“Julia. Am I doing well?”
“Just the fact that she hasn’t come back means it’s good news. No news from her is good news. Just forget about it.”
“Yeah…”
It has been a week since Tia and Julia left Ryuba Tavern.
Sasha, feeling bored, sighed and leaned over the bar table.
There were originally hardly any customers, and now that two of her companions were gone, it was exceptionally dull.
“Is the Master not lonely?”
“Well, a little? But Julia is the type to adapt well wherever she goes, so I’m not particularly worried.”
“I feel really lonely and worried…”
Sasha let out a deep sigh and leaned back on the bar table again.
She was already starting to miss Julia.
She missed Tia, who used to run around the tavern causing a commotion.
From the moment she first laid eyes on Julia, there was often a feeling that she was special in some way.
Not just in looks; the person herself was peculiar.
It felt as if she were from another world.
There was a strangely alien yet attractive quality about her.
In other words, she was definitely not the right fit to work in a tavern like this.
“Has there been no reply from Julia? I sent a ton of letters. Is she busy?”
“Since there’s been no reply at all, it doesn’t seem like she’s busy. More likely, the letters got lost.”
“Hmm… I guess I’ll have to pay her a visit someday.”
“Oh, by the way, a public notice arrived in front of the shop.”
“What is it?”
“The murderer who killed your parents has been arrested.”
“…”
Sasha’s expression hardened as she took the paper.
The document read as follows:
Investigation Results Notification.
We hereby inform you that a suspect strongly suspected of having murdered Sasha Romanova’s father, Ivan Romanov, and mother, Lena Romanova, has been apprehended.
We will notify you again if there are any further developments in the investigation.
“That’s good news.”
“Yeah…”
Sasha smiled awkwardly and reread the investigation results notification she had already read.
The police using the term ‘strongly suspected’ meant that they effectively believed they had caught the culprit.
The enemy who killed her parents ten years ago had been caught.
What kind of reaction is typical in moments like this?
Should she cry?
Or should she feel overjoyed?
Sasha found herself pondering what would feel most natural.
In reality, she had no feelings at all.
‘If I say they were people who deserved to die, the Master would be horrified.’
Parents.
Just saying that word could redden the eyes of some people, but Sasha couldn’t understand them at all.
Her parents were truly a matched pair.
A husband, a businessman of commoner descent, and a wife, from the fallen nobility.
They lived a life full of dignity, though not very wealthy.
At least, that’s how it appeared to others.
Father Ivan’s business began to rot from the inside, and he started to deceive investors from the very beginning, while Mother Lena’s extravagance and kleptomania grew worse by the day, leading to constant conflicts between them.
In the midst of that, Sasha was born.
A unicorn half-human, said to be born extremely rarely, with a horn.
The couple, who thought the horn was just a tale from legends, initially held expectations.
They believed Sasha must have been born with some incredible talent.
Indeed, Sasha was a genius.
Less than six months after birth, she spoke for the first time, and by the age of one, she had already learned two languages.
But that was just about it.
Other than being slightly ahead of other babies, there was nothing exceptional about Sasha.
The expensive magic aptitude test was a total failure.
That was when things began to change.
The nearly abusive education aimed at finding Sasha’s talent slowly turned into outright abuse.
As the family business continued to decline, Sasha became a scapegoat for her parents’ frustrations.
But on the outside, Ivan still seemed like a competent businessman and a caring father, while Lena was an elegant and beautiful wife.
As the gap between their outside image and reality widened, the stress and hysteria on both sides increased, and it was always young Sasha who had to bear it.
When her parents were killed in front of her by a robber, Sasha felt absolutely nothing.
Only cold reason filled young Sasha’s mind instead of emotions like anger or sorrow.
If there was one emotion she faintly felt at all, it was likely ‘satisfaction.’
The robber, frightened by the sight of a girl standing there with a blank expression covered in blood, forgot about the witness and fled.
But Sasha acted as if she had lost her memory from shock, and for over a decade, the culprit was never caught.
Until today.
‘What a pitiful person.’
To Sasha, the one who rescued her from hell.
The thought that such a person could now be sentenced to death for being a murderer made her feel a little guilty.
“Is Irina coming to work?”
“Oh, she said she’s taking the day off to see the kids.”
“Really? Irina finally mustered the courage.”
“…”
Parental love is an illusion.
That conviction solidified after meeting Irina.
Irina abandoned her two children.
Though she made excuses, claiming it was out of love, the fact remained that she abandoned them.
