The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 239

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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 239

Jurlene looked back and forth between the dazzling magic stones and Lillieta’s face with a dazed expression, then asked quietly.

“Do you think we’re friends, Knight?”

“Weren’t we?”

“We’ve only known each other for a few days!”

“Is time that important?”

“Of course it is! Friends means people who’ve known each other for a long time!”

“Then I’ll say we’re people who want to become friends. Until you’re satisfied enough to call us friends.”

“Ugh…”

Jurlene’s face somehow turned red as she roughly grabbed a few magic stones from Rita’s hand and jerked her chin toward the Moon Bone.

“Th-this is enough! Take them all! You stupid pushover Knight!”

“Stupid…”

“If you had just stayed quiet, I would have given you most of them anyway, but you had to step forward and hand out magic stones like that – what else would you call it? Stupid! You’re really a pushover!”

“Wait, you were planning to just give me those? To me?”

“Knight, you also gave tons of magic stones to Sion and the village people for free! So I, I should also repay you somehow…”

Jurlene trailed off with her face bright red. Rita asked in confusion.

“Why would you repay that? You didn’t receive anything, Jurlene. You said you weren’t going to leave together anyway.”

“I don’t know! I just wanted to! Is that not allowed?”

“…Jurlene.”

Rita grasped Jurlene’s hand while clutching the remaining magic stones. She placed all the magic stones in her hands and continued.

“Please take the rest of these.”

“I-I said I don’t need them! Why are you being such a pushover?”

“I just want to do this too.”

She smiled while firmly holding Jurlene’s hands as she tried to let go of the magic stones. Remembering when Jurlene had told her not to smile like that earlier, she bent her waist at a similar angle, looking up at her slightly, saying the exact same words.

“Is that not allowed?”

“You, you…!”

“So it’s allowed? Thank you.”

“…”

When she smiled with narrowed eyes, Jurlene couldn’t say anything and just fumbled around.

Rita watched Jurlene, who was at a loss while holding a handful of magic stones, with a strange feeling.

An affectionate Elfborn mage who nagged others not to be pushovers while acting like the biggest pushover herself.

“Jurlene, you really like the cave people and Sion’s group, don’t you?”

“What?”

“You like those people so much that just thinking about everyone leaving makes you depressed.”

“Wh-what are you talking about!”

“Once everyone leaves like this, you might never meet them again. This isn’t an ordinary journey. You know that, Jurlene. That’s why you’re even more depressed.”

“…”

Jurlene pressed her lips tightly together with a gloomy expression.

She must know well. That it won’t be easy for everyone to stay safe while moving around being chased by the Holy Empire.

That even with the Black Dragon’s revelation, in the worst case, they could all die during the journey and never meet again.

That if everyone died like that in a place far from the Black Forest, it might even be impossible for Jurlene to know that fact.

She must know.

That she, who had been alone since her mentor Hecate died, might become completely alone again like that.

That she might even have to endure an indefinite wait without knowing about the tragedy that occurred outside her sight.

Jurlene herself must know this best of all.

“So… how about Jurlene comes along too?”

“I-I have no intention of leaving the Black Forest. My mentor’s last words—”

“Then you don’t have to leave.”

“What?”

“Come along and see. Everyone safely arriving at their new home and settling down. Then you can return to the Black Forest with peace of mind.”

“…!”

Her amber eyes widened.

She definitely hadn’t thought in this direction. She probably only considered the binary choice between ‘leaving completely’ and ‘staying as is.’

Rita smiled gently and continued.

“For the cave people and Sion’s group, it’s relocation, but for Jurlene, it would be a journey. How about it?”

“…”

“Your mentor’s last words… she asked you to inherit the name and role of ‘Witch,’ right? But that wasn’t the only thing she said. She said many other things before that.”

This was a story she had heard on the way to the cave village for the first time. The story of how Jurlene, left alone, inherited the ‘Witch of the Black Forest’ according to her mentor’s last words.

‘If I were to guess… maybe that was the witch Hecate’s way of giving Jurlene, who would live alone for a long time, something to do.’

