episode_0125

“Mom.”

It’s a really short word.

It is also the first word many people say in their lives.

And it is one of the words you will say most in your life.

It is a word that touches the heart of the listener.

At that one word, I, Kyohwayeong, and Milton all had to keep our mouths shut.

Athena licks her lips, but no sound comes out.

“Mom. Are you my mom?”

“… Lilac.”

“Are you alive? why? How?”

Athena just nodded.

Without any time to stop Lilac, she started running.

Although she got twisted and stumbled while climbing the stairs, she eventually fell into her mother’s arms.

“Mom… ”

Athena sighed and hugged her daughter.

Kyo Hwa-young’s whimpers can be heard from the side.

When I came back, I was wiping away my tears.

But the excitement didn’t last long.

“Where on earth have you been!”

Lilac’s scream.

The Chairman pushed Athena away and said while glaring at her.

“Why did you never visit me when you were alive!”

“That’s-”

“Because you are afraid of His Majesty? Afraid of being found alive?

Then at least I should have contacted you when I grew up!

Even when I got into the academy… ”

Before we knew it, the conversation had become a one-sided criticism of Lilac.

“After my mother died, I looked for every trace of her!

I read the notebook until it was worn out, and visited all the places my mother visited-”

“Let’s leave it at that. Lilac Saint. Your mother is not an ordinary woman who only needs to care about you.

He is the God who created this world-”

“What?”

Lilac turns her head towards us.

I fumbled to explain.

“… That’s right.

The Chairman’s mother, Athena Melon, is a reincarnated person from another world like me.

If there is a difference… Athena’s past life was the author of this novel.”

“Then… ”

“Yes. The God that Milton and Unguk keep talking about is their mother.

and… He is the one who summoned me to fix the messed up world.”

silence.

The chairman looked down for a moment and then spoke slowly.

As if writing letters on paper, not screaming but crying.

“… I see I wasn’t the only child to my mother… ”

“Lilac.”

“What Dad and I did was just a family game we did because we were bored…

Now you have to return to your role as God.”

“No!”

Athena held Lilac’s shoulder tightly.

“I never thought of you like that.”

“Lie… ”

“I used to think that way too. I wonder if it was a mistake to end the Aeorid Chronicles with a wedding scene.

If I had done that, I thought, maybe this tragedy could have been prevented.”

Park Ji-hye’s novel ends with a wedding.

If it were a novel these days, there would have been a side story about childbirth and childrearing…

Probably wasn’t in a position to do that.

In any case, because of this, the novel’s backstory remained an undetermined and unknown area, becoming a cold space that operates only on probability and reality.

So much so that it kills the main character’s husband and separates her daughter.

“But at some point, I gave up that thought.

Because if that happens, it would be like giving birth to my daughter with a pen, not a stomach.”

“… Then why… ”

“It’s true that you put your mind on the back burner a little while carrying out your plan.

I won’t deny it. but… Just trust me on this.”

This time, Athena hugged Lilac from her side.

“Mom loves our lilacs very much.

Love not as God loves his creation, but as an ordinary mother loves her daughter.

but… You made too many mistakes. Sorry. I’m really sorry… ”

“Don’t be funny. With that said… With that said… ”

Lilac cries loudly and expresses her disappointment again.

But even as an outsider, I could feel it.

This protest is not about arguing, but about solving the problem.

Lilac never once let go of her arms around her mother, and Athena patted her on the back as she shed tears.

By the time I cried so much that I couldn’t shed any more tears and spoke until my voice was hoarse.

Finally, Milton cleared his throat and approached Athena.

“So… Coleman. What do you think about our proposal?”

“… ”

“I think the trust relationship has been restored at this level.”

Trust.

Well, I can’t completely trust Athena yet.

Her actions of kidnapping Lilac and trying to erase her memories went far beyond what could be considered simply the actions of an immature parent.

but…

I saw Lilac clinging to Athena.

Whether or not he accepts Athena as his mother again is a choice the president must make.

As a third party, it is not something worth discussing.

then…

“Please explain your plan in more detail.”

“Did you see that tool used by the Gyounguk just now?”

I nodded.

“A barrier with the same principle as the duel barrier created there will be laid so large that it covers the entire world.

All violence is mediated only through the era of romance.

If you want to harm others, you have no choice but to risk your life through a duel game.”

Kyo Hwa-young opens her mouth wide.

“That… that… ”

“… Is that possible?”

