TRL 17

Chapter 17

“It’s okay, Mom. I’ve been doing really well all this time. I even made a lot of friends. Look, I’ve grown up this well.”

Rita beamed as she took her mother’s hands. The duchess, who scanned the flawless beauty of Lillietta up and down, smiled with tear-filled eyes.

“I’m so relieved… My daughter, you’re so beautiful. You’ve grown up so beautifully. Thank you for growing up so well on your own. I should have been by your side, but I couldn’t be…”

The smile on the duchess’s face gradually twisted. She burst into tears and pulled Rita into her arms.

“Lili, huff… I’m so sorry. I should have protected you properly when you were just a child. But I lost you. Huff… I couldn’t protect you…”

“No, it’s not your fault, Mom. Please don’t cry. I came back just fine, see?”

Rita stayed in her mother’s embrace until the duchess cried herself to sleep.

As Rita quietly exited, Leonhardt, who had been silently waiting by the door, spoke.

“Did you mean it?”

“Mean what?”

“When you said you’ve been doing well.”

“I meant it. Why? You don’t believe me?”

When Rita tilted her head and asked, Leonhardt wiped his mouth in silence. Then she suddenly remembered the patchouli scent incident and exclaimed, “Ah.”

“Is it because I flipped out in front of the dressing room?”

“…”

“Come to think of it, I didn’t explain properly back then. Want to know why I did that?”

“If it’s not too hard for you to talk about.”

“It’s no big deal. Let’s go to my room and talk, Leon.”

As Rita began walking toward the guest rooms, Leonhardt reached out to stop her. Instinctively, she swatted his hand away and took a defensive stance.

“…”

“…Ah.”

Leonhardt blankly looked at the hand that had been hit. Rita scratched her cheek awkwardly.

“Sorry, it’s just… a habit. If someone approaches from a blind spot, I react automatically…”

“…Lili, how about going to your room?”

“My room?”

“You can’t stay in a guest room forever. Let’s go to your room. It’s the one you used as a child, so it’ll need some renovation… but I had it cleaned this morning, so it should be usable for now.”

“Sure.”

Without another word, the siblings left the annex and headed for Lillietta’s room in the main building.

The room, preserved by magic for ten years, had its enchantment removed that morning on Leonhardt’s orders and was now spotless.

Rita looked around the cute little room with new eyes.

It felt completely different from just a few days ago, when she’d seen it without her memories. Now, each detail brought back memories of her past.

She passed through pink and yellow layered curtains and sat on a yellow bunny-eared sofa.

Upon closer inspection, even the carpet was pale pink. Rita let out a small laugh.

“Right, I used to love pink and yellow back then.”

“And rabbits too.”

Leonhardt pointed with his chin at a giant rabbit plush on the bed.

Rita chuckled as she looked around at the numerous small rabbit dolls surrounding the big one, the bunny ears on the sofa, and even the extravagant dollhouse in the corner filled with rabbits.

“Yeah, I really loved rabbits.”

“Not anymore?”

“Hmm… I guess I don’t really have any thoughts about it now.”

On the table in front of the sofa were scattered colored pencils. A sketchbook with an unfinished drawing brought back memories of how she loved to draw as a child.

‘I wasn’t very good, though. I can’t even tell what I was trying to draw.’

Casually, she began picking up the pencils and placing them in a gold-trimmed wooden box beside the sketchbook. Leonhardt, seated across from her, flinched.

“What is it?”

“…Nothing.”

Rita looked down at the colored pencils in her hand again.

‘Come to think of it, my family left everything just as it was.’

She looked back at the sketchbook again. Then, she finally realized what she had been trying to draw ten years ago.

‘I was trying to make a congratulatory card.’

Young Lillietta had been drawing a card to celebrate Leonhardt’s graduation from the academy. She’d fallen asleep with the sketchbook open, and that very night, she disappeared.

Her family had left the colored pencils exactly where she dropped them.

