SWNOVELXO Chapter 96
Chapter 96
[Translated By Divinity]
Casey was staring intently at Damian, waiting for an answer. Damian couldn’t avoid his gaze.
“Well… I owe Lady Lintray… I mean, Lilliana my life…”
Damian stammered,
“I just… wanted to thank her in person… and we had a promise… well, that’s it. Are you satisfied?”
Damian tried to end the sentence quickly, but Casey, still not convinced, asked again,
“What promise?”
“…”
“What promise?”
“There is one.”
“Do you think that’s an answer? Come to think of it, you didn’t even send a reply to the last letter. Now that I see it, you don’t seem to have died in battle. Do you know how dejected Lily was?”
Damian’s conscience was pricked as Casey pressed him on the matter, which he seemed to have been holding onto.
“And you burned the letters? Why?”
“Uh…”
Damian narrowed his eyes and avoided Casey’s gaze at his question.
“I’m sorry about that… It’s just, I had my reasons at the time…”
“Reasons? What reasons?”
“I don’t have to tell you, do I? You’re not involved. You said you were protecting Lilliana’s privacy, right? Then I’d appreciate it if you didn’t pry into matters between the two of us… And besides that, I wanted to ask you about something else!”
Casey missed the timing to question him further, dumbfounded by Damian’s sudden outburst.
“So what happened in Edenfallen for two years?!”
As if urging him to speak quickly, Damian pulled his chair closer to Casey and asked. Casey rolled his eyes up and down, let out a deep sigh, and said,
“We were hiding in Edenfallen.”
“Hiding? You and Lilliana? Why?”
“To be precise, it was Lily, me, and Father, the three of us. You know from Pascal that the royalist faction that was after me was targeting Lily, right? The ‘Lion’s Heart’ led by Marquis Sutton. Those guys, they noticed Lily’s existence two years ago.”
“Lilliana wasn’t in danger just recently?”
Damian said in surprise, and Casey nodded calmly.
“That’s right. Two years ago, there was a sudden attempt to kidnap Lily… Pascal’s hideout was discovered by them, and Lily didn’t have anywhere to hide. Father and I found out about it a little late. We were abroad at the time.”
Casey let out another deep sigh.
“Anyway, we had to hide Lily quickly. Even though the nobles of this country have fallen, Sigmund Sutton is different. He has a wide network of connections and abundant funds. As you know, anyone in this country is involved in at least one business that Sigmund Sutton has a hand in. We couldn’t ignore the information network of someone like that. So, we thought being nobles would make us less suspicious, so we bought noble titles and hid in the little-known Edenfallen. That was two years ago.”
“I see. But why did Lilliana use the name Lintray when she wrote to me?”
“Because the more layers of identity you have, the harder it is to be traced. You were confused, weren’t you? But we couldn’t just make up a new alias. The names of the people living in that house are obvious, wouldn’t the villagers find it strange if a new name appeared? That village is so tiny that rumors spread quickly, with the postman at the center of it all.”
Casey smacked his lips and continued,
“Originally, it shouldn’t have happened. Exchanging contact with the outside wasn’t a good thing in our situation. If letters were leaked, someone could find us. But Lily didn’t have any real friends there, and that guy Glenn she was close to… Honestly, I didn’t trust him either. I was busy chasing him away every time he got close to Lily. So Lily didn’t really have anyone to interact with.”
Casey smiled bitterly and looked at Damian.
“She couldn’t stand it. You know Lily’s personality, don’t you?”
It was certainly understandable. When they confined her to the hospital room and the house, she couldn’t bear it for even a few days and ran off. She even followed Damian, a complete stranger, because she craved human connection.
“So I thought maybe having a pen pal would make her feel better.”
Casey crossed his legs and smoothed his hair.
“And they actually seemed to enjoy exchanging letters.”
Damian felt a tickle in his heart at those words. Perhaps it showed on his face, because Casey gave a strange smile that seemed both mocking and pleased.
“She waited for your letters a lot. It was her only connection to the outside world…”
Casey rested his chin on his arm, which was propped up on his knee, and said,
“But that only connection burned the letters and didn’t reply?”
If Casey had been angry, Damian would have been able to say something, but the way he spoke in a monotonous tone was more frightening.
“Well… I had my own circumstances and thoughts…”
“Well, I’ll let it slide since you were sick.”
Casey said lightly, looking at Damian’s right arm. He seemed to think that Damian had been seriously injured and unable to write letters, which is why the replies had stopped.
It was a misunderstanding that would be exposed if he calculated the timing of the stopped replies and Damian’s injury, but Damian was relieved that Casey was mistaken for now.
“But as her brother, I’m a bit offended.”
“I said I’m sorry.”
Damian scratched his head and opened his mouth.
“I roughly understand your situation. Then why did Lilliana lose her memory?”
Casey said casually,
“Didn’t you hear that it was because Lilliana’s power went out of control?”
“Yes, but it’s strange that you wouldn’t tell someone who lost two years of their memory what happened during that time. Did something happen that you can’t tell Lilliana?”
“…”
Casey lowered his gaze and fell into thought. With the characteristic honesty of a spirit who couldn’t lie, he seemed to be debating whether to speak truthfully or remain silent, so Damian said impatiently,
“Are you going to tell me or not?”
“I won’t.”
“Hey.”
“What if I tell you and you tell Lily?”
“I’m pretty good at keeping secrets, you know.”
“No. Humans are different from spirits, I can’t trust you.”
“Why? Ms. Pascal trusted me…”
“She trusted your character and your skills, not your mouth.”
“That’s…”
“Anyway, it’s true that Lily’s power went out of control, and it’s also true that she lost her memory because of it. But Lily shouldn’t know the details.”
Casey stared at Damian with a stubborn look.
“Lilliana just had an accident. That can happen when a human body contains the power of a spirit. It was a perfectly natural accident.”
“…Is it because of your father’s death?”
“…”
Casey, who had been resting his chin on his hand, looked up and stared at Damian with a hardened expression. His eyes seemed to be spitting fire.
“Was he caught up in Lilliana’s power surge?”
“…”
“I see.”
Silence was the answer. Damian felt like he was finally getting the hang of extracting answers from Casey. As Damian solemnly mourned the deceased for a moment, Casey confessed with a frown,
“Strictly speaking, it wasn’t Lily’s fault. Lily… Lily did nothing wrong. She was just trying to protect herself.”
“Was her life in danger?”
“Do you know why we couldn’t stay in Edenfallen any longer?”
“Because the ‘Lion’s Heart’ found Lilliana?”
Damian answered, recalling Pascal’s words, and Casey nodded in affirmation.
“That’s right. They broke into the house and captured Lily. Lily resisted and unconsciously used her power, and then she lost control and it went on a rampage. The fire was caused by that.”
Casey spoke as if it was someone else’s affair.