The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 13

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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 13

“Miss… has disappeared.”

“I woke up from a scary dream. Did you wake up from sleep too, Hanna?”

“Yes…”

The yellow light of the lamp flickered over Hanna’s face as she answered slowly. Lillieta thought there was something strange about her eyes. Eyes that seemed unfocused, staring into empty space.

“If you’re scared… with me… together.”

“Sleep together?”

Lillieta brightened and grabbed her sleeve. Hanna shook her head.

“Together, together.”

“Huh?”

“Together… ugh…”

The girl who had been repeating the same words suddenly grabbed her head and groaned, then raised her head again.

The dazed expression disappeared without a trace, and she smiled with strangely glowing eyes.

“Let’s go stargazing together, Miss.”

“Stars…? Suddenly?”

“I woke up too and was wondering what to do… since it’s rare to be awake in the middle of the night like this, I thought we should go stargazing. I thought it would be better if I did it with you, Miss, so I came to find you.”

“With me?”

“I already brought milk and cookies to the lakeside. There are blankets too, and a constellation book. Miss, you learned about constellations from your tutor recently, didn’t you? Don’t you want to see them for real? After we look at the stars together while drinking warm milk, you’ll fall asleep easily!”

Hanna chattered away with a bright smile.

Lillieta, who had indeed learned about constellations recently, was tempted by the suggestion.

She was scared to fall asleep alone like this, and the idea of playing with someone her age in the middle of the night with milk and cookies made her heart flutter with excitement.

“Okay!”

Lillieta answered with a bright smile.

As a young child who had grown up loved among good people, she couldn’t be suspicious.

She didn’t wonder how Hanna, who couldn’t enter the main castle and stayed in the outer castle where the servants lived, had managed to get into the princess’s bedroom deep within the main castle.

She didn’t question how a child who hadn’t even become a playmate yet, who had only been in the castle for barely a month, knew that Lillieta had learned about constellations recently.

She didn’t wonder how a young maid with no special authority could have prepared such things at the birch forest lakeside.

She didn’t understand what it meant to lure a 10-year-old princess out of the manor with its various security measures in the middle of the night.

Lillieta was simply happy to have a special playtime with a peer who was going to be her friend, happy that she didn’t have to fall asleep alone in the bedroom where she had just had a nightmare.

The young princess was led out of the manor by Hanna’s hand. Even though there were guards on duty and servants on night shift, the girls didn’t encounter anyone on their way out.

When they passed through the garden and entered the birch forest, Lillieta finally felt something was strange.

“Hanna, wait, you’re walking too fast…”

Hanna, a healthy 12-year-old girl, was about a span taller than the frail 10-year-old Lillieta.

That Hanna was almost dragging her along by force. Without looking back, without saying a word.

When Lillieta became anxious and tried to stop instead of being dragged along obediently, Hanna turned to look at her.

A face with no expression, like a doll.

“…Hanna?”

“Yes, Miss?”

The girl answered with only the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile. Her eyes weren’t smiling at all. It felt terribly eerie. Lillieta was frightened and unconsciously stepped backward.

“Where are you trying to go? The lakeside is this way.”

Hanna gripped her hand tightly and pulled her. Lillieta struggled to escape from that grip, dragging her feet in resistance.

“N-no, I don’t want to go.”

“What?”

“I changed my mind. Sorry, Hanna. I’ll just go back to sleep…”

“That won’t do.”

The forced smile disappeared completely. Hanna, now expressionless, pulled Lillieta with eerily strong force.

“Come here.”

That tone and accent were similar to what she had heard in her nightmare. Terrified, Lillieta tried to scream and run away.

“Kyaa, mmph!”

Hanna quickly covered her mouth. Then she embraced her with her whole body, suppressing her struggles while muttering something quickly in a strange voice.

“〈I desire…〉”

Lillieta couldn’t hear those words clearly. She wasn’t in a state of mind to listen. She struggled frantically to escape from Hanna.

Then her nightgown got caught on a branch in the bushes. The tip of the branch tore a long gash in her thigh, drawing blood and tearing her clothes. The bloodied piece of nightgown remained caught in the bushes.

