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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: A Tearful Goodbye
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The remaining time flew by even faster than the time that had already passed.
Before returning to their home countries, the five children made many memories.
They learned to swim together in the lake, watched the sunsets, and saw the sunrises.
As they watched the rain, the rainbows, and the snow, they committed each other's faces to memory.
They even tried to sneak out of the temple behind the priests' backs and played pranks on a priest they particularly disliked.
They climbed large trees, ran around together, read the same books, and shared their five different perspectives.
And so, time flowed like a river, and soon, the day of their farewell arrived.
Before the sun had even risen, attendants from their home countries arrived to escort them.
Lellia wailed like a child in front of her friends, who had all grown a good head taller than her.
“Hey, stop crying! We’re going to see each other again in a few years, do you really have to bawl like that?”
Even as he chided her, Calix was squeezing his eyes shut, desperately trying to hold back his own tears.
“Promise you’ll write….”
Seeing Lellia cry, Oscar began to shed fat tears of his own.
“…I’ll miss you.”
Even Griffith, who normally avoided such sentimental talk, calling it cringey, said this with his head lowered.
“I really hate this kind of vibe… Just stop your blubbering!”
Despite his protests, Romeo pulled each of them into a hug one by one.
Lellia suddenly remembered the time Romeo had pointed a finger at each of the boys, declaring, ‘I hate those brats,’ and she couldn't help but laugh.
“What are you, a baby? Hey, you know what they say about laughing while you cry…”
“…Shut up!”
As Calix started teasing her again, Lellia clenched her fist.
Once the commotion died down, Lellia wiped her tears with her sleeve and spoke with a newfound seriousness.
“Calix Ascad, always be careful. Especially of your uncle.”
“…I know.”
“Good.”
After that, Lellia shook hands and shared hugs with the other children, offering her last farewells to each of them.
“Oscar, don't forget to sleep soundly with your doll, alright?”
“Okay. You too, Leo.”
Lellia hugged Oscar and stroked his silver hair.
“Griffith… be careful not to let yourself be used.”
Griffith had awakened divine power. Once he returned home, his father would devise all sorts of schemes to exploit him. And Griffith’s stepmother would try to harm him for it.
“Worry about yourself first.”
Griffith gave a small smile, and after a moment, Lellia turned to stand before Romeo.
For someone who had been nagging her to stop blubbering, tears were now streaming from Romeo's own blue eyes.
“You… should try to soften that temper of yours. That's all I have to say.”
“Why you...!”
Romeo feigned a knock on Lellia's head with his fist, then pulled her into a tight hug.
Seeing him cry, Lellia burst into tears all over again.
We’ll see each other again in a few years. They all said as much, trying to comfort Lellia, who seemed uniquely heartbroken.
Lellia swallowed the words she desperately wanted to say.
‘We’ll never see each other again.’
There would be no next time for them, not ever.
She was to become officially dead, and the curse—death for revealing the secret—would remain even after the Emperor and the Crown Prince were gone.
“Farewell, everyone.”
“Write to us.”
“Stop crying, you crybaby.”
“Everyone, be safe…”
“Goodbye.”
Lellia raised her arm high, waving to her friends as they departed with the attendants from their respective countries.
Waving so they could see her, even from a distance.
‘Take care, everyone.’
Goodbye. Farewell. Thank you for everything.
After offering a final farewell in her heart, Lellia turned to follow the attendant from her own country. A heavy heart made each step difficult.
But Lellia wiped her tears away and forced herself to walk more resolutely toward the carriage.
It was time to be alone again.
But in her heart, she would never truly be alone.
