LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 1037: Remember Them For What They Were, Not For What They Became
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Within Cloudia's graveyard, where the bodies of the deceased were placed for eternal rest, or where graves were erected for those whom bodies could not be recovered, Mercedes and Brisingra stood in front of three graves with the names "Elbedo", "Cecilia", and "Hermes".
Mercedes was calmly and melancholically looking at the graves, there were no bodies here at all, their bodies were destroyed alongside the ruins where they had intended to kill everyone. However, due to her insistence, graves were erected to them, even if they were seen as traitors.
"…" Brisingra looked at her mother in silence.
She felt slightly frustrated that she had come here to see the graves of the people that tried to kill her mom, especially after revealing their true faces, looking like insane and wicked people.
They betrayed the trust of everyone in the party and attempted to murder them all. it was also revealed that most of the problems they faced originally were all designed by them too.
"If it weren't for them, mom wouldn't have suffered so much…" Brisingra couldn't help but think. "Maybe the reason why she was like that according to dad, was because of all the emotional damage she took from her friend's betrayal, and probably Cloudia being destroyed…"
Brisingra, however, started to wonder how it was possible for her mom to appear so many years later after Cloudia was destroyed. Ancient Elves are said to be able to control the Element of Time, so it might've been possible that her mother ended traveling to the future in an accident, or perhaps to escape the threat of the past.
However, the mother in front of her was an echo of the past, a memory of time itself that was her mother in the past. Some would say she was simply fake, but Brisingra wanted to believe this was also her mother, a piece of her memories and a fragment of her past, but it was her mother at the end.
"You probably must hate me for coming here and grieving their deaths after everything that happened, isn't it?" Mercedes sighed, smiling back at Brisingra.
"Eh? No, I would never hate you for anything, mom!" Brisingra cried. "I-I… I am just a bit frustrated you're so forgiving…"
"I understand how you feel… I might've felt the same way in your shoes too," Mercedes nodded. "However, to me, Elbedo, Hermes, and Cecilia are more than just traitors that tried to kill me… I lived for hundreds of years with them. I saw Cecilia grow up, since she was a child. She was my best friend, and someone… Someone I loved dearly."
"Mom…" Brisingra noticed her mother's tears falling from her eyes.
"So… Even if they betrayed me, even if they tried to kill me, I-I want to remember them for what they were to me before all of that…" Mercedes kept sobbing. "They were my friends, my dear friends… People I loved like my family… I loved their banter, I loved researching with them, and… and I loved sharing meals with them. All these memories of happiness, I don't want to pretend they never existed."
"Sorry…" Brisingra sighed. "I didn't consider that…"
"You don't need to apologize for anything dear, I understand your frustration. You only met these people for a couple of days at most…" Mercedes sighed.
"I wish I could have been smarter, I wish I could have tried to find what was wrong with them, I remember that there were clues, they sometimes acted strange, gathering without me, or going out without me… But I always thought that it was simply to do something normal, or to not bother me while I was busy… I wish I could have done something to stop them, to make them change their ways, to convince them…"
"But when we faced them, they didn't seem to want to change…" Brisingra sighed.
"Exactly," Mercedes nodded. "It was too late… I don't know what exactly happened to them in the Timeline where you come from, but if I was alive, then that probably means that they spared my life in the original timeline… Maybe, I want to believe, that perhaps… That perhaps thanks to these bonds we forged, they spared my life…"
"Maybe…" Brisingra said.
"Cecilia…" Mercedes kept sobbing, as Brisingra patted her shoulders.
"Was she very important to you?" Brisingra wondered. "I-I thought mom only liked dad but… I didn't know you had someone you loved before."
"I-I… I did love her… Not as just a friend," Mercedes tried cleaning the tears from her eyes, but she would only keep crying. "I was dumb… I never tried to confess my feelings to her, I thought she didn't like me back, that it might've been weird for two women to be in love.
So I kept these feelings inside, and I just was happy with her as my friend… Maybe if I would have told her about my feelings before, she would have changed. Maybe… this wouldn't have happened."
"I'm sorry mom, I'm so sorry…" Brisingra started crying at the side of Mercedes, hugging her and trying to comfort her.
Mercedes accepted the hug from her daughter of the future, as she smiled a bit, and stopped crying.
"It's fine… I'm happy enough knowing that in the future, I was happy, and that… I met your father and had such a cute girl as my daughter," Mercedes said. "I wonder though, did I never give you a name?"
"I… Yes, you did," Brisingra nodded. "Dad called me Brisingra, and well, you… Hah, you called me Cecilia."
Mercedes' eyes widened, as she smiled tenderly.
"I guess… Yeah, I would have done that," Mercedes caressed her daughter's hair. "Let's go back home now, dear. Shall we make something for lunch?"
"Sure!" Brisingra nodded. "Let me cook today mom, you should just sit down and relax!"
"Heheh, such an attentive daughter… Your father raised you well," Mercedes giggled. Enjoy more content from m-v l'e|m,p| y- r
Mother and daughter walked back home, as they found a few friends waiting for them at the entrance.
"Oh! Lady Planta!" Brisingra smiled.
"Hi! I know it has only been just a day, but I wanted to check on you," Planta smiled.
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