Chapter 66: Family Ties

When I heard that Ciel was actually younger than Shion, it brought back a memory from some time ago.

"I am a sinner, Lord Toma. For my own sake, I twisted that child's heart and kept showing her a hope that never should have existed."

It was the scene from that day in the bathhouse, when she had finally told me the truth.

"Shion is precious to me. I've deceived her for five years. I distorted her image of her mother into my own. I've continued to make a mockery of her love for her family. Even so... she's precious to me."

I remembered the way she had confessed how deeply she cared for Shion. The way she acknowledged her sins and, despite them, sincerely prayed for her daughter's happiness.

"Lord Toma. Please... please save Shion. Let her live in this country where she can be herself. Protect her."

She had even said that she wouldn't mind if Shion herself killed her. Looking at her then, I believed without question that she was a mother.

And because of that, Shion had been freed from the "Spear King" and was finally able to begin living her own life.

"Huh? Even though she seemed so reliable?"

"...She only acted that way because the situation demanded it. Her judgment is about what you'd expect for her age. At least, from what I've heard."

"I thought she looked young for her age, but seriously?"

"No doubt about it. The only thing that mattered to the 'Spear King' was whether she could serve as motivation for Shion's growth. As long as she had magic capable of deceiving him, that was enough. Her actual age didn't matter at all."

"What the heck is that?"

Ciel had once said that Shion couldn't live her own life because of the "Spear King."

But if that story was true, then Ciel hadn't been able to live her own life either.

"That's why I told you. Their relationship is ridiculously complicated. Give up on the dream of making them reconcile overnight."

"Huh? No way."

"...Don't answer immediately like that."

"Even if you say that, I don't want to. Both of them deserve to be happy, but one is holding herself back and the other has already given up. I don't want to accept that."

Not that I couldn't accept it.

I simply didn't want to accept it.

I knew perfectly well it was selfish of me. Even so, I had no intention of changing my mind.

Maybe what Ciel had done was wrong.

Maybe she had toyed with a young girl's heart.

But the one who regretted it most was Ciel herself.

And the person who forgave her was Shion—the one who had suffered the most.

"If Shion forgave her, then Ciel shouldn't keep holding herself back. That's just Ciel's own selfishness."

"I can understand how Ciel feels..." Alicia said. "But once Toma gets like this, nobody can stop him. So let's just make sure everyone ends up happy."

"Why are all the people from Swordria like this...? The Sword King and the Saintess alike..."

Well, I wasn't exactly one to talk.

What I was doing was selfish too.

Hmm...

My thoughts were getting tangled up again.

Whenever I started overthinking things, I had a bad habit of jumping to extreme conclusions.

"Hikari, could you smack me on the head for now? I think my self-righteous side is starting to show."

"FORTY-FIVE-DEGREE CHOP!!!"

"GUH!? C-Could you stop punching me while calling it a chop...?!"

"...What was that all of a sudden? That's terrifying."

"Are these two always like this...?"

Thanks to Hikari's intervention, I successfully reset my brain and focused on the simple truth.

The complicated details didn't matter.

I just wanted to see those two get along again.

Not because I wanted to lecture them or force them to reconcile.

I wanted them to be happy.

For my own sake too.

It felt like Leila and Julia were staring at me in horror, but I didn't have time to worry about that right now!!

"Alright! Let's get back to refining Operation Mother-Daughter Reconciliation!!!!"

"Toma, let's treat that bump on your head first. Hikari, you hit him way too hard."

"Sorry. But if I don't hit him this hard, he starts running wild."

"Oh, impressive. It's swollen enough to see from a distance. Hmm. To repay a favor, perhaps I should pour cold water over his head."

Please don't say things like that.

I'd been desperately ignoring the pain by keeping my mind occupied, but hearing it brought my attention right back to my throbbing head.

In fact, it was making my eyes water.

"I'm a strong boy!! I'm used to pain like this!!!!"

"That's nice and all, but saying it while you're soaked from head to toe just makes you look ridiculous."

"The one who drenched me was Layla, Julia's aide and best friend, right???"

Please stop talking about it like it had nothing to do with you.

Anyway, I should go change clothes.

Several days later, the room that had originally been prepared for Toma's recovery had become a workplace occupied by the Sword King and his attendants.

