Chapter 140

Chapter 140

As they had been granted the right of way, the White clan managed to arrive only slightly sooner than the Agreces. In fact, the majority of their carriages were still being unloaded when the leading Black carriage arrived.

“Sheesh! That damn buggy was so stuffy!”

The mental and emotional exhaustion Orka felt, caused him to head straight for his chambers. Pandora also went directly to her room upon disembarking from her carriage. Long carriage rides were not her ideal choice of transportation either. As she entered the castle, she happened to catch sight of Jeremy Agrece disembarking from his own carriage, then quickly turned her gaze away.

She recalled happening upon him at the Agrece compound that past winter when she had gone to skulk around the ruins for a useful demon following their clan’s downfall. In truth, she had been worried from the moment she heard that she would have to attend the gathering that she might run into him again. But since their encounter had been so brief, she was fairly certain that he would be unable to recognize her.

On top of that, demon monsters were strictly forbidden from entering Yggdrasil, so there was no chance she would beckon Turobe and indirectly jog his memory. The more she thought about it, the more she felt certain of the unlikelihood that he would even notice her. Honestly, if not for the fact that she had the Fipellion clan’s hallmark blue hair, she would have entertained the idea of blending in with the castle’s servants.

As long as he wasn’t aware that she had tried to steal the Agreces’ demon monsters, she imagined she would be all right. Nevertheless, she hurried inside before Jeremy took notice of her. Instead, he was too busy complaining about any and everything upon their arrival.

“What’s with the weird atmosphere here?”

Per usual, the Red clan had arrived at the castle first, yet some of them had chosen to remain in the courtyard to steal glances now and then at the new arrivals. The Yggdrasil attendants were the same. They appeared jittery and looked uncertain of their actions as they assisted with the unloading of the carriages.

Why do they look like a bunch of puppies searching for a place to relieve themselves? Confused by their thinly veiled anxious expressions, Jeremy glanced around until he noticed a crowd actively muttering about something.

Flinch.

Even through all their yammering, he had no problem making out the name of the person they seemed to keep mentioning. He began to march toward them, then past those who were just standing about gawking at the source of the commotion from the sidelines. For whatever reason, they seemed incapable of actually entering the garden.

Roses were already in full bloom in Yggdrasil, so the closer Jeremy came to the main garden, the stronger the thick floral scent permeated the air before penetrating deep into his lungs.

No. They aren’t the cause of this feeling. The reason for his uneven breathing wasn’t the result of the overwhelming fragrance. His heart pounded so fiercely with each step that he would have been running if not for the crowd. He had long since forgotten about the flurry of green and red flowers he passed. Then he came to an abrupt halt and began to gulp for air as his eyes widened.

Whoosh.

The roses swayed silently in the soft breeze. As if he was staring at a living painting, he silently watched the woman sitting on a chair in the thick of the roses. Her golden hair appeared to glitter even more radiantly under the sunlight than he ever recalled seeing.

She seemed to sense something had changed in the air and began to look about. Her rose-colored eyes dashed this way and that before finally finding him.

I... I almost forgot to breathe. Having her existence confirmed so suddenly was enough to make Jeremy faint if he wasn’t careful. He already wasn’t aware that his lips were trembling.

Is this... a dream?

When he finally chanced stepping forward, her name tumbled out of his mouth without realizing it. “Big Sis Xana!”

But just before he moved in too close, he came to an abrupt halt. The hand he had stretched out toward Roxana began to clench into a tight fist.

No... I have to stop. His sister was indeed there, but he had to consider that it wasn’t to see him. And if that were the case, she may not wish to see him at all.

Maybe... He had to consider that she might disappear again if he came too close. If she did, he couldn’t imagine what he would do then.

“Jeremy.”

At that moment, all of his mounting fears and apprehension seemed to melt away. The sound of her calling his name in her soft voice transfixed him to the ground he stood on as he stared speechlessly in her direction. To him, there was no sight more beautiful than the figure before him. That was until she smiled at him. He had missed her gentle smile so terribly.

“Took you long enough. I’ve been waiting for you.” Her voice poured into his ears like honey as she reached out for him. “Come closer, little brother.”

