That Piece Of Trash Was Me - Chapter 106
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 106
“Mother was a mage.”
“…!”
Iris opened her eyes in surprise. Even that seemed to exhaust her as she immediately broke into a coughing fit.
“Young Master! Please be quiet! What if someone hears you…!”
“You know that no servants come to this palace except once a month.”
It was dirty, smelly, and shabby, so even his half-brothers never came here.
If they really wanted to torment and beat him, they would deliberately send servants early in the morning to summon him and torment him all day.
Benjamin had to survive somehow among those vicious people.
If he died too, Mother would truly be left alone.
Mother, who had no family to rely on.
She, who was looked down upon even more because she came from an orphaned background.
“Still, just in case, never speak of it outside. Young Master. It could cause trouble….”
“…Yes. Mother.”
The Spring Continent had magic towers, and mages belonging to the towers, though their position was narrow, at least received treatment equivalent to skilled craftsmen.
However.
“I know well that mages from the Summer Continent are despised….”
“…Young Master.”
Sorrow, regret, and guilt.
Mother looked at him with eyes swirling with all kinds of painful emotions.
And breath that grew just as weakly fainter.
After reaching a certain age, Benjamin had never slept properly even once.
Because Mother was always sick and could die at any moment.
Because his heartless father didn’t properly send a palace physician or medicinal materials to such a mother.
He was anxious.
He had lived an anxious life.
And would continue to do so.
“Mother.”
Benjamin gripped the cold wet towel tightly in his hand. If he held it for a while, his body temperature would transfer and make it a little warmer.
With that, he always wiped her face. The face that was heading toward death every minute, every second.
“You said you would give me a birthday present.”
“That’s right.”
A faint smile bloomed on her face.
“It bothered me so much that Young Master’s birthday happened to be when you were in the Empire, so I couldn’t take care of it.”
“It’s fine. The Imperial Palace was wonderful, and there was lots of cake. It was good.”
“That’s a relief. Young Master, is there anything you want as a gift?”
A concubine who didn’t receive the king’s love.
A concubine with no powerful family to support her.
Her situation was no different from Benjamin’s.
Even the department that managed the royal palace budget ignored Benjamin and his mother.
They made various excuses and didn’t properly provide the royal allowance.
So they lived in poverty even in this beautiful royal palace. They even went hungry sometimes.
If they had been commoners, they would have gone out to work, and if they had been fallen nobles, they would have sold their bodies to old ladies with lots of money.
But Benjamin, being of royal blood in name, couldn’t do anything.
So he sacrificed himself to his half-brothers’ violence, appeased them, and secretly took the food scraps they left behind.
Even those were luxurious because they were royal palace food.
The boy who matured early had never hoped for something as extravagant as a birthday present.
He had never asked Mother to celebrate his birthday.
Sadly adult-like, smiling even while in pain.
The boy, whose insides were completely ruined though he didn’t know it himself, carefully opened his mouth.
“Mother. This flower….”
Benjamin took out a single flower wrapped in a handkerchief from his chest.
A single tulip hanging its head as if it would wither soon, just like their situation.
Benjamin, who had carried it in his arms as if it were more precious than anything, opened his mouth.
“Could you cast preservation magic on this flower?”
Iris gazed at the flower Benjamin held out. She smiled faintly.
“It’s a pretty tulip. Alright, Young Master.”
There weren’t many mages who could use preservation magic.
Especially the longer the duration of the preservation magic, the more the magic’s value exceeded imagination.
So when nobles or royalty bought preservation magic from magic towers, they would carefully ask and examine how long the duration was, even writing guarantees before paying.
But Benjamin asked nothing.
He didn’t even ask how long the preservation magic his mother would cast would last.
He just stared as if entranced by the mysterious shimmer that rippled along the outline of the pale pink tulip.
“Young Master.”
After casting one spell, Iris’s already pale face became even whiter.
She smiled while brushing her sweat-dampened hair behind her ear.
“May I ask why you wanted magic cast on it?”
Her young son who had never wanted anything.
This was the first birthday present he had ever wished for.
“…Just because.”
Benjamin slowly wrapped the tulip back in the handkerchief and answered quietly.
“Just….”
“….”
“…When I looked at this tulip, I could avoid smiling.”
“I see….”
Iris raised her thin hand and slowly stroked Benjamin’s head.
Though he didn’t eat well, though he was so thin his ribs showed, her son’s hair was a brilliant golden color.
“My poor child….”
Iris murmured.
Gradually, the strength left her hand.
Benjamin carefully took his mother’s powerless hand and placed it back on the bed.
Iris’s eyes gradually closed.
“I hope our Young Master will always smile.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“I hope you’ll smile sincerely and cry sincerely.”
“…I’ll try. Mother.”
Iris, who had been gazing at Benjamin, finally.
“Truly….”
Finally let out a voice filled with regret.
“Truly my poor child….”
“….”
Iris gasped and barely managed to speak.
“How can I go alone, leaving you behind….”
“….”
Benjamin didn’t answer.
No, he couldn’t.
Silence descends.
Too heavy for this shabby separate palace to bear, as if it would suffocate under the weight.
The desperately thick scent of death.
Benjamin gripped the handkerchief-wrapped tulips tightly with both hands and smiled.
He clutched them desperately, as if grasping his only lifeline.
As always, he bid farewell with a smile.
“Sleep well, Mother.”
“Yes… Sleep well.”
Iris added with a very faint smile.
“…Benjamin.”
“…”
“My poor child.”
“…”
Iris’s eyes slowly closed.
Benjamin said nothing.
He simply prepared to slowly rot and crumble like a leaf sensing winter.
He just stood there silently like an old tree, upright in that spot.
“…”
How much time had passed?
It felt as if enough time had passed for ancient civilizations to rust away, yet also as if only a few blinks had gone by.
Benjamin slowly opened his mouth.
“Mother.”
No answer came back.
“…Mother.”
Mother, who no longer breathed.
Benjamin, as always, opened his mouth with a mechanical smile.
“Sleep well, truly… farewell.”
Could one be wounded by their own words?
Could one’s heart be so damaged just by greeting someone they loved?
The moisture that had been locked away for so long, the sorrow barely held down below his throat, surged up like a bursting dam.
One drop.
Two drops.
Moisture falling drop by drop.
Benjamin silently unwrapped the handkerchief that had covered the tulips.
After carefully covering his mother’s peaceful face with the handkerchief, he lowered his head to the tulips that would never wilt again.
Ridiculously, all he had left was this tiny single flower.
Benjamin, who had been blankly staring at the light pink tulips, unconsciously shifted his gaze to the mirror beside the bed.
The gaunt boy reflected in the mirror was crying with a smiling face.
Like that all day long, endlessly.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Shushu
Benjamin🥺you shoulda asked her to cast preservation magic on herself😭