Crest of the Strongest Knight

Chapter 117 - A Missing Mother

"What's wrong?" She spoke in an almost melodic voice that held the perfect amount of discordance, almost as if it were deliberately modulated to desecrate the very concept of perfection. "Don't you want to kill me?"

Henri could hardly breathe as he stared into the woman's eyes. They were the most beautiful and exquisite thing he'd ever seen, like twin crimson moons that gazed not at him, but into his soul. He knew that he should be afraid. That he should thrust his blade into the woman's throat, hoping that it would end whatever great evil she carried in her body...

...But he couldn't. He had been enthralled the very moment he looked into those red eyes of hers, never to recover from the stupor induced by the woman's sheer beauty. He knew it was wrong, but even so, he couldn't help it. For the second time that day, the dagger clattered uselessly to the ground. The only difference was that this time, its blade no longer shone, for it was now stained black.

"...It was delicious, you know?" The woman's smile never left her face. "This city is filled with so much grief. So much sadness and despair... But yours was different. Yours was exquisite."

"W-What do you mean...?"

"It's hope, child." The woman walked around Henri, placing her hands on his shoulders and staining his torn shirt with the black blood that still flowed from her fingers. "Everyone in this city has already given up. They're nothing more than husks pretending to live, but it's hope that gives flavor to someone's soul."

Hope...? Henri didn't know what the woman meant. He had already given up on life. He had resolved to take his own life today. To end it all and be in a place where he could finally reunite with his father, even if it meant he would have to return to that accursed god's embrace. After all, there was no one in the world who would miss his presence. Not even his mother.

Especially not his mother. She had abandoned him the moment he became a liability to her happiness and left him to rot in the festering slums of Orinth where he would draw his last breaths while she enjoyed a life of luxury with her new husband. It was only right that he should disappear forever when not even his mother wanted to acknowledge his existence.

But even so, he clung onto the faint hope that she would one day return. After all...

"...M-Mom said she would be back one day..." Henri managed to say through his tears. "S-She said that she was just leaving for now a-and she would come to see me when I-I'm an adult...!"

"Oh? Is that so...?" The woman asked, her voice low and gentle as she whispered into Henri's ear. "Do you really think such a mother deserves her child's love though? Her child's hope?"

Henri hesitated before answering. He knew his mother had been irresponsible, and he hated her for leaving, but... She was still his mother. Slowly, he nodded. "S-She's... I... I want to see my mo—"

The door flew open abruptly. The sound of high heels rang loudly against the wooden floorboards as an overly-embellished woman made her way through the house, staring at its humble interior with disgust and derision. Gradually, the sound of her footsteps came closer and closer until she entered the living room.

Henri couldn't believe his eyes. True, she was wearing expensive clothing and decorated in all manner of jewelry now, but she was still unmistakably...

"...Mother! Y-You're back! You're really back!" Henri tore himself from the mysterious woman's grasp, running toward his mother at full speed without regard for her coincidentally convenient appearance, the despair he felt instantly washed away by his mother's presence. He stretched out his arms to embrace the one person he always wanted by his side. Though his father had departed this world, there was still one person he could depend on.