Chapter 353 – My Mother

The girl named Ricke thought.

Are you awake now? Could it be that she is dead?

My last memory was closing my eyes in Roman’s arms.

She doesn’t know why she’s doing this.

‘···.’

Following her instinct, she curls up like a fetus.

It’s hazy. Consciousness is blurry. She felt like she had surrendered herself to the flowing river.

The floating feeling of her mind seemed to be directing her somewhere…

She had no strength to resist or move, and she didn’t even want to open her closed eyes.

‘···.’

What is the most relatable environment to explain the unknown that we are currently experiencing?

Okay. I think it was most similar to soaking my tired body, ready to fall asleep at any moment, in hot water.

‘!’

A change occurred in the helpless flow.

The feeling of floating, as if being lifted out of water.

At one point, I was standing with my feet on the ground.

The feeling of standing up was so strange that it felt like someone was pushing my back to prevent me from lying down.

Slow blinking followed by blurred vision.

When Rike raised her head, she saw a familiar place.

‘Uh? Here···.’

Find out in an instant. Obvious. It’s impossible not to know.

There is definitely a lake that can be reached just a short walk away from the estate.

‘···.’

The place where Ricke first and last went out with her mother as a child.

Before she left for the capital’s academy, she locked herself in her room and regretted not stopping by this place one more time.

Could it be that Roman brought her here while she was asleep? It was the moment when the girl moved her head and raised her voice to find her lover.

“Oppa… Huh?!”

Rike was so shocked that she stopped breathing and fumbled around her neck.

A sense of strangeness rushed through her dazed consciousness like a storm.

The voice coming out between my lips was higher than the voice I heard every day.

Plus, the low level is completely different from usual. When you look down, you can see all the plump limbs.

Soft palms that look like they have never held a weapon.

As she moved her feebly shuffling feet closer to the lake.

The surface of the water acted as a mirror and showed her face.

‘What is this···!’

Young kid. The image of herself that existed before her eyes was young.

There was no cross-shaped scar engraved on his face.

The cheeks were soft like rice cakes and had a round shape.

Her attire consisted of a pure white dress and a straw hat with a cute ribbon. This was the outfit I wore on an outing with my mother.

Clothes and hats that were worn only once and never had a second chance. She was as vivid as if it were yesterday.

These are the elements that make you realize that this moment is not reality.

‘Dream?’

If you do this, it is clear that it is a lucid dream among dreams.

For some reason, the sensation was as clear as reality.

The smell of lake water. The wind blowing through the trees. Sunlight shining down.

My heart was pounding.

Whenever she saw her mother, whom she missed, in her dreams, it was always a nightmare that started in her mansion in the middle of the night.

Although we were happy to meet each other, the final tragedy that occurred that day was a wound that could not leave our heads.

Everything was vicious.

I believed that as time passed, I would be able to have happy dreams at least once.

She lived with such earnestness, but never once dreamed of spending quality time with her mother.

But.

Now is the time to take a big step forward.

Is it okay to have hopeful, optimistic expectations?

“···.”

My mouth watered.

The sensation of my throat moving is vivid and somewhat scary.

“Rike.”

“!”

The moment the little girl raises her head and sees the owner of the voice.

Rike’s mouth opened, and her eyes were moist and moist.

Juana Bright.

A mother whose heart breaks just by thinking of her name.

She was just as she remembered, the most beautiful woman in the world.

“Come here.”

She smiled motherly and spread her arms.

“Uh, Mom… Mom!!”

Will it fly away in the wind? She ran, holding her hat tightly in her hand.

It’s been a year since I ran a short distance that seemed like only a few steps.

She almost fell but didn’t slow down her speed. Rikke threw down her body and fell into her longed-for arms.

“You worked hard. It was hard, right?”

“Mom! I missed you…! I miss you so much…”

It would have been nice if it was a fantasy that came from her earnestness. It was nice to have a dream where my wish came true.

I felt like this encounter at this moment was fate.

“The mother didn’t have eyes for men, so she put her pretty daughter through a hard time. I feel sorry for her mother.”

A vivid sensation of your back being rubbed.

At her loving touch, tears burst out and dripped down my cheeks.

Ricke cried in her warm arms. Her throat broke and she cried.

He moved her trembling hands and struggled, desperately seeking her affection.

“Well, I… I worked really hard…!”

“Yes. Mom was watching Ricke’s strength.”

