CG Chapter 120: A Song for the Dying Moon
"Who… Who am I?"
The man started to feel an indescribable, suffocating pain in his chest and throughout his body.
Have you ever experienced the feeling of knowing that you have forgotten something important, but no matter how much you tried or pushed, you couldn't recall it? Have you ever felt like you were just a step away from an answer that would open your eyes to a new world? Have you ever wanted to open your eyes in the dark, but their weight was too heavy for some strange reason?
This was the feeling he felt but amplified a thousand or ten thousand times.
Lost, afraid, scared, feeling all alone in a world that wanted nothing but to make you suffer in an endless cycle of pain and hopelessness.
A world where even smiles hid nothing but malice and schemes.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
In front of him stood Theodore, snapping his fingers to pull him from his thoughts.
And with the same faint, cold smile, he called, "So what do you think of the name I wanted to give her?"
"Huh?" Sage looked confused, not understanding the meaning of Theodore's words, but as he looked down at his arm, he found himself standing in a dimly lit bedroom, holding a young brown-haired baby girl who was smiling and giggling happily at him.
Without giving him a chance to ponder, Theodore spoke, "We are thinking of calling her Lilia to match the name of her mother. According to a book I got recently, the name symbolizes night in an ancient language, so I thought it would be poetic to call her that."
Hearing the name, Sage felt a strong sensation in his chest, as if a needle had pierced his heart, but strangely enough, it wasn't like before. It was like it was him, but not him, that felt that pain.
Still, and just like before, his body moved on its own as he smiled toward the woman lying exhausted on her bed after just giving birth.
His lips were forcefully stretched by the ghostly children from each side, forcing him to smile against his will. They kept stretching even when it started to become painful. At one point, he thought they were going to rip his face in half.
What was even stranger was that the words he spoke didn't resemble the feeling he felt in the slightest.
"Those who walk in the light of the moon naturally reflect its beauty. What do you think of the child of the moon? The crescent in the sky and the queen of the night. I think that would be perfect."
His hands gently held the baby girl's face and lips as she laughed.
A part of him wanted to strangle her, to end it all. Yet, his body refused to move, as if held back by some strange power. Even as his bloodthirsty eyes burned with intent, they were powerless against that force.
He couldn't even kill a defenseless baby.
Feeling this, he felt completely powerless.
He felt like he had become the victim of a big joke, a puppet in a silly show where no one believed the act, but they needed to keep moving due to the strings that forced them to move.
Yet again, he looked up from the baby and toward the woman.
"I know you want to stay away from the capital and the family, but I want to give you a little gift."
"You don't need to. We have everything we need here," the woman spoke for the first time in a soft, silky voice. Her voice, despite her normal tone, felt like she was singing while talking. It felt like the angels were dancing as they listened to her speak.
"I knew that you would say that, but even if you don't want it, think of it as a gift for little Lilia. I have a little restaurant that I got as a gift. We could rename it and call it 'Éclat de la Lune.' So, what do you think?"
Lune wanted to refuse, but seeing her brother's genuine, heartfelt gesture, she reluctantly agreed. But you shouldn't mistake her reluctance for being aloof. It was just that she didn't care for any of the normal things that would interest a woman. In that room, she had everything she wanted, and that was enough.
If anyone saw them together, they wouldn't be able to stop themselves from thinking that they came out of a fairy tale.
Unfortunately, and unlike a fairy tale, this story doesn't have a happy ending, because shortly after, the scene changed once again.
Cough! Cough! Cough!
Sage stood in the same room and in the same spot he had been standing earlier, but right now, the bright and joyous atmosphere that filled the room a second ago was nowhere to be seen.
The beautiful noblewoman was still lying on her bed, but right now, her cheeks were sunken, and her eyes were full of pain as she coughed out blood. With every cough, her body shook as if it signaled her stepping closer to death.
Despite this, despite her pain and everything, she tried her hardest not to show it, because, in that room, the two most important men in her life were standing there.
Next to her, a man held her hand as he knelt on the ground, looking down, unable to watch her suffering.
But even as he looked down, every time she coughed, his body shook alongside her, as if he felt the same pain--if not a stronger and more intense one.
The woman turned toward the two men, speaking softly, "Why… are you like this? This is… a good thing. I am going to reunite with our baby girl soon. I'm just afraid that you would be jealous of me."
She tried to laugh as she said that, but she couldn't even do that.
Holding her breath and pushing herself, she said,
"Promise me."
"Don't… don't, please… lay back. I am sure that we can do something."
The man looked at her, snot and tears trickling down his cheeks, looking like a mess.
He turned his face forcefully toward the man standing next to them as he shouted with all his might, "Do something! You are the wise king! Where is… your knowledge? Where… where are the gods you worship now? What is the point of being a grand knight if you can't even help your sister?"
"I…" Feeling the pain and heartache, he couldn't speak or argue.
The only thing that broke the silence was the woman calling out to him as she firmly held his hand with her cold fingers.
Her nails left a mark on him as she dug in, reflecting her true emotions of fear that she tried so hard to hide.
"B… Please don't hate him. It's not his fault. And please live on, even when I am gone. Sing with the world, never… let your light die ou…"
She couldn't finish her words.
As her voice stopped.
And her hand dropped.
Tick!
A moment of silence passed, and the room became completely silent.
But just as quickly as it came, the room suddenly trembled.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhh! AHhhhhhh! AHHHHHHH!"
"WHYYYYYYYY?"
"WHYYYYYY?"
"WHYYYYYYyyyyyy?"
"Just why did it all turn into this? Wasn't it enough that you took away my child? Now you took away the only thing… the only important thing in this world. I will…"
He looked at the roof, with a grim expression and eyes that lacked the slightest hint of warmth or life. His eyes, despite their original color, had now turned completely black, as if they were a lifeless void.
Tick!
The world trembled, and time came to a halt.
As if a giant hand had pushed back the river of time, things started to go back, one by one.
But before time could rewind, and history could repeat itself for the unknown time.
Crack!
"Finally!"
A chuckle followed.
A mad, manic laughter of a bloodthirsty demon reaching his prize after a long battle.
"You didn't actually think you could keep this shit show going forever, did you?"