In front of Mariel and Segal, Deric and Claudia stood still with the people surrounding them. But what is clearly noticeable that is Deric and Claudia's eyes were bloodshot and filled with great anger and resentment. Not a single sound came out of anyone's mouth, which made the situation even more tense.
Mariel slowly dismounted, trembling. Then she picked up her sword, held it tightly and slowly walked towards her parents. Segal also dismounted and walked behind Mariel, keeping his eyes on the ground, not daring to meet the others' eyes.
Mariel stood in front of Deric and Claudia. In her mind, she wanted to say sorry for what she had done. She felt guilty but didn't dare to speak up. This made her unable to utter a single word and could only stand still.
Derrick seemed to be thinking about something in his mind. Then something that everyone didn't want to see happened. Deric walked up to Mariel and without saying anything, he snatched the sword out of Mariel's hands. She was unable to resist this action, then just let Deric take the sword from her hand without responding or saying a word.
Deric stared at Mariel with bloodshot eyes as if trying to hold back tears from falling at her. Facial expression indicated anger and disappointment in his daughter who made arbitrary decisions. There were reasons for other people to be worried and in trouble. The people had been searching for were now crowding around to see their own family in this state, it made him feel ashamed. Many pairs of eyes turned to Mariel and Deric, as if to indicate how he teaches his children, to let them go out in the middle of the night and not sleep like other children. This put even more pressure on Deric until he could barely control himself anymore.
Deric slowly held the sword above his own head with both hands, as if he was considering the final decision of whether to do good or not. But in the end, something that was not wanted to happen appeared in front of Mariel and the others.
Deric used his right knee which was accelerating his physical energy. Then, breaking Mariel's sword that pushed down and hitting his knee, it was broken into two pieces in front of Mariel.
"No!!!!!! My sword!!!!" Mariel screamed out loud in utter shock. Her own sword that Mom and Dad had bought as a gift had now been broken into two pieces in front of her eyes by Deric's hands.
"Deric!!!" Claudia's shouted because she didn't think that her husband would do anything that would hurt her daughter's feelings this much.
Derrick didn't say anything else. The two shards of the sword fell to the ground as Mariel rushed to scoop up the broken sword in her arms. Her mouth started to tremble; tears began to flow without stopping until it covered both cheeks. Segal stood still, tears flowing as well because he was part of the reason why his sister had to be punished like this.
"Why did you do this to me!!!" Mariel cried loudly with regret. The young girl sat and hugged the broken sword as if her heart was completely broken. The pain of a girl losing her most precious thing in her life began to make her unable to control herself anymore. Anger, pain, and disappointment began to control her mind and body. Dark magic began to affect her physical condition while no one noticed.
"The children who disobey their parents, deserved to be punished like this." Deric said in a tone that showed disappointment to his daughter.
Mariel heard this sentence and immediately began to resist. She just went out to practice the Illusionary Shadow Technique and believed that she didn't do something wrong. She just ran away from home for a short time and then returned home before dawn. To the point of having to destroy the sword until it broke into two pieces, it was very unfair for her. She was fined by detention, let her do housework to make up for their mistakes or was not allowed to eat as a punishment. Anything but being treated like this couldn't be accepted. Finally, words that Mariel never thought to say were uttered. It made everyone's faces numb and stunned that this child would dare to say such words.
"I hate you!!! Dad." Mariel said loudly, revealing frightening bright red eyes. Now the dark magic power was beginning to take control of her body, the situation was becoming more and more dangerous.
Segal saw this bad situation and rushed to Mariel. As soon as he touched her body, he could feel that the skin on Mariel's arms began to look more and more like snake scales.
"I apologize to Father Deric, Mother Claudia and everyone. It is all my fault. Please allow me to take Mariel into the house before things get even worse and help her to be calm." Segal said.
Deric didn't say anything else but he nod for approval, when Segal knew this, he hurriedly carried Mariel into the house.
"My wife and I had to apologize to everyone. Then I will instruct my daughter to be better. I'm really sorry." Deric bowed his head and apologized to the others again.
"It's okay. At least your daughter was back. Next time, please be careful. In the forest there were beasts and demons. The children would be harmed but at least we were relieved that they all were safe." A guy said with relief.
"Thank you very much, everyone." Deric bowed once more before preparing to return home with Claudia.
In Mariel's bedroom, Segal tries to console Mariel, who is still sad about everything that has happened.
"I'll sleep next to you. Forget this and let's talk about it again tomorrow." Segal said.
"Please go back to your room and sleep. Leave me alone." Mariel said without looking at her brother.
"But you still had tears in your eyes. I'm afraid…" Segal tried to explain.
"I told you! Leave Me Alone!" Mariel said loudly.
"Alright, if you need something, just knocking in my room, ok?" Segal said, then walked back to his room.
Mariel sat alone with her arms around her knees, thinking quietly until she couldn't sleep. Tears continued to flow without stopping, along with the painful feelings of what had been received. She looked sadly at the sword that had been broken into two pieces on the bed. Many questions still arise in her head.
(Do my parents really love me? I just made this little mistake. Why do they have to hurt my feelings this much?) (Chai thinking)
"How long has it been since I saw your tears?" A voice heard through the bedroom wall hit Mariel's hearing.
"It's Mom's voice." Mariel said, gently pressing her ear against the bedroom wall, allowing her to hear her parent's bedroom where Deric and Claudia sleep.
