***Arc 10 One Who Doesn't Acknowledge, Chapter 242 The Ocean’s Frog***
“Onee-sama, today I made your favorite pumpkin pie.”
The girl who entered the room had a bright voice.
With golden hair shining in red――the girl adorned in a beautiful white one-piece dress approached the bed, holding a plate.
Anne nodded to Kreschenta as she entered, and quietly went outside.
Knowing she wouldn't respond, Kreschenta sat down on the bed, placed the plate of pumpkin pie on the bedside table, and stroked her sister's cheek as she lay there.
She wasn't asleep.
However, it couldn't be said that she was awake either.
Her gaze was empty, staying motionless as if she had turned into a mere doll, staring into the void.
When Kreschenta lifted her sister's body up, she felt that she had become somewhat more slim.
Skillfully using a fork with her right hand, she took a bite of the pumpkin pie and brought it to her sister's mouth.
"Sister, please eat. It's my masterpiece."
Pressing it to her lips, she slowly opened her mouth, bite into the pumpkin pie, and immediately swallowed it.
For a few days, she did not eat or even drink water.
Anne felt uneasy about Krische’s deteriorating health, pleaded earnestly, and finally got her to eat, but she never moved on her own.
She neither cried nor showed sadness or anger. She had been like this since she returned.
"...Kreschenta, I'm not hungry."
"That's impossible. I'm going to make sure Onee-sama eat everything today too."
‘Onee-sama’ need to get well soon, Kreschenta said, and Krische listened without emotion.
Kreschenta didn’t pay it any attention care moved on to the next pie.
Eating was just a shore.
After finishing the meal as if it were an obligation, Krische lay down.
Kreschenta tried to say something, but stopped and lowered her eyes.
‘I’m going to clean up then’, she said in a cheerful voice, and leaves the room.
Leaning against the door, she sighed quietly and asked.
“…What is it?”
Her black hair was tied to the side.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Anne looked at Kreschenta with concern and lowered her eyes.
"……No"
She glared at Arne in annoyance, then looked away.
“Selene-sama is supposed to come home today. …Maybe that will change things for the better. You stay by Onee-sama’s side and take care of her while I’m gone, making sure she doesn’t do anything strange.”
Anne nodded and answered ‘yes’, then opened her mouth again, stopped.
‘What is it’, Kreschenta asked again, and Anne bowed her head.
"...My apologize. Of all things, I had harbored improper imagination about Your Majesty the Queen."
Then she looked up at her.
Anne looked straight at Kreschenta.
"However, regardless of the truth behind those imagination, I love and respect Your Majesty as the person I should serve...I just wanted convey that."
Kreschenta looked back at Anne, and said exasperated.
"Unfortunately, I don't believe in words."
"However, I believe that there are some things that cannot be conveyed without words. Therefore, I would like to convey this to Your Majesty at least once. ...Please forgive my rudeness."
Kreschenta stared at the servant and looked away from her.
"...Really you’re all are incompetent servants huh. Do as you please."
Kreschenta said that and left.
Until her figure disappeared around the corner of the hallway, Anne continued bowing her head.
It was truly a bolt out of the blue.
Krische literally flew through the forest, swinging lightning spears.
She must have seemed like a real disaster to many soldiers.
No, even more than that——Krische unleashed thunder spear that easily swept away not only dozens but over thousands of soldiers.
Selene realized once again that even Jareia Gashea and Baumje Ila were nothing more than something that limited her.
Krische possessed immense power, capable of bending the laws of the world and even stopping time if she wished.
She could understand why she was able to fight against that dragon.
‘——The principle of magic itself is quite simple once you get used to it, so I asked Krische a long time ago to keep it a secret and refrain from using it recklessly. It's a power that can become anything you want.’
When she told Bery about Krische action of stopping time to save her, she said that troubledly.
Bery always knows all about Krische.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})She understood the reasons and intentions behind hiding it, but there was always a slight, faint feeling inside her, a feeling that washed away with happiness.
