Chapter 123: Nagasawa Scarlet, Still loves
"I understand you, after all, I was cursed. But could you try to forget him, you know?" Sara sat down next to Nagasawa, who was scattering petals into the small lake in front of them.
"You speak as if that were possible. Do you really believe what you're saying?" Nagasawa questioned Sara, who just rolled her eyes.
"It's been ten years. You were together for only a few months. Why are you so attached to him?" Sara asked. It wasn't the first or the last time they talked about Dante.
Nagasawa told Sara everything that had happened. Many times, one was the confidant of the other. They spent little time with the Red Man, but both knew it was impossible to say no to these complicated feelings.
"Do you really want to force me to talk about love again, Sara? I thought we were past that phase. What do you want me to say? That I'm obsessed with him? I've already told you, he's everything." Nagasawa replied. Her eyes seemed like two red abysses slowly trying to consume Sara.
"It would be nice if all of us were together..." Sara murmured, with the simple thought of having Valentina, Morgana, and Nagasawa together in a room with Dante or something like that. But unlike the others, she didn't have much hope left in Dante.
She was cursed to love him forever. But, at the same time, her love was so great and deep that she didn't understand anything else about it. It was a young love; she didn't know who Dante was until Nagasawa told her about the months in the Dungeon. Sara... was confused. She knew she loved him, but she didn't know how, why, and what caused such love.
Love is different for everyone, and Sara... will never know what love is, because she can't love anyone else besides Dante, and he was dead.
"Don't make that sad puppy face." Nagasawa said as she pulled the young girl's head onto her lap and laid it on her thighs.
"Big sister..." Sara called Nagasawa. This was their relationship now; they considered themselves sisters. Nagasawa... had abandoned her name and her family and had finally freed herself.
This was Dante's last gift after his death. The punishment became her gift, having her title stripped, her family, and her true surname. A member of the Tang clan, or rather, the Former Member of the Tang Clan. Nagasawa Yamata, Nagasawa Tang, it didn't matter anymore; she didn't exist. Not even Nagasawa recognized her name anymore, for her, she would change it.
When Dante died, she gained Freedom, but the price... the price was too high... so high that even though she was freed from the chains, she was now trapped by her heart to someone who would never return.
So, she... ended up, somehow, being adopted by Lyriana, and Sara began to consider her as her older sister. Because... they both loved the same man and could suffer together.
"You know, I've lived a lot... but I've never met a man like him." Nagasawa said to Sara, who stood up and watched Nagasawa talk about Dante.
"A kind, loving, and playful man, who loves people more than himself... Ahh~ how I wish I could live with him..." She said sighing. At the same time, footsteps were coming from outside and a woman entered the small covered shelter where both were sitting.
"You're here." They turned around and saw the short-haired woman wearing a white dress and a crown.
"Hi mom," said Sara, turning to throw more flower petals into the small lake. Nagasawa, on the other hand, stood up and bowed to Lyrianna.
"Welcome back, Your Majesty," Nagasawa said, as now she not only accompanied Sara but also Lyrianna.
"Oh, come on, cut it out. I've already said that when we're alone, you can treat me as your close friend," said Lyrianna, relaxed, as this time she had some news to share.
"You seem... excited?" Sara questioned, noting the tone of Lyrianna's voice. Her mother wasn't really a very upbeat person most of the time, especially in recent years, with all the pressure on the Murim Alliance. Lyrianna was slightly buckling under the immense weight of being a ruler.
"Well, something really good happened, actually. I just got this news. Would you like to know?" Lyrianna asked, with a mischievous smile. Was the news really good? That was what Sara kept wondering.
"Well, we have nothing to lose, do we? Tell us, what happened, mom?" Sara asked as she stood up.
"Hehehe, it seems someone very important has returned, quite excitedly. Hehehe, she arrived causing quite a stir," said Lyrianna as she chuckled lightly. The information she received was so absurd that she couldn't help but think about how a little boy, even dead, still caused so many problems for her and the world.
"Come on, just tell us, mom! Stop with the suspense!" shouted Sara. She hated this side of her mother when she was happy about something.
"Well, why don't you hear it for yourselves?" Lyrianna summoned a round ball that emitted a magical hologram of the sky.
"Is that the sky?" Nagasawa questioned as the transmission began. It was a witch doing a magical broadcast about food.
"Mom, have you been consuming NPC witch content?" Sara questioned and received a tap on the head. "Ow!"
