Hakushaku to Yousei - Volume 4 - Chapter 7

P. 244
Completely covered in thick flames, the house was burning down. They darted to avoid the sparks of fire and after they moved across the small protruding island, Lydia and Edgar naturally headed towards the hill. 
Or to be correct, Teresa and Edgar was. 
The vanity box was being carried by Edgar. 
Lydia’s consciousness was floating around in herself as she still felt tired, but had managed to stay awake. 
The sea looked to be even more turbulent, and to Lydia’s eyes, it appeared like the number of selkies has increased.
She could feel how angered the selkies have become. But Ulysses had possession of a ‘heart’ so he was able to remain unharmed.
Ulysses’ plan wasn’t to burn down the house. When she imagined that he was still going to lay something a snare out for them, her nerves continued to be in tension. 
With her left hand that remained under her control, Lydia searched for the aquamarine pendant. 

P. 245
She was scared beyond her imagination. If Ulysses was someone who used his fairy doctor knowledge for bad purposes, then the one who probably had to face him, was not Edgar, but Lydia. 
But, she wasn’t alone. It was all right for her to believe that, right?
“Uh, Lord Viscount, why has things turned out this way?”
Teresa was walking as she was clinging onto Edgar’s arm. 
“It’s all right. I’m with you.”
“Why do I have periods in my memory when I don’t remember anything?”
She appeared to be unnerved, and not only frightened by the fire, but must have started to notice the unnatural condition she was in. 
“I really did come by alive, didn’t I? I won’t be sent back to the land of the dead, right?”
That was what Lydia was worried about. 
To begin with, Lydia was told that the girl’s soul would only be able to remain inside Lydiafor one week. It was news that she wouldn’t want to believe. Even if she wasn’t the real Teresa, she had come to accept the life of Teresa and came to fall for Edgar, but she wondered how the girl would feel if she learned that she was going to loose everything once again. 
“……And, who is Lydia?”
Only with her left hand, Lydia froze. Why did she know about her. 
“What do you mean?”

P. 246
Edgar’s act of being ignorant was so natural, that he seemed used to being questioned about another woman’s presence. 
This is why I can’t trust this animal’s flirting lines….
“Yesterday, that’s what you called me when I was asleep.”
What?
“You must have been dreaming.”
“A dream…., I wonder if you’re right. You seemed to be suffering from something, and said something like please forgive me, and had been holding my left hand for quite some time. For some reason, it felt like I shouldn’t interrupt you.”
Really? Then that means, Lydia, who didn’t know anything about this, must have been asleep. 
Teresa stopped, and she looked down at her body.
“Sometimes, there’s a moment when I feel an aqwardness. I ask myself if this is really me. Like the distance to my tiptoes or was if my hand and nails were ever this clean and smooth.”
She took a strand of her dull rust-colored hair that was blown up by a gust of wind swirled up around them and tilted her head. 
“The color of my hair, and when I looked in the mirror, everything just doesn’t seem exactly right. I was trying not to think about it that much, but when I heard the name Lydia, my doubt just got bigger and bigger….”
Edgar looked at Teresa with an undecided look, but didn’t say anything. 
“This girl isn’t me. I died once and lost my body…., isn’t that right? You were so nice to me because this girl is special to you?”

P. 247
What are you going to do, Edgar.
Lydia listened as she was on the edge of her seat.
“If you would stay by my side, then I thought that I didn’t mind if you acted like my lover. But, even when you’re with me, your words and embrace doesn’t belong to me.”
“Teresa.”
“Tell me the truth.”
Edgar lowered his eyes like he surrendered.
“……Lydia is my fiancée. She was kidnapped and disappeared from London. When I came here to take her back home, you were inside her.”
Teresa was shocked and made a painful sigh. 
“Why, why didn’t you tell me at the start? I would have wanted you to tell me before I grew feelings for you….!”
“Teresa, that scoundrel had deceived you and was trying to do what he wanted. So that you wouldn’t try to escape or give into despair and injure that body.”
At the voice that interrupted them, Teresa turned around. 
From beyond the trees that grew scattered all around, a young man appeared. 

P. 248
He ,with his faint blond hair, had on a smile that was so inhuman and cruel that it didn’t go along with his slender image of a man who still had a boyish look to himself. 
“Ulysses…”
“He honestly wishes for you to hurry up and die and go back up in the sky.”
Like she was shaken, she slowly backed away from Edgar.
“He’s right, viscount, I’m just a dangerous ghost that is a hindrance to you.”
“Come with me, Teresa. If it was me, I’ll let you become human. I can make that body become yours permanently.”
“You could never do such a thing. If you could, you would have done it from the start. Ulysses, you deceived Mrs. Collins just for the purpose of being able to take control over this house, and so you killed her and played her up to be Teresa’s ghost.”
“I wonder if that kind of thing has any relation to her now. Oh, Teresa, don’t you want to be alive once more? You’re still so young and there was sure to be so much wonderful things to enjoy waiting to happen for you. If you do as I say, then I’ll let you stay in this realm. Or, do you want to remain unnoticed by anyone and disappear without anybody remembering you?”
“Don’t go, you’ll just be tricked.”
Even if Edgar said that, Teresa started to walk over in a wobble to Ulysses’ direction.
“Can you really have me not die?”

P. 249
“He was the man who killed you!”
“Lord, even you wished for her death. Aren’t you the same as me?”
No, you can’t, Teresa. Ulysses won’t hold his promise. Once he meets his goal, he’s sure to not leave anyone alive. 
Lydia was desperately trying to yell out from insider herself, but it didn’t reach her. 
“Pick this up.”
Ulysses threw a knife over onto the ground near Teresa’s feet.
“Let’s have you take that vanity box from that man and bring it over to me.”
Teresa did pick up the knife but she still looked confused. She must be wondering why on earth an old vanity box like that.
But they couldn’t allow Ulysses to steal it away. It was the selkies that they had tried so hard to rescue. 
For the sake of the selkies who believed in their fairy doctor and put their lives in Lydia’s hands, she needed to protect it at all costs.
However, Lydia was only able to move her left hand and nothing else. 
Edgar, please. Don’t give it to him. 
“I can’t give you this.”
“Well, then, Teresa, let’s have you use that knife and take a little poke at your arm.”

