Chapter 192

Rather, she suddenly brought it up. In Sheffy’s eyes…

She couldn’t help but see the flames again.

【Royal Sister… I don’t want to die… Help me, I beg you…】

These memories, in Sheffy Harl’s consciousness, had originally faded into oblivion along with Belith’s forgetfulness.

But when Belith admitted that she still remembered—

In that instant, scenes of burning and panic surged through Sheffy’s vision and emotions.

Belith moved slowly, gently placing the book in her hand back onto the stone shelf.

Then, with even greater softness, she rested her overlapping palms on the knees of the precious person before her.

Her crouching posture gradually shifted into a seated kneel, with her calves stretching back and her body leaning forward.

She slowly embraced Sheffy’s lightly trembling, delicate body.

Two locks of similarly radiant silver hair intertwined, as though creating a second sun in the dim Forbidden Book Repository—one that had nothing to do with Light Magic.

“Royal Sister is still as sentimental as ever… You get sad over the tiniest things and stay that way for so long.”

“You call this a tiny thing…?” Sheffy gave a symbolic shrug in protest, but in the end, didn’t push Belith’s embrace away. “And stop talking nonsense. I’m not that fragile. I don’t stay sad over every little thing.”

Belith hugged her a little tighter.

Yes… Royal Sister was actually very emotionally sensitive. She did get sad, but she always hid it.

And if something could make her sad—then clearly, in her heart, it wasn’t a small matter.

As the two embraced, Belith’s modestly developed chest pressed against Sheffy’s completely flat one. This tangible closeness made Sheffy all the more aware of Belith’s growth.

She truly wasn’t the impulsive, spoiled child she used to be.

“But Royal Sister is still the same—stubborn, always putting on that big-sister act, never listening, and saying irritating things.”

“Hey, are you taking this chance to insult me in a full combo string?”

“Didn’t you always scold me too, Royal Sister~”

“Well, that’s true… But I’m the elder sister. It’s fine if I scold you. You scolding me? Not fine.”

“Pfft… See~ Royal Sister just loves throwing around the elder sister title to pressure me.”

“I do it ‘cause I want to. What’re you gonna do about it?”

Because they were family, they could argue like this.

Because they were family, putting on airs didn’t feel like a burden.

Sheffy hadn’t understood why Belith suddenly provoked her anger.

But when Belith’s silver hair brushed past her nose and the words she said echoed in her ears—

Thinking it over carefully, she understood everything.

That unpleasant mood just now, full of irritating memories, had already vanished.

Belith, you little brat… Didn’t I already say I didn’t need you to do all this “needless stuff”!

Though she was mumbling and complaining, when Sheffy pushed her hands against Belith’s shoulders to separate from the hug and face her, she didn’t use any real force.

Her small face, now emotionally calm, no longer carried the pale dread from earlier. Instead, it only bore the humiliation of being comforted by her younger sister.

“…Tch. Enough, stop… stop with this pointless stuff already. Seriously! If you hadn’t been pretending to be clueless this whole time, would I have needed to keep probing for so long?! I’m telling you, Belith, don’t think you can just brush this off today. You admitted it yourself—you still remember!”

“Mm-hmm, I did admit it~ Mmm… Royal Sister’s hand is so tiny… and smells so nice…”

“!”

You’re grabbing my hand and bringing it to your mouth, and even sticking your tongue out—what the hell are you trying to do!

Today’s one of those rare days when I haven’t called Sylatrella a damn pervert, and now you’re trying to take over that glorious title yourself?!

Protecting her fingers, Sheffy—who had grown tired from reading earlier—also relaxed her legs. Facing Belith, they now sat in the same position, duck-sitting across from one another.

Truthfully, there was a fire smoldering in Sheffy Harl’s heart right now.

“You’re only admitting it now? I don’t get it. If you remembered, then you remembered—what was the point in hiding it? You made me probe for so long—wasn’t that exhausting?”

“Hmm? But I was testing you too?”

“What the—what were you even testing?!”

You were trying to test whether I’d get mad enough to beat you up, weren’t you!

Belith gave a meaningful smile and pushed herself up from the stone floor with one hand.

She turned back toward the shelf and began rummaging through the books.

Her fingers brushed past one volume after another.

In the end, they landed on a black tome with a cyan-gilded edge.

The moment Sheffy saw that book, her eyes widened—that was her loathed “arch-nemesis.”

It was the very tome from that year, the one Belith clung to in her hunger for power, the one containing forbidden spells under the magic of 【Origin】—a method to draw out potential by consuming life itself.

One, it nearly burned Belith to death.

More importantly, Sheffy had taken on the curse for Belith, which directly caused her body to stop growing. That was the true root of her hatred for it!

“Royal Sister, burning this book won’t do anything, you know? Didn’t you already burn down this whole section of the Forbidden Book Repository back then? But these books… seem to be protected by ancestral magic. They restored themselves completely. If you burn them again, you’ll only end up getting scolded by Father.”

“Damn it… those ancestors really were the worst—no, hey, can you not talk in half-sentences? I asked if you remembered, and you said you didn’t. What exactly were you trying to test?”

“I was testing… whether Royal Sister wanted me to remember.”

“?”

Belith returned to Sheffy’s side, holding the book she had once placed all her hopes in, with a look of faint distaste.

She sat down and placed that ominous forbidden spell tome between them.

Ignoring the book.

She focused only on the person in front of her.

