Chapter 36 - Back at Home
..
In a quiet corner of the Duchy's Second Palace, a girl of age approaching seven was busy trying to analyze some Magic scrolls. Although she couldn't make much sense of them, she still stared at the text and the symbols with her eyes full of wonder and curiosity.
She had to do it so sneakily in the corner of the library even in the middle of the night, only due to the fact that this scroll was a stolen one.
She didn't know why her Mother took away anything related to magic or skills from the library many years ago, but her inner curiosity to study Magic eclipsed all other matters.
After learning etiquettes, political terminologies basic economics, and the previous war case studies all day long, the curious mind of the little girl couldn't help but go towards her new favorite subject, Magic.
Of course, she wasn't scheduled to begin training in magic or sword until the ripe age of fifteen. However, the little girl couldn't wait anymore.
After having witnessed magic firsthand and having even experienced how it helped her dearest elder sibling, as she was somehow treated by some kind of mysterious and difficult magic, the girl's curiosity peaked, as she begin asking around about such amazing magic.
Unfortunately for her though, nobody seemed interested in satisfying the little girl's thirst for magical knowledge and left her to her own devices.
Since even her elder sister didn't know much about magic, the little girl had no choice left but to secretly take away one of the magic Scrolls from her teacher's belongings.
in the end, though, she didn't even have the basic knowledge about magic and couldn't make heads or tails about the scroll's contents.
Having failed multiple times to understand anything from it, the little girl finally put away the magic scroll with great regret and stored it away in some hidden corner, to prevent it from being confiscated.
After softly blowing out the candle, she quietly made her way back to her own bedroom. On the way there, she stopped once near her elder sister's room and inside once. Her Elder Sister had already slept and was snoring lightly. A big smile bloomed up on her face when she compared her elder sister's present self to her earlier condition.
Previously, the little girl was very worried about her sister daily and did a lot of things to try and bring a smile to her face. Even after bringing her favorite flowers, talking about the latest stories from the city, or gifting her some stuff from time to time, the little girl could still see the shadow of death around her sister elder sister's weak smile.
Now though, she often smiled cheerfully for no apparent reason quite frequently. She could even get out of her bed and didn't have to sleep most of the day to recover.
The two of them now even went to their Father's old library often together to read books. The little girl loved to hear her Elder Sister dictate different books to her, an experience she rarely ever had before.
Even if her personal maid kept making complaints and kept troubling her not to associate herself with or hang around her Elder Sister, the little girl had learned to turn a deaf ear to her outrageous words.
After all, if she didn't associate together with her own sister, then who was she supposed to be with?
After having stared at her Elder Sister's sleeping figure to her heart's content, the little girl finally returned back to her own bedroom.
Returning back to her own bed, the little girl laid down to sleep as well. Unfortunately, her little mind was too preoccupied with different thoughts. Her mind often went back to the night that she had gone to the forest to collect some of her Elder Sister's favorite flowers when she accidentally met the man, who soon became a very important part of her life.
To her, not only was he a good person who kept his promises, but also a trustable friend who helped her dearly by curing her ailing elder sister and brought many kinds of new happiness to both of their lives.
'Umm... Leon has really done a lot for us, hasn't he? Then, shouldn't I do something to thank him too?'
'But what can I do for him does he needs anything right now? Hmm... maybe he would like to have some cookies! Or... Daisy likes the candies I bring too, but... I just don't know.'
'Hmm... maybe big sister would know about it. She spends so much time together with him. She must surely know about it.'
'I hope that Big Sister can completely recover soon. then... the two of us can do a lot of things together! We can collect flowers, visit the city, buy snacks, and...'
As the little girl kept listing the number of things that she could do together with her Elder Sister in the future, she unknowingly fell into a deep sleep as only light breathing sounds were left in the room, along with the little girl's sleeping figure.
Unlike many nights before, a small smile hung on her face as she kept herself busy within her own Dreamland.
...
At the time in the mansion where Nana was desperately trying to study the magic scroll, on the other side of the mansion, a figure was stealthily escaping the mansion, trying to minimize her presence and the sound of her footsteps.
Since the security was very lax near Benica's bedroom area, exiting via that route was much easier for the figure. However, the composure that she had when entering the mansion had long since vanished into thin air.