P. 250
Whaaat?
“You yourself won’t feel any pain. Even if that body gets ruined, I’ll prepare another body for you.”
You’ve got to be kidding!
Teresa still couldn’t decide, but she pressed the knife against her arm most likely from curiosity to see if it really didn’t hurt.
“Stop it!” yelled Edgar, and Teresa stopped her hand.
Ulysses laughed like he was enjoying himself.
“Weeell now, so you're surrendering already?”
And then he spoke to Teresa.
“Slowly, walk over to him. Oh, but you can’t get too close. Make sure to have the knife against your knife. It’s all right, even if your hand slipped, you won’t die. Since you died once already.”
Teresa still looked hesitated, but did as she was said like a puppet on strings. 
She didn’t know what she really should do. 
Even if she liked Edgar, she still had feelings of like she was betrayed. She had jealousy towards Lydia. At the same time she wanted to live, she was also lost if she should trust the man who killed her to begin with.

P. 251
Even Edgar who was silently watching Teresa’s behavior without moving, must have felt the unsteadiness of her heart. He must be trying to think of a way to somehow repel Ulysses’ temptation from her. 
But, even if he said something that sounded like he cared for her, it was only just a lie.
“Lord, let’s have you set down the box and step away from it. Or, would you like to see some more blood?”
No one wants to see that. She thought that on one hand, but on the other, Lydia echoed to herself that she wouldn’t mind bearing with a little bit of pain. 
Hey, Edgar, you forced me to bear before even if I was in pain, so don’t go changing your mind and give the box over to him so easily. 
But Edgar looked like he earnestly didn’t want to give Lydia any pain as he set down the box by his feet.
If he called out to the sleeping Lydia and it was his true feelings that made him ask her to forgive him, then…..
I’m surprisingly thought of by someone….?
But, wait, now wasn’t the time for this. 
“Maggie,” said Edgar abruptly, as he remained in his place not moving away from the box.
She looked back at him with a curious look.
“You are not Teresa. You’re Maggie. Do you want to remain not remembering about yourself and can’t see the truth?”
“…….Maggie……”

P. 252
“That’s right. Maggie, the seamstress.”
From his chest pocket, Edgar took out a handkerchief and unfolded it open to show it to her. 
“Your needlework, you’re very used to it. The initial M and the design of the four-leaf clover and the ladybug is the symbol of good luck and happiness. You must have wanted to embroider this into your belongings or you didn’t feel at ease. I think you must have been a very good seamstress.”
Oh, that was it, she was that girl, though Lydia as she remembered. The girl who said she was going off to meet a man who said he was Earl Ashenbert and her body was found the next day in the Thames River. The police detective said she was a seamstress and her name was Maggie Morris. 
The poor young girl. 
“Maggie, even you had someone who you held dear to you. You can remember, right? Who was it that taught you show to sow?”
As she stood dazed from listening to Edgar’s words, there was a tear, that she herself didn’t realize, which came pouring out.
“…..That, Momma said it was a good luck….charm….which Momma taught me….”
“You’re real family and friends would be wishing for the peace and happiness of your soul. Do you want to forget about them and cut off your ties and bonds from them? Do you really hope to switch over to a completely different person’s life?”
Edgar took a step out towards her. 

P. 253
“The people who cared for you are sure to not be able to forget about you even now. Their sorrow won’t be healed, but if you don’t forget about them, then they could think of that as their support and keep on living their lives.”
“Teresa, don’t listen to what that man says, if you stay as Teresa, you’re wishes will be granted! You won’t have to work for money anymore. You can even marry a noble!”
Ulysses raised his voice. But now, the name of Teresa didn’t reach her ears. 
“Please, I ask of you, Maggie, I feel sorry for having to hurt you. But I have someone I hold very dear to my heart. I want to protect her body and heart. ….Please give me back Lydia.”
Maggie was crying, and Lydia felt confused as she felt like she was crying.
You sound like you really mean it, Edgar….
“….I remember now. I….”
From Maggie’s hand that lost its strength, the knife fell out. 
“I was always looking up to the rich and wealthy. If I was able to marry a rich man, I thought that I would be able to be happy, and so I was always making up the lie that I was the daughter of a prestigious family.”
She looked up to Edgar and she smiled as tears were coming down her face. 
“When I became Teresa, I was pampered and looked up to by everyone, it seemed like a dream and I was so happy. Even if I felt something was wrong, I wanted to continue like I didn’t notice it. But, I’m glad to find out that this body isn’t mine and that Viscount, you don’t really love me. Because, even if I was a normal seamstress girl, I was able to remember that I had my own precious things I held dear to myself.”

P. 254
“Don’t be stupid, you hated your birth and your family. That’s why when I said I was an earl, you were mad with joy!” yelled Ulysses stubbornly. But, Lydia thought different. 
Even if they were bickering and fighting with each other, there isn't anyone who doesn't care for their family. 
“I want to go home. To my Momma who was so pestering and my Papa who was so lazy and my bratty little brothers, they are my only family. ….Do you think I’ll be able to fly there.”
“Yes, definitely,” answered Edgar, to who she hugged tightly.
Huh, what? Why?
“So she (Lydia) won’t fall.”
“Yes, I’ll be sure to hold her.”
“You better hold her more tightly. When we separate, she’s sure to shove you away."
Oh, my goodness, she's figuring things out.
Was it because I was always putting out my left hand so that our bodies won’t be pressed together?
But right now, since Maggie was holding onto Edgar with both arms, Lydia couldn’t breathe and her heart was beating rapidly and she thought she was going to fall over. 

P. 255
“Thank you for finding the real me.”
Inside her body, Lydia felt the sensation of a light breeze blow through her. At that same time, her body lost its strength to stand. 
He was holding onto her tightly so she didn’t fall over, but even when she returned to herself, she didn’t have the strength to push Edgar away.
“Lydia, you’ve come back. I won’t let you go anymore.”
……What are you saying. 
She had thought that he was so handsome when he had convinced Maggie, but he was so quick to joke around. 
“Edgar, now’s not the time for…”
Lydia carefully looked over towards Ulysses. He tsked with his tongue and tried to take out a pistol. 
“All these good-for-nothings aren’t any use at all.”
And yet, Edgar whispered to Lydia that it was all right and held onto to her.
The bushes rustled. 
Raven attacked Ulysses, who tried to turn aside to dodge as fast as he could. 
In one kick of his leg, he sent the pistol flying out of his hand and with his emotionless face, he whipped the knife in the air. 

