In many ways, Lashara had been a rock in his life. No matter how crazy his life as a Martial Artist had gotten, he could always return home to the unconditional love of his mother.

It was a tether to his emotions.

He had yearned to fall back into the loving embrace of his mother after the mental turmoil he had experienced inwardly recently.

The loss of emotional feedback.

The loss of his identity.

Who could help him if not for his mother?

Who could ease his mind if not for his mother?

Yet, fate cruelly denied him this simple comfort.

No longer could he find any emotional respite in his mother's embrace.

No longer could he soothe himself in her unconditional love.

Inwardly, he felt as though he had lost more than just a person he had loved his entife life.

He had lost a haven in the Quarrier Orphanage.

While he had deep love for many of the caretakers that had raised him and had been raised alongside him, he saw them as responsibilities he ought to protect.

And while he certainly felt most protective of Lashara, a part of him felt protected by her in ineffable ways.

Now, she was no more.

Suddenly, all the power he had gathered felt useless.

He felt helpless.

What was the point of being a mighty Martial Master if he couldn't even be there for his mother? What was the point of voyaging for an absent father when it deprived him to be there for his mother?

Chills crawled across his skin as the truth began settling into his bones.

The world grew a few degrees colder.

It grew darker.

"Rui...?"

Alice gazed at him with alarm.

Each moment she gazed at him, she grew increasingly more anxious and scared as she bega?noticing the countless discrepancies in the man she had known her entire life.

Gone was the light in his eyes.

She could only see an endless darkness in its place.

Gone was the warmth in his demeanor.

A frosty chill had overtaken him.

A single question escaped him.

"How...?"

It was a whisper.

"How did she go?"

"..." A bittersweet smile emerged on her face. "With a smile on her face surrounded by whose who loved her. The family that she had created."

Tears welled up in Rui's eyes even as a fleeting melancholic smile cracked at the edge of his mouth before disappearing.

"Why...?" His tone grew dark. "...Why did she go."

His words were a question, yet his tone was an expression.

An expression of grief.

Alice's smile grew bitter.

"People pass away, Rui. She passed on without any regrets. She lived life to the fullest for those she loved and was blessed with a life full of love. Rather than remembering her death, I remember her life. All those times she would read us bedtime stories when we were children, all the meals she cooked for us, all the times we fell asleep in her arms..."

Her smile grew warm as a symphony positive memories flooded both of them. They lightened the vice that gripped Rui's heart even as his eyes softened.

"...We may not have her anymore, but we have the family that she created." Alice tugged at his arm.

Rui's gaze turned to the many members of the Quarrier Family that had come out of their homes, eager to speak to him.

Many of them were new young children who had been accepted into the orphanage relatively recently. These children gazed at Rui reverent excitement, having heard of many tales of the orphan-turned-prince extraordinary Martial Artist.

Many of them were older adolescents whom Rui had spent some time training and playing with before he departed for the Beast Domain.

Many of them were fully mature adults like Max and Mana who had progressed well in the Squire Realm.

Many of them were far older, in their forties and fifties. Julian, Farion, Nina, and Myra. These were among the first generation of the Quarrier Orphanage who had helped run the orphanage when he was still a child.

It was heartwarming.

Yet, deep within him, it was heartbreaking.

He was cursed to watching all of them grow old and dying.

Having broken through to the Senior Realm a while back with plenty of life-prolonging potions at his disposal, he was doomed to watchingg all his loved ones die one after another.

The extraordinary senses born from his Martial Mind allowed him to almost see their remaining lifespan.

It made his love painful.

It made his love a ticking timebomb.

Would he go through this very pain when all the people he had come to love in this life died before him one by one?

Would he have to go through this very heartbreak time after time after time?

He knew the truth.

He had always known the truth from the very moment he learned that Martial Artists lived longer.

He knew that he would outlive them.

But to simply be cognizant of a fact was entirely different from experiencing a truth.

He had always been cognizant of the fact that he would outlive his loved ones. Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

Yet, today, he truly experienced that truth to the depths of his heart.

A part of him wanted to run away from the orphanage and never return. Perhaps he could run away from reality. Yet, the very thought made him hate himself for it.

It was a cowardly desire, one he would never yield to.

If he had limited time with them, then, that was all the more reason to treasure it as much as he could.

It was precious.

And one day, when it was gone, he would curse himself for not treasuring it while he could.

"Come in," Alice smiled warmly. "It's been a while since you've come home."

A soft fleeting smile cracked at the edge of his mouth.

Almost invisible.

Yet, there, nonetheless.

"...It's been a while but..." His eyes softened. "...I've come back home."

He walked in to the crowd of family waiting for him, determined not to regret.

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