“Then what are you agonizing over here?” Aurora inquired. “Shouldn’t you be happy, knowing who your birth mother is?”
Aurora’s words made Celia hesitate for a moment. Her voice trembled as she finally replied, “But she’s just like Sophia. She abandoned me for so many years. Only the butler raised me, and she never even came to find me all this time…”
She lifted her gaze to meet Aurora’s, finally voicing the painful past she had buried deep within her heart, the memories she least wished to recall. “Do you know? Most nobles only care about profit.
“That’s why there are so many nobles at odds with Fiona. Their young masters and ladies often ganged up to bully me when I was a child.”
“They would deliberately spill water on me at noble banquets, trying every trick to humiliate me in public. They’d gossip behind my back about my parents, calling me an unwanted orphan. Even those who were kind to me weren’t sincere; they only valued the power of the noble family behind me.”
‘Though Orl would often stand up for me, he never cared about my true feelings. I simply buried all those things deep inside, never wanting to speak of them to anyone else,’ she mused. ‘Now, it seems I’ve actually blamed all of it on my parents…’
Celia’s upbringing within the Fiona family had been anything but smooth. Entangled in webs of self-interest, rival nobles constantly sought ways to retaliate against the Fiona family. Naturally, Celia, as Fiona’s sole heir, became their primary target.
Despite Orl’s protection, the young Celia endured considerable bullying from other nobles. Such wounds left an indelible scar upon her heart.
Her parents were nowhere to be found, Orl remained coldly indifferent, and the maids, while respectful, left her with no one in the vast Fiona estate to whom she could truly weep and confide.
Therefore, she could only repeatedly tell herself to grow up, to be as mature as an adult, and not to take these things to heart. While she appeared calm on the surface, deep down, she attributed all her suffering to her parents.
She had always believed that if her parents had been present, none of this would have happened. Her childhood wouldn’t have been filled solely with tedious noble etiquette and bothersome banquets.
Aurora understood her thoughts and recognized the scars in her heart, yet she merely offered a faint smile.
“You should be saying these words to your mother, shouldn’t you? You’re not alone anymore. Past scars can slowly heal. Senior Silverbloom loves you so much; don’t you believe her?”
In Aurora’s eyes, Celia’s words were meant for Dorothy. They were mother and daughter; Dorothy would do everything to comfort her. Aurora, on the other hand, was merely Celia’s friend, fit only to be a listener.
“I…”
Outside, heavy rain poured, accompanied by rumbling thunder. Celia still seemed to be wrestling with her emotions.
Aurora knew that a trace of resentment towards Dorothy still lingered in her heart. After a moment of silence, she decided to tell Celia everything Dorothy had done.
“Have you ever considered why she told you all this? She could have simply kept it hidden, and your relationship could have remained as it is.”
This sudden question startled Celia. She pondered it, realizing that Dorothy truly had no reason to tell her.
They had spent over half a year together, and Celia had been kept completely in the dark, even idolizing Dorothy and aspiring to be a hero like her. As long as Dorothy hadn’t revealed the truth, Celia would have continued to hold her in respect and affection.
So, why did she suddenly tell her?
It was because of Ryan.
Aurora provided the answer.
‘So that’s how it was…’
Listening to the heavy rain battering against the windowpane, she hugged the pillow in her arms, finally understanding everything.
After she had broken Ryan’s leg during the assessment, Senior Silverbloom had sought her out. However, at that time, Celia hadn’t explained why her emotions had spiraled out of control.
‘Senior Silverbloom must have sought out Ryan alone afterward, which led to her self-reproach and guilt. After days of careful deliberation, she finally revealed the truth to me,’ Celia thought.
‘She only wanted to tell me that I wasn’t a child without parents… Yet I understood nothing, feeling only grievance and even losing my temper with her…’
Burying her head in the pillow, Celia asked in a muffled voice, “She must have hesitated for a long time before telling me all this, right?”
“Yes, about half a year,” Aurora replied.
“Half a year?”
Celia felt a flicker of confusion, then a dawning comprehension. From the moment they met, Dorothy had known she was her daughter, and so she had accompanied her under the guise of the Silverbloom Sword Princess all this time.
As if seeing through her thoughts, Aurora smiled mysteriously. “It’s definitely not as simple as you imagine. Senior Silverbloom has actually been by your side every single day for the past six months, finding another way to truly enter your heart.”
“Every day? But sometimes she was very busy…”
Mid-sentence, Celia noticed something in Aurora’s expression, and her heart immediately jolted with alarm. ‘The person they truly saw every day at Vidona’s place was their landlord, Lena. If Aurora says this, then that means Dorothy is Lena?’
Celia’s heart clenched. She suddenly recalled Lena telling her long ago about having a child the same age as her, whose experience of abandonment was similar. Now, thinking back, wasn’t Lena trying to atone for her past mistakes back then?
‘She worked so hard, playing the role of Sister Lena, just to get into my heart. Yet I understood nothing, enjoying a mother’s love while still blaming her for being heartless.’
“She must have known I would hate her once she told me everything, right? But she still chose to do it…” A hint of a sob entered her voice, and her eyes, still buried in the pillow, turned red.
An unspeakable mix of self-reproach and guilt compelled her to lift her head and reach for the communicator nearby. However, upon seeing the messages displayed, she put it away, then tossed the pillow from her embrace and got out of bed.
Her slippers pattered as she walked to the wardrobe, opened the door, and casually pulled out an elegant, light-colored dress. Without a word, she began to change.
“Where are you going?” Aurora asked.
“I’m going to find her!”
“It’s raining heavily outside, and it’s very late. She might be asleep.”
“After what I said today, she won’t be able to sleep.” As Celia spoke, a flicker of shame crossed her pretty face.
Standing up and moving to the window, Aurora gazed at the night view, blurred by the heavy rain, and reminded her, “There’s a curfew at the freshman dorms late at night; no entry or exit is allowed. And if the student council finds out, you’ll get a major demerit.”
“A curfew? I’ll just climb over. I’ll try my best to avoid the student council. If I can’t, then let them give me a demerit.”
Having donned the dress, she replied to Aurora in a determined tone. Then, she quickly tidied her somewhat messy hair in front of the dressing mirror, pushed open the bedroom door, and walked out.