P. 256
She thought he was going to cut his throat in one wave of his arm. However in one second earlier, Ulysses backed around a tree.
The knife dug into the trunk of the tree, and Lydia watched in horror at how if that was someone’s neck then they wouldn’t last a second. 
Even Ulysses must have known that he wasn’t any match to try to fight him one-on-one. 
During the short while that Raven re-gripped his knife, he made the distance between them even further. 
“A weapon that walks, huh. I didn’t want to come across with you and so I was trying to avoid you.”
He put up his hand like a signal, and then two men came walking out from the depths of the trees. 
“Do it,” ordered Prince and took out a water-colored ball from his pocket so that they could see it and played around with it in his hand. 
It’s a selkie coat. He still had one which mean the ones in the box wasn’t all of them.
Which means, those two are,
“Raven, they’re selkies!”
At the same time Lydia yelled out to him, a twisting wall of water came splashing up to them. 
From fear of being caught and pulled under the waters, she closed her eyes tightly and as she heard the thundering sound of the waters, she felt herself be lifted off her feet. 
She was going to be separated from Edgar. She couldn’t breathe because of the water coming up around her. 
Just when her consciousness was about to fade away, the pressure of the water suddenly washed away. At that same time, Lydia was thrown down to some hard surfaced area. 

P. 257

P. 258
“Ow……”
She opened her eyes, but it was pitch black. She was washed by the sweep of the water for just a short while, but she had no idea where it had taken her. 
The ground below her feet felt like a cold, stone floor and there was some sort of vertical pillar. 
Which means she must be in a building some place. 
“Lydia, are you there?”
She heard Edgar’s voice coming from the distance. She searched the area around her with her hands trying to touch anything around her. But, in the direction she thought the voice came from, a wall was blocking her path. 
“Edgar, where are you?”
“I can’t see well. Are you hurt anywhere?”
Since his voice bounced around and echoed around her, she wasn’t able to grasp the right direction.
“No, I’m fine. But, I can’t figure out why we are in a place like this….”
“Wouldn’t this be the work of the selkies from just earlier?”
“Then, that would mean we’re held captive by Ulysses?”
“I think this is different than that. I’m guessing that although they were forced under his submission, they secretly brought you here. The rough water current had washed away the trees from the area around us, but we were protected by the water, so we didn’t get any injuries.”

P. 259
Perhaps this could have been a secret rebel of the selkies who had their coats in Ulysses’ grasp. 
The old woman selkie had even made an alteration on her own on Lydia’s condition of being possessed by the ghost of Maggie so that she would be able to move around freely at least during the day. 
“Despite that, it’s so strange that my clothes aren’t wet at all when we were washed by the current.”
“It wasn’t real water, but more like the magic that was created by the selkies.”
The captive selkies wished to be released from Ulysses and were still laying their hope on Lydia.
“Lydia, if we both move around, then I think we won’t be able to reach each other. Could you stay put for just a bit.”
“All right…., but,”
“It’ll be fine, I will definitely fine you. Let’s continue talking. Your voice will lead the way.”
She replied all right, and tried to squint her eyes to see around her, but even it was her eyes that had adjusted to the darkness, she couldn’t see anything. 
“Uh, Edgar, why do you think that the selkies had carried us to a place like this? I wonder where we are.”
“Maybe we’re underground of the hill. I think that this is the repelling charm that the Blue Knight Earl from the past had made built.”
“Repelling charm?”

P. 260
“I heard that it was some sort magical-built fortress to protect Londonfrom an invasion from foreign enemies. Ulysses was ordered by Prince and came here to destroy that.”
“Destroy? This? How?”
She couldn’t see it, but from how their voices echoed so far, she felt it was quite an immensely large open space. Even when she moved her body just a bit, her hands touched a stone wall or pillar and so she was able to image that it was made in a maze-like design, but then it was all the more impossible to be able to be destroyed by just one person. 
“That’s the part that I can’t figure out as well.”
In the next second, Lydia came to realize something. 
Just earlier, when she was walking the ocean beach as her body was under Maggie’s control, she saw how the sea had become even more rough and stormy. In that same moment, she also watched how there was an endless number of selkies that bobbled and swam in the ocean currents. 
In the house fire, the coats of the selkies that they weren’t able to rescue should have been burned. Since selkies had a strong bond within their kind, more members of their kind were gathered because of their sorrow and fury. 
However, the one who set the fire so that he could massacre all the selkies he had was Ulysses. Which means he purposefully did that in order to gather that many selkies filled with rage. 
“Oh, no! Ulysses plans to use all those selkies!”
“What do you mean?”

P. 261
“When one of their kind is treated horribly, they have the trait of gathering into a group and exacting their revenge. Because of what Ulysses had done, there is an unbelievably large number of selkies that was gathered around the island for revenge. If all of them were to make an attack at once, a small island like this would be easily crumbled and washed away…..”
Edgar must have accepted the serious situation, as he remained quiet for a short while.
“But, why are they now attacking now?”
“Most likely, Ulysses is holding them back. He has the heart of a selkie with him. It’s the gemstone that he wears on his ear. Normally, selkies give it to a human as proof of their trust and as a symbol of their friendship, but Ulysses got his hands on one and is misusing it.”
“So if a human has that, then it means the selkies couldn’t attack him and they would have to listen to what he says, huh.”
“Unlike when he has a coat, it can’t make them do as he says, but I think that to a person who has a ‘heart,’ the selkies must hold him in high regards.”
Even if he was hated by the selkies, Ulysses showed that he had one in his possession and was able to safely fence off with them. He had the ability that abled him to do that. 
Against a man like that, Lydia wondered what there was she could do. 
She was ashamed herself. Even if she considered herself a fairy doctor, in the most important moment, her inexperience was completely highlighted and stood out. 
But, if Ulysses was seriously intending to use the selkies, then that would mean that Lydiahad to be the one to do something in order for them to survive this. 

P. 262
Edgar wasn’t able to stop the selkies himself. 
And if she wasn’t able to come up with anything, everyone here won’t be able to survive. Edgar and Raven, and Mrs. Collins and Suzy, all would be washed away along with the island. 
At such an immensely heavy pressure, Lydia was starting to feel sick. 
When she nearly wobbled over, the tip of her toe touched something. She stretched out her hand to feel what it was and found out that it was some sort of box. 
It was the vanity box. The enamel design that was all around it and the touch of the coral that was like little round candies made her be sure of it. 
“Thank goodness….., it must have been washed with us.”
But, this wasn’t the time to be relieved. 
She needed to send these to the selkies who survived or they would remain in their human forms and won’t be able to return to the sea.
And then, Lydiarealized something else that worried her. 
If the two selkies from just earlier were hoping for Lydia to save them and hence they brought her here.
“That’s it, Edgar, if Ulysses wants to destroy this place, then he might be somewhere close to us….”
The sound of her voice bounced around in an echo but there was no reply from Edgar.
Why? She thought, but then all sorts of worse possible change of events came up in her mind, and sent Lydia into a panic. 