“Because I knew… if I said I remembered, Royal Sister would end up like just now—remembering all those painful things. You’d worry if I still had emotional trauma, and you’d overthink things. After all, you’ve always been protecting me… So I was testing—whether you would think, ‘It’d be better if Belith didn’t remember any of this.’”

“You little brat… don’t you think you’re overthinking things too much? Always living at such a high mental processing level—aren’t you afraid you’ll drop dead from exhaustion?”

“Ahaha… Well, I am the Second Demon Princess. All the things Royal Sister doesn’t want to do, I’ll handle them. All the bothersome things Royal Sister finds a hassle, I’ll take care of them. And besides… thinking things through for Royal Sister—honestly, it’s not tiring at all. It makes me happy.”

“Would you just shut up already… your little mouth keeps flapping—so noisy…”

“Royal Sister’s getting embarrassed~?”

“I’m not! So—what—was—the—point—! You tested me for so long, but still decided to say it anyway. And just like you predicted, it made me miserable for a while. Wasn’t your test completely pointless? Wouldn’t it have been better if you just played dumb to the end?”

“Mm, because the result of my test showed… that Royal Sister didn’t want me to forget. In fact, it was the complete opposite.”

This time, Belith grabbed Sheffy’s fingers—but didn’t bring them to her mouth.

She simply held them.

Held them, gave them warmth, so that Sheffy didn’t have to feel scared anymore.

“Royal Sister wants Belith to remember these things… Having only one person know, only one person bear the weight—it’s exhausting, and it hurts… right?”

“……”

Drip—

Sheffy wasn’t sure whether it was a drop of water falling from the stone platform that splashed into her eye—but her vision blurred for just a moment.

Things the two of them had experienced together—

And yet in the end, only one remembered them.

How could that not be a lonely and isolating thing?

This had been a pivotal moment, a turning point on Belith’s path to growth.

Sheffy had never expected Belith to thank her, but… she treasured every bit of the journey where she had watched Belith grow.

All Sheffy hoped was… that Belith could understand—her older sister wasn’t someone who only acted tough and put on airs.

Your sister, once upon a time, risked everything to save you. As an elder sister—she truly was cool.

If only… you could remember that much—how wonderful that would be.

This—was the truest feeling buried deep in Sheffy Harl’s heart. And Belith… had already read it all.

“I don’t have Royal Sister’s eyes that can see through illusions, nor do I have Mother’s insight to discern good and evil. I’m really quite ordinary, but thankfully… the one thing I can see is Sister’s joy and sorrow—and for me, that’s the greatest power of all!”

So, once I confirmed that, I didn’t hesitate to admit it—I remembered.

Royal Sister didn’t need to worry that Belith would still be afraid. So what if I almost got burned to death? That kind of pain… had long been soothed by Royal Sister.

The one who was truly hurt—was actually Royal Sister, who bore the backlash of the magic upon herself.

Magic couldn’t harm you.

But the heart could.

And as for healing this kind of wound, Belith didn’t sell herself short—she knew that she was the medicine.

Thump.

Once again came that sensation—of her heart skipping a beat.

Sheffy furrowed her brow. This strange, erratic beat in her chest left her feeling all kinds of conflicted.

Belith, that damn Belith…!

It really felt like she was being led around by the nose, and Sheffy quickly flailed her little elbows to change the subject!

“I get it already! The question is—how did you even remember it? Wasn’t it clearly written in the spell’s backlash effects? If a spell fails to activate, the caster definitely won’t retain the memory of casting it!”

Sheffy slapped the poor book in frustration—this was the same book she’d once burned, and now it was being subjected to a whole new round of unjust abuse.

Belith cast a sidelong glance at the tome.

Her expression darkened slightly, as if scorning her own ignorant self from the past who had caused so much trouble for her Royal Sister.

“Royal Sister didn’t read the appendix to 【Origin】, right?”

“Duh… I was dying to burn it again. Read it? Not in a million years.”

“Then that’s it. The backlash effects of the spell aren’t truly irreversible. Take ‘you absolutely won’t remember,’ for example. I translated the later sections—turns out, it’s not as ‘absolute’ as it sounds.”

“You’re saying you translated the rest… wait, don’t tell me that after that incident, you…”

“Yes. I always had this nagging feeling that I’d forgotten something—it made me uneasy, and sad. Didn’t Mother always say? When there’s something a demon doesn’t know, the answer’s always in the Forbidden Book Repository. So, I came back here once. Mm… probably about two years ago. This book had traces of Royal Sister’s magic power on it, so I found it. After translating the latter half, I deduced… that a portion of my memory had likely been sealed away.”

“So you found a way to unseal that memory… but how did you even do that?”

“Just like activating 【Origin】 to become stronger requires the price of risking one’s life—recovering a sealed memory also takes a certain price. But it can be done.”

“Hah?”

“I had a gut feeling… that this forgotten memory was related to Royal Sister—and that it hurt me deeply.”

“Hah…?”

“So, since there was a chance to recover it, I chose to take the risk. Besides, this time, the price wasn’t life-threatening.”

“Haa… hey, Belith.”

“Mm? What is it, Royal Sister?”

“You know what? I seriously want to punch you right now. I want to kick your butt so hard your bones fall apart, so you can’t move, and have no choice but to lie in your room and sleep—instead of pulling all this flashy, outrageous crap!!”

“Ehh?!”

You little brat!!

From childhood to now, you’ve always been this disobedient and reckless! Who the hell taught you this?!

So what exactly was the price you paid to regain those memories?!

Tch, forget it! Stop talking! Isn’t the magic book right here? I’ll read it myself!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep