On their way, the two of them indeed saw quite a few guards… as well as several senior butlers like Yan Wei Fu.
In this spacious Kinship District, it seemed quite common for a butler to move together with several guards.
“Hello, Lucia. Where are you headed?”
Inside a corridor, the two of them happened to meet such a group.
Before the other side could speak first, Yan Wei Fu called out the name of the female steward leading two guards and greeted her.
“Hello. Marchioness Claudia of the Ancient Forest Domain asked me to deliver some cheese produced in the Holy Nation, paired with wine from the Northern Elancia.”
The female steward gave him a slight smile. She indeed held a bottle of red wine in her hands, while one of the two guards behind her carried a basket covered with white silk cloth.
“I see. Please give my regards to Lady Claudia. Have a pleasant day.”
After these two simple exchanges, the two groups parted ways.
Iyue silently followed behind him until they left the corridor and arrived outdoors, then she asked:
“Is her room not inside?”
“Lady Nefitalia is one of the candidates for family head. Her residence naturally has to be a bit special.”
The place they arrived at was a fork near the Canopy Area.
The shade here blocked out the sky, giving the feeling of a forest in the trees.
The branches extending into the distance were like quiet forest paths, with trees and flowers transplanted from the ground planted on both sides of the road.
“Let me think which way to go… Where are you going?”
Looking at the scenery, Iyue suddenly felt a sense of familiarity.
An impulse forced her to step forward, leaving Yan Wei Fu, who was still pondering the path, behind.
It couldn’t be wrong.
Iyue knew the way. Even though she had never been here before, she remembered the position of every single blade of grass and tree here.
She passed by a protruding branch that had been trimmed into an archery range.
The placement of the targets, the nails on the trunk used to hang quivers—all exactly as in her memories.
She stepped across a small stream. This stream flowed from a distant branch.
When she stepped into the water, she stumbled, nearly tripping over the pebbles inside.
She fell and sat in the stream… Inside her muffled helmet, it seemed she could hear the silvery laughter of some girl playing in the water.
“Slow down…”
As soon as Yan Wei Fu, who had caught up, helped her up, she eagerly continued following the path in her memory.
Finally, she stopped in front of a small wooden cabin bathed in sunlight.
She knew this cabin all too well.
“Ah. This is Lady Nefitalia’s room… or perhaps ‘residence’ is more accurate? It’s a very simple place, just like in my memories. She doesn’t like servants or guards coming here, so I’ve only been here once or twice.”
Iyue stopped in the open space in front of the grass. Her vision blurred with light.
And in that shimmering light, countless scenes flashed, countless sounds rang out.
“Please wait for me…! I will definitely return to your side…!”
Before Mother was taken away by those guards, she cried out hoarsely.
“Iyue, don’t push yourself. If they don’t accept you, come back.”
Before her departure, Father touched her and gave gentle advice.
“Iruna… Iyue… Iruna… Iyue…”
Before his death, Father fell at the door and mumbled indistinctly, not knowing whose name he was calling.
“I will never leave again.”
Holding her little sister’s hand, Mother faced her with empty eyes and a gentle smile.
“Sister, sister. Don’t you understand? It’s for your own good! You’ve gone mad!”
In the flames burning the music scores, her sister tugged at her hand and shook it repeatedly.
Iyue swayed in the waves of the ocean of memories… until Yan Wei Fu spoke up to remind her, and she came back to her senses as if grabbing a life preserver.
These are my memories. And for that child who deliberately created this place… what are her memories like?
“Let’s go inside.”
“Wait a moment, let me see which window we can climb in…”
Before Yan Wei Fu finished speaking, Iyue pushed open the cabin door and walked in.
“…The door isn’t locked?”
Yan Wei Fu was taken aback, but still followed Iyue inside.
He might think it strange that the acting head of the family’s residence wasn’t locked… but Iyue knew this was the family’s habit.
Father never locked the door because he was always waiting for Mother or for herself to return one day; after Father left, she herself, who took over waiting for Mother, inherited this habit… As for Nefi, who eventually drove her away and lived alone, since there was no one left to wait for, she felt that locking the door didn’t matter anymore.
“…Ah.”
Everything inside was the same as when the three of them lived together.
Handmade furniture, a musical instrument placed in Mother’s room, a small wooden table with scratches by the window.
A quiver and longbow hanging from hooks on the wall by the fireplace… and three wooden carved figurines on the shelf.
Iyue remembered clearly. These three dolls were herself, Mother, and her.
After Mother died, she threw the three dolls into that stream.
“You should know where she would put the key, right?”
Yan Wei Fu, surveying the surroundings, seemed to quickly understand the purpose of this cabin and its arrangement. He tried to suggest to Iyue.
“There are many possible places. Let’s split up and search. You look in that room.”
Iyue pointed to a storage room on one side of the living room where odds and ends and daily necessities were piled.
“Yes.”
After acknowledging, Yan Wei Fu entered the storage room and began rummaging through the old items piled inside.
Iyue first checked inside the fireplace, then lifted a stone brick inside and felt for a hidden compartment.
The two sisters used to play a hide-and-seek game.
One would hide an item in the house, and the other had to find it within a time limit.
In this game, the winner had to grant the loser a small wish.
“Let me rub cheeks with you, sister~”
When that child won for the first time, she had hidden the item in this hidden compartment.
And the wish she asked for was to rub cheeks with her.
The compartment was empty. Iyue didn’t find anything inside.
But that’s okay. There were many places to hide things in the house. She must have hidden the key somewhere…
Iyue heard her heart pounding loudly. It felt as if the game was still happening now.
She searched everywhere. The living room, Mother’s room, her own room, Nefi’s room.
Countless buried memories were constantly unearthed, each one etched deeply into her heart.
Combs, small knives used to cut branches and make training arrows, a broken bowstring, an old cloth doll stuffed with cotton and straw… Everything was memory, everything was the moments she couldn’t forget, spent with that child.
In a strange frenzy and excitement, Iyue’s movements grew faster and faster—
And then she suddenly realized that only she was left in the house… Yan Wei Fu was nowhere to be seen.
Iyue’s excitement was doused like cold water. Just then, she heard a soft sound from the door—someone pushed it open.
She had no time to hide, because the house was small with limited space.
Only one person was coming…!
Her experience allowed her to make a quick judgment. She rushed forward, ready to subdue the newcomer with the fastest action—
“……!”
But upon seeing that person’s face, her movements halted midway.
“Hello, sister.”
Facing a guard who was baring fangs and claws, clearly ready to harm her, the approaching elf girl opened her arms and embraced that body covered in cold armor.