P. 263
Like that maybe Ulysses had come and captured him, or there was a hole that he feel into. Or maybe, if the one who Lydia had been talking to just now wasn’t Edgar.
“Edgar, hey, Edgar, where are you?”
Lydia bellowed out from suddenly becoming terrified. She hugged the box and walked along the wall. 
She froze her steps because she felt a presence nearby that stepped on a pebble. 
Right in front of Lydia who held her breath, the presence stopped walking. 
“I found you, Lydia.”
“A-are you really Edgar?”
“Shall I say our secret word?”
We never decided on such a thing. 
“I love you, my fairy.”
It’s him. 
He’s fooling around, she thought irritatingly, but as soon as she understood that he was here, Lydia felt like she was going to cry. 
“What is the matter? Did I surprise you?”
“Wh-why didn’t you give me a reply.”
“Because I wanted to concentrate on tracking your voice. If I opened my mouth, then I would lose the direction I worked so hard to grasp.”

P. 264
She was revealed but she wanted to cry. Voice wasn’t enough. She wanted to make sure with her whole self if it was the real him who said with his words that he would stay by her side. 
Lydia pushed those feelings aside and stepped back, then slump down weakly to sit on the floor. 
“Lydia?”
“…..Please, don’t get near me right now.”
“Right now, as in?”
“I felt so helpless.”
Lydia’s mind was so chaotic and lost that she couldn’t believe it herself at what she was saying.
“Uh-hm.”
“That’s why, right now, I think I’m acting strange. Maggie isn’t inside me anymore, but I feel that I might make an improper behavior.”
“Ohh, if it was that, then you’re welcome to fling your arms around me.”
“NO.”
“You don’t have to refuse with all your strength.”
She even thought herself that she was making a sour and cynical attitude.
This isn’t the likeable behavior of a young woman. 

P. 265
Just like Maggie, if it was a girl who could cuddle up when she wanted to, then anyone would see her as adorable. 
And while the two of them would be spending a close time with each other, then their feelings of love just might grow bigger. 
Then, if was naturally that Edgar didn’t fall in love with Lydiawho was always refusing him. 
It was a silly story for her to want him to just be serious even though she herself wasn’t trying to fall for him like Maggie. 
Being in this kind of condition, there was no way that they could become lovers. But, she just couldn’t suddenly be like Maggie. 
“Oh, but, I know that that kind of behavior doesn’t fit someone like me.”
His hand touched her shoulder. Then it traced down her arm gently and held her hand. 
“It doesn’t matter if it fits or not.”
“That doesn’t matter now, let go.”
“Just for now. It’s not like you loath this?”
When she was asked that, she really didn’t mind it that much. Edgar was only resting Lydia’s fingers in his palm. 
In the end, Lydiafell silent. 
He kept his hand on hers and suddenly opened his mouth. 

P. 266
“This isn’t bad. I can’t see anything, but I can strongly feel that you are right here with me.”
Even though she said to let go, she was showing a completely vulnerable opening. She had the faint feeling that he anticipated that she couldn’t refuse and deliberately took his chances, which left her filled with confusion.
He was a person who made sure to find an opening in her guard and sneak through it. She watched how he was seducing Maggie and found that out, but when it turned to her as his target, she didn’t know what to do. 
“Since our eyes are useless, don’t you feel like our other senses have gotten stronger?”
“……Y-you think?”
“I can tell what kind of expression you have on your face. From the tension in your fingers, and from your voice, and from how you breathe,” he explained.
A presence unseen to the eye; just by that, Lydia had the same feeling like she knew how close he was to her. 
It was a pretty bad kind of closeness. If it was a normal situation, she might be already making a run. But using the excuse that she couldn’t see, she remained in that spot. 
Probably because the tip of her hand was the only thing that was touching, so she didn’t feel any danger. 
As she tried to convince herself that, she also knew that that was wrong. 
Like he was trying to warm her finger tips that had become cold from fear, he rested the palm of his hand gently on hers. Her fingers that were strangely stiff loosened their tightness. 
Her nerves were relaxed and in the moment that her body let out the tension in her back, his delicate but strong fingers sneaked themselves over to her. 

P. 267
When he locked his hand with hers tightly, it made her want to cry again. 
“I said to not get near me.”
She stayed in the same position and didn’t shake away his hand, so it was wasn’t convincing even if she said that. 
“It isn’t improper if you relied on your fiancé.”
“But you aren’t my fiancé.”
“As long as you would allow me a kiss, then I’ll be able to convince you so quickly that I’m your fiancé.”
“If it was an easy thing like that, then you would have an endless long line of fiancées.”
“You don’t hate me, do you? When we hold each other’s hand like this and you feel comfort in that, then you just need to wish further that you want to feel even more comfortable.”
“Because you say such a thing, I have the thought that I might be a floozy girl.”
Words that should have remained insider her came slipping out of her mouth.
“So, that means you also want to kiss….”
“I don’t! That was a lie just now!”
“If you were floozy with me only, then I’ll gladly welcome it.”
Lydia didn’t know how she should continue talking. 
Maybe it wasn’t something that she had to be standing on her guard about. 
Even in the town of her childhood, the girls who were the same age as her were talking amongst themselves about how they spent time with their lovers. 

P. 268
But, Lydia didn’t feel that was it was floozy at all and was secretly envious of them. 
However, that was only if a woman were to have someone she loved from the bottom of her heart. If they were talking about how they were fooling around, she couldn’t have possibly sympathized with them. 
That’s why right now, she might have felt like she was doing to improper thing because there was no heart in-between them. 
Hers, and even Edgar’s feelings were too distance that they couldn’t possibly overlap. 
“I can’t. It’s not like I don’t want to right now, but I, I think that I’ll come to regret this. ….I’m sure I’m going to regret it later.”
“There’s nothing to reg….” he said but stopped himself like he was undecided. 
After a moment like he was thinking, she heard his whisper of ‘It’s my lose.’ She felt the air move around her with a hint of a faint confusion and surrender. 
She could tell that Edgar slowly stood up. Their hands that were connected remained together, and he pulled her arm up.
“Shall we go then.”
“Where to?”
“From the spot I was just at earlier, I was able to see faint glow in the distance. At any rate, we need to find out what our situation is.”