Using a room meant for rest as an office was very much in line with Toma's workaholic tendencies.

According to Hikari, however, Toma was so serious by nature that letting work pile up stressed him out even more than working through his recovery.

And thus, this scene came to exist.

People might think of Toma as a fool who was always causing trouble, but from his perspective, he was genuinely trying to be serious.

That was what made him difficult to deal with, according to both his childhood friend and the Saintess.

"Ah, Shion. I asked Ciel to make lunch earlier. Could you go check on her?"

"Me?"

"Yeah. Sorry, but I can't leave right now... There's too much paperwork. And I absolutely refuse to rely on Hikari for anything related to cooking."

"...That is certainly fair. Understood. I'll go check on her."

"You two are picking a fight with me, right???"

Shion knew she was being maneuvered into this situation.

But confronting her lord about it was easier said than done.

They hadn't known each other for long.

They had crossed blades once, but that didn't mean they fully understood one another.

And more importantly, getting involved in the king-and-maid flirting session happening nearby—from Shion's perspective—was enough to give her a sugar overdose.

So she headed for the kitchen where her mother was working.

"His Majesty and the others really are troublesome..."

Muttering to herself, she reflected on recent events.

Of course, both she and Ciel had noticed that Toma and the others were worried about their awkward relationship.

The reason nothing had changed was because the situation was unbelievably complicated.

"I know that... and yet..."

Even after reconciling during the King's Battle, Shion still couldn't figure out the proper distance between herself and her mother.

There was no doubt that she considered Ciel family.

She could say with certainty that would never change.

But she also believed they could never return to the way things had been before she learned the truth.

Everything was different now.

Ciel had already suffered so much.

Shion had resolved not to lean on her any more than necessary.

"And yet this is where that decision brought us... It's no wonder Their Majesties are worried."

She smiled faintly as she thought of the kind-hearted boy who always gave everything for others—her current lord, the Sword King.

He always claimed he was acting for his own sake.

But countless people had been saved by his meddling.

She thought he could stand to recognize that a little more.

Then again, the fact that he couldn't was exactly what made Toma who he was.

Even Shion and Ciel, despite not knowing him for long, understood that much.

In a sense, he was an incredibly easy man to read.

So she knew he was worried about them.

Even so, some things couldn't simply be fixed.

"Mom, I came to help—wait. That dish definitely doesn't need sugar."

"Huh? Shion? Ah!? Wasn't this salt!?"

Looking into the kitchen, Shion found Ciel just moments away from dumping sugar into a pot.

Despite the containers being clearly labeled, she'd somehow mistaken sugar for salt.

Shion had always assumed this clumsiness was merely an act copied from her birth mother...

"Mom... are you actually this clumsy?"

"N-No! That's not it! I just made a little mistake! I knew perfectly well this was sugar. I was just thinking of adding a tiny bit as a secret ingredient!"

"Didn't you just say, 'Wasn't this salt!?'"

"I've forgotten such ancient history."

That stubborn response made cold sweat run down Shion's back.

Something she had always believed was an act had turned out to be completely genuine.

And with that realization, the worries she'd managed to suppress resurfaced.

"Alright. I'll help too. That's okay, right, Mom?"

"Huh? But aren't you busy with work?"

"My job is helping Their Majesties. And if we served your cooking to them right now, they'd probably get food poisoning. So helping here and making sure proper food gets served will probably let them finish their work faster. Getting sick would be a huge loss of productivity."

"T-That's so mean... I only almost mixed up sugar and salt..."

Ignoring Ciel's quiet complaint, Shion grabbed a nearby apron and skillfully began cutting ingredients for the pot.

Having known her for so long, Ciel understood that arguing would accomplish nothing.

Shion could be surprisingly stubborn.

So Ciel simply resumed cooking.

Neither knew what to say.

Yet they worked together effortlessly, never getting in each other's way.

Even Ciel, who had nearly made a disastrous mistake moments earlier, moved with smooth confidence.

"...We used to cook together like this sometimes, didn't we?"

"...Yes. We did."

Their thoughts drifted back to their days in the Kingdom of Yaranri.

One of the few periods when they had found peace.