Her body kept trembling as she found balancing herself becoming more difficult than ever before. Her graceful figure soon departed the urban area of the city. As she soon approached the forest on the outskirts. the wild animals had no intention of attacking her, as a crazy murderous intent flew around her body Subconsciously.
She was gnashing her teeth heavily while trying to make sense of what she had just learned from the girl name Benica.
...
"Leon? he is my husband, of course. we recognized each other as our Spouse sometime ago..."
"but since sister Malisa is related to him like that... I guess you won't become his wife anytime soon..."
"What? Ah! N-No! W-We have barely only done it twice so far... It has only been a few days since we met, but I feel like I was really meant to belong to him. he has already left an irreplaceable mark on my heart..."
"Eh?! You are leaving already? Not so fast! Let's talk some more, Sister-in-law. Tell me, what is he like when he is at home? Also, does he have some special hobbies? I am afraid that he would be embarrassed to talk to me about those. B-But, it must be easy for him to talk to you about those things, right? After all, you seem to be like a Big Sister figure to him, right...?"
...
Upon remembering what Benica had spoken to her, Malisa didn't know why she was feeling so frustrated. Whatever was spoken to her was technically true, however, upon remembering Benica's cheerful words, an irresistible irritation kept rising up within her heart.
"Sister... sister-like figure?! Sister my foot! that woman! How dare she... how dare she act so close to Leon like that?! She thinks just because she is... his wife presumably... has she gained the right to look down upon me?!"
"Just how long has it been since they have known each other? Leon and I have been together for years already! I know him the best! I know him Even better than I know about my late husband! In fact, I know about him more than I know anyone in this world!!"
"To think that a girl, who came out from God knows where... dares to steal our Leon away from us?"
"I... no, mother-in-law would surely never let that happen! Just wait, young girl. Just let me tell everyone about this! Your fake marriage claims would all disperse like clouds within a few moments! Darn it. Darn, it!!!"
Being in an extremely agitated state of mind, the figure didn't care much about being careful of her surroundings and a few scratches began to appear on her open fair skin due to the rough terrain and the trees in the forest. If it wasn't for her abnormal body strength or her subconscious reflexes, she might have even gotten hurt quite badly.
The figure didn't stop for anything as she kept dashing her way straight in the direction of her home.
It was surely bound to be a sleepless night for the troubled girl.
...
Having received two Godly items one after the other, Leon decided to let the System go for now and to end his acting session. After all, he didn't have the whole day to keep playing despondent with the System. From the tone of words of the system, it was very obvious to him that it didn't have any other items left to give him at the current moment.
It had already been a few hours since he left his house and he estimated that it would not take longer than an hour for dawn to arrive.
As he sorted his thoughts again, Leon decided to give the system one last warning before getting up.
"Alright. if you ask so nicely, then I would give up those kinds of thoughts for now. However! if you dare to abandon me ever again like that, then I would not even bother to try and save myself. in fact, I would kill myself readily with my own hands instead!"
The System's tone was dramatically different from its usual arrogant and proud nature. It rather seemed to be more pleasant to hear and was full of consolation for the poor Leon.
[Okay, okay. you got it. never again. I am not leaving your side again. even if I have to take a dump, I would just take one alongside you, alright?]
"What? you can even do that? I thought you are just a voice inside my head?"
The System seemed reluctant to explain its own existence to Leon, as it tried to quickly shift the topic away from that and continued,
[Forget about that. I don't think it is wise to waste our time like this here. What if that light image came back with some more reinforcements? Let's leave this place already and go back. Too much has happened tonight. Even I feel like taking a break by now.]
[Oh! However, remember to sign in punctually every day. otherwise, you would certainly miss out on all sorts of good things!]
Hearing the System talk about more rewards in the future, Leon began to feel very nice for himself, As he looked at the moon shining overhead and spoke to himself,
"If I keep growing like this, then one day... I would certainly be able to return back to my previous world. although I don't wish to leave this world permanently anymore,... I still have a lot of unfinished business there."
"Let's go back home for now."
Deciding to accept the System's persuasive words, Leon quickly changed his direction and began to move towards his house at full speed.
...
A/N: Hehehe... look who's back!