P. 269



They headed to the glowing light by finding the way there with their hands. 
Eventually, in the place from beyond that, they were able to tell that there was an open space that was lit up. There were rustling and bustling movements. 
It was definite that someone was there. 
Edgar and Lydia slowly and quietly creeped up to it and peered around from a tall and wide stone pillar. That space was filled with a number of lit candles, which made the space look like it was an underground catacomb.
The selkies who had their coats taken away by Ulysses were gathered in the center. 
When Lydia saw that the old woman who had rescued her was also there, and that she was laying on the ground in an awful state, like she had been tortured with a whip, Lydia didn’t think but ran out to them. 
She didn’t notice that Edgar didn’t have time to react to hold her back as he worried that Ulysses might be somewhere near. 
“Madam, oh, why did this happen. Ohh……, it’s my fault. It’s because Ulysses found out that you had let me escape.”
“……Fairy doctor, you’re alive……”
“Everyone, you all have to hurry and get out of here….”

P. 270
As she said that looking around at them, she saw that there was a rope laid out of the ground in a circle around the group of selkies. 
The rope had mistletoe embedded into it, so it was a magical barrier that sealed in the fairies. 
Ulysses must have gathered the selkies who had escaped from the fire and chained them here. The two selkies from earlier must have wanted to let Lydia know about this. 
“Hold on just a moment, I’ll break this seal right away.”
Lydia tried to untie the tied knock of the rope. But it was tied too strongly and she had a hard time. 
“Can we not cut it?”
“But, there isn’t any scissors here.”
While Lydia was replying, Edgar cut the rope with a knife.
“Oh…., thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She wondered if he thought she was a little stupid fairy doctor. 
Lydia refocused herself, and she turned to face the selkies who were slowly easing their way out from inside the rope. 
“Your coats are here. Go ahead and take yours.”
She opened the lid of the box in front of them as they erupted in a happily loud commotion. 

P. 271
The selkies didn’t fight for who went first as each one of them took out one clear blue ball one at a time. The old woman too, as she was supported by one of her kind took hers and held it dearly in her hands. 
When the box became empty, Lydia realized something.
“Ermine’s is not here.”
There was so sign of any coats left. Which means, oh, no, it might have burned….
“Her coat is in the hands of Ulysses,” said the old woman. 
“What, so she’s alive then. Thank goodness…..”
She relaxed in relief and looked over to Edgar, but he had on a troubled expression. She was alive, but that meant she was still in the grasp of Ulysses. 
From his place, he moved over in an unnatural way to stand behind Lydia. And he suddenly said:
“Lydia, don’t turn around.”
Huh? She turned around without thinking.
At the same time, a pillar that had something bloody tied to it jumped into her eyes. 
Edgar steadied her as she was able to fall over and hid the pillar away from her sight, but what she saw was burned into her mind. 
“Wh…..what?”

P. 272
“Most likely, Sir Stanley and Sir Clark.”
“Ar-are they dead?”
“No more than they could be.”
“But I’m going to have everyone die anyways,” interrupted a chilling voice that echoed around them. 
When she looked around, she saw that Ulysses came walking slowly down on the stone stairways that was located in the back of the space.
“Those two were sacrifices. I wanted to taint this place as much as I could.”
The ones he brought with him were the two selkies from earlier and Ermine. And he had a pistol pointed to the back of Ermine. 
“But I have to say, did I ever give the order to bring the two of them here?” he glared over to the two selkies. And then he looked over to Edgar.
“Lord, if this woman didn’t have an injury, then I wanted to have her fight you one more time, but that looks impossible.”
She indeed looked to be barely able to stand on her feet.
“Then why don’t you let her go. You should be satisfied with directly confronting me.”
“Personally, I do have the wish to do that. But I do have to complete the more important order that I was given, so I can’t let my feelings get the best of me,” said Ulysses in a suggestive manner as he pulled Ermine closer to himself.

P. 273
“She only the use of being killed right in front of your eyes.”
When Ulysses stopped in the middle of the stairway, he made Ermine grip the pistol.
“Now, you at least to shoot yourself, can’t you?”
Ermine silently followed his wish and turned to point the gun at herself.
“What do you think you’re doing, you coward!” yelled Lydia, but it didn’t seem to hurt or even scratch Ulysses.
In that moment, Ermine turned her body around. She didn’t have her usual speed and grace, but it was plenty to wrap her arms around Ulysses all the way onto his back and pointed the gun to his neck.
“You, you shouldn’t be able to go against me…”
That was true. So why?
“Just like you ordered, I shall pull this trigger. It will go through your throat and into mine….”
Before she finished what she was saying, she leaned her head over towards Ulysses like she was going to kiss his neck and was about to pull the trigger. 
“Raven, stop her!”
In that second, a shadow jumped down from above. 

P. 274
The sound of gunfire echoed against the walls and it was so loud that it hurt to listen.
Ermine slumped down onto the stairs like she was sitting down. However, Ulysses remained standing as he had just stopped Raven’s knife with his saber. 
If Ulysses was alive, then the bullet shouldn’t have grazed Ermine either. But, even so there wasn’t a second to relax.
The selkies that had to protect Ulysses jumped to attack Raven from behind.
In the moment Raven leaped back, Ulysses attempted to escape.
Edgar ran up the stairs as he yelled “Take the gem that’s on his ear!”
Raven kicked away the selkies and turned over to Ulysses and threw his knife.
That sliced Ulysses’ ear. The small gemstone shined as it fell to the ground. 
It had the faint blue color of the ocean. Was that an aquamarine?
Lydia remembered about the pendant that was hanging around her neck. It was an aquamarine that was passed down from her mother, and her mother from her grandmother, and from all the past generations. She heard that there were many people in her mother’s relatives that became fairy doctors. 
The one that was in Lydia’s possession right now, could also be….
It was a little too late for Lydia to realize that she needed to pick up the gemstone that Ulysses dropped at the foot of the stairs. 

