TPOVF 26

Chapter 26

Kyle stood there blankly, as if nailed to the spot.

The child lowered his hand and stared at the closed door. From inside, Maeve’s voice could be heard blaming Chester.

“How could you bring Kyle here?”

“We should at least let him say his final farewell.”

“What? You know why I entrusted Kyle to you in the first place…!”

Maeve shuddered with disgust.

Then Chester’s voice, calmly explaining something, and Maeve’s crying voice as she said something, could be heard from beyond the door.

Because the two of them lowered their voices, it was impossible to make out what they were saying.

Only the sound of Maeve weeping sorrowfully leaked clearly through the door.

“Hic, sob, sob…”

“……”

Kyle stood still, listening to his mother’s cries. Transparent tears streamed down the child’s cheeks, which had been coldly cast out.

The small fists of the boy, who had been happy at the thought of seeing his mother after a long time, trembled.

Yurenia bit her lip.

Maeve’s behavior just now had been baffling. But more than that, her concern for Kyle was greater.

She wanted to hold the child, but she was cautious about comforting him rashly.

“Sniff……”

While Yurenia hesitated, a small sob escaped from between Kyle’s lips.

Longing and sorrow were seeping out of the small child’s body.

His mother’s attitude—startled rather than happy to see him.

And his mother’s tears, as if he didn’t even exist in her eyes, were breaking the child down.

“Kyle, it’s alright.”

Unable to watch any longer, Yurenia lowered herself and embraced the child. Kyle sniffled and leaned into her.

“…Hic, ugh, Teach, er.”

Yurenia gently patted the frail boy’s back.

Her mind was in turmoil.

She couldn’t understand the behavior Kyle’s mother had shown.

‘Why did she act that way?’

She clearly loved her son.

That was why she had made sure Malenda received heavy punishment.

There must be some reason she treated the child coldly. Some reason she couldn’t explain to the child.

But did that mean it was acceptable to hurt him?

“Ugh, hic, Te, Teacher. Sob, Mother… me, she… me…”

Mother hates me.

Kyle couldn’t finish his sentence and sobbed. But the words the child couldn’t bring himself to say were fully conveyed to Yurenia.

The child choked back his cries, afraid his mother might hear.

His mother’s cold gaze and callous attitude, which had become a deep thorn in the child’s heart.

What could possibly soothe this pain?

Yurenia’s heart ached with sadness, wanting to find an answer to a question that had none.

Meanwhile.

Maeve, having closed the door to Lillian’s room, was pale as if she had seen a ghost. She glared hotly at Chester and cried out.

“How could you bring Kyle? Do you know what kind of heart I had when I sent that child away!”

Maeve’s voice was filled with utter despair. Chester, troubled by her hysterical accusations, replied.

“We should at least let him say goodbye before Lillian leaves.”

“What if Kyle becomes endangered too?”

Maeve sobbed, her face clearly marked with tear stains.

“Kyle too, sob… if he becomes endangered…!”

Maeve couldn’t finish her words.

The image of her son, seen just moments ago in a fleeting glance, kept coming back to her mind.

Reaching out his arm toward her, about to call her “Mother.”

Her beloved, precious child.

Yet she couldn’t take that child’s hand and had to coldly close the door on him. Her heart felt as though it were tearing apart at the pale green eyes she had glimpsed.

“Hic, sob, Kyle……”

Maeve sobbed, calling out the name of the child she held in her heart.

“……”

Chester let out a deep sigh. And he looked at Lillian, lying on the bed as if dead.

‘Mana rampage.’

This, which had been determined as the cause of Lucien’s death, was now consuming his daughter Lillian as well.

When she had learned that truth, Maeve had not been in her right mind.

Her beloved husband and daughter were both about to cross death’s threshold for the same reason—who could possibly remain sane?

It was absurd.

To die because one’s mana was too strong.

When Lucien and Maeve had married, the empire had sincerely blessed their union as a joining of powerful mana holders.

No one had anticipated that this would become the beginning of a tragedy.

First, Lucien.

Next, his child Lillian.

And perhaps, even Kyle could die.

When excessively powerful mana holders stay together, conflicts arise.

Especially at a young age, when one cannot control their mana, it is even more dangerous.

Given that Kyle and Lillian had been born as siblings and raised together, Lillian’s death had been foreseen.

Maeve had lunged at the Tower Master, saying she would kill him after he had informed her that the family’s tragedy would not stop this way.

Even after he left in disgust, she could not easily regain her composure.

—

‘If you want to save even one, separate them. There is no way to save both, so abandon any unnecessary greed.’

—

The Tower Master had warned as he left the estate.

It was dangerous for Kyle to be near Lillian. If things went wrong, he too could fall ill with the same condition as Lillian.

At the truth that had finally been uncovered, it felt as though the sky was falling.

She had been curious about the cause of Lucien and Lillian’s illnesses, but she had never wanted to learn this truth.

—

‘Mother, why is Lillian sick?’

—

Maeve could not bring herself to tell Kyle the truth.

If he learned why Lillian was ill.

If he learned that Lillian’s mana had gone out of control because of Kyle himself.

The child would deeply blame himself.

For the time being, Maeve chose to separate the two children. And she made every effort to improve Lillian’s condition.

For the sake of the day when the two children could laugh and be together again as before.

But heaven was indifferent.

Despite Maeve’s best efforts, Lillian’s condition only grew more serious by the day.

The child would scream in pain as her entire body twisted, vomit blood, and fall asleep as if fainting.

The first time she saw Lillian vomit blood.

Maeve was reminded of Lucien’s appearance just before his death.

He too had coughed up blood just like that.

And before she could even do anything, he had passed away that very evening.

As if he had no lingering attachment to the world, he had left her and their two young children behind and departed so vainly.

—

‘Mother…?’

—

The moment she had seen Kyle just now.

Maeve felt as though her heart had dropped to the floor.

It hadn’t seemed like they had been apart for long, but the child had grown so much taller than she remembered.

His features, resembling Lucien’s, had become clearer, and he seemed to have grown in height as well.

Perhaps that was why.

Maeve saw her dead husband overlapped with Kyle.

Could Lucien’s final appearance be Kyle’s future?

That thought overturned her entire mind.

It was terrifyingly frightening.

That was why Maeve couldn’t welcome the child. She was consumed by fear and frantic to push him away.

“Kyle, hic, I’m sorry……”

Maeve swallowed the words she couldn’t say to her son and wept.

Even amidst this, she was staying by Lillian’s side.

Though Kyle had only come for a very brief moment, and had even stood far away, Lillian’s breathing was rapidly becoming unstable.

With Lillian in critical condition, she could neither go to see Kyle nor call Kyle here.

All she could do, as a powerless mother by the bedside of Lillian who was hovering between life and death, was to suppress her mana.