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A girl who looked about eight years old chattered nonstop beside someone who resembled Lady Aurora.
Just like me, she proudly showed off her class leader badge.
"Mom, I'm going home now. I'll come again tomorrow!"
"Okay, be careful on your way. Got it?"
"Don't worry!"
The cheerful girl, smiling until the very end, walked out into the hallway and closed the door, then immediately slumped down against the wall.
"Mom…"
For some reason, I was able to pass through the wall effortlessly and followed her as she sniffled, trying to stifle her sobs.
It felt oddly familiar.
Like I had to keep watching.
But the scene quickly changed, and now I was standing on a beach.
"Mom! Look at this, it's such a pretty seashell!"
"Wow, you're right. Are you going to take that one too?"
"Yup! It's been so long since we came here together. We used to come here all the time!"
Waves rushed in with a gentle shhhhhh, tickling her feet.
With crescent-moon eyes, the girl spun in circles, dancing gleefully under the sun.
Then she ran over to where Lady Aurora sat in the shade, but Aurora didn't look well at all.
And the reason I was sure it was Lady Aurora was...
'Did I see that right?'
Even after rubbing my eyes and checking again, it was still the same.
Every time the sunlight hit her, every time her long hair swayed in the wind… it shimmered faintly pink.
Her black eyes, when looked into deeply, sparkled a watery shade of blue.
'No doubt about it, it is Lady Aurora!'
So then… is that girl really Luarel?
Just as I tilted my head in confusion, a gentle, affectionate voice reached my ears.
"Lu, what did Mommy tell you?"
"You said I was born from the sea!"
"That's right. Don't forget that, okay? You're a child of the sea. And one day, it's only natural that you'll return to it."
"You mean not this sea, but the one on the distant star, right? The one where the spirits live and the ancient whale ancestor stays?"
At Luarel's words, Lady Aurora gave a gentle smile.
"Yes, we ended up far from where we were meant to be. That was the power Mom possessed."
"Oh please, I've heard that more than a hundred times already. I know! You were a special awakened one who could cross dimensions."
"You're so clever, my daughter."
Dimension travel?
My eyes widened at the unfamiliar term. Curious, I scooted closer to the two of them, settling myself on the edge of a pretty mat decorated with blue stripes, and focused on their conversation.
"Mom was on a boat with baby me, and then, bam!, a sudden storm hit! We fell into the sea, and because of that, we ended up dimension-hopping together!"
"And then?"
"I don't have a dad here because he's way off on that faraway star. But he's totally looking for me and Mom like crazy!"
"You're right. You know so much already, I don't even have anything left to teach."
Tears welled up in Lady Aurora's eyes.
Luarel quickly wiped them away and hugged her tight.
"It's okay, Mom. We'll be able to go back to Dad. When we get home, you said I even have two older brothers, right?"
"Mikard and Elzen, they'll be looking for us too. That's the kind of kids they are. I'm sure they'll welcome you when you return."
Oh no. What do I do?
I was overwhelmed with the urge to tell the Admiral, no, Dad, about everything I'd just witnessed.
Dad… Dad.
As I muttered the word to myself a few times, I suddenly felt a presence and looked up.
At the far end of the shore stood someone in a dress that shimmered like jellyfish tendrils.
Where ears should have been, there were delicate, iridescent scales that sparkled in every color, looking stunning rather than strange.
Her hair shimmered like sea foam, glowing with a blue hue. On her head sat a crown made of seashells, pearls, and coral.
Her eyes were the clearest shade of water I had ever seen.
'The Spirit King of Water…?!'
From far away, she seemed to be around average human height, but once I approached, I realized I was completely wrong.
Just like the Spirit King of Air, the Spirit King of Water was absolutely enormous.
[My baby. My little one. My daughter.]
"…?!"
[Ah, I thought I'd die from longing to see you again. I've waited… waited so long for this one chance…]
My daughter…?
The Spirit King of Water embraced me tightly as I stood there, stunned.
The Spirit King of Water's embrace was cold, but I didn't want to pull away.
[We were caught in an unprecedented storm. The ship wrecked, and Mom, while holding you, still a baby, fell into the sea. At that moment, my awakened power activated out of instinct to survive.]
Wait… hold on a second.
Does that mean Lady Aurora is the Spirit King of Water?
[The price was high: no one in our original world would remember our faces again. But I believed with all my heart that we could still return, as long as we survived.]
"……!"
[But that belief was mistaken. Crossing time and space weakened me, and in the end, I didn't have the strength left for both of us to return. So, I had no choice but to begin a new life in a new place.]
It was all so sudden, hard to process. But at the same time… something clicked inside me.
"The parenting show!"
[Normally, a Spirit King would never be allowed to observe a human so closely. But the bond of blood, the unbreakable tie of family, convinced the laws of causality to bend.]
My mouth hung open as the puzzle pieces snapped into place in my mind.
If Lady Aurora is the Spirit King of Water, and I'm her daughter…
'Wait.'
Then… then that means...
"Luarel is… me?"
Then how did I end up back in the original world?
Shocked to my core by this impossible truth, I stood frozen as the Spirit King of Water planted kiss after kiss on my cheeks.
Then, she pointed somewhere beyond.
[Look over there.]
The waves surged.
A towering wave rose high and swallowed everything, then the scenery shifted again.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
A square room.
That awful mechanical beeping.
Weak, ragged breathing, and Lady Aurora looked even thinner than before.
"Mom, Mom. Don't leave me behind. You can't die. Please?"
"My dear… soon… you'll go back…"
"I don't want to! I'm not going anywhere without you! I'm not leaving, Mommm!"
Luarel, no, I, looked a little older than before.
And I was crying my eyes out.
"Ah…"
A sharp pain clenched my chest.
I couldn't breathe, panting, gasping, and soon I was crying too.
[It's because your emotions are synchronized. It's okay, my love. It's all in the past now.]
A cool hand wiped the tears from my face.
I felt so overwhelmed with sadness, I burrowed into the Spirit King's arms.
[I exchanged the last of my life to send you, Shu, back to the original world. I believed Diegon would find you there. That was the only thing I could do, as a mother facing death.]
"……"
[But because you weren't born with the ability to travel dimensions, the journey dealt a severe blow. You lost your memories and your physical form regressed into that of a child.]
Her cold hand, gently stroking my hair, trembled faintly.
'Now that I think about it… the Spirit King of Water has always called me her baby.'
So that's why…
The Spirit King of Water… was my mother.
"Then… then how did you become the Spirit King of Water…?"
I was short of breath.
My heart pounded uncontrollably.
Joy and confusion swirled together into dizziness, but I forced myself to ask what mattered most.
It was something I learned from my always calm and composed older brother, Elzen.
Just earlier, while Dad was fighting that monster, brother Elzen was calmly assessing the situation while protecting me.
[Did you know? When someone dies and truly wishes not to be reborn… they become a spirit.]
"I didn't know that…"
[I was so happy. After Mikard was born, and then Elzen too, there was nothing more I could have asked for. And then our youngest, you, Shu, came into the world. I thanked the heavens every day, for meeting Diegon, and for being his partner.]
I already knew how deeply Dad loved Mom.
But now I realized, Mom had loved Dad just as deeply.
[Because my life was so full of happiness, I didn't want to start a new one. I wanted to end it as Aurora Pashayen. So, when I died with that wish… the next time I opened my eyes, I was already the Spirit King.]
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