Chapter 138
‘This is truly maddening.’
As soon as Kirine saw the bracelet placed there as if to mock her, she hurled it against the wall.
‘They’re toying with me.’
Her head throbbed with anger. Time was already running short, and being manipulated like this made it difficult to contain her surging emotions.
“It’s just an ordinary noble’s mansion.”
The guild master approached slowly with his report, but Kirine didn’t even glance at him as she let out a deep sigh.
“Are there no other places where that woman might be?”
“We’ve only found two locations so far.”
“Haa…”
It was the last answer she wanted to hear, and Kirine couldn’t suppress her irritation as she roughly ran her fingers through her hair.
‘Think, I need to think.’
She needed to figure out where that woman might be hiding with Ares.
‘Rather than a remote location, they’re more likely hiding somewhere that appears ordinary.’
She tried to recall every place the woman had stayed, one by one. But without any real clues, the situation seemed hopeless.
Though anxious and uneasy with the urgency to find Ares quickly, she held onto hope that he wouldn’t be killed, since the woman had likely taken him.
“Look for ordinary houses near the capital.”
“What?”
To the guild master’s confused response at her sudden statement, she explained again patiently.
“Houses that blend in despite being in crowded areas—that kind of home.”
Though it meant starting over from the beginning, she intended to search thoroughly and methodically, making sure not to miss anything.
***
“‘Darling, help me’…”
At the unexpected phrase, Vincent asked with amusement in his voice.
“Is that the spell to call Kirine?”
His mocking tone made the words sound anything but ordinary.
Having spoken such an embarrassing activation word with no effect, Ares kept his mouth shut and didn’t respond. He felt humiliated twice over—once from Vincent’s pitying gaze, and again from the patronizing pat on his shoulder telling him to rest. He finally understood what it meant to want to crawl into a hole and disappear.
Seeming to notice these feelings, Vincent smirked before leaving the room first.
As soon as the door closed, leaving him alone with the woman, she rushed to Ares as if she’d been waiting for this moment and examined his blackened hand.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no.”
She made a fuss about how such a lovely hand could be injured like this, and pulled out medicine from within her clothes.
“How could my child be hurt like this…”
She applied the medicine carefully to Ares’s hand while sobbing as if she were the one injured. Her concern about causing pain while applying it didn’t even amuse Ares anymore.
“Stop it.”
Unable to watch anymore, Ares pushed away her hands and stepped back.
He felt suffocated and troubled, wondering how long he would have to endure this absurd situation.
“No, Aria. We need to apply the medicine properly to prevent scarring.”
The woman approached Ares as he backed away and tried to apply the medicine again. It seemed unlikely such medicine would heal this kind of injury.
“What business does a young lady have with scars?”
The woman, who had been sniffling while looking at his blackened hand, suddenly gnashed her teeth in fury. She muttered about killing Vincent, the source of this injury, looking so much like a madwoman that Ares sighed and turned away.
“You’re making too much of this.”
“Too much? My daughter’s hand is injured.”
“What about the wounds you caused?”
“What?”
To her blank stare of incomprehension, Ares spoke firmly yet calmly.
“How are they any different from the wounds you gave me when you kidnapped, imprisoned, and abused me?”
The woman’s mouth closed involuntarily at these unexpected words. Watching her impassively, Ares continued.
“If anything, those were worse, not less severe.”
They were memories he would have cut out and torn away countless times if he could. That’s how much of a nightmare that time had been for Ares.
“I… I was just trying to protect you…”
“Let’s be honest now.”
Ares sighed deeply, having seen enough.
“You know I can’t be your daughter.”
Just as her dead daughter could never return to life, no one could fill that void.
“You know I’m not your daughter.”
Rather than pitying her for knowing yet denying, ignoring, and pretending not to know, he found it disgusting and pathetic.
“Would your daughter be happy seeing her mother trying to make someone else into her?”
That seemed to be the decisive blow, as he felt the hand holding his begin to tremble.
“I don’t think she’d like it. No, I think she’d hate it.”
“You still have that habit of speaking carelessly about things you don’t understand.”
Unable to contain herself any longer, the woman trembled and raised her voice sharply.
“This is all for you! For you, I…!”
“What did you just hear me say?”
The frustration finally made his voice sharp with irritation.
“I said let’s be honest. This isn’t for me—it’s for yourself.”
“…”
“Please… just admit what needs to be admitted.”
He could barely contain his anger at how this woman kept interfering with his life.
“At least don’t be shameful in front of your daughter. How will you face her when you meet again?”
“…”
At these words, the woman lowered her head as if she’d never been angry.
None of what he said was wrong.
Ares was not her daughter, and her daughter had long since departed to a place where they could never meet again. Yet unable to forget, she continued to obsess over Ares and had kidnapped him again.
She already knew it was wrong, but she’d come too far to turn back.
“I… I…”
Just as she was about to say she’d only wanted to live happily with her daughter—
“You can still turn back, even now.”
Noticing her wavering heart, Ares grabbed her sleeve and spoke.
“Even though it’s late, you can still become a mother your daughter wouldn’t be ashamed of.”
“…”
“Isn’t it time you finally became a mother your daughter could be proud of?”