It was always like that.
Selene always had two opposing feelings.
Beautiful emotions and gloomy, sticky emotions.
Something trivial, something small.
When it comes to Bery, she didn’t care about anything else and would do anything for Bery.
That’s the Krische that Selene knew, but Selene loved her and she also loved Bery.
That’s why it was finr.
“Selene-sama, I think you also have imagined it sometimes, don't you? If Argan-sama wasn’t here, then――’
Kreschenta words struck a chord in her.
There was no way those words come truly from her heart, but even so, she felt annoyed for a moment because she couldn't say for sure that there weren't any sticky feelings agitated by those words.
‘I...I want a meaning of being by that child's side. So, at least I need to do the bare minimum that I have to do, or I can’t forgive myself.’
She wanted to prove it.
She could literally risk my life for them.
That she would do anything within her power.
She wanted to prove to herself that she truly loved them, regardless of the mixed feelings inside her,.
Even if she couldn’t do something like Krische or Kreschenta or Bery did, she wanted to be of help.
Compared to them, she was hopelessly small and has only a tiny amount of power, but if she used all of her body and soul to the best of her ability, she could become their strength no matter how little.
Selene just wanted them to believe that.
――The result was this.
‘As Krische-sama said, it is just a cleanup. It won’t take that much effort. ...Selene-sama please leave it to us and go back. General Remin will also arrive in a while.’
‘I――'
‘You have a terrible face. ...If I may be rude to say this as a soldier, Selene-sama is in danger right now. Don't push yourself too hard now.’
Kolkis said, as if he were seeing something painful and worried.
‘I just want to say this, neither I nor anyone thought there was any problems with Selene-sama's tactics. It was not lacking ability. Even without Krische-sama, we would have been able to get through this. Don’t blame yourself. Selene-sama didn't do anything wrong.’
‘...Is that's... a kind comfort for your benefactor’s daughter’
‘Feel free to accept it in any way you like. ...However, I want Selene-sama to believe that what I am not saying was really not just a lip service.’
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})She wanted to throw a tantrum like a child.
However, Selene had some faith in the meaning of his words, and she appreciated and understood his concern.
Not wanting to disappoint him, she followed his advice.
She didn't do anything on the battlefield.
Without even doing the minimum work, she was sent back to the estate.
‘...Marshal? The battlefield is――‘
‘Krische killed the enemy general and ended it. Afterwards, General Carnarius will lead the battle to wipe out the remnants. I'll tell you the situation. General Remin will continue to help with that.’
On the way, they passed each other and, she told Tekrea who had a doubtful expression about the situation and simple instructions before returning.
Feeling pathetic, wishing she could die.
Then she returned to the estate――
――Was she awake or was she asleep?
Even she herseld wasn't sure about that.
Night――she woke up gazing at the sleeping Krescenta next to her, looking tired, and got up.
She knew that she was making the people around her worried, but she couldn't do anything about it.
She tried to think of something, but she couldn’t think of anything, and her head was so foggy that she couldn’t understand herself.
When she ate something, it tastes like she was chewing sand.
Even though I could taste sweet and spicy food, she didn’t feel that anything she ate was delicious.
She should have been thirsty and hungry, but she didn’t feel like eating or drinking anything.
‘――For example, I would be very sad if Gotoushu-sama, Ojou-sama, or the Krische-sama were to lose their lives in an unexpected accident. It will be so hard that I won't be able to eat my favorite dishes. Many people feel that way when they lose their loved ones.’
Recalling those words, she looked around.
Bery was nowhere to be found.
‘‘Perhaps, that was why she was like this?’――she tried to think but it quickly faded away.
She heard that Bery was dead. Did she really die, she tilted her head wondering.
Krische didn’t watch her die.
Maybe she was not dead.
Maybe she was out there somewhere.
If she was not in the room, where was she?
Sneaking out of her bed, she quietly walked over and opened the door.
