“Don’t look so mopey. I will make you a happy woman.” The Elf Hero spoke with a conceited grin on his face.

While I was squaring off against her brother, the Faeyna from the past was facing the mocking smile of the Elf Hero, who from beginning to end was acting like he had everything under his control. It was clear that he felt no guilt over killing her brother. As for his aims, if they were to keep the elf line going, murdering another male elf seemed like a funny way to show it.

“I will never go with you!” Faeyna cried out. “You’re a murderer!”

The Elf Hero’s smile froze on his face. “If I’m a murderer, then it would be best if you didn’t defy me!”

“I don’t have to be freed if I don’t want to! A slave must be willing for the payment to allow release!”

“Heh… you think that I will give you a choice? If I can’t have you as my wife… then I’ll use you as my slave!” He started to take several steps toward her.

“I won’t! The man I choose to be with… it will be my choice!” Faeyna declared resolutely, seemingly honoring her brother’s desires.

He stopped for a second and then smiled once again. “Is that what your mother would have wanted?”

“My mother…” Faeyna looked uncertain for a moment.

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Her mother had pushed her and her brother together. She had wanted a continuation of the species. Surely, had she known about the Elf Hero, she would have been ecstatic if her daughter was both freed and could continue the elf line. Plus, it’d be with a hero, so the babies would undoubtedly be strong. Faeyna’s will faltered for a bit, but when he took another step, her resolve returned.

“Don’t you want to honor your mother?”

Faeyna looked away. “Even so… mother is dead now. I must do what will make me happy! I can’t live for her anymore!”

“Heh…” The Elf Hero’s smile turned violent. “Hehehehe… if I had realized things would have ended up like this, I wouldn’t have arranged to have her killed.”

“Wh-what?”

“I could have probably used her as a bargaining chip.”

“Y-you…” Her expression turned pale. “You killed my mother?”

“Everyone in town said that it was your mother that kept you here. I figured you’d never let go of her as long as she remained alive, so I prepared her removal from the picture.” He responded, a disgusted look on his face.

“Y-you killed her!”

At first, it looked like Faeyna fell to her knees in despair, but a moment later, she shakily stood back up, holding a broom that had been knocked off the porch during the earlier fight.

He grinned. “She even begged me. She apologized to your brother with her dying words, she said that he was right all along. I wonder what that meant?”

The Elf Hero had been taunting her in his insolence, but he hadn’t seen their past as I had, and he also hadn’t heard or cared about her brother’s dying words. Her mother had lived with regret. In the end, she realized she had wronged both her children, and all she had wanted was to get forgiveness for not supporting her son. As for her daughter, she should only marry the man that she wanted. That was what her mother’s final words meant.

“You…” Energy started to swirl around her. “You’ve… made a mess of everything!”

The elf’s smile started to drop as he felt her growing power. “Y-you…”

“It’s time… to clean up the mess!”