After all, there is no such thing as selfless parental love.
Parents naturally look after their own well-being first.
One day, while living with that firm belief, Julia appeared and shattered everything.
‘She’s raising a demon child who isn’t even her own?’
‘She doesn’t even receive any money from anyone?’
‘She’s protecting a child of a different race even when it’s a crisis that could easily be resolved by selling Tia?’
It seemed full of unbelievable things.
Julia, pouring more love on someone else’s child, especially one of a different race, than on her biological children.
Sasha wanted to believe that Julia was just particularly meddlesome and foolish.
At first, she brainwashed herself into thinking so.
But soon, Sasha had to accept a reality.
That parental love does exist in this world.
That her parents were exceptional, but all parents love their children.
Once she acknowledged that, her heart ached.
It felt as though she had been thrown out into the world alone.
But Julia wouldn’t leave Sasha alone.
She held Sasha’s hand and led her out.
She showed her that Sasha wasn’t alone.
“Yeah. I miss her…”
Recalling that warm sensation she felt in her fingertips, Sasha smiled.
It was only after Julia disappeared that she realized.
Only after she felt that emptiness did she understand.
It was a bit funny, but Sasha regarded Julia like her own parent.
She was seeking the parental love she had not received from her own.
And before that could be filled, Julia had suddenly left.
“When she comes back from her vacation, she’ll stop by at least once. Just wait for that time.”
“Yes…”
If she were with Julia, she could have taken pride in these horns.
But now, they just felt cumbersome and distasteful again.
“Ugh!”
“What, what’s wrong?! Why are you like this, Sasha?”
“It won’t break…”
Having once latched onto her horn and exerted some strength, Sasha only felt a headache that seemed to shake her brain, but the horn remained intact.
Sasha smiled wryly and tapped her horn.
‘Will I ever be able to love this horn?’
She posed the question to herself.
The answer came quickly.
‘Impossible. How could I ever love something that my parents detest…?’
It was unthinkable.
It had been possible when Tia said it looked cool.
Already, she was starting to miss Tia and Julia.
.
.
.
It was nerve-wracking.
It was the most tense moment in her over thirty years of life.
Still, Irina, desperately squeezing out courage, moved her stiff legs and began to walk again.
“Ugh… Haah…”
She was already near the lord’s mansion.
That meant it wouldn’t be long before Irina met the two children.
As her destination drew near, Irina felt her heart pounding harder, and she noticed her hands were starting to sweat.
‘Aah. Should I have come with Julia after all?’
She felt a little regret.
If Julia had been there, she would have grabbed her hand and firmly led her, forcing her to go forward.
She would have encouraged her every time she wanted to retreat out of fear.
Yet, the reason she came alone was that she didn’t want to rely on Julia.
It was thanks to Julia that she even considered seeking out the children.
That was enough.
Besides, Julia must be busy now.
It would be a nuisance to ask her to come along again.
“Ah.”
Irina’s steps came to a halt.
A vast garden beyond the bars.
There, she could see the siblings running around and laughing without a care.
It was a sight that brought both warmth and heartache just from looking at it.
They had already grown so much.
Children grow quickly, even if not as much as Tia.
As she thought this, Irina almost found satisfaction in this moment.
Almost turned back without realizing it.
But she couldn’t do that.
She had made a promise to Julia.
Gritting her teeth, Irina finally managed to take a step forward.
No matter how much she brushed her ears, which rose with tension, they kept popping back up.
In the end, she had to give up and leave them raised.
‘What should I say when I meet the children? Should I start with an apology? Or maybe…’
Irina’s mind became a whirlpool.
The children, noticing the sound of her footsteps, turned their heads in unison.
Then, as if entranced, they slowly approached the bars.
At that moment, standing right in front of the bars, Irina could barely part her lips, stifling her urge to cry.
“Hey, kids…”
“Who are you?”
Who are you.
That one line tore Irina’s heart to shreds.
Her fox ears, which had perked up, slowly fell back.
As the bewildered faces of the children peered in, Irina shook her head silently and slowly stepped back.
When she regained her senses, she realized she was already turning around and running away.
“Ugh, haah! Aah…”
Then, having stumbled and fallen, Irina couldn’t help but burst into tears.
She lost the strength to stand.
Her will had been completely shattered.
Irina lay flat on the ground, clutching her chest and sobbing for quite some time.
“Huh?”
At that moment, Irina sensed someone approaching and turned around.
A familiar man stood there.