And Hanna’s strange voice stopped. At the same time, all strength drained from Lillieta’s body and she went limp like a doll.

Hanna carried the limp Lillieta on her back, picked up her slippers that had come off during the struggle, and continued walking down the forest path.

Lillieta, unable to move her body, could only stare blankly with open eyes at the approaching lake.

There was no milk, cookies, or blankets at the lakeside. There was no constellation book either. Only an empty coffin was placed there.

Hanna laid the barefoot Lillieta inside the coffin. Lillieta wanted to scream as she looked at the inside of the coffin covered with bizarre patterns, but she couldn’t even move her lips.

The coffin lid was placed over her rigid form. Just before the lid closed, Lillieta saw Hanna looking down at her with a melancholy and bitter expression. It wasn’t a childlike expression.

Soon the lid closed and complete darkness came. Lillieta felt the coffin being dragged. Then she heard the sound of water lapping.

‘Surely they’re not putting the coffin in the lake?’

Was she going to die like this?

Extreme terror took over her entire body. She wanted to wail and scream. She wanted to at least close her eyes tightly.

But Lillieta could only lie there like a doll with half-open eyes.

Fortunately or unfortunately, no water leaked into the coffin. How much time passed in that state?

It felt like an enormously long time to Lillieta, but after what was actually not much time had passed, she saw a strange light flowing along the bizarre patterns carved inside the coffin.

Then she felt a piercing pain in her brain. It hurt so much that she couldn’t think of anything and her vision became blurred.

She screamed silently, unable to make a sound… until at some point, those screams became real sounds that reached her own ears.

Lillieta was screaming and writhing. Someone held her down with strong force and gripped her head with large hands.

Chaotic things flowed through her mind in confusion. After some time had passed, the pain suddenly disappeared.

When she opened her tear-blurred eyes, she saw a hooded man.

He wiped the tears from her eyes and stood her in front of a large mirror. A girl with reddish-brown hair and freckles was reflected. A child who subtly resembled Hanna.

‘Who…? Ah… is this me?’

Did I originally look like this?

As she looked at the mirror with unfamiliarity, the man spoke.

“You are ‘Rita.'”

Rita couldn’t question those words. With all her memories stolen and her mind turned blank, the man’s words were carved into her mind.

“You’re an orphan I took in, and you have no parents or family.”

Rita looked up at him blankly. The man placed his hand on her head. She felt as if the empty space was being filled with something.

“Now, you’ll vividly remember how hungry and difficult things were for you all this time.”

Suddenly vivid memories came flooding back. Memories of being so hungry that she searched through garbage piles, terrible stench, and when she thought she might starve to death, a hand reached out to her.

“If you become my child, I won’t let you go hungry.”

She took that hand and followed, hurriedly eating the piece of bread she was given, and lay down in a coffin full of strange drawings as instructed, and then her head…

“No, no, such specific memories aren’t necessary. You mustn’t become Dorothy. Even if your body belongs to the worthless orphan Dorothy, your soul has special qualities… It’s an exceptional case, but definitely legendary…”

The man’s words became blurred and the memories became hazy again.

When she came to her senses, Rita was looking up at the man stroking her head without any suspicion.

“…Be grateful to me for taking you in.”

Grateful to the great mage Pascal who had mercifully taken in her starving self.

* * *

Lillieta opened her eyes.

Inside the guest room she had become familiar with over the past few days. This time she didn’t jump up in surprise or look around warily.

She slowly got up from the bed and looked out the window. Though there were changes from the passage of 10 years, it was still a familiar scene.

The well-maintained garden, the fence entwined with rose vines that still only had buds, and beyond that, the birch forest full of light green new leaves.

She had grown up playing and running around in that garden.

Following the flower knight—no, the gardener—watching him work, asking the names of flowers and trees, and finding Richard who had fought with Leonhardt and shut himself away.

She used to go on picnics along the forest path in that birch forest, holding hands with Leonhardt and Richard, or holding her mom and dad’s hands.

Rita then turned her gaze to the matchbox placed on the desk. As she opened it to look at the small card inside, she heard a knock.

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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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