Chapter 252: Sacrifice (2)
There’s so much I want to ask. There’s so much I’m desperate to hear. There’s so much I want to give, and just as much I hope to receive. I want to stay beside you through all the seasons to come. But... maybe loving someone doesn’t mean you’ll always be loved back. Did I understand this too late, or was I too afraid to know? Sylvia thought.
... Even now, Deculein continues to kill himself. Because of my selfishness, he lives every day in the agony of letting himself die. Watching him die—over and over again—feels like my heart is being ripped to pieces. It’s all because of me. Everything is, because of me...
“No, sweetie.”
Sylvia turned her head, drawn by the sudden, tender weight of Cielia’s voice and words, as if unseen arms had gathered her into their warmth.
"Deculein said it himself, Sylvia—it’s not your fault," Cielia said, her smile as light as a breeze as she wiped the tears from Sylvia’s cheeks.
However, Sylvia still found herself doubting, even at this very moment.
“Mom, Cielia,” Sylvia called.
“Yes?”
"... Cielia, are you really real?"
Cielia once told me that she was real—not something fake I created, but real, Sylvia thought.
"Yes, of course. I'm real," Cielia replied with a blooming smile.