“Where… is this?”
She opened her eyes again, only to see a vast, silent wilderness.
Endless wild grass swayed like waves in the wind.
Clouds drifted across the sky, and the morning sun was just rising from the horizon, casting a golden light over this barren land.
The golden light was so dazzling, so beautiful, that even Aurora felt a strange sense of disharmony lingering in her heart.
It was as if she had just awakened from a long slumber; the morning sun was too blinding for her. She reached out her right hand, trying to shield herself from the golden rays shining upon her.
“Why… am I here?”
Her mind tried to recall, but the images in her head were fragmented.
She seemed to remember a few names—Beatrice, Leonora, and Lola Bell—but the details were fuzzy… No, except for Lola Bell, she could remember everything about her.
Why she was here, she could no longer recall. All she knew was that, in the last moment before she lost consciousness, she saw a blinding flash of light, shining golden like this sunrise. Instinctively, she closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she found herself here.
She stood up from the grass, brushing away the roots clinging to her clothes.
Only then did she notice that she was wearing a simple brown cloth dress—a dress she recognized. It was what she often wore when she lived with Lola Bell.
A gentle breeze blew by.
The silver strands at her temples were lifted by the wind, and drifting with it came a rich aroma of cooked rice, so familiar…
She looked in the direction of the scent and saw, behind a distant hill, a wisp of cooking smoke slowly rising, as if someone was making a fire and cooking in this wilderness where only insects chirped and the grass rolled like waves.
“That is…”
She walked toward the hill, the wind at her back pushing her forward as if urging her on.
Crossing the hill, what came into view made her eyes slowly widen.
She saw the place where everything began, the starting point of her life, and the origin of her pain.
It was a house already worn down by the passage of years—Eve’s Home.
Smoke still rose from the chimney, and the Silvergrad Flowers beside the house bloomed as brilliantly as in her memories. Each petal was like a silver crescent moon, their delicate fragrance mingling with the delicious aroma of food, drifting slowly toward Aurora.
For a moment, Aurora even thought she had returned to the past, to the days when she lived with Lola Bell, sharing both joy and sorrow.
But strangely, there was only this one house here. There should have been a village.
With nostalgia so deep it had melted into her very being, Aurora came to the door of the house.
She took a deep breath and slowly opened the door…
A rich aroma washed over her. The old table was already filled with a feast.
The room was dim, just as she remembered. The poor lighting allowed only slivers of the dazzling morning sun to slip in through the gaps between the wooden boards. The old sewing machine still stood by the door, and every step on the aged floorboards made a creaking sound…
Everything was as old as she remembered, everything as familiar as in her memories.
There was still the sound of cooking in the kitchen; someone seemed to be inside.
She walked softly toward the kitchen, one hand gently holding the door as she peeked inside.
A red-haired girl was busy in the kitchen, her back to Aurora so she couldn’t see the girl’s face.
This woman didn’t look like Mrs. Eve—her skin wasn’t so fair, her figure not so tall, and her waist had never been so straight. Who was she?
An impossible thought sprouted in her mind…
Lola Bell.
But she had never seen Lola Bell as a young girl. Lola Bell had been abducted by bandits when she was twelve, and when Aurora saw her again, she had already grown into an adult. In Aurora’s memories, there was no image of Lola Bell as a young girl.
She reached out a hand toward the girl’s back, wanting to call her name, but all the words seemed stuck in her throat, unable to be spoken.
How should she call her? Should she warmly call her “little sister”? Or respectfully address her as “Saint Knight”?
She had missed the most important years of Lola Bell’s life—would Lola Bell at this age still remember her?
After hesitating for a long time, she finally whispered, “Lola Bell.”
As if she heard, the girl put down her spatula and turned around suddenly—that was a face Aurora had never seen before, brimming with youth and vitality. Sweat from cooking still glistened on her fair cheeks, and her fiery red eyes were filled with love as she looked at Aurora. This delicate face was so familiar, yet so unfamiliar.
“Big sister!”
A familiar voice, young yet pleasant. The gaze she gave Aurora was full of love and a radiant smile.
She wiped the sweat from her cheek with her apron, then took off the apron and tossed it aside.
After that, she couldn’t wait any longer and ran to Aurora, throwing herself into her embrace.
“Big sister, you’re back!”
Her cheek restlessly rubbed against Aurora’s chest, and right now, Lola Bell looked just like a puppy reunited with its owner, endlessly craving her touch.
The pleasant fragrance filled Aurora’s nose. Instinctively, she reached out and gently stroked Lola Bell’s soft hair.
After a moment, Lola Bell lifted her face, resting her chin on Aurora’s chest and looking up at her with a smile. “Now that big sister is back, we can eat!”
With that, she grabbed Aurora’s wrist and pulled her to the dining table.
Looking at the delicious spread on the table, Aurora couldn’t help but swallow.
Back when she lived at Eve’s Home, she usually couldn’t eat such meals. As a Fairy, she only needed leaves each day to work tirelessly without rest. So, although she cooked most of the meals at home, she had hardly ever tasted them.
“Big sister… from now on, you don’t have to eat leaves anymore.”
The sudden words made Aurora freeze for a moment, as if her innermost thoughts had been heard by the person before her.
“Mm.” She gave a soft response and sat down at the table.
Everything now made her mind feel muddled, her thoughts even more confused. Her memories of the past were hazy, but those with Lola Bell were growing ever clearer. Why was that?
She glanced around, but saw no other figures.
After seeing Lola Bell sit down, she asked,
“Where are Mom and Dad?”
She saw the girl before her pause for a moment, those lovely eyes dimming a bit, but quickly returning to normal.
Lola Bell smiled at Aurora and casually said, “Isn’t it enough that this home has just the two of us?”