Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 97

[Translated By Divinity]

“I tried to calm her down. But instead of calming the rampaging Lily, my power actually flowed back to her. Strictly speaking, my power and Lily’s power are the same, so the power shifted to the more intense side. That made it even more dangerous. In the end, the flames spread uncontrollably.”

He rested his chin on his hand again and continued,

“Because of that, there was nothing I could do. In that situation, all I could do to stop her was to absorb Lily’s power and prevent it from rampaging. But…”

“If you absorbed her power, Lilliana would die.”

“That’s right.”

Casey nodded curtly.

“So if it wasn’t for Father, Lily would have died. Father was an alchemist, so he knew how to handle the spirit’s fire. But there’s no way to control that much power without any repercussions. Father saved Lily by burning his own body.”

Casey frowned, perhaps recalling the situation at the time.

“Even after that, Lily’s heart stopped three times, and Pascal had a hard time reviving her. That’s why Pascal fell asleep. Pascal left her land, Kelta, and came all the way to Edenfallen because of Lily. On top of that, she used too much of her power to save Lily. Since their natures are different, she had to expend several times the amount of energy to properly suppress Lily’s power. In the end, she was exhausted.”

It was hard to tell whether Casey’s expression was sad or angry. He soon returned to his usual expression and said,

“Anyway, that’s what happened, so we couldn’t stay there any longer. The house was burned down, the villagers were in an uproar… So we made it rain ‘Rain of Oblivion’.”

“What’s ‘Rain of Oblivion’?”

“It’s one of the diversionary magics I asked the sorceress Soliel to prepare a few years ago. People in the area where the Rain of Oblivion falls have their memories blurred. They don’t completely forget the target, but it makes it difficult to recall them clearly. You’d know if you went to Edenfallen, right? Those people, they know about the Benbrick family, but they don’t remember our appearances or characteristics at all, do they?”

“That’s right. Was that because of magic?”

“Yes.”

Damian, who was still half-doubting about magic, was amazed to hear that it was magic that had bewitched the villagers.

He still half-suspected Soliel of being a fraud.

“What about the maid, Lintray, who died? I heard there was a body.”

“Ah, we burned one of the intruders and threw them in as if it were Lintray’s body. It’s hard to identify someone after they’ve been burned, isn’t it? And the illegal intruders couldn’t come forward and claim that it wasn’t Lintray.”

“Hmm…”

Damian organized the information he heard from Casey in his mind and murmured with a relieved expression,

“I understand everything now.”

Casey blinked and asked,

“Why are you so smart? How did you figure all this out in just one day after meeting me?”

Damian replied indifferently,

“It wasn’t just one day. You were just the last piece of the puzzle.”

From the moment he suspected that Lilliana might be Lady Lintray, Damian had countless hypotheses in his mind.

As Lilliana said, it could have been just a feeling, or a forced interpretation. There was no evidence.

Still, Damian had memorized almost all the contents of the letters he exchanged with Lady Lintray, and Lilliana had dropped quite a few hints.

Thanks to that, Damian felt like he knew everything when he met Casey today. The discrepancies between Lady Lintray and Lilliana made sense when he factored in Casey’s actions.

Perhaps even this was just a lucky guess. But whether it was or not, it wouldn’t hurt to check, would it? It didn’t cost anything.

“I organized my thoughts while you were out shopping. But no matter how much I thought about it, there was only one answer.”

Damian smiled faintly.

“I feel a bit relieved.”

“Are you going to tell Lily?”

“…I don’t know.”

Damian scratched his head and looked at Casey, who said with a rather earnest expression,

“Please, don’t tell Lily about this. Lily lost all her memories of the two years she spent with Father because of the shock of his death. If she finds out that he died because he was caught up in her power surge, she won’t be able to bear it. So there’s no need for Lily to regain those lost two years. She closed off those memories herself. Forcing them back open would be an overstepping of boundaries, don’t you think?”

Damian, who had been listening silently to Casey, tilted his head and asked,

“But is that something to be so shocked about and hidden?”

“So shocked about?”

Casey frowned as if he couldn’t understand, and Damian continued,

“It’s true that Mr. Carnell died because he was caught up in Lilliana’s power surge, but it wasn’t something Lilliana wanted. It was an unavoidable situation, and it wasn’t Lilliana’s fault. So I was wondering if there was any reason to hide it to that extent.”

At Damian’s innocent question, Casey thought that he had something in common with him.

A lack of something that made humans human.

That’s why Casey wasn’t sure how to explain it well, but he answered Damian’s question anyway.

“To the current Lilliana, her father is someone who left home when she was 10 and whom she only saw once when she turned 18. Because she doesn’t remember the two years she lost her memory. So, thanks to his eight-year absence, the feelings Lilliana has for her father now are a bit… shallow, so to speak. You know what I mean, right?”

Damian thought for a moment and then nodded. He wasn’t close to his father either, due to their infrequent meetings.

“But for Lilliana before she lost her memory, the most important thing was her father. I didn’t know that the parent-child relationship could be restored so quickly in just two years. But Father cherished Lily in his own way, and Lily liked and loved her father so much… And I told you, Lily was isolated, so she only had us. That’s why she loved Father more than you can imagine.”

Casey’s eyes sank.

“Look at her now that she’s lost her memory. She was sad when she heard that Father had passed away, but she recovered quickly. But Lily before she lost her memory wouldn’t be able to do that. She would definitely break down somewhere. Do you think she’ll be able to stay sane when all her memories, including her feelings for Father, return?”

“…I see.”

Damian finally understood why Casey and Pascal had been so tight-lipped.

They had to explain the situation during those two years, but they couldn’t explain it without mentioning the death of their father. Because of the spirit’s inability to lie, they couldn’t talk about the circumstances before and after because they were trying to keep that part a secret.

So he could understand. He also understood what Casey was worried about.

Lilliana was kind, and just as she loved her mother, she must have loved her father just as much. If she found out that she was involved in his death, she would be deeply hurt, as Casey said.

“So please, can you postpone Lily regaining her memory? And don’t tell her that she’s the ‘Lady Lintray’ you were looking for. Okay?”

Casey’s words, whether a request or an order, left a bitter taste in Damian’s mouth. He agreed with Casey that he shouldn’t tell Lilliana that she was ‘Lady Lintray.’

But Damian felt differently. He had a lot to say to Lilliana once he revealed that she was ‘Lady Lintray.’

After all, wasn’t the reason he wanted to find ‘Lady Lintray’ in the first place because he wanted to see her face and talk to her?

“Well, that’s… okay.”

Casey’s face brightened a little at Damian’s words.

He should have felt relieved that he had solved a lingering problem, but it felt like a new lead weight had been placed on his chest after removing a boulder.

Damian lowered his head and ruffled his hair, then suddenly remembered something and looked up.

“Come to think of it, Lilliana said that there was someone she liked during the two years she lost her memory.”

Casey blinked and asked,

“Someone she liked? Lily?”

“Who is he?”