Chereads / The Cursed Trickster / Chapter 31 - A Mother’s Gift

Chapter 31 - A Mother’s Gift

It was early in the evening at the orphanage in Kartan.

The Freebird party sat in the living room, getting ready to start their night's watch while one of the caretakers combed Selene's hair.

Suddenly, they heard one of the adventurers outside yelling that someone was approaching the building, prompting the Freebird party to step outside and check it out quickly.

However, their worried expression quickly changed to a bright smile as they recognized the silver, lustrous hair and ruby-red eyes visible in the dark approaching the orphanage's gate.

"It's big-sis!" exclaimed Angie, making the other adventurers who were on guard let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey, everyone…" said the trickster as she arrived at the gate, her voice exhausted but her chin held high.

She had her black leather cloak hanging on one shoulder since she took it off, not to stain it with the blood that still coated her arms from the curse she used to kill the wraith.

While the rest of her outfit was also covered in blood, it was hard for the others to discern due to the excessive amount that covered her skin.

"Sis, are you okay!?" yelled Conrad, who quickly ran to Morgana's side to inspect the blood in her arms.

"I'm fine… How is Selene?" she asked, seemingly more worried about the little girl than her own.

"She is doing great. She's been waiting for you…" answered the teenager with a smile.

Morgana took a confident step forward and noticed the blood all over her.

'I should clean up. I don't want the first time she sees me to be covered in my own blood…' she thought before making her way toward the shower.

While she quickly rinsed the blood off her body, the little girl waited on the living room couch with the rest of the people who were present in the building, kicking her feet in the air with joy.

Shortly after, Morgana came out of the shower wearing her "set 2," which were her pajamas, leaving the adventurers stunned at her beautiful presence.

"Mom?" asked the little girl as she heard Morgana's steps.

"I'm back," she responded with a soft tone.

The girl launched forward to hug the trickster and was held in her warm embrace as Morgana carried her into her arms and sat on the couch.

She placed the little girl on her lap and turned her around to look at her face.

"How was your trip?" asked the girl, her eyes drifting from Morgana.

"It was nice. I got you a gift…" she responded, gently placing her hand on the little girl's head.

"De-curse…" she muttered, making a black mist pour out of Selene's eyes as the color of her iris faded from gray to ruby-red, just like Morgana's.

The girl blinked a few times and stared at her for a moment.

"Mom? I-..." Her voice broke, tears forming under her eyelids as Morgana slowly became visible.

"I can see! Mom!" she exclaimed as she hugged Morgana tightly.

"My mom is so pretty," she said, placing her little hands on the trickster's cheeks and squishing them adorably.

Morgana smiled, but her exhaustion kept her from uttering anything. At that same moment, the Freebird party approached the girl whose eyes sparkled as she saw her big brothers and sisters.

"Sister Kaede and Angie are pretty too!" she exclaimed, making both teenagers blush, then turned to the boys and giggled.

"Woah, my brothers look strong… and they are pretty too!" she said as the boys turned their heads to the side, seemingly embarrassed.

The trickster kept smiling slightly and laid her head back, her eyes slowly closing as her exhaustion kicked in.

Out of the three days and two nights that she was gone, she slept a total of four hours and went back to the orphanage right after defeating the wraith without resting.

She hadn't told anyone how long she trained, but the people understood that she must have been working hard for a trickster to be so tired.

"Here, let's go to a room…" said Tilly, the oldest of the caretakers, as she helped Morgana up from the couch and led her to a bedroom.

Selene followed behind her mom, and as soon as the trickster fell into a slumber, the girl climbed up and spent the night hugging her with a smile.

Selene rose first the following morning and woke up Morgana with her slight movements. They looked each other in the eyes and smiled simultaneously.

'She really does look like me, huh?' thought the trickster as she detailed her red eyes closely.

"Good morning!" said Selene.

"Did you sleep well?" asked the trickster while gently patting the girl, who nodded fervently in approval.

"Mom is warm, so I liked sleeping with mom," she said while gripping Morgana's shirt.

"I liked sleeping with you too." said the trickster with a warm smile, holding her as they both got up from the bed.

"Hey, mom, how did you do it?" asked the girl ambiguously.

"Do what?" she asked.

"Giving me eyes, I thought I lost my eyes…" said the girl with a frown.

Morgana stopped walking toward the door and looked at the girl, who expected an answer.

"You never lost your eyes, Selene. Someone just made them useless, and all I did was fix them to how they were before."

The little girl widened her eyes with surprise and let out a small gasp, making Morgana realize she might know who cursed her.

"Selene, do you remember where you lost your sight?" asked the trickster.

"On the streets, at night…" the little girl tried explaining.

Trying her best to get to the culprit, Morgana asked Selene to recount everything that happened the night she lost her sight.

The little girl had been living in Kartan with a gang of bandits who made her go into the streets to beg for money.

One day, she returned to the bandits' base and noticed that everyone had been killed in a fight with another gang. Having nowhere else to go, she lived on the streets for a year.

One night, as she walked by the main street, she saw a man carrying a sack that seemed to have someone inside since their feet stuck out from the top side of the bag.

The man quickly opened the door to one of the houses and dumped the sack inside, letting out a gruntle that confirmed what was inside to the girl.

Selene stepped back with fear as the man spotted her, a threatening aura surrounding him. He had long black hair and a muscular build, making the child look even smaller than she already was.

As the man sauntered toward her, Selene stood frozen with fear, staring up at his face and detailing the scar on his right cheek.

"See nothing, believe nothing…" said the man with a raspy and deep voice, pulling out a black straw doll and pointing it at the girl.

The doll emanated a black mist that surrounded Selene's head, slowly robbing her of her sight as she slowly kneeled on the ground with fear.

The man stood there for a few moments, watching the little girl struggling and crying as she couldn't process what was happening to her. A few seconds later, she fainted.