Chapter 65 – A Crown of Flowers (1)
“Come on now.”
Lila stared at Lacias, who was looking at her with a kind smile stretched on his face. She shook her head incredulously at his antics, reminding herself to focus and now’s not the time to be distracted.
Slightly flushed at the latter’s unabashed attention, she fidgeted like she didn’t know what to do with herself, unconsciously grabbing at an object to her side. The randomness of her action prompted Lacias to let out a soft chuckle.
“What are you doing?”
Lila blinked as she turned to her hand, seeing that she was clutching on the stone that was supposedly used for holding down the picnic blanket. A sheepish smile formed on her face as she placed the rock back shyly.
“I brought whole wheat cookies since you’re not fond of sweets. Have this.” She took a cookie from a wrapper and stretched her hand towards him.
Lacias, however, only looked at her outstretched palm. She waggled the cookie in front of him and beckoned him to take it, but Lacias still remained uncooperative, tilting his head to the side as he opened his mouth like a child waiting to be fed. “Feed me.”
Lila scooted an inch closer and lifted the cookie towards his mouth. He bit into it and chewed happily, and muttered a thank you in response.
Lacias was pleased. Lila was shaking the crumbs off her fingers when she felt Hir looking at her, making her turn her head as their eyes met for a second. Hir quickly averted his eyes and went on eating his sandwich, pretending like he didn’t see anything.
Lila felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. She threw Lacias a look, wondering how he could act like that with Hir beside them. In Hir’s perspective though, they appeared like a lovely couple, and the thought made him smile as he gulped the strawberry cream down. Stomach full and content, Hir scanned the lake in front of him and he realized that he had never seen a lake as big as this one. He noted the little flowers at the edge of the waters, and the surface of the lake sparkled under the gleaming sun.
“Hir, aren’t you getting any more sweets?” Lila asked, seeing the boy had stopped eating his macaron with eyes fixed at the scenery before him. The question made him snap out of his reverie as he turned to look at her. “I’m already full..” His words stopped short, like there’s something he wanted to say but too shy to voice out loud.
Sensing his hesitation, Lila prodded him to continue. “What is it?”
Hir opened his mouth before closing them again. He looked at Lila and when he saw nothing but warmth filled her eyes, he went on. “Can I look at the flowers?”
“Of course.” Lila thought that something big was troubling him, but it was just the flowers after all. “Go suit yourself.”
Hir beamed, standing up immediately and jogged towards the flowers. He turned and saw Lacias waving at him.
“How pretty!” Hir exclaimed, crouching down as he brushed the blossoms with his fingers. He was utterly mesmerized, carefully touching the petals before his hand stopped moving.
“But the flowers will feel pain…” He murmured to himself. He initially wanted to bring some to his mother; to make a crown out of it and place it on her head. But the thought of the flowers being hurt when he uproots them made him uncomfortable. He thought it was too cruel, so he picked on the fallen ones instead. He painstakingly chose the flowers that were void of blemishes, and wanted nothing less for his mother. I have to be careful. He thought as he bunched the colorful blooms on his palms. When he was finally satisfied with his pile, he dashed back towards Lila with a smile stretched on his face. He hid the flowers behind his back.
“Mother!” Hir said, slightly out of breath.
Lila was conversing with Lacias when Hir came back. “Yes?” She turned, eyes widening at Hir’s breathlessness.
“I-I have something to give you.” Hir huffed.
“Me?” Lila asked.
“A little something for the delicious food.” Hir said shyly, and Lila felt like she was about to explode seeing how adorable Hir was being. She wanted to grab his face and squeeze his cheeks together.
She was overwhelmed at how intense her emotions were. She clenched her fists to her sides and willed herself to calm down.
“Close your eyes first!” Hir chirped.
“All right.” Lila closed her eyes, heeding to Hir’s request. Her hearing seemed to have heightened since her eyes were temporarily unseeing. She could make out a few whispers going back and forth between Hir and Lacias, but she didn’t understand what they were talking about exactly, only managing to hear Lacias’ low laughter.
“Don’t open your eyes, okay?” Hir reminded.
What was he doing anyway? Lila’s couldn’t help but smile at Hir’s enthusiasm, and she could feel how excited he was. Her hair was gathered and swept behind her, a palm smoothing her tresses softly.
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.
Thanks for everyone’s love and support! ?