69 – True parent, no, only mother (3)
“Ah, h… No, Rosaria, ma’am.”
When she came back flapping her wings, her face looked a little excited.
Just by looking at the expression on her slightly red face, it wasn’t that difficult to guess what kind of emotion it was.
“Could you please call me by the title “Mom” Just a little longer?”
“Yes?”
“Come on. Please call me Mom.”
“But the moon – “
“Quickly.”
The woman, no, her mother, came towards me with the intention of biting her ear, and she was breathing heavily while hugging me.
I felt her back and found that she was not hurt.
Her body wasn’t wet either.
She wasn’t like this because she was hurt.
It wasn’t because I was in pain.
Then why?
“Uh, Mom. What are you doing this for?”
“hehehehe, hehehe. Ah… Something happened outside.
It’s quite enjoyable, so stop.”
I became curious.
I had no choice but to do that.
Because I’ve only seen smiles bloom on that face when it comes to things related to me.
In the nine years we were together, I never saw my mom smile at anyone other than me.
Grunting, grinning and gnashing teeth,
I don’t mind if it means making a frown and getting blood on your hands.
…That means,
“I have something to show you.
Won’t you follow me?”
It meant that this was a problem related to me.
“Could it be… The magic that extended outside the window -“
“Ah, he’s smart too, my brilliant son…!!!”
Wow!
I was crushed.
As I was held in his arms, my cheeks were filled with warmth.
Now, where I have touched many times,
Where even bolder things were done,
I was hugged face to face.
Before I knew it, the exposed tail was hitting the ground.
Is it really that happy for mom?
“Okay, so.
Quickly. “Recite the magic I taught you again.”
I spit out the words I had whispered in my mother’s room.
Then the lines stretched out again.
It wasn’t the window this time.
I was toward the end of a hallway with no end in sight.
And countless threads were woven around my mother.
Horns, neck, clothes…
It was so dizzying before my eyes.
To the point where it could be said that it was blindfolded, so much so.
“Ah, hahahaha, hahahaha… Yes, it’s my child.
Not my child.
The kite is so strong,
How dare they do that…
If it shows up, that’s it.
I wonder if they, who had never intended to show their faces for so many years, would believe that anything would change now.
Stupid, pathetic, ugly, and dirty things – “
“Uh, Mom?”
Hold my arm,
Mom opened her mouth towards the nape of her neck.
My body was stiff, but my head naturally tilted like an old habit.
There was no resistance to leaving a dark trace.
That was me now.
“Phew… I wonder if there’s one more line left like this.”
There was no red line.
There is only one long, transparent line that shines silver in the moonlight.
The slight warmth quickly reached the wind and cooled down.
“Follow me. Quickly.
I have prepared something for you.”
The place where the captured arm is led is to the end of the hallway where a faint red line points.
My mother’s feet, happily leading me, seemed as light as her fluttering feathers.
As if something heavy had been thrown away.
One day three years ago when I said I would leave this place.
I wandered through this long hallway.
Wandering around looking for a huge door that cannot be seen without Mom’s permission,
I believe that I can dare to shake off the hand that holds me.
But now I know.
The fact that without the hand holding me, I wouldn’t even be able to peek outside.
If you are not a mother,
I am just a boy who cannot even escape from this place.
“Do you want to open it yourself?”
Because my mother is there, I am at the door.
Because the dragon allows me, I can stand on the porch.
Even if I look outside, I can’t go.
Replaying those facts in my head, I pushed the door forcefully.
“…Lutherrier, Mr.?”
With a rope hanging around his neck, he was tied tightly to the handrail of the stairs.
She was sitting back as if resigned, and when she saw me…
“…!”
Its eyes lit up a little, and its tail wagged.
Clearly drawn marks on the face.
The ugly marks that looked like they had been cut with sharp objects did not look good at all.
“Who told you to wag your tail as you please…?”
A sad voice coming from behind me.
Even if there was still a hint of laughter, it was a clear warning.
The scene I saw that day beyond the door came to mind,
The injured arm began to tingle little by little.
“There is only one reason why I do not keep my word.
Because my beloved son doesn’t want it.
Right, Russell?”
What should I do?
Is it right to nod your head?
From Noble mtl dot com
Or would it be right to throw it away?
In order not to have blood splattered in front of my eyes right now, I –
“Answer me quickly… Um…”
I hugged him.
He placed his hands on her waist and gave strength to her toes.
