Chapter 136: Mummy Loves You

“Oh, you’ve just gotten so big… A-And so handsome too…! Oh, your wings aren’t crooked anymore, they’re so full and majestic, I just wanna..”

The mood in the room was relatively uncertain as the group watched a very bubbly fae woman plaster kisses onto Everett’s cheeks. She gave him so many so quickly that it almost seemed like she feared he’d die from a deficiency.

“W-Would you let me go, please!”

Everett wasn’t actually strong enough to break out of his mother’s grip. However, he did get her to stop kissing him.

“Oh… This is probably a lot for you to deal with at once, isn’t it?” She realized.

“Yeah! For starters, why did the old space-man make you give me away?! What could my folks give me that you couldn’t?! You guys literally just told me that you spent a whole country’s yearly gross domestic product making these necklaces for us! You mean to tell me you couldn’t afford swordsmanship tutors!?”

Lioraeth slowly released Everett.

She folded her arms across her bust. Her bottom lip pushed outward as she looked away.

“You don’t have to yell at me like that, Daeran… This was all very hard for mummy too, you know…?”

Everett’s jaw fell open in disbelief.

He looked toward his siblings for aid but he found them, and Ms. Giselle sitting across from them, trying hard to find something else to focus on.

Havoc hung his head low.

“…Sorry.”

A subtle grin formed on Lioraeth’s lips. She held her son by the arm and pulled him into her embrace.

“Mummy forgives you, my handsome man. But to answer your question, I originally would never have given you up, but when your father told me that you were going to be born with an affinity for aura instead of mana, I knew that raising you here might be a bit difficult.”

“Why would that matter?” Everett lifted his head, confused.

Surprisingly, it was Giselle who answered.

“Young man. Have you never wondered why fae are so exceptional at magic?”

Everett shrugged. “Natural genetic affinity I suppose?”

“You’re half right. The genetic affinity isn’t actually natural, though.” Giselle rubbed her horribly swollen jaw as she spoke.

“Roughly 7,000 years ago, fae were split into light and dark variants. Light fae could use mana and all different types of magic. However, dark fae could only refine the body through the use of aura.

Where light elves are a race that is mischievous but not harmful, dark fae are completely different. Identified by dark sclera and silver-colored hair, they are incredibly violent with sinister personalities.

Back then, the light fae were nearly eradicated by their dark counterparts. But then it was discovered that by eating the deceased bodies of their own, light fae could absorb their mana.”

Shock was displayed on all of the faces of the horsemen. The only person who didn’t seem to be hearing this for the first time was Yari.

“This method of absorption doesn’t just strengthen them. It helps to raise their ceiling as a race.” Giselle continued. “Their children are born with a much greater capacity for mana as well.”

“Wait…” Everett looked like he was going to be sick.

“For 2,000 years, it became tradition for light fae to eat the bodies of their parents once they became a certain age. This was treated as a closely guarded secret, and any outsiders who learned of it were immediately executed.

The practice was finally abolished when the threat of the dark fae was mostly eradicated. Millions were killed, and the last of them fled to another realm. Then they became the elves’ problem…”

Giselle grumbled the last bit under her breath, but the impact remained the same.

“As a result of that rather dark Chapter of our lives…” Lioraeth sighed. “There are many who subject fae children with an affinity to aura rather cruelly. Even if they are half-bloods. The fact that you were my son… would have only made things worse. I fear you would never have been able to leave this spire, my baby.”

The fae queen turned to Everett and cupped his cheek in her hand.

“Eir’Vael… Your father, he foresaw a life where you could foster connections and grow up proudly instead of being a recluse.

You deserved friends.

You deserved to know a love outside of my own.

And above all, you deserved to be able to stand in front of people, proud of who you were and what you were capable of…”

A tear fell from Lioraeth’s eye. It was a glimmering purple color that almost seemed like liquified magic.

“I did not wish for you to live with just… me. No matter how much I loved you, I would have never been able to replace the life you lived. And I hope that… for better or worse, you can understand why I made my decision.

But I will not ask you for your forgiveness. I am simply grateful that I can finally look upon you, as a man and say… I am so very sorry. And there has never been a day when I have not longed to see you. To tell you I love you.”

Nila felt a soft hand take her own, and her body tensed.

For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to look at her mother. All of the courage that she prided herself on had seemingly fled her spirit when she needed it the most.

Giselle was also overcome with an urge to tell her child her feelings.

“I am aware that nothing I could say would make up for the things I have done… but I want you to know that my feelings are the same. I have not been whole since the day that I left you.

But today, even if you hate me, even if you curse me, I want you to know that my heart is full. Knowing that you have grown into an even more glorious woman than I ever could have anticipated… I can die at peace with that.”

Yari elbowed her sister subtly.

“What are you saying about dying..? Do not traumatize the child any more than you already have.”

“R-Right, of course… I simply meant that…”

When Giselle’s words trailed off, the room became frustratingly silent.

Nila and Everett did not know what to say. Everything felt so surreal.

Their minds swirled with a near ocean of indiscernible feelings and thoughts. If they could have fled from this place, they would have. It hadn’t even been a full twenty-four hours since their minds were shattered by the revelation that they were siblings.

*Growl!*

Everyone in the room naturally turned toward young Dakota, who had lowered her head, red-faced.

She covered her stomach with both hands as she silently wished for a way to turn invisible.

“…I’m so sorry for the disturbance.”

Against all of her expectations, Lioraeth actually smiled at her.

“You all must be famished after travelling such a long way… Shall we eat?”

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