Taken (10)

A dark basement where Yuria was imprisoned.

- Bang!

Someone kicked open the tightly shut iron door and entered the basement.

"Miss! Where are you?! Miss Yuria!"

A high-pitched woman's voice.

"This is your nanny! It's Dellen! Miss!"

The nanny who had cared for Yuria since she was just a year old.

It was Dellen Meslow.

"Nanny?! Nanny Dellen!"

Leaning against the iron bars and dozing, Yuria's eyes flew open, her face lighting up.

"Miss! You were there!"

"Yeah! Nanny! I'm here!"

"I'll get you out right away!"

"Yeah! Ha, haha...! I'm saved! I really thought I was going to die here..."

- Crash! Crack!

Dellen tore out the iron bars with her bare hands.

A truly tremendous strength.

As expected of a nanny responsible for raising and protecting a young direct descendant of Hisperion.

"Come out! Are your legs all right!? Can you run?"

"Yeah...! My legs are fine! They're a bit numb, but..."

"That's good enough! We have to hurry! Let's get out quickly!"

"Yes!"

As Yuria stepped out of the cage, a sound could be heard.

- Ugh, uh...

- Us too! Please let us out too!

Victims still trapped in the cages, groaning.

"... Nanny! Let's take these people with us too!"

"Pardon?"

Dellen looked at Yuria with a flustered face.

"Th-there's no time for that! Miss, if we're to move quickly, just the two of us need to go!"

"N-no... we can't just leave them...! Ah! The people who can walk can carry the injured! Then we can all escape together!"

"A-ah, really...!"

Dellen bit her lower lip and then sighed deeply.

"Phew! Miss, your stubbornness really drives me crazy!"

Muttering so, Dellen approached the locked cage padlocks.

"Dellen..."

Just as Yuria felt both trust and love for her nanny—

The nanny before her disappeared.

- Crack!

At the same time, a dull, chilling shock struck the back of Yuria's neck.

"... Huh?"

A blow so strong it felt like her spine would snap.

Yuria's legs buckled and she collapsed on the spot.

Her face slammed into the floor; her vision whirled violently.

As she desperately lifted her gaze, she saw Dellen looking down at her with cold eyes.

"Del...len?"

"Sorry, miss. Once you get stubborn, it's hard to make you yield. It's too difficult to take you away like that."

- Thwack!

Dellen kicked Yuria in the head again.

"Ghk!"

"..."

Her consciousness faded.

Blinking several times through dizzying confusion...

"Ugh..."

Before she knew it, the background had changed from the basement to a forest.

Thick mist, so humid that even the moonlight couldn't be seen—a dark night forest.

- Squeak!

Both Yuria's wrists were still bound tightly.

"Del...len...?"

Lying with her cheek on the dirt, Yuria called out to her nanny's name with a groaning, sickly breath.

"Yes, miss. I'm right here."

Seated in the darkness, Dellen slowly stood up and approached Yuria.

In her hand was a chillingly blue blade, held straight.

"I... I don't understand, Dellen..."

- Groan.

Yuria laboriously sat up.

"Why would my nanny do this to me...?"

Nanny Dellen had never laid a harsh hand on Yuria in the thirteen years she'd raised her.

She'd never even used a rod on her.

She'd only ever petted Yuria with warm hands.

Why...

That kick just now... The blow to the back of her head, what was that...?

"No, no...!"

This can't be happening...!

Y-yeah!

"I must've accidentally hit my head somewhere! Maybe I foolishly passed out by myself and dreamed something! R-right?"

Yuria looked up at her nanny with trembling eyes.

"I-I had a scary nightmare, Dellen...! Now that I think about it, it's ridiculous... Will you hug me?"

"Pfft."

Dellen scoffed, spitting at Yuria's face.

"... N-nanny?"

"Even your sturdy body turns foolish if the head's hit, it seems."

"Huh...?"

"Aigoo. Poor Miss..."

Dellen sighed and squatted in front of Yuria.

"Do you still not understand the situation?"

"W-what... I don't know what you're saying, Dellen. Please, stop joking. I'm serious."

"Haaa..."

"Dellen... Nanny...?"

With a half-dazed expression, Yuria looked up at her nanny.

Dellen's eyes were cold and indifferent—an expression Yuria had never seen from her nanny.

That look made the recent memory feel not like a dream at all...

"No... stop... wait, don't tell me..."

It couldn't be.

Because the nanny was...

Like a real mother to me...

- Swoosh...

"...?"

Mumbling nonsense, Yuria's head listed under Dellen's warm touch.

"Nanny...?"

The moment she tried to lift her head to feel that warmth,

"Ke-keh! Kihahahaha!"

Dellen suddenly pulled her hand away, laughing like a madwoman.

"Nanny?"

"Haaa... Miss Yuria. So cute and so lovely... Do you know how long I've waited for this moment?"

