The Return of Lilietta

Episode 7

Leonhard, who had been caressing her face fidgeting, suddenly froze in his tracks.

He looked down at Lilietta’s sharp expression and noticed that she was trembling slightly.

Lilietta is afraid of him.

At the same time, he tenses his whole body so that he can attack him at any time.

What kind of life has this child lived?

Leonhard took his hand off Lilietta and stepped back slightly. Her tense shoulders finally relaxed.

‘Even if I told you that we’re family, so you can rest assured… … it wouldn’t mean anything now.’

He thought carefully and opened his mouth carefully.

“Rita, first… … let’s go back to your room. Can you stand up? Should I help you?”

“I can stand up by myself.”

Rita stubbornly answered with a pale face and leaned against the wall to get up.

His thin arms were trembling. Leonhard resisted the urge to carry his staggering sister and walked ahead in silence. He deliberately walked slowly.

Rita returned to her room and sat on the sofa. Leonhard told her to wait, went out, and came back with a tea set ready.

He poured two cups of warm tea from the kettle, let Rita choose one, and then drank the remaining one himself.

Rita sighed softly as she realized why he had given her the car in this manner.

“You don’t have to be so considerate. I know full well that you wouldn’t put poison into this body… Lilietta’s body.”

“Knowing something with your head and accepting it with your body are two different things. Right now, everything feels unfamiliar to you and you feel on guard.”

Leonhard took a sip of tea and added calmly.

“So I hope this will help you relax a little.”

“… … .”

Rita was taken aback by his unexpected reaction. It wouldn’t be strange if he was locked up somewhere right away since he mistook a normal person for a demon and attacked them.

She stared blankly down at her teacup, then slowly drank it. As the warm, bitter liquid ran down her throat, her tense body definitely relaxed a bit.

Leonhard didn’t urge her. He waited quietly without opening his mouth.

Rita, who had finished drinking her tea, was the first to speak, stroking her bangs that were disheveled from the cold sweat.

“Well, that maid… … How is Hannah? Is she okay?”

“It’s okay. I was surprised, but I wasn’t hurt. I sent him to the doctor, so don’t worry.”

“… … Aren’t you going to question me? I just did something like that.”

“There were circumstances?”

“huh?”

“You didn’t do that on purpose.”

“That’s true, though.”

“Okay then.”

He checked his wristwatch and put down his empty teacup.

“Rita, I have some work to do, so I have to go now. I’ll be back in the evening, so just rest for now. If you need anything, just pull the rope over there.”

She looked at Leonhard, who was about to stand up, and asked in confusion.

“Aren’t you really going to ask? Why did I do that?”

“If I ask, can you answer?”

“… … It’s not a simple story.”

“It can be long. No, it would be better if it was detailed.”

“You said you were busy?”

“Work is not more important than you.”

He sat down again as he was about to stand up. Rita opened her mouth in bewilderment and barely managed to speak.

“Hey, Leonhard… … You do know that I’m not your real sister, right?”

Leonhard thought for a moment.

I tried to pretend not to know until he realized it himself, but the incident that happened a little while ago made me realize something new.

That Lilietta grew up in extremely unusual circumstances.

‘I had an inkling of it when I first saw it, but… … it was worse than I expected.’

Perhaps it was an environment where one had to be extremely suspicious of everything and react aggressively to even the slightest threat in order to survive.

‘Then, rather than pretending not to know in this situation,’

I want to reassure you somehow.

He wiped his mouth with his hand for a while, then slowly opened his mouth.

“Rita, to be honest.”

“… … .”

“I think you are the real Lilietta.”

“I told you not to.”

“Yeah, I decided to believe you when you said no.”

Leonhard smiled bitterly.

“What can I do when all I see is Lilietta who lost her memory?”

“It’s because of this body. Don’t get me wrong.”

“Rita.”

Eyes that resembled hers stared at her intently.

“What is your earliest memory?”

“I heard you were wandering around as an orphan.”

“How old were you at that time? What do you remember?”