“Well, it’s not an easy task. So, I’ve been doing various things…

But it is possible with your help.”

“If it’s my help… ”

I shrug and wonder if it’s natural.

“You just have to do the things you have done so far.

Adjusting the duel rules, managing balance… ”

“Then the game rules I set are… ”

“It becomes the rule of this world. Isn’t it like a dream?”

Strange thoughts passing through my head.

Milton calls Athena a god, but… If Milton’s plan comes true, won’t I become God?

A game that decides people’s fate, an era of romance.

The game’s only manager, Colman Cantor.

Such a future… Actually, it’s not much different from what I wanted, is it?

Everyone should study and learn the games I made.

Being good at the Romantic Age becomes more important than being good at fighting or using magic well.

No matter how powerful a person is, if he loses in a miniature game, he will be deposed, and no matter how much money he has, if he loses in a miniature game, he will become a beggar.

This dream-

“What is it like?”

“I’m sorry, but.”

It’s a nightmare.

“I refuse.”

Milton raises his eyes as if he didn’t expect it.

Athena, who was comforting Lilac, also turns to me.

“What? This is your chance to make your dreams come true.

A chance to make everyone play Coleman Cantor’s game – ”

“Sorry, but you got the wrong person.

All I want is for everyone to enjoy my games.”

Games should be fun.

That is the iron rule that underpins the romantic era.

No matter how neat the rules are or how strategically deep they are…

Is a game that you are forced to learn fun? A game where you lose your life if you lose?

“Coleman.”

“Aunt Athena. I’m a game developer, not a weapon developer.”

“We’re not asking you to make weapons.”

“You are trying to use my game as a weapon.

I don’t understand at all. If the weapons used to kill people change from spears and magic to the era of romance, what on earth will change?

“Of course, even if the rules of the romantic era rule the world, violence will remain.

But it will remain in a much more disciplined and formalized form.

Can you imagine going to war with a miniatures game? It takes over an hour to kill one person?”

“… ”

“The war will change to a format where champions representing factions compete.

No more houses burning down, no more children getting caught up.”

It’s like…

Athena drove a wedge into my agitation.

“What we’re trying to do is the same as what you did at the Academy.

Replacing irregular violence with regular violence.”

“Just a change in format -”

“Form is substance. The academy’s dueling culture completely disappeared as it became obsessed with the miniature game format. We’re trying to have this effect across the continent.”

“That’s not true.”

It wasn’t me who stepped forward this time.

After stopping her tears, Lilac stood up, looked at her mother and spoke confidently.

“The reason the academy’s dueling culture disappeared was because the underlying conflict was simple.

Since it was just an emotional conflict surrounding past history and background, it was possible to resolve the conflict by sublimating it through a fun game.”

Speech continues.

“Even at the Academy, really important issues were not resolved through duels.

I left it to the professors or resolved it through dormitory meetings.

The duel was just violence for the sake of violence, and that is why it could be eliminated.”

“It’s no different outside of the academy. Violence for the sake of violence is rampant.”

“That’s right. I also believe that the romantic era can eliminate such violence.

But it’s through playing games together and realizing the meaninglessness of violence.

Rather than creating an oppression where people who are good at games have everything!”

Clap clap clap!

Kyo Hwa-young’s enthusiastic applause.

Both Milton and Athena had their mouths wide open.

As if this development was not expected at all.

“Then… Are you saying you won’t be together?”

“… mom. Thank you for being alive.”

Tears formed in the president’s eyes as he said those words.

“Sincerely. Thank you so much for letting me see my mom’s face again.

I forgive everything my mom did to me.

I love you mom, and I hope we can continue to be together from now on.

But that’s it, this is this. because… ”

She wiped her eyes.

“Because I am the imperial princess.”

“Then it has been concluded. Neither I, nor Lilac, nor anyone at Fernforge will cooperate with you.”

“… Still, nothing changes my plans. The only difference is the operator… ”

But that was not the declaration of a confident villain.

The pitiful reflections of a parent who has been rejected by their child.

Athena looked at the ground, bit her lip, and muttered.

“Let’s withdraw.”

“God. then… ”

“The positions are so different that it seems impossible to persuade each other… ”

Milton hesitated for a moment, but then he snapped his fingers and opened a huge portal.

Intense fluctuations of wind magic.

This must have made the academy realize the problem.

“Mom.”

“… ”

Athena enters the portal without saying a word.

The moment the portal closes.

“Thank you too. For growing up bravely even without my mother.

but… This is this, that is that… ”