Volume 5, Chapter 56 – Outburst

There was no resistance like when facing Liti and Milu earlier. Tilulu obediently followed Fia from the empty corridor into the vacant Hunting Ground interior, and then up to a room on the top floor. This was the guest room Nola had arranged for Claire. Standing here, just like in Nola’s office, offered a panoramic view of the entire city. The interior resembled a high-nobility bedroom, exceptionally luxurious.

As soon as she followed Fia through the door, Tilulu, as if worried someone might break in, locked it. Then, with light steps, she came to Fia’s side by the glass wall and continued their earlier conversation.

“What does Mom think? If we just tell the Holy Son we’re leaving, she surely won’t refuse us.”

Although she had created this situation herself, seeing Tilulu act unlike herself still made Fia feel annoyed.

Yet, this was necessary.

As if to expel all the negativity from her chest, Fia took a deep breath and looked at Tilulu seriously.

“Don’t you think you’re not acting like yourself right now, Tilulu?”

“Why does Mom say that too?”

Tilulu tilted her head in confusion. In her view, she was herself.

“The old you, even if you weren’t going to fight Chazo, wouldn’t have talked about running away. Now that he has delivered himself to your doorstep, why not kill him?”

“Well…” As if feeling guilty, Tilulu lowered her head, her voice softening. “Because I’m no match for him.”

“You’re not his match, but I am. I told you long ago that you could leave the problems you can’t solve to me. Whoever bullies you, I’ll pay them back tenfold. Why didn’t you ask for my help? You’ve seen my power when I stopped the War Behemoths. You should know Chazo is no match for me. Even considering the beastfolk tradition, thinking it’s shameful to ask for outside help to defeat an enemy, I am your mother. You don’t need to have these concerns.”

“…”

Tilulu didn’t answer; she just bit her lip.

As if gathering her emotions, Fia fell silent for a moment, then threw out a question that made Tilulu abruptly raise her head, her eyes wide.

“Are you afraid that after you become queen, I will leave you, and you’ll be all alone?”

“I…”

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Yes, that’s exactly what I’m afraid of.

Visibly, the black mist surrounding Tilulu weakened somewhat with her timidity. She stammered her reply.

“Th-then Mom won’t leave me?”

“I will,” Fia answered seriously and slowly. “I have my own matters. But I will come back to see you regularly. You have your followers and Radric to assist you. I will also have Nola and Ying help you. At that time, no one in the Cold Night will gossip about you. With everyone there to correct you, it will be hard for you to make wrong decisions. Why are you afraid of me leaving?”

“If you’re afraid of the loneliness after becoming queen, afraid of bearing the responsibility, didn’t I give you another choice? I don’t want to manipulate your life. You can choose the environment you like to live in, go to Blossom, live with the witches. Those harsh witches are already dead. No one will bully you. There’s no heavy burden or expectation there. Why choose this path now?”

Fia doesn’t understand me at all.

Tilulu, being stared at by Fia, quietly averted her gaze. With her negative emotions amplified limitlessly, she answered in a small voice.

“I wasn’t running away…”

“Then what exactly are you worried about and afraid of?”

Fia grabbed Tilulu’s shoulders, forcing her to look into her eyes, and said with utmost sincerity.

“Tilulu, even if you choose to give up halfway, I won’t look down on you. Maybe you feel we haven’t spent enough time together, that there’s still a barrier between us, that you don’t see me as a real mother. But every word I say is true. I want to know what you’re thinking. If you don’t tell me, I’ll never know.”

“I…”

Tilulu opened her mouth, hesitated for a long time before making up her mind. She looked at Fia, her tone becoming pleading.

“I… I just don’t want Mom to leave me… Whether I become queen or go back to Blossom, isn’t the ending the same? I want to stay by Mom’s side like Liti and Milu…”

As soon as her words fell, Fia’s expression froze.

She hadn’t thought that Tilulu’s idea was to stay by her side forever, expecting her company as a mother, rather than being afraid of loneliness and others’ expectations.

As if sensing Fia’s weakened aura, Tilulu’s voice gradually grew louder. No longer content with the status quo, she pushed Fia’s hands away and grabbed her shoulders in return.

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“I don’t have the qualities to be a queen, nor do I want to be one! From the beginning, I was just expected by everyone, pushed forward by everyone! I tried to work hard, but what did the end result become? Just moving from one place to another like a rat, and then constantly repeating the cycle of watching the people protecting me get killed one after another! I’ve had enough!”