What must they have felt, leaving it all untouched? The thought made her chest tighten.

Rita picked up the pencils she had just put away and began writing on top of the clumsy old drawing.

Congratulations on your graduation!

“This is what I was drawing.”

When she tore the page from the sketchbook and held it out, Leonhardt fell silent. He gently stroked the picture with his fingers for a long time before asking,

“What did you draw down here?”

“Our family welcoming you home.”

“…”

“I drew it so badly, you couldn’t tell, right?”

“No, you drew it really well.”

“Liar. You didn’t even know what it was until I explained.”

“…Okay, yeah, I didn’t know.”

He once again stroked the drawing, his eyes softening.

“I always wondered what the last thing you drew was… Now I finally know.”

As Rita watched her eldest brother gaze at the clumsy picture, she picked up a colored pencil again. Then she began sketching the crude form of a grotesque monster on a blank page.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a named magical beast called a Mimic.”

“Named…?”

“Particularly strong magical beasts are given unique names to distinguish them. That makes them ‘named’ beasts.”

She took out a red pencil and colored around the Mimic’s mouth.

“This one could disguise itself as a person really well. That’s why it was called ‘Mimic.’ The first time it was discovered, it killed 172 people, and for the next three years, it went uncaught and devoured thousands more.”

“That’s terrifying.”

“Eight of those first 172 victims were from my squad. One of them was… my friend.”

She drew a circle in the Mimic’s wide, torn-open mouth.

“I can still vividly remember how it rolled his head around in its mouth like a piece of candy.”

Leonhardt turned pale. Rita put the pencil down and continued.

“The scent I smelled then was my first encounter with patchouli.”

“Patchouli? From the monster?”

“When magical beasts digest humans, they emit a kind of energy. Normally, only those sensitive to magical energy can detect it, but with strong enough energy, it becomes a scent that anyone can pick up.”

She wrinkled her nose.

“It’s similar to the scent of patchouli. That smell means there’s a strong magical beast nearby that just ate someone.”

“…So that’s why you attacked the maid?”

“I couldn’t let my guard down just because something looked human. Where I was, there were plenty of beasts that could wear human skin. But there are very few that can hide that patchouli scent. So I trained myself to attack anything that smelled like it, no hesitation.”

Rita shrugged and crumpled the page she had drawn the monster on.

“But I’m okay now. I can use a special ability here that I used back in the other world. With it, I can tell whether something’s human or a magical beast. I won’t attack the wrong person again.”

Leonhardt picked up the crumpled drawing Rita had discarded. As he smoothed it out and stared at it, he looked up.

“Lili.”

“Yeah?”

“In that world… did you live fighting things like this all the time?”

“Well, it was my job.”

“You were part of a place called Beacon, right? Like a mercenary?”

“More like somewhere between a mercenary and a soldier. Our squad took on missions freely, sometimes even civilian requests, but we still had to follow command center orders. We also defended the last stronghold.”

“Since when? You said you’re 22. How old were you when you started?”

“I began training at 10, then got sent to the last stronghold as soon as I finished. So, I guess since I was 12?”

“…”

He clenched his jaw so hard it made a grinding sound. Rita smiled bitterly.

“Don’t be so angry, Leon. It might sound strange, but cases like mine weren’t rare there. Plenty of new recruits were 12 or so. Everyone in my squad joined when they were between 12 and 14.”

“Damn it… they sent children to fight monsters like this? What kind of insane world…”

Leonhardt couldn’t hold back his anger. Rita replied calmly.

“The sun had died out, two-thirds of the world was overrun by magical beasts, and there were no clear skies or seasons left. Inside the last stronghold, people were starving so badly they ate each other. Outside of it, you couldn’t even breathe without special equipment. It was hell.”

“…”

“That world can’t be understood by the peaceful, beautiful standards of this one. Honestly, I had it relatively good compared to others. So you don’t have to get so angry for me.”