Chapter 749 - 280: The Truth of War (6)

"Do you know how your name came about? Cornflower, that's the name of the gemstone corresponding to the last Sapphire Wand. From the very beginning, you were destined to become my Gemstone Scepter, so I gave you this name."

"Every time I saw others intimately with their mothers, I always fantasized, if I had a mother, I would also want..."

"From birth, you are a great existence, an extraordinary existence, completely different from all the mundane. When you return here, it will be the moment of ascending to greatness."

"I also want to have a mother who loves me. I also wish that when I'm sad, someone could comfort me with a gentle voice. I hope to boast to others about how beautiful and great my mother is..."

"Your body, too, was created by me personally, modeled after my own appearance, bestowed upon you the beauty closest to greatness; granted you the most eternal life; granted you endless youth; granted you the charm that attracts everything."

"..."

"I already understand everything about you, have observed everything about you. And now is the moment of our reunion, you will surely become my Sapphire Wand, inherit this great power, and illuminate our Kingdom."

The Queen still used her calm, solemn, and gentle voice, as if confessing to Cornflower.

But Cornflower had already fallen silent.

Not just silent, she realized she didn't know when her longing had gradually subsided, and even an inexplicable emotion began to surge.

"... Mother?"

She didn't want to acknowledge the existence of such emotion. She didn't want to face this person with such emotion when she finally met her longed-for mother, only to find her heart filled with this unjustifiable feeling. So, like a somewhat helpless child, she called out with a hint of grievance and plea the word that every child should learn first in their life.

"Come here, Cornflower," said the figure on the throne.

Cornflower looked at her.

Her feet remained unmoved.

There was no other reason, not even any rational justification.

It was instinct that stopped her.

The emotion she didn't want to acknowledge grew stronger and stronger, almost overshadowing everything, even making her want to retreat.

Fear.

That's the name of that emotion.

Why did she feel this way?

Even Cornflower herself didn't understand.

But she didn't know when she found the remaining warmth in her heart had grown less and less, as if she were being watched by a beast in a dark jungle, leaving only unease and inexplicable fear.

"You..."

Then, her mouth opened uncontrollably, asking a question that even surprised herself:

"What are you?"

The presence on the throne seemed to pause for a bit.

"I am the Queen of the Magic Kingdom, the source of the Magical Girl's power, the supreme authority and power of this nation, your mother."

Then, it responded in an unchanging tone: "You are my daughter, the destined Sapphire, Cornflower."

Cornflower still did not move.

All the emotions within her had frozen at this moment, as if doused from head to toe with a bucket of ice water. Now she felt only a chill up her spine.

She no longer wanted to express anything.

If there was any motivation that kept her here, that stopped her from following her instinct to run away, then it was merely some doubt and that thin desire for familial love.

"Then do you... know..."

Cornflower tentatively spoke: "Who my father really is?"

By now, she realized that her father, the man named Lin Ke, probably wasn't an ordinary person.

At the very least, he wouldn't be someone entirely ignorant of magic power. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

Even if she felt confused, even fearful, of the presence in front of her, the desire to know the truth persisted.

So she voiced this doubt.

In her anxious gaze, the presence on the throne spoke.

"He..."

That presence proclaimed:

—"Is not your father."

Cornflower was stunned.

And the voice from the throne continued, like a chant, like a sigh: "You are my child alone, and have no so-called 'father.'"

"Lin Ke, he once was the gardener of my Garden, the Great Fairy Chief, but merely my servant."

"A vile thief who stole you away from my side."

"He took away your true form, abandoned the body I originally prepared for you, and placed you into the body of a mortal boy, thinking he could evade my watch."

"But such foolish actions are destined to be short-lived."

"Your talents would always be discovered, your lineage from me would always draw you to become a Magical Girl, and when you first communicated with the Seed of Heart, I found you again."

"You are destined, my Sapphire, even a vile thief cannot hide your light."

"So you will return to my side, become Cornflower, and that man received the punishment he deserved."

As for the things she said afterward, Cornflower didn't hear them at all.

What she heard clearly, remembered most vividly, was just that one term.

Great Fairy Chief.

"My dad... is a Fairy?"

The explanation was too contrary to her memories for Cornflower to respond for a moment.

However, her intuition was telling her, this might indeed be true.

Her father Lin Ke's death had always been a mysterious affair in her eyes: no infection by any disease known to modern medicine, no issues found in body checks, yet he weakened and wasted away as if afflicted by some terminal illness, until he finally passed away.