Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

Chapter 108: Coward

The middle-aged woman’s crying went on for some time. But after a while, the crying turned to sobs, and those sobs, too, slowly came to a stop.

The woman wiped her tears from the edges of her clothes and spoke.

"My second daughter can’t even leave the hospital room. I... my second daughter needs my attention and care. If I’m not there for her, then who else will be? But I-I have another daughter, and I can’t neglect her."

The woman’s breathing turned rougher.

"I have a brother, and he had once gotten into an accident when we were children. My mother had spent all her time tending to him and treated me as though I were less important. I understood that my brother had needed her attention at the time, but I still feel resentful towards my mother. I never want my kids to feel that way..."

Her breathing grew so rough that she had to pause and stabilize it for a bit.

"I-I... I’m scared. I know that my second daughter needs my attention, but I don’t want to neglect my daughter and make her feel the same way my mother made me feel. My husband and I both work and barely have any time for our kids as it is. I-I... I don’t know what to do!"

The woman bit her lip as tears threatened to spill from her eyes once again.

Soon, she calmed herself down somehow and raised her head to look at Lia.

"That must’ve been a lot for you to take in; sorry about that." Her lips stretched into an awkward smile. "To think that an old woman like me is trying to feel better by sharing her grief with a child like you. How shameful—"

"You," Lia suddenly spoke, cutting her off. "You’re scared of being hated by your daughters, right?"

"..."

The woman froze, as if turned to stone.

Lia’s expression, which had remained reserved since the moment Adrian met her, changed for the first time.

She looked... disappointed.

"Being indecisive because of your own fears—how cowardly. I wouldn’t want to be the daughter of someone like you."

For a few moments, there was complete silence, one that felt tense. Then the woman gritted her teeth.

"What do you know! A child like you can’t understand how a parent feels, so—!"

"As it stands," Lia cut her off once again. "You are ruining both their lives because of your indecisiveness. Don’t be a coward and choose whose life you can bear ruining."

With that, Lia suddenly stood up and began walking away.

Adrian’s eyes widened.

’No, not yet. I still need to know the identity of the person who possesses the third pull.’

But against the tyrannical force of the magnetic pull, his wishes were all but meaningless as he was dragged along with her.

***

Contrary to what Adrian had expected, he was unable to return to The Fake the next day.

He had expected that if Lia were to be in close proximity to The Fake, he would be able to transfer himself to The Fake’s pull.

Sadly, they were never in close proximity to begin with, and thus he never got the opportunity.

And thus, a few weeks passed with him being stuck with the girl instead.

He didn’t find out anything else in those weeks he spent watching her. All Lia did in those weeks was wake up, go to school, work at the diner, finish her homework, and then go to sleep.

She didn’t really seem interested in visiting her mother again.

’This is a problem.’

Standing with his back against the wall of Lia’s room, with her sleeping on the bed in front of her, Adrian couldn’t help but frown.

His plans for accelerating the conclusion of this memory were in a very important phase. But he had suddenly been dragged away from The Fake, putting his plans to a halt.

More than that, he had left The Fake to his own devices, and it was uncertain how things were progressing.

Adrian had to return to him somehow.

’But how?’

He couldn’t interact with Lia, which meant that he had no way to influence her actions. He couldn’t make her go near The Fake.

He had tried writing in her notebook once during her class, telling her to go near The Fake’s class. But as he had expected, she was unable to perceive the writing.

People couldn’t perceive him physically affecting things, even if the physical change that he caused was something permanent.

’She can’t perceive my actions, and thus, she also can’t perceive the change... they cause...’

Adrian’s eyes suddenly widened as an idea came to his mind.

Looking around, he picked up a notebook. Then he tore a small piece of paper from the last page. Picking up a pen, he began writing something on the piece of paper.

Time passed, and Lia was sitting at her desk in her class, waiting for the teacher to arrive. Just then, a boy entered the class and walked up to her.