“But now I’m placing the position of queen before you. You no longer need to face failure. Becoming the queen of the Cold Night, avenging your parents and the dead, becoming the person everyone expects, what’s wrong with that? Doesn’t that fulfill everyone’s wishes?”

“But that’s not what I want!”

Tilulu became agitated, the force on her hands increasing to the point where it caused Fia slight pain. She pushed Fia forward, the black mist behind her spreading.

“Appearing before me when I was at my most helpless, and then promising to make me queen and remove all obstacles when I admitted my incompetence and weakness, who do you think you are in my eyes? Really just a mother? As early as Aurora City, I already saw you as another me, with the same status, but we are worlds apart! You are the incarnation I’ve dreamed of for so long! Do you think I can simply treat you as my mother? I can’t! I already see you as my savior, as my most important person! How can you ask me to separate from you! Fia, I just want to experience the feeling of being loved!”

In the pushing and shoving, Fia had retreated to the edge of the bed and had to stop. But Tilulu, as if unaware, had crystalline tears welling in her eyes, her delicate features contorted by her agitated emotions. Her lips trembled, and her voice became somewhat delirious.

“So I don’t want to leave you! Agreeing to become queen was only because I felt the road was still long, that it would let you stay with me for a few more years. That way, as I slowly grew up, you would realize my charm. Maybe, just maybe, I could become a woman like Claire, and then give the throne to you. That way, I could forever depend on you. Even if I become your appendage, I would be content.”

“But you keep accelerating my progress towards becoming queen, unwilling to stop for a moment! The path that should have taken two or three years, now Chazo has delivered himself to my door! How can I become queen like this? How can I convince the people?! Without you, I am nothing! To send such a beautiful dream to me, and then shatter it with your own hands right in front of me, shamelessly saying you gave me a choice, that you wouldn’t manipulate my life, what do you even understand!? Couldn’t you have spared me a chance to even propose a choice?!”

“…”

Fia didn’t answer immediately, just stared blankly.

She had never expected that approaching Tilulu under the guise of a teacher would make her fall in love with her, the one who had reached out in her time of need, illuminating her life like a dazzling sun.

She looked at Tilulu, whose tears were falling drop by drop. She wanted to reach out and wipe them away, but she felt that doing so would make her misunderstand her tenderness, so she had to stop her hand. She felt extremely awkward, to the point where breathing became difficult. She lowered her head deeply.

“…I cannot promise you, Tilulu. I do not have romantic feelings for you. I already have Claire. And you are royalty of the Cold Night. From birth, you bore the destiny of having to become queen. Your current choice is just you being blinded by my momentary kindness. These words should be said after you’ve grown up, after you’ve gained enough knowledge and life experience.”

“So you don’t understand my thoughts at all… I just want the right to love, just want you to spare me the right to stay by your side! Between being queen and you, I will only choose you!”

Nearly insane ramblings escaped her lips. Tilulu completely ignored Fia’s words. She grabbed the collar of Fia’s dress, then slowly pushed her down onto the bed. Just as Milu had straddled her before, she climbed onto Fia’s body, kneeling, her face filled with the joy of being accepted.

“If I absolutely must become queen… right, that necklace… if Fia insists on making me queen of the Cold Night, then put it on me. That way, I will obediently listen to your words and strive to become queen.”

Her hands trembling, Tilulu fumbled on her body for the gem necklace Woz had used to command Ying, the one she had taken from Fia earlier. She held it up to Fia’s eyes with both hands, full of expectation, then took Fia’s hand, making her grip the necklace, and shouted excitedly.

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“Just put it on me like this, then command me! That way, I’ll be marked by you, become your property, and we’ll be connected forever… Ahh, I’ll obey any command like an obedient puppy! As long as it makes you happy, you’ll be willing to stay with me a little longer, spare me a little of the love you give Claire… just a little is enough, don’t leave me…”

Her words became illogical and incoherent by the end. Tilulu covered her already distorted face with both hands and began to sob painfully.

So this is what she truly feels.

Looking at the tearful and extremely morbid Tilulu above her, Fia’s hand holding the gem necklace gradually lowered. As the person who had won her heart during her vulnerable moment, she couldn’t be harsh with her like this. Although it was under the influence of the teardrop pendant that she had said these words, the pendant only amplified emotions. If she hadn’t had such thoughts herself, she wouldn’t have made such a confession.

