Chapter 73
Mrs. Kijk has not returned since being taken away by Mr. Shiba. Her mother is completely indifferent to Kijk's whereabouts and is obsessed with the pursuit of power.
Her grandparents vaguely sensed her changes, but they could never imagine that their daughter had gotten involved in the struggles of the dark world. They naively thought it was just their daughter's belated rebellion and happily sighed without knowing anything about it.
I feel exhausted. The time jump hasn't started yet, which means there's still a death crisis in this timeline for someone who shouldn't be dying... On the other hand, even if the crisis is resolved, will I be able to go home and find a moment of peace? Besides, where is my home?
My mother's manor doesn't welcome me, the Zoldyck family can't tolerate a traitor who is disloyal, Hisoka is untrustworthy, and Chrollo is even more unpredictable... Every time I think about these things, I get a headache.
I simply stopped thinking about it, drifted through life in a daze, and just got by.
I pretended not to notice my mother's dangerous transformation and shamelessly stayed at my grandparents' house.
One night, when the whole town was asleep, my mother, with her hair disheveled and wrapped in a coat to keep out the cold wind, rushed into the yard.
I happened to be unable to sleep, so I watched her enter the house from the second-floor balcony, and then went back to my room without saying a word to start unpacking.
"Where are you going?" I couldn't help but walk up behind her and ask as she packed her luggage.
"I'm getting married," she said abruptly. "I'm leaving here to get married."
"...What did you say?" I doubted my own hearing.
My mother seemed quite pleased with her decision. She suddenly looked up and turned to look at me, her eyes shining brightly.
"I've finally found the meaning of my life... Ray, I'm going to fight, I'm going to take everything from them! One day I'll stand at the top of their world!"
...Aren't you going to get married?
I asked, "You were quite critical of Mrs. Kijo's decision to get married so suddenly not long ago..."
"She's blinded by love!" the mother exclaimed impatiently. "But I'm different. I'm here to make a deal. The guy who invited me has gotten himself into big trouble and is desperate to find an accomplice to cover it up... He thinks I don't know? Ha, I know everything. Intelligence is everything. The one who has more information will never put himself in a disadvantageous position."
She seemed very happy, immersed in her own world. She moved her lips and mumbled something, but I couldn't hear it. I only saw her turn her head back and continue packing her luggage without stopping.
After packing a decent-looking suitcase, she stopped and looked at me again, then said, "I haven't figured out what's going on with you yet, but I know you mean no harm, because what could move you isn't me or my parents... But I can't guarantee you'll stay this way forever. It's too dangerous. Come with me, leave this peaceful town, Ray, otherwise I won't be able to rest easy. I'll take some measures to eliminate your threat."
"What will happen here if you leave?" I changed the subject.
“I don’t know,” she said frankly. “I haven’t thought about it yet.”
"Make a decision quickly," she urged me.
Without time to think it over, I nodded and agreed to embark on a journey with her, leaving our hometown and altering our origins.
As soon as I left this peaceful town, the time-space turbulence that I had been looking forward to but didn't know how to face finally appeared.
After the familiar dizziness subsided, I found myself in an unfamiliar scene. Seagulls tumbled and glided across the horizon, and the gray sea, white cruise ships, and colorful containers came into view one after another.
I was standing on a hidden high place, looking down at the two guys who were clearly on opposing sides, facing off.
...This scene...it's somewhat similar to...
Before I could figure out the answer, the guys below started a chaotic brawl. I glanced blankly through the crowd, my eyes scanning the people, and finally I spotted two familiar faces.
My father looked younger than I remembered, and my mother looked a little more mature than when we first met.
The father was being dragged along by his subordinates, frantically accusing the mother of something. The mother responded with a few words, her expression one of grief and repression, before turning around and leaving without looking back, accompanied by two elite attendants.
"My child—"
I could hear my father's wailing from afar.
On the other side of my field of vision, my mother, who had turned her back, wiped away her sadness and revealed a cheerful smile, muttering something to herself. I frowned and watched for a while, then was surprised to find that she was saying a name.
—Ley.
She is calling me
No, this point in time seems to be the day my brother was thrown into the sea... "I" as her daughter should have been born by now. She might not be calling for me, who once appeared in her past, but for her daughter.
But why did she call out her daughter's name at this moment, and why was she laughing?
I stared at her back for a long time, but couldn't come to a conclusion.
Why don't you just go ask?
I don't know if she'd be willing to answer.
With that thought in mind, I followed behind her and greeted her before she got into the car and left: "Gemira."
The mother looked in the direction of the sound, and the guards beside her assumed a defensive posture.
My mother paused for a moment after seeing me: "You..."
"I encountered an accident," I confessed to her honestly. "Actually, I'm trapped in some kind of time-space ability, uncontrollably traveling to the past and future. I was just about to leave town with you... Do you remember? By the way, do you still need me to come with you?"
The mother seemed to be thinking about something, and said to her subordinate, "...Let her sit in the passenger seat."
So I ended up sitting in the passenger seat, with someone's gun pointed at the back of my head.
I sat quietly the whole way, my mother and I remaining silent, until the carriage stopped near the familiar Adrian Manor, and the guards ordered me to get out. Only then did my mother suddenly speak:
"You don't seem to feel uneasy facing everything that's unfamiliar."
