Chapter 94: Mother huh?
Deathly silence between mother and daughter made the entire room feel like a silent battlefield.
They sat opposite each other at the low coffee table in the middle of the night.
Carolynn wore a robe tightly around her body, her eyes fixed downward on her lap in overwhelming guilt. Across from her, Norelia sat stiffly, her red eyes staring intently at her adopted mother with an unreadable intensity.
And then there was Eren.
Having just completed a physical workout with a legendary Demon Queen, the young man was casually munching on another cookie to restore his levels.
"You... stay quiet, you idiot," Norelia ordered sharply.
Eren swallowed his cookie without a fight, raising both hands in a silent gesture of absolute surrender before leaning back into his chair to let the two women handle their confrontation.
Carolynn slowly raised her head, her tear-stained face looking at her daughter in heartbroken. "N-Norelia... I am so, so sorry, my darling..."
Norelia crossed her arms tightly over her chest, her expression cold. "Sorry? Sorry for what, exactly?"
Carolynn swallowed, her voice trembling with shame. "For... for crossing the line with your boyfriend... I shouldn’t have let my succubus instincts take over, but because of my failing suppressor, I—"
"Are you seriously apologizing for that?!" Norelia cut her off in sheer, exasperated disbelief.
Carolynn blinked, looking at the petite genius in complete and utter confusion.
"I already knew Eren was a flirtatious idiot," Norelia grumbled, darting another annoyed side-eye at Eren, who merely offered a deadpan shrug in response. "But he was not shameless for doing it with his girlfriend’s adopted mother!"
"... and he knows his limits."
Carolynn’s eyes widened. "Then...?"
"You haven’t apologized for what you actually did four years ago!" Norelia suddenly shouted, her rigid composure cracking as a surge of suppressed emotion burst through her voice.
Eren gently wrapped his hand around Norelia’s trembling hand. The petite professor flinched at the physical contact, but she didn’t pull away, squeezing his palm tightly as she fought to anchor her racing heart.
Norelia glared directly at the former Demon Queen. "Do you even know why I ran away four years ago, Madam Carolynn? Do you have even the slightest clue?"
Carolynn’s mind raced backward through time, desperately recalling the night her precious daughter had vanished without a trace. It was the exact night Carolynn had finally gathered the courage to reveal her true identity.
"Is it... is it because I am a demon...?" Carolynn whispered, her heart breaking all over again at the thought. "Because the mother who raised you was a monster...?"
"Fuck no!" Norelia yelled out, tears finally spilling over her lower lashes and tracing down her cheeks.
Her voice cracked, her lips quivering violently as two decades of adoration and sudden, crushing betrayal spilled out all at once.
"I thought my Mama was the greatest person in the entire world! You were so strong! You were brilliant! You knew everything about mana circuits, you rescued his sister when we almost gave up, you taught me my very first engineering formulas, and you celebrated every single milestone I achieved! You loved me, you cried when I got hurt, and you gave me a home and love when no one else wanted me!"
Norelia’s grip on Eren’s hand tightened to a point her hand turned white.
"Do you have any idea how much it hurt... to find out that the woman I love didn’t raise me out of pure, unconditional love... but as a backup plan?!" Norelia sobbed, her voice breaking, heartbroken. "You didn’t raise me just to be your daughter, Mama... you engineered my talent so I could kill you!"
"N-No... Norelia, no!" the Demon blurted out in panic. "I never thought of you like that! I raised you as my daughter—my precious, beloved girl! I only gave you those tools in case I completely lost my mind! I never meant for you to be a weapon! I love you more than anything or anyone in this world!"
Norelia slowly released Eren’s hand. Without a single word, the petite professor stepped across the small coffee table, stood directly over her seated mother, and swung her hand forward with everything she had.
SLAP!
The sharp, stinging impact echoed loudly through the silent, midnight room.
Carolynn’s head snapped to the side from the force. She sat frozen in utter disbelief, her hand rising slowly to touch her burning cheek as she turned her face back toward her daughter.
Norelia stood there, her shoulders shaking, her red eyes overflowing with grief, anger, and heartbreak.
"I am not your killer!" Norelia screamed through her sobbing whimpers. "I can’t do it! I don’t want to do it! You’re my mother! Imagine how utterly devastated I was... how broken I felt hearing the person who gave me a life tell me she built me to end hers?!"
Her small hands balled into tight, trembling fists at her sides. "You really are a monster for saying something so cruel to me..."
Looking up into her daughter’s eyes, Carolynn finally saw it—the deep, agonizing trauma she had single handedly inflicted on her child four years ago. At that time she hadn’t been acting as a tragic, self-sacrificing guardian, she really had been a cold, emotionless demon to the girl who loved her.
"Mama..." Norelia whimpered softly, her small voice cracking as she collapsed forward, her tears falling onto Carolynn’s lap. "Please... please don’t die..."
Carolynn’s maternal instincts obliterated every shred of her pride, her guilt, and her stoic resolve. She threw her arms around her petite daughter and pulled her tightly, burying her face into Norelia’s brown hair.
"I’m sorry... I’m so, so sorry, my baby!" Carolynn sobbed uncontrollably. She held Norelia just as tightly as she had the tiny infant she’d rescued from the forest twenty-four years ago. "I was an idiot! A foolish, terrible mother! I don’t want to die, Norelia... I want to live! I want to stay by your side, I want to watch you grow, I want to see you build a family and I want to spoil your children! I don’t want to leave you... I’m so sorry, my darling... I’m so sorry..."
The two women wept in each other’s arms, four long years of painful misunderstanding, and hidden burdens melting away into a warm embrace in the middle of the night.
Sitting back, Eren watched the emotional reunion. He took a deep breath, his dark blue eyes softening as he looked at the crying mother and daughter.
’Mother, huh...?’ Eren mused internally, a glimpse of his past echoed in his mind before he pushed away the buried memories of his past life away.