughter’s request. She’s already in a very mentally confused state. If I ignore this and lecture her, it might be irreversible.

‘You haven’t said there’s no way to save me yet, right?’

…Parents couldn’t win against their children.

-Th, that means…?

‘From now on, you’re my savior.’

-Mom…!!

Aileen said with a bright expression.

-Thank you so much!

‘It’s mostly my fault. But this is the only time.’

-Of course! I won’t act spoiled from today either. But Mom….

‘Yeah?’

-What does it mean to be a savior?

I paused for a few seconds before answering.

‘You know I’m in Hajin’s body right now, right?’

-That’s, right?

‘This body was easy to move because it’s a replica. But Aileen. It’s very difficult to break through the body that the World Tree has created. It’s hard even if I try with all my might.’

-O, oh…

Aileen stuttered. It was because she realized what I was trying to do now.

-Mom, that’s.

‘Don’t worry. Shuriel will only look at you, not me.’

-But, buuut…

‘…It’s the best I can do. I’m sorry.’

-Ugh…

Aileen hesitated to answer, making a groaning sound. But the more she imagined Shuriel clinging to her, the more a sense of depravity rose up and interfered with her judgment.

Of course, it was very difficult for Aileen, who was still a naive child, to shake off this huge temptation.

-…What, do I have to do?

I felt a little sorry.

‘Release the mental defense incantation. All the ones that are unconsciously activated too.’

-Th, then what happens to me?

‘You’ll share all the senses and emotions that I feel.’

She might even be able to interfere with my thoughts like Hajin.

Aileen seemed to think my plan was pretty good, and her second 고민 didn’t last long.

• Jiiing…

Aileen immediately released all mental defense incantations.

‘Stop thinking for a moment… Okay…’

I perform a body transfer.

‘Keueung… Is it done…?’

-Waa! Is this what it feels like to have your mind pushed out? It feels like I’m floating!

‘Looks like it worked.’

Aileen’s body felt very strange. Especially the vitality that seemed about to explode. The body that the World Tree had directly created was full of the energy of nature, which cleared the body and mind. Maybe she has more potential than me.

‘Aileen.’

-Yes!

‘I’m going to release the accelerated thoughts now.’

It’s time to get to the point.

It was the most important part.

From now on, I had to play the role of my daughter.

• Sss…

The slowed down world gradually regains its speed.

“…….”

And.

In the world that had returned to normal.

I was finally able to feel it.

“Haa, heu, eu―?”

My face gets hot. My heart beats as if it’s about to explode. My body trembles, and my lower abdomen throbs, making my body sensitive.

I couldn’t withstand the unidentified sensation that struck my body and mind, and I fell backwards.

“–Aileen!”

At that moment, Shuriel reached out and caught my body.

“Ah, eu―! I, if you touch me now――”

I was dragged along and collapsed into Shuriel’s arms. To explain the feeling at this time, it was like being struck by lightning in the head. A huge lightning bolt piercing through the center of my body.

“…Ah, eu?”

When I came to my senses from the massive shock, I was burying my face in Shuriel’s chest and sniffing like crazy.

‘My body, it’s strange… No, this is, this is…’

I could immediately tell why my body was so sensitive.

-Hehe… Did Mom feel it too?

Just as Hajin couldn’t dare to resist the Hairak, there was something in Aileen’s body that reacted to Shuriel. I could easily tell that this was a feeling of affection.

‘Aileen.’

It’s just that the size of that emotion is――

‘…How did you endure it?’

――It was so big that it exceeded my imagination.

“Aileen. Tell me if it hurts. I’ll heal you right away…”

I savored the voice that was so delightful to hear and raised my head.

“Eueung. I’m okay.”

Then, I smiled brightly.

“…Dad♡”

While acting spoiled, thinking it was acting.