P. 275
If a piece of a human ear wasn’t attached to it, she thought she wouldn’t have hesistated, but Ulysses came down in one jump a second before Lydia who ran over to get it and picked it up into his hand. 
She stopped her run right before she was nearly going to crash into him, but Ulysses gave her a grin and grabbed Lydia’s arm. 
“Lydia!”
She could sense that Edgar was coming after them, but Ulysses pulled Lydia’s arm and dash to escape into the dark, depths of the underground cave.


Like he was used to it, Ulysses was able to get out of the maze-like place. 
When they went up the stairs, they were on top of the hill. 
Under the cloud-filled gray sky, they could hear the rumbling sound of the rough waves. It seemed like the selkies’ rath had become even deeper and the waves were so violent and rough that they were splashing up close to the top of the hill they were on, making the air around them filled with drizzling rain. 
Right in the middle of the top of that hill, there was a pile of firework that was lit and was burning a large fire. 
“Take a look,” said Ulysses who dragged Lydia near the fire so that they came to a place where they could look out over the ocean around them. He didn’t look like he cared about his ear that had a portion cut off and still made blood oozing down his cheek. 
“If you consider yourself a fairy doctor, you can tell right? This is unstoppable now.”
“I’m not considering. I am a fairy doctor.”

P. 276
Lydia glared at him as hard as she could. 
“With just my will, I can wish for this island to be engulfed in the sea. Hah, hah, fun, I can’t wait.”
“Because it is Prince’s orders? Don’t you have pride as a fairy doctor? No, you’re not a fairy doctor at all. Fairy doctor’s are the friend of fairies. That’s why even though they are human, they are given the power that can open them up to their magic. …I will not forgive you. I won’t let this turn out as you hoped!”
“You’re so energetic. But what is there that you can do? Just having the eyes that can see fairies, doesn’t make you useful at all.”
From one of his pockets, he took out a half-clear colored ball. 
“This is the last one. You all grieve over yourselves for getting involved with him.”
Ulysses was about to throw in the selkie fur coat into the fire. 
But then, Edgar came running up from behind him to stop him by slamming himself into the young man’s back. 
As he fought and knocked Ulysses down, he tried to get the selkie coat. Then it fell out of Ulysses’ hand. But one of them rolled into the fire. 
Right in front of Lydia’s eyes as she stood in a daze, Edgar striked down Ulysses and ran over to scatter and put out the burning firewood by kicking it with his foot. 
From the still burning hot ashes, he scooped up the coat. 

P. 277 
“Well, well, even if you go so far and try to rescue those fairies, there’s no point in it, it isn’t like you to put your efforts in something so useless,” said Ulysses, in a stubborn attempt to be firm and self-assured as he got up onto his feet and whipped off the blood from his cut lip.
“I’m the Earl of the Fairy land. It’s natural for me to protect the thing that my fairy doctor would protect.”
“You make me laugh. No more does the Blue Knight Earl exist in England country. And there aren’t any more decent fairy doctors. No matter what name you use, there is no power that can stop the selkies,” he said and held out the aquamarine out to the sea.
“Now, come here. You selkies.”
Lydia jumped around to look out towards the sea, and saw that the groups of selkies were starting to move. 
The surface of the ocean rose up like a mountain. The first wave was coming towards them. 
She had to do something. 
Lydia repeated to herself that it was fine, her mother was by her side. And, Edgar, who acknowledged that she was a fairy doctor was by her side. 
There aren’t any decent fairy doctors. That may be true, but if this aquamarine was a selkie’s heart, then right now, Lydia should have the same amount of power as Ulysses had. 
But what if it was just an ordinary aquamarine? If so, then although it was a shame, everything would be over. 

P. 278
But still, Lydia mustered up as much courage as she had, and she gripped her mother’s aquamarine and then held it out towards the sea.
“Listen, selkies! I am the fairy doctor of the Blue Knight Earl! Please do not destroy the earl’s fortress. I swear by this ‘heart’ that I will accept all of your 
sorrows!”
“A heart….., why would a girl like you….?”
She was able to hear Ulysses’ whisper. 
But the wave kept on rolling towards them and instantly thundered up the hill.
The bubbling water currents came towards her direction. 
Lydia!”
Edgar held out his hand to her as he was hanging onto a tree. She struggled to reach her hand to take his, but Ulysses grabbed a fist-full of her hair. Without letting go, she slipped under the waters with him. 
Pushed by the current, Lydia was sucked own into the water and struggled to kick herself up for air but saw that Ulysses was reaching over to take away her pendant.
No. I’d rather die than let you take it. 
Lydia resisted as hard as she could. 
But, I can’t…. Just when she thought she was at her limit, something came up to them and slammed itself against Ulysses. 
Selkie….?

P. 279

P. 280
And then she realized it. She could breathe even under water. She had slipped into the fairy realm. 



That was a different world that was lay atop but separated from the ocean of the human world. 
A number of selkies made Ulysses back down by circling around Lydia as they swan slowly in the water. 
It was the selkies that Lydia protected their coats for.
The water was filled with light and the selkies’ coats had air bubbles in them which made them reflect the ocean and make them have the same light blue color. 
“Are you going against me, selkies.”
“We no longer have a reason to obey you.”
Said a selkie that had a particularly large build, and Lydia was able to tell with one glance that it was the old woman. 
She was a short height when in human form, but perhaps because she lived a long life as a fairy, her natural form had a bold and magnificent presence. 
“I have this ‘heart’ with me. I can inflict everlasting pain to all of your kind.”
“She also has a ‘heart.’ There is also the new Blue Knight Earl. As one of our friends, she will shoulder our pain with us.”
She gracefully swam through the water since she retrieved her coat and her injures from when she was in human form had completely healed.
 

P. 281
“That Blue Knight Earl isn’t true heir,” said Ulysses in a snarling laugh. 
“No, he is real. He is the earl that the merrows accepted.”
Lydia couldn’t lose either. 
(We thought that they had all disappeared. The Blue Knight Earl and the fairy doctors that were here and there in the old days and the humans who we had trusted.)
The voice came from the group that was swirling around them in the distance. 
“This little chit doesn’t have the power of a fairy doctor like they had in the past. Even if she had a heart with her, it isn’t like she’s able to save all of you. Don’t make me laugh.”
Calling me little chit, you look like a little boy yourself.
“If you go against me, there will be no hope for your kind!”
To Ulysses’ strong tone of voice, the selkies had a nervous look, but in the end no one moved. 
(The new Blue Knight Earl’s fairy doctor.)
(Can the new Blue Knight Earl be trusted?)
Well, I wouldn’t recommend doing it, she sort of thought. 
“If you would trust me even just a little, then I would like to ask if your kind would not destroy the earl’s charm that’s on that island. Both the earl and I are your allies. Even if we don’t have the power like they did in the past, we promise that.”