She searched around the estate one by one, starting from the second floor.
She could see Anne and Elvena sleeping, but Bery wasn't there.
She looked at the storeroom, and maybe the bathhouse.
But Bery wasn't there after all.
The most likely location was the last.
However, she felt strangely hesitant about stepping into that area.
She looked around at all the other rooms, and if there was a place where she might found her, that would be the only one.
Thinking back, she haven't went to the kitchen for a while, so maybe she was in here after all.
Maybe she was heating up some milk because she couldn’t sleep.
“......”
Resolving herself, she opened the door.
A neatly arranged kitchen came into view.
On the shelves were Bery's prided spices from various places.
Even though is was just salt, the variety was vast, and numerous cooking utensils hung, along with countless cooking facilities.
Over the years, their number had increased.
When she saw the kitchen for the first time, she was just amazed saying ‘amazing, amazing’.
The passion she put into cooking was beyond Krische’s.
A room prepared solely for cooking food.
Each high-quality tool was prepared for even the most trivial tasks in cooking.
She was far beyond what Krische’s thought of, if she were to have a meal, she wanted it to be at least a delicious dish.
This was an atelier dedicated to pursuing taste, Bery was the first culinary artist that Krische had ever seen.
If nutrition could be obtained, that was enough.
For the sake of a meal, pouring enormous effort and seemingly unnecessary labor to pursue the value of simply being delicious.
Pouring her heart and soul into making someone happy.
That way of being was a surprise to Krische.
Not to showcase her own excellence, not to seek reciprocation, just to give.
Her way of thinking was fundamentally different from Krische, who thought only that she should give back what she was given.
Bery generously gave everything she had cultivated to the freeloader Krische, a stranger she met for the first time.
Her knowledge, experience, and everything that comes after a lot of effort.
Even when it comes to techniques and even the smallest tools, she never hesitated.
The more she spent time with her, the more she realized that it wasn't just about cooking, it was about everything.
‘If they requested then it's too late. When Gotoushu-sama, Ojou-sama, or guests think, 'It would be nice if this or that were here,' it should have already been prepared beforehand. Being able to anticipate, think ahead, and secretly create such an environment is what makes a good servant.’
Give everything the other person wants before they ask, and it didn’t matter if they were grateful or not.
Her way of thinking surprised her in many ways, as she used to think of servants as just people who did housework.
Bery Argan was a servant who did her best for the happiness of others, and her way of life, where s always puts others before herself, was endlessly charming.
Krische wanted to become her servant.
Help her cook, help her with her work.
She wanted to help her find happiness.
She was able to be happy just by making someone else happy, and for Krische, that was the most social and ideal way to live.
"Bery...?"
When they came to this mansion, the two of them put a lot of thought into the layout of the cooking utensils and equipment, and the kitchen was optimized for use by the two of them.
However, it felt kind of cold right now.
There was no one but Krische in the dark kitchen where only a little moonlight shone through.
She looked at the surroundings in a daze, walked around in circles, and then sat down, feeling weak.
Bery was nowhere to be found.
She reached into the drawer and took one of the knives inside.
It was Berry's favorite small knife.
The knife was only a knife——but it looked strangely shiny.
Worn from use but without any dullness, it was not an extraordinary item in terms of simple appearance.
It was not among the highest-quality knives in the kitchen.
‘Nee-sama bought it for me a long time ago.’
But she remembered her happy face, and that was why she looked so beautiful.
At the same time, she realized that she would never be able to see that face again.
She realized that she had no choice but to spend a long time like this.
Everything suddenly felt like it had faded.
No hugs, no pats on the head, no kisses.
――Not only that, herself.
She had noticed it many times and understood it――but it disappeared from her thoughts.
However, now that she had a knife in her hand, she felt impulsive.
Unconsciously, she suddenly pressed the tip of it against her neck――
“Krische!”
The voice stopped her and pushed her down.
Her arm was grabbed, and the knife was taken away.