"Quiet and watch," said Lyrianna, and Sara shrank back, watching the magical transmission, which didn't last long.
Some sort of earthquake began to happen within the video they were watching, and the voice of the broadcaster momentarily disappeared, replaced by another voice.
"HEY, YOU BITCHES, IT'S ME, YOUR MOTHER, MORGANA SCARLET, I'M BACK! COME AND BOW DOWN TO ME!"
They heard that voice and were slightly in shock. Nagasawa and Sara glanced at each other briefly, and a second later, gestured for Lyrianna to confirm if they had misheard.
"HEY, YOU BITCHES, IT'S ME, YOUR MOTHER, MORGANA SCARLET, I'M BACK! COME AND BOW DOWN TO ME!"
"Sara, did you hear 'Morgana Scarlet'?" Nagasawa questioned Sara, incredulous. Sara could barely find words to describe what she was feeling, but she gathered herself to respond shortly after.
"Yes, Morgana Scarlet. Yes, I heard that," Sara responded robotically, completely paralyzed by what she had just heard.
"Mother, how much of this is true? You're not kidding us, are you?" Sara questioned her mother, who stared back fiercely.
"Do you still doubt your mother, child? Do you think I would joke about something like this? Knowing how obsessed you two are with that strange man? Please, think better of me, I am your mother!" She growled as if she had been offended.
"Your Majesty, if you knew him, you would be as we are," said Nagasawa, and Sara looked at her with a disgusted expression, as if she were talking the greatest nonsense of all.
"Ugh! No, don't make me imagine my mother sitting on the lap of the man I love!" Sara exclaimed, and Nagasawa looked at her.
"Do you really want to argue about this? He married his own mother; of course, he would take the wife's mother if she wanted. Besides, I give Lyrianna two months to fall in love with him. Also, what kind of thought is that? Are you already imagining your mother with him?" Nagasawa said, thoughtfully, and the mother-daughter duo glared at each other in disgust.
"Well, she's right about you falling for him... not even virtue escaped," said Sara, as she looked at her hands and her fingers intertwined.
"Nagasawa, I'm going to punish you for putting so much nonsense into my daughter's head. You were supposed to be a teacher!" Lyrianna said, and Nagasawa shrugged.
"I was ten years ago when he was my student. When he said I was his wife, I stopped being a teacher," Nagasawa said, leaving Lyrianna speechless.
She had no way to argue with these two women obsessed with a demon! She was starting to get as crazy as they were!
What does this man have? Why do all women love this damn man? Thank goodness he was dead!
Well, deep down, she was curious, and she barely knew that the dead demon was more alive than ever, going straight to grab the Emperor's head.
ATCHUUNNN
Ziriel, inside the old Hellsing headquarters in the Empire, sneezed. The dust in the place was completely out of the ordinary; it seemed like centuries since anyone inhabited there.
"Seriously, how does this affect me? I'm supposed to be healthy!" She roared, as if nasal irritation could happen right to her. Wasn't her body strong enough? Well, I guess she was already delirious from waiting so long for the arrival of her subordinate.
It didn't take long; behind Ziriel appeared a woman with green hair and emerald eyes.
"Did I take long?" Aaralyn questioned, sitting in front of Ziriel.
"A little," she replied, crossing her legs. "Shall we get down to business?" Ziriel asked, and Aaralyn nodded.
Quickly, Ziriel asked, "What do you need to know to prove that I am Dante?"
"Things that only those of us who lived close to Valentina would know," Aaralyn replied as quickly as Ziriel asked.
"Valentina is not a monster as they say. She built her power with women and subordinates who were abandoned. The Valkyries were created by young girls who lived miserable lives. Even so, Valentina doesn't admit that she's kind and hides behind an imposing figure. Valentina doesn't sleep in clothes because she says it's bad luck; it's her belief.
I don't know much about it, but Valentina is not her real name. She has two moles in her private areas. She doesn't admit it, but she loves Morgana as her own blood sister. When I was ten years old, she put over twenty Valkyries to watch me while she went out to deal with the Vampire King.
I was adopted in an orphanage run by a woman named Margaret," Ziriel said all these things and, finally, "Valentina's last order was to find a key." And, finally, Aaralyn was sure.
She stood up and began to walk towards Ziriel, kneeling down.
"Aaralyn, pay respects to the master." Without wasting any time, she honored and finally had hope in something. Finally, a light at the end of the tunnel appeared, and that light was the updated version of Dante Scarlet standing before her.