I:"……"
Oh no, it seems like we've found a weakness in our strategy.
Sure enough, she then chuckled lightly, "When you first met Kikyo and me, you were incredibly nervous, looking around anxiously the whole way. Now you're so calm and collected... You know who I am now, and you've been to this manor before."
She truly deserves to be called a woman at the top of the intelligence world. In the past, I only knew how to complain about her ruthlessness and only saw her currying favor with people. It wasn't until I became her potential enemy that I realized how sharp and terrifying she was.
"More or less," I decided to tell the truth.
Since she's already brought me here, she must still need me. She probably won't do anything to me for now. And even if she did, so what?
I have nothing to lose; this life is nothing more than that.
Thinking of this, I met her gaze coldly.
My mother smiled, but didn't look at me. She only told her subordinate, "Take her where she needs to go."
I was led into a reception room, but it was empty except for a chair.
I sat in the room for a long time, but no one appeared. I got up, paced around, and sat down again. Finally, when I was feeling sleepy, my mother's voice came through a speaker that I didn't know where it was installed.
“What do you want to say to me?” she asked.
“Mrs. Adrian,” I said calmly, “you brought me here because I wanted to ask you something.”
"Stop this pointless probing. It's obvious we both have ulterior motives." Her tone was far colder and calmer than mine. "An equal exchange: you provide me with a piece of information that interests me, and I'll answer one of your questions."
"Why are you laughing?" I asked immediately.
The speaker went silent; she chose to remain silent.
“I knew you before you knew me,” I immediately sent out a message.
"Too blurry," she commented.
“I come from the future, more than a decade from now,” I added.
She hesitated for a moment, then said, "Since you know me... how come you can't guess why I'm laughing?"
This question surprised me.
Even more surprisingly, she suddenly laughed: "So that's it, I know who you are now."
A buzzing sound came from my ears.
“Alright,” she suddenly said readily, “then I’ll tell you everything… The little thing that fell into the sea today wasn’t my child at all. His very existence was a family scandal. I was just a fig leaf that some panicked man married into the family to escape his harsh father’s punishment. Everything could have been perfect, but he underestimated me and chose a venomous snake, bringing terrible disaster to the family.”
“It’s all set in stone. He will lose everything, while my daughter and I will gain everything… Ray, stop crying. Don’t be so fragile.”
She recognized me just as I thought; she's such a smart person.
But why did she keep my father's affair with my older brother a secret from me for so long, leaving me constantly in a state of anxiety, fearing that she might also abandon me?
“I have told you everything. Now it’s your turn. I’m sure you have a lot of questions to ask… Tell me what you’ve been through in the past, how you got here, and the answers to your questions that you can’t get from the other ‘me.’ I will tell you on her behalf.”
She showed me the tempting offer again.
I was distraught and didn't know where to begin. All around was silent. My unfathomable mother never showed up, never appeared in my sight. She only tapped the microphone gently a little later to make a sound, to prove that she was still there.
...I am in so much pain and confused.
I slowly recounted my life experiences, bit by bit, including what I vaguely remembered, what I added later, and then pressed her for her motives at every point where I felt pain because of her.
“…I have no excuse,” and she always gave the same answer, “I’m doing this for the sake of my family and my career, so I’m choosing to sacrifice you.”
"Then how am I any different from the child you abandoned in the sea today?" I couldn't help but ask.
The woman chuckled softly.
Someone was calling her, "Lady Adrian," as if something needed her attention. She stood up, and I heard footsteps fading into the distance over the loudspeaker. My heart sank.
But then the footsteps suddenly became heavier; she was back.
“Of course they’re different,” I heard her say. “You’re still alive, while he’s already dead.”
“You’re too fragile, Ray.” Her voice held a sigh. “In this world, someone like you is destined not to survive… But anyway, the fact that you’re still alive proves that I’ve been protecting you, giving you the right to be so innocent and sensitive.”
“But I am suffering every day!” I complained to her.
“That’s how it is,” she said. “That’s how the world is.”
"Either fight or suffer."
“I told you that night I left town, Ray, I’m going to fight… I’m going to make everyone who makes me uneasy tremble with fear. I’m going to stand at the top of this world. I hate being deceived and threatened. I can’t stand people showing up in front of me for no reason and trying to sentence me without giving any explanation…!”
She was alluding to the crisis that Kikko brought her.
“You’re too weak, Ray,” she repeated at the end. “Your pain is no one’s fault but your own. You’re too weak, both physically and mentally.”
...
Lady Adrian, having delivered her lengthy discourse, departed.
I stared at the blank wall with my eyes open when the tightly closed door was suddenly opened. A sharp-looking, short-haired guard in a formal suit walked in and handed me a dagger and a piece of paper.
I opened the paper and glanced at it. It had familiar, flowing, and beautiful handwriting, written by my mother:
Since only death can end this journey, and you question the meaning of your existence, then please make up your mind and take action. Don't always be a child who cries and blames her mother for not buying her a teddy bear.
I am disappointed in you.
The guard who delivered the message then continued:
"Madam, the madam instructed that if you need, we will take you to see Miss Rye."
She gave me two choices, as clearly as could be: kill myself or kill the younger Ray…
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