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Chapter 45
Being Unable to Forget Is Another Kind of Pain
<It would be wonderful if Lorencia could meet the Black Serpent someday.>
<The Black Serpent? Are there other serpents too?>
<Of course. Just beware of the serpent that descends from the sky.>
<A serpent from the sky?>
<That serpent… it once defied the goddess Ella…>
“I can’t remember what she said next.”
Lorencia clutched her head with both hands, struggling to recall the conversation she once had with her mother — a conversation she had long forgotten. But no matter how hard she tried, the rest of her mother’s words would not come back.
The violet crystal sphere began to glow again, showing her another scene. The moment Lorencia saw it, she stumbled back a step in shock.
It was a scene she wished she could forget — one she could never forget.
Inside the violet sphere appeared the image of herself at twenty-nine, imprisoned in a pitch-dark cell, starving slowly to death.
Why was it showing her own death?
“Is it showing me this so I won’t forget?”
Inside the prison, she was indeed dying of starvation. She no longer longed for the man she once loved — only for a bowl of potato soup — while she resented, regretted, and reflected on the evil deeds she had committed.
Bang! Bang!
Someone broke down the prison wall. As light flooded into the cell, Lorencia closed her eyes. Then, she heard an unfamiliar voice.
[Do not open your eyes, Lady Lorencia.]
[Who are you?]
[I came to save you.]
Lorencia looked up to see Teishar standing where the wall had been destroyed.
[I am Teishar Spencer of the Foloid Empire. Do you remember me?]
[Of course, Marquis Spencer. I’m grateful you came to rescue me. But I’m a wicked woman who deserves death. Please… let me die here.]
Lorencia bowed her head and wept. Teishar came closer, uncorked his flask, and pressed it to her lips. The moment the water touched her mouth, her body — separate from her sorrow — drank greedily. It was pure instinct.
[If you die, then I will die with you. But that’s not why I came.]
Regret consumed her; she had no will to live. Yet his words sent a strange, unplaceable feeling through her heart — something between despair and relief.
[We can still stop it.]
[Stop it? Stop what?]
[The deaths that Emperor Luance and Duke Greycan will cause. Help me prevent them.]
At Teishar’s words, twenty-nine-year-old Lorencia slowly opened her eyes, gazing into the blinding light.
[Only the child of the goddess Ella can save the souls who will die unjustly. If you truly regret everything, then take my hand.]
[If I can save them… then I want to.]
[It’s time for you to fulfill your duty and your destiny.]
The moment Lorencia grasped Teishar’s hand, she felt as if her breath stopped. Her eyes flickered — each blink flashing through countless scenes.
Then, her surroundings rippled like the surface of water. When the ripples calmed, everything went still.
A voice called to her. Lorencia slowly opened her eyes.
“What’s wrong, Lady Lorencia?”
“It’s nothing.”
The scenes she had just witnessed vanished in an instant. Looking around, she saw Evan and Teishar gazing at her with concern.
“Are you feeling dizzy?”
“Yes, a little.”
“Then you should rest in your room, my lady.”
Teishar reached out his hand politely. Lorencia took it — and the vision from the violet crystal sphere echoed in her mind once more.
[I came to save you.]
Magus had received a letter from his son, Teishar, saying he had found the “sapling” — Lorencia. He wanted to rush to her side immediately, but first, there was something he had to do in the Foloid Empire.
He had to inform the former Duke and Duchess of De Gloston about Lorencia. Unfortunately, they were away at the time.
“Sir Magus, a letter has arrived — from Lord Evan, the former chief butler, who’s currently in the Ishter Empire.”
It was Evan’s letter, written after he had gone to Ishter. It detailed everything about the “sapling.” One line in particular caught Magus’s eye:
[She resembles Lord Cain so much that it shocked me.]
Tears welled up as soon as he read it. Pain and grief overcame him, and as he continued reading about how Lorencia had lived all these years in Ishter, anger began to burn inside him.
Unable to contain it, Magus set the letter down and wept openly. Holio, his old butler, panicked but quickly offered him a handkerchief, as a seasoned servant would.