I’ve been loved by a young queen.

It’s truly laughable if told.

Thinking this in her heart, Fia couldn’t laugh at all. She tried to sit up using her arms, but this action was met with a loud rebuke from Tilulu.

“Don’t move! Just like this… just like this…”

Tilulu switched to a gentle tone, her delicate and pretty face filled with a viscous love. She slowly lowered herself, moving as if to gently lie on Fia. One hand caressed Fia’s cheek, while the other tried to untie her own dress.

As the collar opened, a warm and sweet fragrance was quickly released from her slightly rising chest. The heat radiating from her delicate body also reached Fia’s neck. Her rosy lips pressed against Fia’s neck, as if wanting to taste her, exhaling warm and sweet breath. Her eyes, filled with desire, gazed at Fia’s profile, her pink, cat-like tongue licking towards Fia’s neck, her every move full of seduction.

This alone is not allowed.

I can’t let her continue.

Mustering her courage, Fia suddenly poured strength into her entire body. She changed the posture of being straddled by Tilulu, instead pushing her aside. Their positions instantly reversed. Fia supported herself on the bed with both hands, her downward gaze becoming exceptionally serious.

“Tilulu, calm down. There’s no possibility between us. I only see you as my daughter. Even taking ten thousand steps back, I would only see you as my younger sister.”

Tilulu, who had thought Fia accepted her, was stunned. Her expression instantly changed from joy to collapse. She angrily grabbed Fia’s collar.

“Why? Why won’t you spare me a little of the love you give Claire? Just a little is enough! If you were willing to spare me some, even if you left the Cold Night after I became queen, I would only feel lonely, not anxious to the point of being unable to calm down! I just need to know that we can be together forever one day! Are you unwilling to even deceive me a little?!”

Compared to before, Fia had regained her clear rationality and knew what to do at this moment. She said calmly.

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“This is not something that can be divided just because you say so. You are still too young, Tilulu. I cannot respond to your feelings. Besides, you are only acting so extreme under the catalysis of this thing. If you could still say the exact same words without it, I certainly wouldn’t be able to be so natural now, but that’s not the case.”

Saying this, Fia reached for Tilulu’s left chest. The clothes there were already messy from her earlier actions, exposing a large area of snow-white skin. But Fia was not aiming for anything else, but straight for the teardrop pendant hidden there.

What Tilulu couldn’t see didn’t mean Fia couldn’t either. Just outside the fifth floor of the Hunting Ground, her negative emotions had already materialized into a demon, waiting for an opportunity. As long as she had the thought, the demon could rush in at any time and, according to her wish, force Fia to obey her commands.

“Right… as long as I tie Fia to my side, we’ll never be separated!”

As if she hadn’t heard Fia’s words, Tilulu’s eyes showed a near-insane smile. She also reached for the teardrop pendant in her left chest pocket. Normally, at this time, she would trigger the pendant, and the demon outside would act. But Fia had been watching her all along precisely to prevent this situation. The plan was made by her. Although she received an unexpected answer, the result would not change.

She grasped Tilulu’s hand holding the pendant, her ruby-like magnificent eyes gazing into hers, her gaze slightly dimming.

“I have heard your wish. From now on, I can stop being your mother. But love is mutual. I cannot approve of the current you. If you want me to look at you with new eyes, then go and become the queen of the Cold Night. Although I still cannot be sure if I will have even a little bit of love for the queen you become, one thing is certain: I do not like the current you. Very much. I hate it.”

With those words, Fia activated the long-prepared magic.

[Forceful Plunder]

As Tilulu’s and the pendant’s magic power rapidly faded, the negative emotions surrounding her body quickly dissipated. Along with it, she first widened her eyes in surprise, then the light in her eyes gradually disappeared. Finally, due to the exhaustion of her magic power and the excessive emotional fluctuations, she fainted on the bed.

Staring at her limp body for a moment, Fia stood up and let out a long breath.

“To think it would turn out like this. Should I be more careful when helping people next time…”

Forget it. I should go and do what needs to be done, cool my nerves. Tilulu’s emotions have somewhat affected mine.

Fia looked towards the distant city gate.

Whether Tilulu wanted to be queen or not, the culprit who had caused all this had to be dealt with.

Killing Chazo was the priority.