The times they cooked together between training sessions while resting their bodies.

It felt the same as back then.

And yet different.

Even so, they could believe that the things which truly mattered had remained unchanged.

"I deceived you for years."

"...I was foolish for not noticing. And I know you suffered too, Mom."

"Even so, I can't forgive what I did. I don't think I should. It's something I'll carry with me forever."

Abandoning her usual motherly expression, Ciel spoke with the emotionless face she normally kept hidden.

Shion kept her eyes on the ingredients she was cutting, avoiding the profile she had never been shown before.

She didn't know what to say.

She didn't know what to do.

She had already said what needed to be said during that battle.

No one had ever told her what came after that.

Even so, she felt she needed to say something.

So she chose to speak honestly.

"I think you're right. That's something you have to carry yourself. Nobody else can carry it for you."

"..."

"But I'll forgive you, Mom. Even if you can't forgive yourself, I forgive you."

"Shion...?"

"It started as a lie. A fake relationship. But I was the one who kept being saved by it. The love we have now is real, isn't it? If that's true, then I can love you as my mother. That much is absolutely not a lie."

At those words, Ciel finally stopped stirring the pot and looked at her daughter's profile.

The eyes she saw there were the same eyes Shion had always worn whenever she looked upon someone precious.

The same gaze Ciel had always directed toward her, despite believing she had no right to do so.

Meeting it directly, tears slipped from Ciel's eyes.

"I love you. You're precious to me. Even if we can never go back to exactly how things were, I still want us to be family. From the bottom of my heart."

"...I don't have the right..."

"This isn't about whether you have the right or not. I want it. What you think doesn't matter. This is the punishment I'm giving you, Mom. And I won't let you refuse it."

A punishment that was both mercilessly strict and incredibly kind.

Considering her sins, it was more forgiveness than she deserved.

Yet knowing Ciel's heart, simply accepting happiness would itself be painful.

That was why it was a punishment.

"...You're harsh. But you've become a wonderful woman, Shion."

"You raised me that way. At least be happy about your daughter's growth."

"Oh? Don't I look happy? You still have a lot to learn."

"Sorry, but seeing you cry while stirring a pot doesn't exactly look happy. Not without that smile."

In a place where nobody else could see them, they cooked together side by side once more.

Their feelings were different from before.

Yet the bond remained the same.

As family, they would continue living together.

Though their relationship had begun as a lie, they were undeniably a real family.

"Well then, we'd better bring lunch to Their Majesties."

"You're leaving the tear marks? Won't they worry?"

"Maybe. But this is a little punishment for a certain overly considerate king. He deliberately shoved us into the same kitchen, after all."

Walking side by side just as they once had, Ciel smiled.

Her expression carried both immense gratitude and a touch of mischief toward Toma, who had worked so hard to create an opportunity for reconciliation.

That meddlesome boy was surprisingly easy to read.

Of course she had noticed how desperately he'd been trying to help lately.

"Your Majesty, we've brought lunch—"

"IT'S RECONCILIATION PARTY TIME!!!!!!!!"

POP!

The dry crack of party poppers echoed through the room the moment they entered carrying lunch.

Not only were Toma, Hikari, and Alicia present, but for some reason so were the three individuals expected to become key figures of the Kingdom of Yaranri.

Julia, meanwhile, had the dead eyes of someone who no longer cared and simply wanted this entire affair to end.

"Alright, you two! Reconcile right now! First we'll drink some alcohol and share our true feelings—...huh? Wait. You've already made up?"

"I told you. Things like this are fastest when you leave them to the people involved."

"D-Don't worry, Toma! Even if the reconciliation party isn't needed anymore, we can turn it into a becoming-even-closer party... I-I don't think it will be a waste?"

"Alicia, if you're going to comfort me, please commit to it."

As always, Toma threw everyone into chaos with his antics.

As always, Hikari complained while going along with it.

And Alicia desperately tried to support the bewildered Toma, only to partially fail.

It was a scene they had witnessed many times in a short span.

Thinking that this was now their everyday life was somehow amusing.

Shion and Ciel looked at one another.

And burst out laughing together.

While everyone else stared in confusion, the mother and daughter laughed.

And for the first time, they found themselves genuinely looking forward to the future that awaited them.