P. 282
(Fairy doctor, we selkies cannot exist without a human friend. We shall make you, who had put so much effort for our kind as our hope.)
At the same time, the heave of the sea stopped. 
Ulysses made a tsk.
“Fairy fools, you will come to regret this.”
With those last words, he disappeared.
She wondered if he had the power to back and forth between the fairy realm freely on his own. The selkies had angered that kind of person, but had called Lydia as their hope and friend. 
(Fairy doctor, the earl’s fortress has already gotten unpurified. We cannot guarantee if it has any strength left.)
(You must return now. Your guide has arrived.)
After they said that, the swarm of selkies created a cloud of bubbles in the water, and swam away from Lydia into the distance. 
She saw Nico coming in her direction, and he must have been stubborn about walking on his hind legs, that he came trodding on them even in the water. 
She was revealed that he came for her, but when she saw how he came in such an arrogant manner, it made her furious at the same time. 
“Nico! How dare you abandon me all by myself!”
“I felt bad about that. You can see that’s why I came to take you home.”
The roads in the fairy realm weaved and winded so obscure that it wasn’t rare for humans who happed to fall into them to remain lost and wandering through them forever.

P. 283
She really wanted to say the bold thing that she could go back herself, but she thought that was probably impossible, so Lydia just mumbled 
“Fine.”
“”Don’t be so angry. I really was so starving that I could nearly die.”
“I was more close to dying!”
“That was, oh, fine, when we get back, I’ll let you rub the fur on my belly.”
Huhh? That isn’t pleasing at all. 
But, for Nico to say that as he fumbled with his necktie in an embarrassed way, it was his highest self-sacrificing method to soothe down Lydia’s anger. 
Now that she remembered, when she was a young child, rubbing her cheek against Nico’s belly was one of her favorite things to do. 
After her mother passed away and she was feeling lonely and crying, Nico would say oh, fine, then and let her borrow his belly. 
But, it wasn’t like she was a child anymore. 
She was nearly going to laugh, but she thought she still might be a child. 
She couldn’t do anything on her own. But, if there was a fairy who supported her, and if there was some person by her side, then she could still continue working her hardest. 
She had her hand pulled by Nico as they elevated upwards, she noticed that there was one particular selkie that remained with her. 
 
P. 284
It was that old woman selkie. And she handed a round ball that had the same color as water. 
“This, is it perhaps Ermine’s?”
“That child does not have the mind set of a selkie yet. But some day, there might be a day when she gets back her coat and wishes to return to the sea. Until then, please take care of her.”
Lydia nodded with a serious face, and the old female selkie looked relieved and swam away. 
At her feet, where the sea was so low and dark, the selkies gathered to swim in a circle. 
For a blink of a moment, Lydia thought she saw that vanity box. 
A small little selkie was carrying it as it played around in the swimming in the water. 
Teresa, is that you?
Even if she didn’t have the memory when she was a human, if one’s precious memories were to never disappear, then..
That was sure to be carved in the deepest part of one’s soul.

***

P. 285
In the town of Hastings, where the white beach spread out on against the sea, the peak of the summer that only lasted a few days passed by, and the number of the crowds of people started to dwindle and disappear. 
The England summers were short, and go by in hardly any time at all. Even if the sun beamed down hard, when people started to feel that the sunset was coming down much faster than usual, it wasn’t long till the orange colored light filled the sky with the season of autumn. 
Lydia was alone, walking along the beach as she looked out into the sea. 
After the fire of Mrs. Collins’ country estate, the one stream of events ended with the disappearance of three people. 
Ulysses must be alive, but he didn’t show himself after that. 
The wave of the selkies crumbled one part of the hill and she heard that there was no one left inside the remains of the building. The selkies said they didn’t know if there was any power left in it, but that was something Lydia, and even Edgar, didn’t know, and it remained unclear if the Blue Knight Earl’s evil-repelling charm was protected. 
But, for Ulysses, it must have came out as a failure, and Edgar seemed to think that that alone was worth something. 
Mrs. Collins and Suzy went back to Manchester. 
The madam still looked like her mind was still half-floating in a dream, but it seemed like she had accepted Lydia as a nice young miss who kind enough to spend time with her in place of her daughter. She didn’t mention the name of Teresa, and she was showing the concern and consideration towards Suzy like a good guardian, so one could hope that she was slowly returning back to reality. 

P. 286
In the end, the island, and the people who were on it, managed to not be swept away. 
Of course, Lydia knew that she didn’t manage that on her own. 
She was helped out by so many others and because she was supported, she was able to win her chance. 
And just being able to know that, she felt she had grown much more of a better fairy doctor. 
“Lydia, here you were.”
Lydia noticed Edgar as he walked over towards her as he smiled happily, and she flinched in reflex. 
When Edgar was in a good mood, you had to be careful. Even when he wasn’t you should be careful, but since he had a smile on himself, people couldn’t help but let their guard down, so it was extremely dangerous for Lydia.
“If you were going to go on a walk, then you could have let me know.”
“But, you were in the middle of something.”
She tried to say it as coldly as she could. When she came out of the hotel, she saw him flirting with some noblewoman.
“There isn’t any kind of business that is worth refusing your invitation,” he worked out an excuse without changing his smile. 
What a good talker. Lydia was appalled as she kept on walking. 

P. 287
“Please don’t be so cold to me. During the three days you were missing, do you know how much I was worried? I was pacing up and down the beach day and night.”
That was, apparently true, as Raven had even been saying that. During the short amount of time according to her knowledge that Lydia was away and came back from the fairy realm, it seemed that in the human realm, three days had gone by. 
“But, didn’t Nico tell you that it will be all right since he would be coming to take me back.”
“But I still couldn’t rest easy until I was able to see your face.”
Well, she did feel sorry about that part, and so Lydia slowed down her walking pace. 
Edgar walked up next to her and naturally took the parasol out of Lydia’s hand. To be walking along side a man who had a woman’s day umbrella in his hand, completely looked like they were announcing that they were a pair of couples no matter how you looked at it. 
But when she realized that, it was already too late, as she felt he wouldn’t give back her umbrella no matter what and so she gave up. 
“Did you make sure and keep Ermine’s with you?”
“I have it. If she got her hands on that, she would lost her memories of when she was a human and become a selkie completely, right?”
She decided that Edgar should be the one to manage the item that she was entrusted by the old woman. Since Edgar knew about Ermine more than anyone else. 
“Although I don’t know if things will be all right like this,” she said.