"Am I punishing my daughter too much? Breaking her sword in front of everyone's eyes like that." Deric said with tears.
"No one has ever made a mistake, but you were too judgmental." Claudia tried to explain.
"Mariel and Segal ran away in the middle of the night like this, and we didn't know how many times they did. They all came back safely and that made me feel relieved. But what if our children disappeared, or they had been harmed to be disabled or dead. How could we live if these happen?" Derik vented.
"I understand how much you love and care your children, my dear." Claudia said.
"If I did not punish them, they could make the same mistake again and again. Did they know how much pain I have inside?" Deric continued to say without stopping, while Claudia chose to stay silent and let him speak.
"When I was a child, I knew that I was not a good boy. I didn't listen to anyone. I often self-centered because at home, my father and mother didn't have much time to take care of me. Every day they just went out and did missions until night, I lived and ate dinner alone at home. Did you know how painful it is?" Deric said as tears fell from his eyes.
"When I found out that you were pregnant, it was like a blessing from heaven that I had been waiting for all along. The feeling of wanting to take care, raise, and watch the development of Mariel. I wanted her to grow up to be a good female warrior, strong like me and gentle like you. I needed to replace what I missed during my childhood and adolescence. Did I do it wrong?" Deric's vent his feeling that Claudia had to take Deric into her embrace. Her tears began to flow as well.
"I believe Mariel will understand your concern. Don't think too much and at least our kids are back safety tonight. Tomorrow we will patch things up with them again." Claudia said. Then Deric wiped the tears from his cheeks and fell asleep with Claudia.
Mariel, who had been listening to the entire conversation, slowly removed her ear from the bedroom wall. Tears overflowed without stopping.
(That's because when I was young in my past life, I never received warmth from my parents. I lived in an orphanage. A point that was thought to be a small matter, but it was a big deal for my parents. Everything they did to us because they loved and cared for us.) (Chai thinking)
"Dad, Mom...I'm sorry." Mariel said with a heartfelt expression of remorse.
In the morning, Mariel finished showering and getting ready to come down to eat breakfast with Segal.
"Are you okay last night?" Segal asked with concern.
"Yes." Mariel answered with a slight nod.
When they came down to the ground floor, in front of them was Deric reading the newspaper and Claudia had almost finished making breakfast for everyone.
Mariel slowly walked towards the dining table. Segal could only follow slowly.
The newspapers concealed Deric's face, so it was impossible to know what he was thinking but it didn't matter anymore because Mariel had been thinking about it carefully all night.
*The sound of someone kneeling on the ground*
Derik even stopped reading the newspaper for a moment but didn't turn to look at what his daughter was doing. As for Claudia, when she turned to look, she stood still, slightly startled.
Marielle kneeled on the ground; she was a clear expression of remorse.
"Dad. Mom. I'm sorry for what I did last night. It was all my fault. Brother Segal tried to dissuade me, but I still stubbornly wanted to practice more in the middle of the night without even thinking about how worried you would be. Mom and Dad would punish me, Detention, or made me do housework to make up for every mistake. I would accept all of this, but please could you accept my sincere apology? Now I understand how much my dad and mom love and care about me. I promised that I won't do this again." Mariel said with tears streaming down her cheeks in an expression of remorse.
Mariel was about to bow down and apologize but suddenly the newspaper fell to the floor, and someone took Mariel up in an embrace. That's right. Deric hurriedly got off the chair and hugged his daughter tightly.
Mariel immediately burst into tears and cried. Deric, Claudia, and Segal also shed tears.
"I also apologize for hurting your feelings last night. I love you very much. Everyone in this family is the most important thing to me. Whenever you go anywhere, please tell us first. When you become an adult, then your life is on your own, but we will always be here to support you, care for you, and give advice to you forever. Including Segal as well." Deric said, turning to look at Segal as well.
In the end, everyone patched things up. Their relationship became stronger than ever as Mariel promised to always obey what her parents taught her first. She won't make the same mistake again until she is old enough to make decisions on her own.
After finished their breakfast, Deric and Claudia finished their early morning routine in the barn. As for Mariel, she wanted to continue training with Segal, but her sword was already broken.
"It's okay. I will buy you a new one and better than your last sword. This time, I'm going to take you to the oldest and most famous weapons shop in the city." Deric said.
"But it's quite expensive." Claudia said with a worried look on her face.
"It's okay. We don't even have to buy a high price of sword." Deric said.
"But you paid for it all by yourself." Claudia interrupted.
"My dear. You won't help me pay half the money for a new sword?" Deric begged.
"No way! You broke your daughter's sword. Take responsibility for yourself." Claudia said.
Deric was a little depressed but accepted.
"Ok then, let's go into the city. We will go to the most famous weapons shop and buy some food supplies." Deric invited everyone.
"Ok!" Mariel and Segal shouted with joy because it's been a while since they have been able to go into the city.
"I wanted to go and looked at the new shield as well. I had some of my saving from working part-time job." Segal said.
"I would probably choose an inexpensive sword which was similar to a last one." Mariel said.
They all got into a car and drove all the way to the capital city. It took Deric some time to find a parking spot.
"There's a lot of people coming to buy things on the weekends so it's hard to find a place to park. Well, let's go!" Deric said after turning off the engine.
Mariel suddenly had a premonition of something entering her head.
"What exactly is this feeling?" Mariel said.
"Is something wrong, Mariel? You look strange." Segal asked curiously.
"Oh, it's nothing." Mariel answered, and then they all walked into the capital city together.