The Eldest Daughter Walks Down The Flower Path - Chapter 2

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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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The Eldest Daughter Walks the Path of Flowers Episode 2

Only when she was alone could Radis finally furrow her brow deeply and let out a groan.

“Ugh…”

She forced herself to lift her head and examine her body, which the maid had wrapped tightly with bandages.

Blood was already seeping through the freshly applied medicine and newly wrapped bandages.

Now that she no longer needed to disguise herself as David, the eldest son of the Tilrod Family, or as a knight of Willingham, her pale, dried lips finally parted.

“It hurts…”

It hurt.

It really hurt.

Though the maid had done her best to treat the wounds, it was only a temporary measure.

With old poisoning symptoms combined with the fatal injuries from this expedition, her body was already dying.

‘This expedition was a failure. I shouldn’t have gone. It was a trap.’

Radis’s unit had fought monsters for three full days and nights just to survive.

She was fortunate enough to return alive like this, but many members had lost their lives.

Those who remained had also suffered fatal injuries like her.

The wounds were bad enough, but the problem was the demonic energy that those powerful monsters had released as they died.

That was why she had ended up like this.

‘Stupid. To fall for a trap, how utterly stupid…’

Lying in bed with her battered body, Radis laughed self-deprecatingly.

Yet strangely, she didn’t feel resentful.

She had walked on a path of thorns her entire life.

One step forward led to emptiness, the next step led to a pit of fire.

Walking such a path, what could have remained unscathed?

Having lived in tatters with her body and mind torn countless times, she was too exhausted to feel anger about falling into a trap now.

“Cough, cough!”

She didn’t even have the strength to cover her mouth.

Radis coughed while flailing like a fish pulled out of water.

It felt like her lungs were being torn apart.

She could feel her lips getting wet, probably from coughing up blood.

Just then, the door opened again.

“Here, your favorite rabbit meat soup…”

Margaret, holding a plate, was horrified to see Radis covered in blood.

“Oh my, look at her! Maggie, Maggie! Come wipe this up!”

At Margaret’s scream, the old maid who had gone to do laundry came back upstairs.

The maid carefully wiped Radis’s face with a sorrowful expression.

After Maggie left, Margaret slightly pushed the soup bowl she had placed on the table beside Radis’s bed and said,

“Eat this and rest a bit. If you rest well… you’ll get better.”

Margaret couldn’t bring herself to look into Radis’s eyes while saying those words.

Radis, who had been quietly watching Margaret, brought over a dirty bundle of cloth she had placed at the head of her bed and unwrapped it.

Instantly, the room was filled with multicolored radiance.

“Gasp!”

Margaret was so startled she nearly fainted and rushed closer.

“This… this! What is this?”

What Radis had taken out was a fist-sized gem emitting multicolored light.

“It’s a magic stone I obtained from the last expedition.”

At the mention that it was a magic stone, Margaret’s eyes widened.

Magic stones, depending on the quality of the demonic energy contained within, sometimes fetched prices higher than diamonds of the same size.

This magic stone was emitting an extraordinary light even to the naked eye.

And such a size!

“No way, how much is this… this worth? Child, well done!”

To Margaret, who was cheering, Radis spoke earnestly.

“I heard there’s a defrocked priest in Grace. He was stripped of his priesthood from the temple, but he performs purification rituals for money. With this, we should be able to secretly summon that priest.”

Radis handed the magic stone to Margaret.

Feeling the heavy weight in her palm, Margaret lost what little dignity she had left and gaped open-mouthed.

It looked like drool might fall from her wide-open mouth.

Margaret, as if enchanted by the magic stone’s radiance, left the room without saying a word, holding it.

Radis lay in bed and looked at the sky through the small window.

‘It’s okay. If I receive the purification ritual, I’ll get better.’

Many thoughts passed through her mind.

But they were just thoughts.

Things that would become nothing once she got up and shook them off.

She let the melancholy thoughts simply flow away.

Several days passed like that.

“Mother, what about the priest?”