“Well, I don’t know exactly how old I was. I thought I would starve to death if I kept going like this… … Then I met a man. He offered me to be his child, and I accepted because I was hungry. That’s my earliest memory.”

That man was the Archmage Pascal.

Rita thus became Pascal’s child and underwent harsh training along with the other children.

My memories before that meeting are vague.

When I tried to recall it, I didn’t dig too much because all that came to mind were the hunger that clawed at my stomach, the stench that made it hard to breathe, the creepy fear, and the pain that cut through my flesh.

‘Compared to my days as an orphan, the gruesome training seemed worth it. At least I haven’t starved since becoming Pascal’s child.’

So, I wish you would stop asking. I don’t want to remember things like my childhood anymore.

“Do you understand? I was just a common orphan. I don’t have any good memories from those days, so don’t ask me any more.”

Even though she showed signs of not wanting to bring it up openly, Leonhard did not back down.

“Before that?”

“what?”

“Before you were an orphan? There’s no way a newborn could survive on its own. Do you have no memories of the family that raised you, or of the place you grew up? Just wandering memories?”

“What do you wish for? Leonhard, I’m not really Lilietta. I don’t remember living in a fancy castle like this, and I don’t even recognize you. But I do remember starving and searching through trash.”

Suddenly, I remember moments when I felt envious of other children who were protected by their families.

The foul stench from his entire body and the demonic entrails clinging to his skin. His hands were covered in wounds and slippery with blood. He held the heavy gun with difficulty with his small hands.

When I saw a clean-dressed child of the same age whining to her mother that she was dirty and scary.

When that ‘mother’ held the child in her arms and tried to protect him from the woman holding the gun.

A very old memory of staring blankly for a long time because I was so envious of it.

A tearful Rita raised her voice.

“Family? I don’t know, that kind of stuff! Why would I remember the people who abandoned me?”

Leonhardt’s expression turned sad for a moment, but he soon calmed down and answered calmly.

“I understand that you don’t want to remember those difficult times. But if you don’t remember your family at all… … if you were an orphan from the beginning, then I want you to consider the possibility that you lost your memories.”

“what?”

“What if it wasn’t a coincidence that you came back from another world in Lilietta’s body? Maybe we are the family you forgot. Maybe you regained your original body when you returned home.”

He continued speaking, taking something out of his bosom and placing it on the table.

“Rita, I don’t know what it was like where you were, but in this world, it’s not easy for a soul to possess another person’s body. There are rumors that there is such a thing among black magic… … If that’s the case, it’s bound to feel strange in some way.”

What Leonhardt put on the table was a matchbox the size of a palm. It was a flat brown box with a gold-leafed design on the edges. It looked old and worn, as if it had been around for a long time.

“A different person inside? Rita, I don’t think I wouldn’t recognize my only sister. If her essence had changed, I would have definitely noticed.”

He pushed the matchbox towards Lilietta and stood up.

“Just think about it for a second. The possibility that you are real.”

“… … !”

Rita remained frozen until Leonhard had completely left the room.

The possibility that you are real.

I didn’t have that in mind at all from the beginning. It’s a completely different body.

‘What on earth are you looking at me… … .’

She hesitated, then carefully picked up the old matchbox and opened it. Inside was a small card with a dried four-leaf clover attached.

I found it!
Leon, you must pass the exam!

A child’s round handwriting was tightly packed around a faded and cracked four-leaf clover. It smelled of time and memories.

Did Lilietta give Leonhard a present? Did he keep it with him for over ten years?

“… … .”

Rita stared blankly at it for a long time.

Somehow, I feel a great sense of longing. It feels nostalgic, warm, and familiar. It feels like opening an old letter.

My heart is churning a little.

But no specific memory came to mind. It was strangely stuffy, as if a fog had settled over me.

“You are ‘Rita.’ You are an orphan I took in, with no parents or family.”

Instead, the memory that suddenly came to mind was what the archmage Pascal, wearing a hood, said as he placed his hand on her head.

“Now, you will vividly remember how hungry and tired you were during that time. Be thankful to me for taking you in.”

Looking back, there was something… … a strange nuance to those words.