TBSH 8

Chapter 8

“Why are you laughing?”

At the sound of laughter behind her, Ailien turned her head.

“Squeak!”

“Even you, Didi?”

At Didi’s squeak—which seemed to be pleading with her to stop getting distracted—Ailien wore an expression as if she had been betrayed.

And with good reason: nagging was usually Kiki’s job, while Didi was always on Ailien’s side.

So if Didi was acting like this, it meant he was just as anxious and in a hurry.

“Alright, I get it. Lily will run without making a single squeak. So you hold back your squeaks too……”

“Sque-eak.”

At Ailien’s words, Didi responded with a serious expression. Kiki, who had been watching the scene as if it were pathetic, urged her on once more.

“Woah.”

Meaningless as her pledge with Didi had been, Ailien—who had been diligently following the light—stopped in her tracks once again.

It was because of the portraits hanging along the hallway wall.

Among them, the one that caught Ailien’s gaze was—

“Mari!”

It was none other than the portrait of Marlene Zeronias.

Unlike the gentle and playful woman in Ailien’s memories, this portrait showed her with her pale lilac hair pinned up and a dignified expression on her face. Still—

“So pretty……”

She was so beautiful that Ailien’s little chest felt tight.

While Ailien paused in front of Marlene’s portrait, neither Kiki nor Didi said a word.

It was a moment when the child’s blue eyes sparkled like clear glass beads.

“Oh-oh?”

Did Mari just smile?

Her lips were just twitching like this and like that, right?

Can a painting smile?

[How long do you plan to stand there?]

“……Huh?”

[Aren’t you going?]

“Oh-oh?”

The Marlene in the portrait spoke to Ailien!

Gasp!

Startled, Ailien took a step back.

[Hmm? I heard you get distracted easily, and it seems those words weren’t wrong.]

“Mari? Is that Mari?”

Ailien’s voice grew wet with emotion. Kiki carefully approached and rubbed her head against her, while Didi stroked the child’s soft cheek.

However, only the eyes and mouth of Marlene’s portrait moved busily.

[I am Marlene, yet not Marlene! I am merely one of Marlene’s countless fragments.]

“Countless fragments……?”

[Marlene possesses vast memories in this world. Memories she cannot even forget. Thus, she planted her memories here and there.]

“Then you’re not the real Mari?”

[…….]

“Hehe, Lily thought you were Mari……”

When Ailien whispered in a noticeably lower voice, barely audible, the eyes of the Marlene in the portrait—which had been shifting side to side—came to a sudden stop.

A subtle warmth seeped into those eyes, which were merely part of a painting.

[I heard the news that you are extremely lovely.]

“That’s right, Lily is a bit like that.”

[I also heard you were a rather handful of a child, and it turns out that was true.]

“Hehe.”

[That wasn’t a compliment.]

“By the way, why doesn’t Mari’s fragment know Lily?”

Ailien spoke, pouting her lower lip. Even if it was just one of Marlene’s countless fragments, Ailien was still her most precious existence.

So there was no way the fragments wouldn’t know her!

[Because I am a fragment from a point in time before she met you.]

“Point in time?”

[In the end, you have made it all the way here. I am very glad.]

Though her tone lacked inflection, it felt strangely sincere.

“Are you glad Lily came here?”

[Yes. I will be even more glad if you safely find the treasure.]

“Can Lily come see Mari’s fragment sometimes?”

[Not often.]

“Why?”

[Did the Marlene who shared time with you tell you about the stars?]

“Sparkly-sparkly staaars!”

Ailien’s eyes shone just like stars.

“She said the stars in the sky are fragments! Just like Mari’s fragment is a fragment of Mari!”

[Yes, so she did tell you.]

“Yeah! But why?”

[Hold on.]

“Hmm?”

[Rats have arrived.]

Her gaze was fixed toward the hallway. It was a look of utter revulsion.

Just then, as if on cue, a group was hurriedly passing through the hallway.

[Both then and now, things like that are all—]

“Squeak.”

Didi squeaked as if protesting.

“Didi says saying things like that is bad.”