Dellen edged closer to Yuria, her face twisted into a smile Yuria had never seen before.

"I raised you since you were just one year old. Changing your diapers, feeding you milk... Thirteen years have passed, miss."

"Uh, um?"

Dellen gently stroked Yuria's head while she gawked, bewildered.

"Though I didn't give birth to you, for over ten years, I've served and thought of you as my own daughter."

And likewise, Yuria had thought of her almost as her real mother.

To Yuria, who lost her real mom early, Dellen was no different from a mother.

"Y-yeah. I thought of you as my mother, too. D-Dellen! So let's just go back, okay—"

"No."

Dellen raised her palm to cut Yuria off.

"Our little role-play is finally over. Why would we go back?"

"W-what?"

"I only took care of you all this time because it was the first young master's order."

"First... young master?"

The first young master—that would be Theo Hisperion?

Why bring up that detestable man all of a sudden...?

"It's not because I loved you that I cared for you all this time."

"...?"

Though not difficult words, Yuria couldn't comprehend them and just blinked.

"I did whatever the first young master told me. That person... I truly love him."

"...?"

"Can you see? This face, grown old while playing your mother."

Dellen ran her hand up and down her face.

She had raised Yuria for thirteen years.

Human youth is fleeting.

Dellen, who began caring for Yuria in her maiden years, was now approaching an age most would call 'aunt.'

"To gain Theo's favor... I did whatever he asked, just to catch his eye. But while I played your nanny, he didn't look at me even once, and now I'm old."

"..."

Dellen spoke on, like a madwoman.

"I started to get anxious. My eyes wrinkling, my laugh lines deepening, cheeks hollowing, hair thinning, the old vitality fading... I kept worrying, 'If I lose even my woman's charm... what if he never notices me?'"

"..."

"But! It's finally over! He'll finally keep me close!"

In Dellen's gaze, obsession and madness churned like swarming insects.

"Once this is over... Master Theo will surely take me in. After all, I've done a great deed, haven't I? I, with my own hands, dealt with you—the young lady who summoned the Founder's divine sword. When credit is given, I'll confess my feelings! He'll surely accept me! Well, maybe as a concubine... though I'd rather be legitimate, my background is just too poor... Hehe..."

"D... Dellen... Nanny...?"

Yuria's eyes grew hot with pain.

"Del—leeeeen!"

Yuria squeezed her eyes shut, biting her lip hard.

The taste of blood, sharp enough to raise chills.

Proof this wasn't a dream.

A reality far worse than any nightmare.

Scalding tears slashed down her cheeks.

"I—I really thought of you like my real mother...!"

Memories flashed through her tightly shut eyes.

Even when, years ago, a maid disguised as a friend poisoned her food...

Even when the guard she trusted as a mentor turned out to be Aris's spy...

Even when the history teacher she saw as a sister was really a heretic who'd infiltrated to brainwash her...

Time after time, she'd been hurt and betrayed by those around her, but never once doubted Dellen.

With Dellen—she truly thought of her as family.

"You..."

Yuria cried in a voice wet with tears.

"I thought you loved me! I trusted you more than anyone! I thought you loved me like a real daughter!"

Nanny Dellen was like a mother to Yuria.

Most of Yuria's childhood memories were with her.

Dellen was the one who told her the name of her favorite flower, marygold,

The one who baked her favorite treat, walnut pie,

The one who always hugged her when she was lonely,

And every birthday, never once forgetting to throw her a party and give her a gift—Dellen was the only one.

"Sniff..."

But Dellen gave no answer.

In the end, hot tears poured from Yuria's eyes.

"Tsk, tsk..."

Dellen clicked her tongue with affected pity.

"Why are you crying, miss?"

But there was not a shred of understanding in the words that followed.

"After all I've sacrificed for you... Did you want me to sacrifice even more?"

"Stop... please stop... Dellen..."

Every time Dellen hugged her warmly...

Yuria had felt love and happiness.

In this world full of lies and betrayal...

At least that warmth, she thought, was real.

She had been grateful, moved—she had dreamed and sworn every day that, when she grew up, she'd give Dellen even more love than she'd received.

Yuria loved Dellen.

Whenever she drew as a child, the main character was always her nanny, and her diaries were filled with stories about Dellen.

And yet—

"Silly Miss, what did you ever see in me to trust me so?"

To think all of it was a lie.

"You must have been lonely. Like me. That's why you clung to me and let yourself dream."

"Please stop..."

Each of Dellen's words was a nail, too painful to bear.

"It's so awful... So cruel, Dellen..."

"Is that so?"

"...."

"Well, enough. Let's stop. It looks like time's up."

Dellen glanced at the watch on her wrist.

"The mage was supposed to arrive by now, but they're not here. So we'll go to the next step."

- Swish.

Dellen raised the sharp sword in her grip high.