“...Selene?”
"...Don't think about anything stupid."
Selene embraced Krische so hard that it hurt, dazedly.
Selene was shaking while holding her.
She had just came back――But she knew what happened without even asking.
When she came back, she noticed that the doors were open everywhere, which was unusual, and Selene hurried to the kitchen right away.
And she saw the Krische holding a knife to her neck.
"please……"
Tears spilled, and her face twisted.
She was pathetic and helpless.
She wasn't trusted by either Krische or Kreschenta, and she couldn’t even be entrusted with anything, no matter what the outcome was, Bery wasn't there.
She didn’t know if it was her fault or not.
However, Selene could only think of it as her fault.
If it had been her father instead of Selene, or if it had been Nozan, Krische might have left everything to them.
But since it was Selene, Krische left Bery behind and entered the battlefield.
Not only was she useless, but she was nothing more than a baggage.
"……sorry"
Krische listened and said dazedly.
"...? Selene, didn’t do anything wrong. Krische is the one, who..."
While being hugged by Selene,
“...Krische, it's just a little bit more, so Krische asked her to wait a little more.”
Krische said in a toneless voice.
“But, Krische, in the end couldn’t make it…then, what was the point of asking Bery to endure it?”
Slowly and intermittently.
“Krische, just tormented Bery and made her feel pain, and in the end, Bery…Krische, just, wanted to make Bery happy…”
Krische tilted her head.
She couldn’t think straight.
"...Selene, where did Berry go? She hasn't been anywhere since Krische came back. Krische still haven't given the candy back to Bery."
Selene simply put strength into her arms.
If she didn't do that, Krische might just disappear like this.
Selene sniffled and told Krische.
"...I'm probably just going out for a while. It's late today, so you should get some rest."
It was the kind of thing one would say to a small child.
Calming her down, letting her rest, and sort out her feelings.
She couldn't do anything, so if there was anything she could do, it was that.
"...going out?"
"Yes. ...It's okay, just take a break."
“But, Bery's not in shape to go――”
"Krische...It's okay, it’s fine. You might not believe me, but."
Because she couldn't be believed, it turned out like this.
Selene knew that.
She didn't have confidence in whether she could really reassure her.
‘...Please take care of Krische-sama’
――What would have happened if she and Bery were in opposite positions?
She was sure Bery could have easily reassured and comforted Krische.
Bery could do anything.
Whatever she did, she was much better than Selene.
She was very different from Selene Christand, who couldn't do anything.
Krische nodded.
"Krische, understand. So that’s what it mean."
"...Krische?"
"People have souls. Krische, know that."
Immediately, her voice became clear.
Selene looked at Krische with suspicion.
“Everyone said that when the body dies, the soul goes to heaven, and Krische know that feeling. Ehehe, Krische’s sure Berry feels the same way. The body id gone, and Bery’s soul just floated away somewhere.”
“K-Krische!”
Krische slipped out of Selene's arms and smiled with the moonlight behind her.
His purple eyes were shining madly.
"That was dangerous. Krische needs to go pick up Berry."
"Wait! Krische!!"
Ignoring Selene's voice as if she couldn't hear, Krische went out through the back door.
Selene froze, slumped on her floor with her hands outstretched, hugging her knees and letting out sobs like an abandoned child.
“Onee-sama!?”
Perhaps she noticed Selene's loud voice, Kreschenta was the first to come down.
Kreschenta saw Selene sitting on her floor, her eyebrows furrowed, and her eyes turn to her back door, which was still open.
"Selene-sama, where is Onee-sama?"
“...”
Selene's response was so small that she couldn't hear it.
Kreschenta asked irritably.
"...? I can't hear you. Don't cry and speak clearly."
"――Shut up! I don't know!!"
and he shouted,
“All of you...me...”
To the frozen Kreschenta, she weakly muttered,
“Just, what, am I supposed to do...”
Her voice mixed with sobbing.
