Chapter 59 – The Sulking Duke (1)
Lila almost knocked over her cup at Hir’s words. “Wait, Hir. You think that I’m a witch that will eat you after filling you up?”
“No… no.” He claimed embarrassingly.
Lila smirked at Hir’s confused answer and spoke with a scary face. “You do look delicious, Hir.”
Instantly, a cookie fell out of Hir’s hand, and Lila burst out laughing at his believing expression. “I was only jesting, Hir.”
“I-I knew that… !”
Lila gave him an adoring gaze, and he lowered his head with reddened cheeks.
“How could I eat such a lovely child?”
“You won’t think so if I become fat.”
“Who said that?” Lila spoke in a soft voice. “Hir, the reason I thought you lovely is that you’re compassionate and think of others first.”
He buried his uneasy face in his hands.
“Also, you’ll become a better man, who will persevere to attain your goal and fight against evil with courage.”
“You’re still Hir to me if you become fat, thin, or rougher.” She continued.
Lila wanted Hir to hear this from her all the time, she couldn’t let him lose his warm personality like in the original work after being chased out of the Marshmell Manor. He was agonized thanks to that change and she could never let that happen again.
Hir slowly looked back up at his stepmother, his expression showed mixed feelings towards her words, however, his heart felt as if a barrier that was once covering it was now gone. He felt more alive than ever.
*
Lila’s necklace and ring began to vibrate a little as she finished up her last touches on the plan of making Senior the head of the Hilns.
Oh Lacias is here. She realized.
The ring was moving because it was reacting to its owner who had come nearby, and Lila stood up to greet her guest who was already holding something out for her to take.
“What is this?”
“It’s a cookie.” He said normally.
Lila looked at the strawberry cream cookie placed in front of her. It was round and soft, the pink cream and red jam looked really sweet. He couldn’t have made it himself since apparently he hated sweets, the cookie itself was wrapped professionally, and he must have bought it somewhere.
“I heard you didn’t like sweets,” asked her.
“I don’t hate them.”
“That’s a lie.” She said after thinking for a bit.
She put two and two together after realizing that Lacias had never eaten anything sweet in front of her.
“Yes, you’re right. I don’t like sweets. But I brought this for you because I thought you would like it.” He spoke in a casual voice and with a calm smile and Lila looked at him with a surprised gaze.
“Thank you for the cookie.” She beamed at him.
Lacias watched her take it and asked her a question, tilting his head as he did so. “You had come to my manor and went away without saying hello to me.”
“That was-”
Lacias cut off Lila’s words with his. “I was quite sad actually.”
By the way he said it, he was most certainly not exaggerating. She blinked, also tilting her head to the side as she stared at Lacias, noting the tight lip smile plastered on his face.
She was a bit puzzled at his actions; she did not give him cookies knowing for a fact that he doesn’t like sweets, and the reason why she left the manor was simply because she didn’t want to disturb him. She thought she was doing him a favor.
Lacias strode towards her while she remained unspeaking. With his long legs, he reached her in a blink. He flashed her a full smile as he took the seat beside her. The heat from his larger frame radiated off to hers.
“You don’t know how happy I was when I felt my ring attached to your necklace in my manor.”
“You felt it?”
Lacias nodded. “Yes. I felt it when Lugar’s ring grazed the necklace.”
“Oh.” Lila muttered. She had not noticed it at all. “I went to see you, but you were already gone by then and you didn’t even bother checking on me.” He continued, eyes on the floor like a sad puppy.
“It didn’t pass my mind that you’d come to look for me.” She explained quickly.
He exhaled a soft sigh, barely audible as he went on. “Lugar even said that you had given them cookies, teasing me that I was the only one who never got one and that really stung.”
Lila knew that Lugar wouldn’t have done something like that. She sheepishly raised her hand and gently squeezed his shoulder in an attempt to assuage him, the gesture earning her a soft smile.
“That was inconsiderate of me. I’m sorry, Lacias.”
Please read this TL’s note:
Rings are form of energies. It comes in different forms for each character, others may take creative forms such as butterfly. It’s called a Ring as it comes from the hand literally. Inexperienced ring users uses pistol to summon their rings. The more experienced they are, the more rings they are able to produce.
Shadows are people who uses distorted rings which are called “Holes.” Rings such as these are colorless. They attach to other people’s rings and sap its energy to gain power.
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