[Ah, my apologies.]

After apologizing with an expression that didn’t look sorry at all, the eyes and mouth of the Marlene in the portrait returned to their original positions.

“Mari’s fragment froze!”

Despite Ailien’s urging, the portrait did not move again. It wore the same stern and cold expression as before. There was not a shred of doubt in her eyes regarding her own abilities, and the hand gripping her wand was firm.

It was fitting for a portrait of the hero who had saved this world.

‘Lily just……’

She just wanted to become another hero who could give a brief moment of rest to the hero who described the time she had lived through as distant and lonely.

“Lily will go find the treasure and come back.”

Ailien spoke to the Marlene in the portrait as if making a promise, then resumed her steps once more.

The place where the light lingered was not very far from the portrait.

Slipping the door open gently, what came into view were rows of shelves filling a large room.

“Woah.”

Ailien slowly stepped into the room. Kiki and Didi also followed behind her, hiding their presence as much as possible.

It seemed to be a storage room used to keep things that were no longer in use.

“A doll!”

Tiptoeing with an effort (kkeung-cha), Ailien let out a squeal of happiness upon seeing a rabbit wearing a cute dress.

“Little baby… that guy acted all high and mighty, but he used to play with things like this!”

Ailien uttered words that would have turned Caius’s stomach upside down had he been beside her, yet she couldn’t take her eyes off the rabbit doll.

Uncharacteristic of an item in a storage room, it was clean and quite well-maintained.

“It’s a princess rabbit, a princess rabbit! There’s a prince rabbit too. Woah, there’s even a table and a teapot!”

“Meow!”

Kiki issued a stern warning, as if she had expected this.

“Chee, okay.”

Ailien also put the doll down as if understanding, but her eyes were filled with lingering reluctance.

“Is it really Kai’s, though? Would it be okay if Lily asks to have it?”

“Squeak.”

Smacking her lips once, the child turned her gaze just at that moment—

“Eun-ng?”

Something sparkling between the shadows caught her eye.

Ailien stretched her neck out to check its identity.

“A wooden horse!”

It was a shabby wooden horse made of raw timber, so worn that it was hard to believe it had just sparkled a moment ago.

“Is this the Lily-treasure Mari hid, though?”

Ailien, who had been staring at the wooden horse for a long time, whispered softly.

Kiki and Didi, who had urged her so hard to get here, glanced nervously at Ailien.

To be frank, calling it a treasure was a bit of a stretch—it was slightly faded and old.

Ailien must have been expecting something incredible since she was told it was a treasure hidden by Marlene.

“Lily has never seen something like this before!”

However, Ailien opened her mouth wide and was genuinely delighted.

With her tiny hands, she eagerly petted the wooden horse.

“Can Lily try riding this?”

When Didi nodded carefully, Ailien climbed onto the wooden horse with immense excitement.

Gripping the handles near the wooden horse’s neck, Ailien rocked her body back and forth wildly.

“Kyaha!”

Even though she was riding it alone, she seemed thrilled, laughing heartily before slowly climbing down from the wooden horse.

“Ahem, it wasn’t that fun. Little babies like Kai would probably love it.”

Ailien got down bashfully and poked her belly out with dignified composure.

Feeling a bit reluctant to let go, her tiny hands were still stroking the wooden horse.

Right at that moment—

“Ehh?”

Feeling something strange, Ailien removed her hands from the wooden horse and tilted her head.

“You know, only the wood on this part is different!”

Hearing Ailien’s words, Didi quickly scampered over, examined the spot, and tilted his head as well.

“You don’t know? Look here! Right here, it has a grape-like color!”

The back section of the wooden horse had a subtly different color. It was a slightly darker hue than its surroundings.

“I’ve seen this somewhere before.”

Closing her eyes and crossing her arms, Ailien pondered something deeply.

Then she snapped her eyes open.

“Mari’s wand!”

The wand crafted from Stellia—the legendary yew tree that grows only where shooting stars have fallen.

It was the item Ailien admired most in the world.

“It’s the exact same wood as Mari’s wand!”

The wooden horse was no ordinary object.