To appease her desires that her mother had,
To absorb the jealousy as much as possible.
… Just as the principal said, I faithfully became a sacrifice.
Allay the red dragon’s anger.
“Puhuhuh.”
With a faint smile, the corners of his mouth were raised awkwardly.
At the bottom right of my mother, I could see the singed ends of Mr. Luterrier’s hair, shivering pitifully –
I didn’t pay attention there.
I paid close attention to every small action.
Knowing very well how much of a scar it had been to shake off her mother’s hand before.
“Look, she is such a pretty child.
Nursing in my arms,
Share the warmth within my den,
A child like a flower that bloomed with my love.
It’s so lovely, how could it meet the fate of being abandoned…”
“…Now, you know very well that you don’t have to talk about that.”
Even though I am weighed down by the heavy love that is hugged and whispered,
Now I have learned how to accept it.
When I was young, it was only three years ago,
I thought that since the world was wide, there would be a place I could escape to.
The person chosen to join the journey was tied to a leash by her mother.
That was the end.
There is no other way for me.
“Is that so? Of course.
You just need me, right?
Now, as my only family.
Mom, wife… You can call me whatever you want.
Please love me. Like now. And in the future too.
You can do that well enough, right?”
I nodded.
Tying myself to a tail that has been entangled over and over again.
“Ugh, huh, ahahahaha, ahhahahaha – “
The sound of laughter echoed through the dark hallway.
Mr. Luterrier’s head turned toward the ground.
…I knew that it was something that could not be helped.
“Yes, that’s right. It has to be that way.”
Until someone sheds a tear.
Until I heard someone sniffling.
“Will you admit it now? You two are not qualified.
Call yourself that child’s mother,
Introduce yourself as the child’s father,
I don’t have the power to do that.”
A man and a woman were hidden in the dark.
A faintly shining, red line.
“…Russell, do you really not remember us?”
A shiver arose from my fingertips.
The tingling sensation running through my ears constantly tormented me, as if I had a rat.
Something is wrong.
“Is there any way I can remember?
You were the ones who left that little child to freeze to death on a cold winter day.
Who are the things that didn’t come to my son until he became an adult?”
A man with brown hair.
A woman with gray eyes.
There was heavy shadow under the eyes of the two people.
A man with a scar on his beard, probably because he hastily trimmed it.
The woman had two buttons undone, as if she didn’t even have time to decorate herself properly.
“Please, Russell, look this way. It’s your mother. Your mother…!”
I couldn’t recognize it.
These were faces I didn’t remember.
But the body naturally moved forward.
Perhaps to those I have been searching for so long.
But the feet stopped.
I was caught in his gently flowing hand.
“Well? You’re not this child’s mother.
I was the one who brought you the warmth you needed on that cold winter day.
The child who came to me crying and saying that he was left alone was Russell.
Why can’t you acknowledge the fact that from that day on, you are no longer this child’s parents?”
“We had to make money.
To support the child and her mother in those cold mountains.
I just went to the city to find a job. Well, can you say that was wrong…!”
In front of me are people who resemble me,
The dragon embracing me from behind,
We glared at each other like that.
“I’m finally able to find my child.
After enduring those years, I finally had a child – “
“You didn’t endure it, you waited, right?
Looking forward to the outcome of the child you abandoned.”
“No!”
In front, a desperate voice was heard deep on the floor.
It was wriggling like it was trying to grab my foot.
“A very young girl must have been in love with a very young boy.
But alas, I ended up having a child.
You may have promised to raise your children with love, but soon your life would have become difficult.
Under a child who whines every day and a mother who is growing old and unable to take care of herself.
You ran away with all your blood, didn’t you?”
The two were unable to respond to the laughter filled with ridicule.
I just lowered my head and shed tears.
…Three years ago, I tried to find them.
I tried to find it and ask.
But now I have come to know through my dry heart that that time has passed.
“…Mom.”
“Uh, uh, Russell. Mom, this way -“
“No,
I wasn’t talking to you.”
I turned my head and looked up at my mother watching me.
He slowly came down, matched my height, and his yellow eyes were full of confidence.
It was as if the winner and loser had already been decided in this short meeting.
…It’s too late.
I really wanted to say that.
“Could you please give me a little time?
You can watch it. But…”
“Anything except what we promised.”
I slowly settled down in front of those who said they were wandering around looking for me.
Trying to read the emotions in the tattered clothes and blurred eyes.
…Perhaps this will be our last encounter with the outside world.