There was something telling about how Hecate had passed down her lifelong research materials to Jurlene but hadn’t forced her to continue the research.

Rita recalled the painting on the corridor wall. Hecate’s painting of a brightly smiling black-haired girl was dripping with affection.

She also remembered the two colored doors in that corridor. Jurlene’s room, Hecate’s room. Doors with wooden nameplates carved and attached to each. The cute decorations hanging from the nameplates. This cozy house also held many traces of love.

Hecate must have loved Jurlene like a daughter, and Jurlene must have loved her mentor like a mother. The two Elfborn must have lived alone in the Black Forest for long years, ultimately becoming family based on countless shared experiences.

“Jurlene, your mentor said she wanted you to live happily. That came before asking you to inherit the ‘Witch’ role. Doesn’t that mean she thought of your happiness before the witch role? That she wanted you to prioritize that…”

Rita stopped her careful words. Then she reached out toward Jurlene, who had started sniffling with reddened eyes.

The Black Dragon clinging to her shoulder quickly flew up and moved away. She pulled Jurlene into an embrace and whispered.

“Yes, you actually knew better, didn’t you? What your mentor wanted most for you.”

“…Sniff.”

“I saw the painting of you smiling brightly. Your mentor wouldn’t have wanted you to live trapped in the Black Forest with a gloomy face. Because she loved you, she would have wanted you to make choices that could make you smile…”

She patted the back of the sobbing Jurlene and spoke tenderly.

“Make a choice that lets you smile, Jurlene. Follow your heart.”

“…Follow my heart…”

“You can be honest. Jurlene doesn’t want to part with everyone, right?”

“…Y-yes, sniff, I don’t want to part with them…”

Jurlene burst into tears like a child. She grabbed onto Lillieta’s clothes and cried loudly while pouring out her true feelings.

“If the cave becomes empty, sniff, what do I do… If there’s no one at the end of my walks, sob, I… waaah, who do I greet now… I don’t want to be left alone, waaaah…”

“See, just imagining choosing to stay makes you cry like this.”

Rita spoke gently while holding the sobbing Jurlene.

“Jurlene, you leaving the Black Forest isn’t like betraying your mentor. Knowing you’ll cry but enduring it would probably make your mentor even more upset.”

“…Sniff.”

“Don’t think you have to leave here completely to follow them. You don’t need to worry about it so heavily. This is a place you can return to anytime you want, Jurlene. That’s what home is.”

“Ah… that’s right… it’s home… right. It was…”

Jurlene repeated in a daze, then sniffled loudly and asked quietly.

“But would it be okay for me to follow everyone? Won’t people, sob, dislike it?”

“Of course it’s okay. They’d actually be grateful. Why would you think that?”

“But… but no one asked me to come along. Not even Sion… he didn’t say a word.”

Rita was momentarily speechless and felt a headache coming on.

No way, Your Majesty the Emperor, you were preparing to leave like that but never once invited Her Majesty the Empress to come along? Why on earth?

This is why Jurlene dug herself into a hole!

‘It’s not like he doesn’t care about her.’

Mythologically, historically, and from what she’d observed these past few days.

Prince Elision paid attention to Jurlene’s every move and acted like her protector. He deliberately called her to meetings when she was subtly left out in the cave village and included her in important occasions. Even when Rita was proving the revelation, he had called Jurlene to be included among the six people.

But why?

Did he mistakenly assume like her that Jurlene would naturally come along? No, then he should have found it strange when Jurlene was dejected and taken care of her. Was he too busy to notice?

‘Either way, I need to talk to him about this… Gid, it looks like I’ll have to meddle in your ancestors’ love life too.’

Rita swallowed her rising sigh and made up an excuse.

“The Prince definitely wanted to talk to you about it. He just couldn’t find the right opportunity.”

“Do you really think so…?”

“Yes, I’m sure of it.”

At her firm assurance, Jurlene finally smiled with her face a mess from crying.

Rita inwardly gritted her teeth and added only to herself.

Otherwise, I’ll personally make sure that damn Prince ends up that way myself, so don’t worry, Jurlene.

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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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