She thought it was a burden that could only be endured as an adult, so the girl was always pretending to escape her immaturity.

She hated herself so fiercely, but at the same time she pitied herself.

“Mom never asked me to get revenge… I did it all to put her mind at ease… I’m sorry she decided on her own that this was the right thing to do… I’m sorry I couldn’t save her…!”

With her quivering lips, Rike poured out her feelings of atonement.

A nightmarish day when she lost her mother.

Moments when she despised and belittled herself, consumed by guilt for only screaming and watching helplessly.

It was long. Those were hellish times.

“Rike has no reason to say sorry.”

“···Mom.”

“I’m sorry for not being there for you when you needed it. I wanted to do better… But I’m sorry. This was my first time as a mother… I’m sorry. I wanted to protect her for the rest of my life…”

We hugged her tightly and cried together.

The mother and daughter expressed the guilt they had been harboring.

“Why do you just say you’re sorry…!”

In the end, there is no reason for either of us to apologize.

The images of mother and daughter reflected in her facing eyes were identical. Her eyes are crying and her mouth is showing a small smile.

“It hurts a lot because mom hurt her, right? She hurt her daughter’s pretty face.”

A scar that doesn’t exist here.

Ricke, who sensed the desperate sadness in her voice, shook his head in her arms, saying it was not like that at all.

“Uh, it’s okay.”

Ever since Rieke lost her mother when she was young, she has only whined and complained about Roman.

I’m still hanging on with the same feeling, but the feeling is completely different.

Enjoying the feeling of going back to the past when there were no worries. I felt the warmth of maternal love.

Damn it-!

Cracks began to appear in the green forest and sky.

You can tell without any explanation. Rike felt that the moment of farewell was approaching.

‘Already?’

I’ve only just met you, but isn’t it so short that I can’t help but say it’s harsh?

Rike grabbed her collar as she looked at the sky that was about to break.

“I want to be with mom. Please don’t go…!”

“No! I don’t mean to say things like that. There are a lot of people waiting for Rike, right?”

Her finger poking her forehead along with her smile filled with kindness.

Her hand, which came naturally, gently caressed Ricke’s cheek.

“···.”

“I was relieved that my daughter had different eyes for men than me.”

She told him to listen and she confessed her feelings to Juana Brighto.

“Her mother was so happy that she felt like she had everything in the world just by looking at Rikke. Even though she was scared of leaving her home and living in her mansion and the future she dreamed of, she never regretted it after giving birth to Rikke. .”

Her presence in Rike was not a bondage that bound her to her mansion.

She also wanted to take this opportunity to convey that fact.

Rike understood what she meant and bit her lower lip hard to stop her crying.

“All I can say is that my mom is happier than anyone else for growing up so well.”

“I am also the happiest in the world because I am my mother’s daughter…”

Damn it ㅡ!!

The end has finally come.

The world was collapsing like broken glass.

Here, her mother and daughter knew well what to say so that she would not regret it.

“Rike. My treasure. My everything… Be happy. All you have to do is throw away other thoughts and just be happy.”

A hug that would be our last.

Mother and daughter hugged each other with all their might.

“I love you···!”

“Mommy loves Ricke too.”

*****

“Mom···.”

A faint voice muttering.

Roman carefully wiped Ricke’s tearful eyes with a cloth.

Cheok-!

The jewel placed next to Rike began to crack.

Roman picked up the ineffective gem and threw it into his inventory.

‘He’s going to wake up soon.’

After defeating Enoch Skadi, it seemed like the best time to use this item.

What was used on Rike was a disposable consumable called a dream stone.

The sixth wanderer.

This is an item obtained by capturing a necromancer belonging to the Golden Dawn.

Originally, it was a playable object that would solve the secrets of Robert Bolt, meet his ancestors, and induce him to do strange things.

Aside from the fact that I already know the information, it doesn’t mean anything to me.

From the time when Rieke said in passing that when it came to her mother she always had nightmares about her.

I decided to use this item like this. No one can interfere.

Of course, she is grateful to the saintess who came all the way and looked after her Ricke’s physical condition, and she probably has many questions as well.

It is absolutely impossible to wake him up now.

Until Rikke wakes up in this room.

The members of the church have no choice but to wait outside and perform their duties, such as identifying unclean corpses.

“Ugh…”

It must have been about 5 minutes after the necromancer lost its effect.

Rike came to her senses, opening her swollen eyes.