He hadn’t realized that aside from holding his breath, his eyes had begun to gloss over.

“Sis...”

Overcome with emotions, he stumbled toward her. His every movement was filled with obsessive desperation like a lost sailor who had finally succeeded in finding a marker. The moment his hands came into contact with the one person he longed to be near the most in his life...

“Big Sis... Xana?”

...he all but broke down. Just as he had done outside of the Black mansion that past winter, he knelt down before her and shamelessly buried his face in the skirt of her gown.

“I’ve missed you, Jeremy.” He reveled in the feeling of her soft caress against his cheek as she continued to speak to him so sweetly that he felt warm all over. “Jeremy...”

If this is a dream, please don’t ever let me wake up. I wish I could stop time here and now.

“Jeremy, don’t cry.”

It was only then that it occurred to him that he was creating a scene by crying. Just then he felt her slender fingers tenderly wipe away his tears. This was not the version of himself he had hoped to present to her if they were ever to meet again, but he felt the situation was completely out of his hands. Tears had begun to pour forth and continued to spill over in spite of himself. Thus, he kept his face buried in her skirt for some time.

Meanwhile, Roxana tried to comfort him by stroking his back. Her touch was so warm that he once again silently wished he could prolong the feeling for all of eternity.

* * *

I certainly hadn’t expected him to be so afflicted by my absence that seeing me again would reduce him to tears. Even after that horrific monthly assessment, he had endured at 15 where he was forced to kill a hallucination of me, he had kept himself from actually crying as I comforted him then.

However, it seemed the floodgates had opened, and he had lost the ability to control the streams running down his face. Sure, I had always known that I meant a great deal to him, but seeing him like that...

I continued to pat his back until he appeared to regain his composure. That was when I noticed someone else was in the garden. With a quick glance, I immediately recognized Luzark Castro.

His hair was as red as the blooming roses and tousled about in the light breeze. I noticed him hesitate for a moment upon seeing me there with Jeremy at my knees. I placed my index finger against my lips to signal that a lack of intrusion would be greatly appreciated.

Jeremy was still convulsing and failed to notice that someone else was in the garden with us. Thankfully, Luzark seemed to understand my gesture and backed out through the entrance. I didn’t notice anyone else.

After some time, my little brother finally stopped crying.

“Sis, I, uh... I wasn’t crying. I was just, um...”

He was furiously searching for an excuse, but it was far too late to claim he hadn’t shed any tears when my dress was already so wet from where his face had been buried in the fabric. In failing to come up with a good enough lie, he turned away from me and began to wipe his cheeks.

“Jeremy, wait here a moment.”

I intended for us to talk and catch up, but his initial reaction had made the atmosphere less than ideal. For one thing, if he and I were to walk out of the garden with his eyes pink and cheeks streaked from crying, there would be no way to hide that fact from onlookers. So I thought it best to ask an attendant to fetch something for Jeremy’s puffy eyes.

“Why? Where are you going?”

He reflexively reached out to clutch my wrist. I could still see traces of the tears he had shed on his long eyelashes as he blinked up at me wetly. It was evident he had completely abandoned trying to deny having cried.

With my free hand, I stroked his hair back and out of his eyes, then off to the side. “I’m just going to ask one of the attendants by the entrance for a damp towel.”

“I don’t need it!”

He was suddenly speaking rather gruffly. I could understand that the only thought on his mind was to keep me at his side, but I also knew that not getting anything to make his face look somewhat normal before he had to face others would be something he’d regret terribly later, despite his current protests.

“Five minutes. Just wait here for me for five minutes.”

I hoped to lessen his worry by giving him a set amount of time to persevere. He stared at me for a moment, then loosened his grip ever so slightly around my wrist.

“You really will come back, right?”

“Of course,” I answered readily, knowing just how anxious he was. His hesitation to let go of me was harder to console, but he eventually pressed his lips together as if he had finally made up his mind, then released my wrist.

I helped him up from the ground, then had him sit down on the chair I had occupied. Once he was calm and seated, I began to walk toward the entrance.