P. 288
“Let’s think about it slowly.”
More importantly, said Edgar with a grin. 
“It’s such a quiet beach and we’re having such a nice mood, so why don’t we fold arms.”
“I don’t want to. If you want to do that, then why don’t you take a walk with that woman from earlier.”
“Just to let you know, when I would meet my female cousin-”
“Like that is highly possible.”
“-that’s the kind of light kiss I would give her.”
“Kiss? You kissed her?”
“Huh, ….that wasn’t why you were angry?”
“Unbelievable!”
Lydia snapped at him and returned to fast-walking again. 
Blurting out the mistake himself, he rolled his eyes to the sky for an instant, but quickly pulled himself together and followed after her.
“Lydia, that’s because you wouldn’t allow it with you. Are you saying that I shouldn’t kiss for the rest of my life?”
“It wouldn’t kill you if you didn’t!”
“It might kill me.”
If it was a man like you, yes. She couldn’t deny the possibility. But even so, he was unbelievable. 
“Go and do whatever you please.”

P. 289
That’s right, this isn’t something that I should be angry about. But, it still made her irritated. 
“I’m starting to loose confidence,” he murmured in a way like he was depressed. 
“I’m not able to grab your heart, so I was beginning to feel like I didn’t know what to do,”
Ohh, I can’t let his act of pretending to be lonely fool me. Even as Lydiawarned herself, she turned to look around just a bit. 
“That’s why I wanted to make sure,”
“A-about what.”
“When it comes to the point of time, if I can properly kiss or not.”
“Huh….? The point of time….?”
“When you would allow me.”
I knew it, he was joking around. 
“Oh, Lydia, let’s walk more slowly. Since the sound of the waves and the blow of the wind feels so calm and peaceful.”
“I’m enjoying taking a walk by myself.”
She pointed her chin in the opposite direction of him. 
“Oh, well, if it isn’t Mr. Palmer.”
Lydia noticed there was someone walking towards them from the other direction. The earl imposter, for some strange reason, acted so friendly by taking and shaking Edgar’s hand. 

P. 290
“Why, good day, my lord,” greeted Edgar, sarcastically. 
“Oh, please don’t poke fun at me. You are such a bad character. How could I have possibly guessed that you were the real Earl Ashenbert.”
And then, suddenly he straighted himself from his loose attitude. 
“Lord Earl, the reply from the London newspaper company came back, and thankfully, I was able to get my share of earnings. When I return back over there, I’ll look for a good, proper job.”
“That would be nice.”
And then, he turned over to Lydia and made a pleasant smile. 
“Teresa, oh, right, you weren’t her. Miss. Lydia, from now on, there won’t be anymore inconsiderate gossip articles written about the earl. Once it spreads out that he has someone special to his heart, then there won’t be any more insolent people who would use his name and fool around with women.”
Lydia had a bad feeling.
“……Wait, now, Edgar, what is the meaning of this?”
“Palmer, don’t say such a needless thing.”
“Ohhh, forgive me. Well, if you would excuse me now.”
Palmer took his exit and quickly left. 

P. 291
“The word about someone special to your heart?”
“Just to explain, he was in some trouble with money, so I said it would be all right for him to talk to the press about us.”
Which means, they were sold to the gossip papers?
“Are you saying that he talked about me?”
“A romance about the Blue Knight Earl and a Fairy doctor. Isn’t it poetic? You say that the reason were aren’t rumored about is because we don’t suit each other, but now, thanks to this, it would make a proper rumor.”
Edgar had now taken a suddenly defiant, proud attitude. 
“It will be next week when Professor Carlton would be coming back from Paris. Since the Londonpeople are quick to become bored, they would have forgotten about our rumor by then. We had made it so that the hired housekeeper at your house was told that you were taking a long outing, that’s why, we should spend some more time as just the two of us here. Wouldn’t you think it’s best that it’s best not to return to Londonright in the middle of a heated rumor?”
Lydia was now, so past the point of rage, then she could only slump her shoulders. 
She was planning on making him agree to annulling their engagement, but now she felt like she had a even taller fence built around her.
But inside Lydia, the feelings of denial had become much weaker than how they were so strong and bent before. 
She couldn’t picture herself in marriage. Of course, she couldn’t see Edgar as a fiancé. But he had something that Lydia didn’t have and he also replenished it to her. She was even beginning to feel like she wanted to get to know him better just a little bit. 
 
P. 292
But that could also be just a part of his anticipated plan. 
“I really like the sea. It reminds me of my mother.”
Instead of making a reply, Lydia walked over to the waves that washed up to shore. The crest of the foamy waves, which soaked in a faint sepia color sort of appeared lonely as it washed and wrapped around her shadow. 
“Lydia, you know how you said you didn’t wish it because you would only regret it….”
She wasn’t able to completely hear Edgar who said that in like a faint whisper a little distance away. 
“Huh, did you say something?”
Edgar made a soft smile. 
“At that time, I suddenly lost my confidence. I wasn’t able to say that I wouldn’t make you regret. If it were to help make you accept me, it wouldn’t be words or something like a kiss, …..I don’t know what it would be.”
His voice mixed with the sound of the waves. But his eyes that gazed at her, looked like they were in sorrow and longing for something, and it made Lydia unwillingly beat her heart. 
“Hey, what is it?”
He twirled the day umbrella which was made with a transparent lace designed with small flower patterns on it, as he walked over to Lydia and he held out a faint pink shell to show her. 
“How pretty. When did you have the time to find it?”

P. 293
He handed it to her, and then, he took her hand in a little awkward way, like he was touching her for the very first time. 
“Ahh, I can’t believe this is as much as I can do.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nothing.”
He held her hand as he continued walking. 
Still a little nervous, Lydia couldn’t deny herself in feeling comfort in doing what they were doing.
She didn’t dislike Edgar’s hand. 
She felt a little guilt in feeling that. 
I wonder if I should be doing such a thing while Father is away. 
I’m sorry. But I have a feeling like Mother is smiling down at me. 
The aquamarine she wore that dangled down onto her chest relected the sunset light that was shined and soaked Lydia’s cheek and appeared like it was shining with a faint orange glow.

End