“Holio… in times like this, you’re supposed to quietly leave and close the door.”
“I thought you might need a handkerchief, sir.”
“I said leave!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
At his outburst, Holio fled like a scolded puppy. Once he was gone, Magus wept again — loudly, bitterly — before forcing himself to stop.
He couldn’t stay frozen in grief.
With the former duke and duchess absent, he needed to contact Baelo, Cain’s elder brother and the current Duke of De Gloston. He began to write a letter, explaining how Lorencia had been found — but paused mid-sentence.
Twenty years ago, he had never told Baelo or the former duke and duchess that Musila was pregnant. Back then, they had gone missing, and the duchess, Abrellina, had collapsed from grief. The duke, Welson, had stopped eating altogether.
He couldn’t bear to tell them that Musila had been expecting Cain’s child. It would have only deepened their sorrow. So, he had kept silent.
But now — how could he tell them that both Cain and Musila were dead, and only their granddaughter remained?
If the De Gloston family refused to believe that Lorencia was Cain’s daughter, he would need to prepare for that as well.
Only if they accepted her as part of their bloodline could he confront Count Paul Heredian about what had happened to Cain and Musila — and revoke the false family registry that had placed Lorencia under that name.
Magus sighed. “This won’t be easy.”
He picked up his quill again, determination in his eyes, and finished the letter to Duke Baelo De Gloston.
When Baelo received Magus’s letter, he hesitated to open it. He had never enjoyed meeting Magus — every encounter with him brought back the sight of his parents drowning in grief over Cain.
Time, he knew, was needed to heal pain. But for his parents — and for Magus — time had stopped twenty years ago. Baelo had spent those twenty years watching his family suffer.
To be unable to forget — that was another kind of pain.
When pain lingers long enough, one grows numb to it, until finally thinking, This much pain, I can endure.
But to “endure” means to live in agony forever — only becoming accustomed to it.
Baelo didn’t want that. So, he buried himself in work, letting time flow.
He hadn’t forgotten his younger brother Cain, but he’d buried the memory deep in the river of time, believing Cain must be living happily somewhere.
But when he read Magus’s letter, the frozen hands of his inner clock began to move again.
“This… can’t be true.”
The letter claimed that Cain’s daughter — his niece — had been found.
[It may be hard to believe, but Lord Cain and Lady Musila had a child. I have found that child.]
“Then… what about Cain?”
Nowhere in the letter was Cain mentioned — only the niece.
Baelo’s mind was pulled back twenty years, to his last conversation with his brother.
<Musila is carrying my child.>
<You can’t just have a baby because your marriage was opposed!>
<It wasn’t an accident. We planned this child, even before the wedding. Brother Baelo, when you meet my child someday, please don’t say their parents were reckless. Musila and I truly wanted this child.>
<Well… I can’t say it out loud, but congratulations, Cain.>
Becoming a father — that joy was incomparable. Even though Cain and Musila hadn’t yet married, Baelo had celebrated the news, believing in their love.
<Brother, please don’t tell Mother and Father yet. I’ll tell them myself — I want to surprise them.>
<At least tell me you’ve proposed to Musila.>
<I have. The ring I ordered arrives today. I’m going to ask her tonight.>
Cain’s face had glowed with happiness — radiant, unstoppable joy.
Baelo had smiled, too. He believed in Musila, whom his brother had chosen — despite the world calling her the “child of the goddess Ella.” Musila had never used her divine gift for evil; she used it only to help others.
Yet people, stirred by priests of the Goddess Ella’s temple, called her a witch. Evil rumors spread faster than truth, and that had always saddened Baelo deeply.
But after Cain disappeared, his faith wavered. When Cain vanished along with Musila, anger replaced grief. It had felt like she had taken his brother as revenge against their parents’ opposition.
He knew it wasn’t true — but at the time, blaming Musila was the only way to survive the pain of losing Cain.
And so, for twenty years, the De Gloston family endured that endless sorrow — a pain they could never quite forget.
