The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 22
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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 22
“Is it some kind of allergy? You didn’t have it when you were little, did it develop recently? What should I do, Mom didn’t know, I’m sorry…”
The Countess looked distressed and didn’t know what to do, then turned to look at the Madam Designer.
“Madam, did you hear that?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll prepare things without patchouli scent, so don’t worry!”
The Madam Designer hurriedly called her staff and gave them some instructions. Soon the clothes that came in were a bit less luxurious but had no patchouli scent at all.
“Lili, is it okay now? If you still feel uncomfortable or tired, we can just go home…”
“No, Mom. I’m really fine.”
Rita smiled as brightly as possible.
Honestly, even without the patchouli scent, she was already tired and struggling.
Strangers kept moving around her and touching her body to take measurements, making her nerves stand on edge.
She was reflexively wary of everyone in sight and gritting her teeth to keep from breaking the wrists of hands that touched her body, so she couldn’t help but get exhausted quickly.
But she didn’t want to ruin her excited mother’s mood or this outing. She wanted to show her family the lovely and bright appearance befitting ‘Lili’.
However, contrary to her intentions, the Countess’s face hardened even more. She gently stroked Lillieta’s cheek and whispered with trembling lips.
“You’re not okay, my daughter.”
“What?”
“You’re struggling right now, aren’t you? But you’re enduring it.”
“…!”
The Countess quietly embraced her as she froze in surprise. She buried her tightly in her arms as if wanting to protect her from everything in the world.
“Why do you pretend you’re fine when you’re struggling? Do you think Mom won’t notice?”
In her embrace, Lillieta saw her mother’s arms wrapped around her trembling.
A scene from long ago that she had envied and been mesmerized by came to mind. The image of a mother who had embraced her child to protect it from her holding a gun.
That mother’s arms had been trembling like this too. With a fragile strength that wouldn’t back down no matter what came.
The Countess stroked her and asked.
“Our daughter is struggling right now, isn’t that right?”
She found herself clinging to her mother’s embrace without realizing it. She gripped her mother’s clothes.
Her hand gripping the clothes was smooth without a single scar. Rita overlapped it with the memory of her dirty hands from the past that had been slippery with blood.
Even knowing that these clean hands were actually blood-soaked and covered in wounds, would Mom still embrace her without hesitation like now?
Would it be okay even if she was no longer an angel or fairy-like daughter?
‘I… have changed too much.’
She no longer liked pink or rabbits. She didn’t draw pictures either. Her interest in pretty clothes or accessories had also disappeared.
Lili was a gentle girl who loved people and couldn’t harm even a single insect.
Rita Pascal could tear apart magical beasts while they were still alive. She could put a gun to the forehead of someone crying and begging for their life and pull the trigger. She couldn’t even remember how many people she had killed.
The Countess asked tenderly.
“Tell Mom what’s troubling you, okay?”
Rita remained silent with her head buried in the Countess’s embrace, then answered quietly.
“…It’s hard having so many strangers around.”
“I see. I’m sorry, Mom wasn’t being considerate enough.”
The Countess answered with drooping eyebrows, kissed her forehead, and looked back at the Madam Designer.
“Madam, please wrap up all those clothes and send them to Birch Tree Castle. Be careful not to let them absorb patchouli scent.”
“Oh, yes! I understand, don’t worry!”
“Let’s go, Lili.”
The Countess stood up while embracing her. Richard quickly stood up first and rushed out to prepare the carriage again.
Lillieta got into the carriage with the Countess. The Countess sitting across from her looked at her with a worried and apologetic face.
“Lili, we’ll go straight home now, so don’t be scared anymore.”
“No, I’m not scared…”
Rita trailed off. The Countess was looking at her with a face that seemed about to cry.
‘Ah, this… she thinks I’m afraid of strangers because I went through something terrible.’
That was understandable. What should she do about this misunderstanding.
Rita rubbed her face dry and opened her mouth again.
“Mom, I—”
“Kyaaaah!”
“Uaaaah!”
Sharp screams suddenly burst out from outside the carriage. Rita immediately opened the carriage window and checked outside.
The carriage had been waiting briefly instead of departing immediately while the fashion atelier staff hurriedly loaded the gifts they had brought.
People who had seen the Raskail family crest were watching the scene from a slight distance, whispering stories about how the Raskails’ only princess who had disappeared 10 years ago had returned.
The screams had come from those onlookers.
“Mo, monster!”
“Wyvern! It’s a wyvern!”
“How is there a monster in the city…!”
“Run!”
A scaled monster suddenly popped up on top of a nearby building rooftop. It was a medium-sized monster with a lizard-like body and bat-like wings instead of front legs—a Wyvern.
It sat on the edge of the high roof and looked down at the humans on the ground with bright yellow eyes. It seemed to be choosing its prey.
“Why did that thing come all the way to the city…!”
Richard, who had been in another carriage, rushed out while drawing his sword. However, the wyvern spreading its wings was faster than him running.
“Uwaaaah!”
The wyvern shot down like an arrow toward a child who had fallen after being pushed by people while trying to escape.
Even while running toward it, Richard had an intuition. That it was already too late. That there was no way to prevent that child from being pierced by the wyvern’s claws.
But at that moment, a loud gunshot rang out from behind him. At the same time, a brilliant golden light crossed through the air in a straight line. That beam of light accurately pierced through the head of the wyvern that was diving toward the ground.
With a sound like a leather ball bursting, blue blood splattered everywhere and the headless monster’s corpse crashed miserably to the ground.
The child was safe. The parents belatedly ran over and embraced the child. Richard turned around in shock.
‘What on earth…’
A gun barrel that had been sticking out through the small carriage window was quietly withdrawn. And then the maid Hanna’s face briefly popped out before disappearing back inside.
‘A gun? Lili?’
Richard immediately realized that the person who had just fired a bullet with power he had never seen before was Lillieta.
However, the person who had been watching all of this from the rooftop misunderstood differently.
“Huh? What, really?”
It was a young man with white hair and blood-red eyes. With his obvious albino appearance, he pressed down his black hood and looked down.
“Magic gunmanship? That was magic gunmanship just now, right?”
His narrowed red eyes widened greatly the moment he saw Hanna’s face popping out of the carriage window.
“Rita Pascal?”
As Hanna disappeared back into the carriage, the man stepped back while covering his mouth. His staggering legs buckled and he plopped down in the middle of the roof.
“Wow, crazy, wow. Fuck.”
Covering his mouth, the man alternately spat out exclamations and curses. His wide-open eyes were violently shaking.
“No way, wow, I was just going to check out the princess who supposedly returned after going missing without much expectation, but fuck, Rita Pascal? Really Rita? How could this…”
The man’s pale face gradually turned bright red. He held both hands in front of his mouth while repeatedly muttering crude curses, then groaned with his reddened face.
“Rita has returned… That Rita Pascal… Fuck, I had given up on everything, how could such a miracle… Has she completely returned? Or are her memories not fully back yet? She must be in the middle of returning, right? If her return was complete, there’s no way we wouldn’t have found her. Everyone was searching like crazy…”
He roughly ran his hands through his white hair and soon began grinning.
“Ha, then when did she start returning? Has it only been a few days? How much of her memory has come back? Would she recognize me? She probably can’t recognize me yet, right? Wow, this… finding her like this, fuck.”
He was extremely excited and didn’t know what to do, then suddenly shrugged his shoulders.
“Sorry, Captain Gid. This time I got to meet Rita first.”
The man whistled briefly and disappeared with a grinning face.
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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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