Silver Lining Yesterday - Chapter 5
Despite her noble appearance, Jean Rohrbach boasted a vitality akin to that of a weed.
There had been a time when people marveled, saying that even if she was stranded on an island, she would fight fiercely to survive. True to that sentiment, she had adapted to a world where 23 years had passed in the blink of an eye.
The person who had firmly grounded her in reality, preventing her from wandering like a lost child, had always been Gemma. Like a sturdy tree.
“She’ll be surprised, won’t she? When a friend who vanished long ago suddenly shows up.”
The thought that a fateful reunion might occur on the birthday of a beloved friend was enough to excite any romantic at heart.
“What would make a good gift? A crown from the ancient Galayeta Empire? A renowned sword? Or… maybe me?”
Jean, squealing and covering her shy face with her hands, was at a loss.
It might seem like nonsense, but she was, unexpectedly, a wizard who had once captivated an entire era. It was largely thanks to the many miracles she performed that the revolution, which once seemed impossible, had reached the threshold of success.
“Nix.”
“……”
“Nix, Nix, Nix.”
“What?”
“Could you pass me that blue ink?”
Her beauty and her charming personality made her an idol which won the favor of everyone. But it was her mythic magic that was capable of stirring the seas and splitting the skies.
The people loved and feared her, while the enemies both dreaded and admired her.
Even with her ridiculous exit, called a ‘runaway love,’ her legend had not faded. For other wizards, Jean Rohrbach was like an unsetting sun, remaining a symbol of eternal reverence.
“Nix.”
But people needed to understand one thing:
Jean Rohrbach was a persistent, annoying, and incredibly stubborn person.
“Nix, Nix, Nix. If you don’t answer me again, I might just turn you into a sparrow one day—”
“Ah, what is it this time?”
“Who’s your mother?”
What?
Looking up with a blank expression, Nix saw Jean watching him closely on his hand holding the pen.
“You’re Ernie’s son, right? So, who is the amazing woman who gave birth to the child of Ernest Garland, the man who was said to be a seedless watermelon?”
His fingers instinctively curled up.
Nix briefly rolled his eyes as if he was about to look away, but he firmly set the pen down.
“I need to go.”
“No, I asked who your mother is.”
The hand that was hurriedly gathering up papers was impatient.
Jean,who had been silently glaring at him, suddenly grabbed a stray document and bolted.
“You think I can’t find out if you don’t tell me? Let me see, where’s the signature?”
“Hey! Aren’t you going to put that down?!”
“No, I can’t. The papers are stuck in my hand.”
Nix stood up abruptly and glared at her.
Unperturbed, Jean teased him as if singing a song, tossing the papers behind her one by one.
“Not here, not here… just a bunch of useless papers. If you keep this up, you’re going to get punished later. The tree spirits can be pretty persistent, you know.”
“Hey, you can’t look at that!”
“Huh? Is this it? Your handwriting is awful. Nix, you really need to practice writing again.”
As Jean continued to scatter the papers behind her, except for the one with the hastily scrawled signature, Nix quickly reached out, trying to grab them. Jean spun around and lifted the paperd, squinting as the sunlight passed through the thin sheets.
The messy handwriting slowly became readable.
“Hei…degger…?”
Suddenly, Nix’s rough hand grabbed the papers as if to crush them.
Jean turned her head sharply to the side, locking eyes with him as he stood close behind her.
The red eyes staring back at her were ominously familiar.
“Nix Heidegger…?”
A fleeting look of realization crossed Nix’s face.
Before he could look away, Jean quickly turned his face toward her with her eyes wide with shock.
“What is this? What, what is this? This can’t be…?”
Jean muttered in disbelief and stood on tiptoe.
Nix’s gaze shook as their noses almost touched.
“These red eyes… it’s true, you’re from the Heidegger family, the red-eyed lineage. Are you Gemma’s relative? You can’t possibly be Gemma’s younger brother, right? Even Ernie wouldn’t be crazy enough to sleep with Gemma’s mother…”
“……”
“Gemma also had this mole here too…?”
Jean, who had been staring at the corner of his eyes, slowly lowered her heels.
The tear mark clearly visible in his eye, the languid curve of his gaze, and the slightly upward turn at the corner of his eyes…
It was undeniably the look of Gemma Heidegger.
Nix swallowed hard, and as he tried to pull his hand away from her, she grabbed him instead. Thin veins stood out on the back of her delicate hand.
Jean, who had been quiet for a long while, finally asked in a deep voice.
“Nix… who is your mother?”
With that grim expression, any excuses seemed pointless.
Nix, who had been nervously moving his lips, brushed his hair back looking clearly reluctant.
He truly had no desire to be involved in the twisted love triangle surrounding a father he had never even met. For Nix, who was born as Ernest and Gemma’s son, the chaos was just the insane nonsense of the previous generation, who hadn’t grown up properly.
“I can’t believe this… is it really that hard to accept that two friends fell in love?”
“Friends…? Who’s my friend?”
Jean, who even denied the most fundamental relationship, laughed as if she had lost her mind.
Her mouth, which had been twitching in agony, immediately dropped, and a scream-like groan escaped her.
“Ernest Garland, that irredeemable beast! How dare he touch someone ten years younger than him!”
What is she saying…?
Nix stared in disbelief at Jean, who was thrashing wildly.
“When we first met, Gemma was only ten years old! How could he harbor such dark thoughts about a child he’s known since she was ten! How could he, with his dirty history after crawling through every filthy place from libraries to churches, lay his hands on pure Gemma!”
“Hey, wait a second…”
“Unforgivable beast! I’ll cut off that proud part of him! I’ll shout from the central square in Riholm that Ernest Garland has been castrated!”
Jean Rohrbach with her eyes practically rolled back, looked ready to charge out onto the deck.
Nix, who had been desperately blocking the door, finally couldn’t hold back and lifted her over his shoulder like a sack.
Jean, still struggling like a madwoman, only calmed down once she was seated on the couch. Her red face, shoulders still trembling, was full of rage.
“Jean.”
“No.”
“Jean Rohrbach.”
Jean, still holding her anger, glared at him with ferocity.
Nix, who knelt at her feet, glanced up at her hesitantly.
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