“I sent someone to Grace, so he’ll come soon.”

A few more days passed.

“Mother… is the priest still not here?”

“Didn’t I tell you I sent someone?”

Margaret said irritably.

“You didn’t hear false rumors, did you? Is there really a priest there?”

Now Radis didn’t even have enough strength left to sit up.

Lying on the small bed that barely contained her body, Radis looked up at Margaret.

She saw Margaret’s defensive posture with crossed arms, her awkwardly twisted lips.

And she realized the priest would not come.

Radis opened her mouth, then closed it again.

A whirlwind of emotions made it impossible for her to speak properly.

Only after some time had passed could she finally open her mouth.

“Why… are you doing this to me?”

Margaret, who had been examining her nails, suddenly looked up.

“What did I do? What did I do?”

A clear tear rolled down Radis’s cheek, which was now turning black from its previous purple hue.

“Did I… do something wrong?”

“…”

“Are you doing this because I’m bad? Was I… a bad daughter?”

Margaret turned her head with crossed arms and looked at the worn-out wall.

It was time for Radis to wait for Margaret’s answer, and also time for Margaret to reflect for the first time on what kind of existence Radis was to her.

She was a daughter she never wanted from the beginning, so she never liked her.

Margaret had never once felt affection for Radis.

Was it because she was a heartless mother?

Well.

Margaret loved David, her eldest son.

For David, she could even give her life.

She also loved Yurhee, her second daughter.

She could give anything to Yurhee.

So she could be confident that she wasn’t a bad mother.

But when it came to Radis?

She was just bothersome and unpleasant.

Was it because Radis was bad?

“Ah, I don’t know.”

She was too tired to think about it anymore.

“Because you deserved it!”

Margaret’s sharp rebuke shattered Radis’s soul into pieces.

That was right.

To her parents, to the Tillord Family, that’s what she was.

Someone who deserved it.

A being they could use as a trash can to dump their emotions on, someone they could exploit until she broke like this without feeling even a shred of guilt.

A being who was neither precious, nor admirable, nor lovable.

She had known.

She had been aware of that fact.

So she had tried.

With all her might, until her flesh melted away and her bones shattered, she had tried to create a place for herself.

And that’s why she had broken.

Radis spoke.

“What about Father…? Where is Father?”

Her father Jade had always turned away from her.

But if he saw his daughter in this state, he would feel at least a little heartache.

If Jade saw her current condition, he would try to help her.

However, her desperate plea seemed to further irritate Margaret’s temper.

“How would I know where that man is!”

Margaret screamed at the top of her lungs.

Contrary to her words, Margaret knew exactly where Jade was.

Jade was at Flora’s house, his mistress.

Like children playing house, the two had set up a small home and even had two children together.

Just thinking about it made Margaret feel like she was going insane.

In her foul mood, Margaret completely forgot that Radis was in critical condition and began to mock her.

“Come to think of it, your name was taken from gladiolus, wasn’t it?”

Radis looked up at her mother with eyes suffocating in despair.

“Do you know that flower is offered at maidens’ graves? You must have been destined for this from birth. So don’t blame me.”

Margaret picked up the soup bowl she hadn’t touched and spoke coldly.

“Get some rest. Maybe you’ll recover.”

The door closed.

Radis stared blankly at the ceiling.

She had believed that if she endured long enough, happiness would come someday.

Watching Margaret, who despite being a cold mother, gradually came to need her, she thought her mother relied on her in some corner of her heart…

She had thought that perhaps, just perhaps, her mother loved her a little.

She had believed that if she continued supporting the family, even the indifferent Jade would eventually turn around and acknowledge her.

She had thought that if she kept sacrificing herself, someday she would hear words of gratitude from her siblings.

Radis coughed up blood while lying down.

Her mouth felt gritty.

Without looking, she could feel black crystals mixed in with the blood.

“I just… wanted to be held in Mother and Father’s arms, even once…”

The sensation in her hands and feet began to disappear.

“I wanted to become… a daughter you could be proud of…”

But none of it had been an achievable dream.

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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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