"You'll have to die here, miss."

"Ugh... sob..."

Yuria sobbed quietly.

"... Poor Miss."

Dellen rested the blade over her shoulder.

"I'll let you say your last words, at least."

"Sniff..."

Yuria looked up at Dellen.

Her face wet with tears and snot.

"Nanny Dellen...! Can't you just stop, even now?"

"...."

"Everything you just said...! I can pretend it was all a dream and forget it! So can't we just go home, together...? I'll do better, I promise! I'll do whatever you want, whatever you ask...!"

Dellen shook her head.

"... Shouldn't have let you talk. I'm short on time as it is."

And with that, Dellen lifted the sword again.

"Unfortunately, miss, you don't have what I want. My only desire is for Master Theo."

- Fwoom.

A subtle aura rose from Dellen's sword.

"If you care so much for me, then be born as my child in the next life. When you were little... You were so adorable then. Barely cried, always smiling. Easily taken care of."

Dellen's lips curled up slyly.

"An infant born between Theo and me. The name... Let's name her after you—Yuria. How about that?"

"..."

"Even as a ghost, you'll come to my wedding, right?"

- Clench!

The hand gripping the sword tightened, veins bulging.

"Well then, my little Miss. Farewell."

- Slash!

At last, the blade fell like a guillotine.

"..."

Through her blurry vision, Yuria watched the approaching blade.

Time slowed, each second split into a hundred parts.

The blade sped toward her.

'Dellen Nanny... was... going to...'

As she witnessed her own death, an inner monologue surfaced.

'I believed... I really believed...'

What overwhelmed Yuria, more even than the blade, was the aching sense of betrayal by Dellen.

'Those warm hands, that cozy embrace, the lullabies she sang each night...'

All of that love...

In the end, was it an act to slaughter her so utterly?

The warmth she thought was real ripped apart, and the blade before her became ever clearer.

'No way...'

She did not want to believe it. She couldn't.

But...

The blade was still hurtling down on her, mercilessly.

There was no sign of hesitation, no mercy in the swirling sword aura.

'...'

Beyond the flickering blade, she saw Dellen's eyes.

Icy cold, with a faint sneer.

Even if she did not want to realize it, the truth forced itself upon her.

'Shit...!'

A hot something began to roil within Yuria's chest.

Raging betrayal and sorrow were forced aside, and a primal anger sprouted.

The wounds made her blood boil.

- Bubble bubble!

Anger rising, a sound echoed from deep inside.

'Dellen...! That bitch!'

She glared at the sword.

"Kh!"

She could not die for a traitor.

Yuria clenched her teeth and twisted her body.

She had no aura, so could not perfectly evade, but even if she couldn't avoid a wound, at the very least she would bite that filthy traitor.

Her arms tied, poisoned by San Gong Poison, she couldn't fight properly, but at least she would leave that woman—who drove a nail in her heart—with a wound that would never heal.

"Kugh!"

Yes. She would bite off her nose.

The moment she resolved to do so and grit her teeth—

"Ah..."

Happy memories of her nanny flashed before her eyes.

The smile, the face, the beaming grin, the times they'd laughed together.

- Slaaash!

Now the blade was close enough to touch.

'No use...'

She could not bring herself to hurt her nanny.

Even if her nanny tore her into ten thousand pieces...

Dellen was still the one who'd shown Yuria true love.

Even if that love was false...

'Hah...'

- Thud!

Dellen's sword split her forehead and touched her skull.

'Ah...'

Even so.

Her body did not move.

'I'm going to die.'

By the hands of the nanny she trusted and loved most.

'In the end, there was really no one by my side...?'

Even the nanny she loved and trusted inside was out to kill her.

Were others the same?

Her father, even Kayle?

Anyone?

'Well...'

Even she herself was not trying to save herself.

Who could have truly been sincere with her?

'Yes...'

Everything settled.

Even the anger that had begun to swell was snuffed out.

At the moment she let it all go, ready to be crushed by sorrow—

- Kaaaang!!

"?"

A metallic clang rang so loud it rattled her head, and the icy sword aura pressing on her brow suddenly vanished.

Her vision flashed, all sensations suddenly blanketed in ash-gray numbness.

"I'm late."

Then, a quiet, slightly familiar male voice.

- Drip.

Yuria felt hot blood drip from her forehead and snapped her eyes open.

"You, you're...!"

Before Yuria's eyes stood the back of a boy about her size.

Though it was dark, Yuria, born with night vision, could clearly distinguish the color of his hair.

Ash-grey, as if from mudflats.

"Ian Greysel?!"

"Yes, my Lady. I have come..."

The one whom Yuria had trusted and loved most in her previous life.

Ian had come to rescue Yuria.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Damn, such a sad chapter...

The thing that Ian wanted to prevent.

Unfortunately, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

I hope that Yuria will take this experience to grow stronger.

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】