Chapter 57

"Hyliris!"

Hilg Papa reached Hyliris and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her vigorously as she appeared to have lost consciousness.

(Is she okay?)

Since there was a significant difference in their builds, with Hyliris being much smaller, her head was being shaken violently back and forth.

"Hyliris! Calm down! Can you hear me?! Hey, Hyliris! Hey!"

"Father, her neck might come off."

Pointed out by Kugaru, Hilg Papa finally stopped his hands.

"Oh!"

"Ugh..."

Hyliris looked nauseous, as if her head was spinning, but thanks to Hilg Papa, the wind had stopped.

"Hyliris, are you okay?"

This time, he carefully controlled his strength, lowered his voice, and gently tapped her cheek.

"Umm... Hilg?"

"Yeah, it's me."

Hyliris, who now had Hilg Papa in her sight, seemed to have regained her composure. Her eyebrows relaxed, and the light returned to her peridot-like green eyes. They were pure and very beautiful. Her golden hair, which had been whipped by the wind, had settled on her shoulders, but the ends still stuck out in all directions, as they always did.

"Hyliris, why did you do this?"

"I..."

The sight of the half-naked Hilg Papa and the lightly dressed Hyliris facing each other in the snow was somewhat out of place. Neither of them seemed to be cold. Mother, thinking it was safe, slowly approached Hyliris while still holding me.

"Have you come to your senses?"

"Snowlea..."

When Mother called out, Hyliris raised her head and showed a complex expression. Anger, sadness, and hatred—these emotions were certainly there, but a more fitting description of Hyliris' feelings towards Mother was envy and jealousy.

"You started this, Hyliris. Why did you attack Snowlea? And the children too..."

When Hilg Papa accused her, Hyliris lowered her head and closed her mouth. Mother was the one who spoke up instead.

"You are mistaken, Hyliris."

"Mistaken!?"

Hyliris looked at Mother with a pained expression.

"What do you mean, mistaken! Snowlea and Hilg... they had children together! Two of them!"

Despite being exhausted, she threw a tantrum and shouted in a high, girlish voice.

"Four years? Five years? You were just traveling around the world for a bit, and they got ahead of you!"

"Wait, what are you talking about?"

"I know you won't believe me, but you must clearly deny it, Hilg. She mistook Milfuria and 'that black one' as our children."

Mother looked at me and Kugaru in turn before speaking to Hilg Papa.

"Why would she make such a mistake?"

"It's not a mistake! I know it! Hilg has always liked Snowlea and has been trying to have children with her. And those two children are almost the same age! It's only natural to think that Hilg and Snowlea mated if they had children at the same time."

"There's no way I would mate with that sweaty guy!"

Mother, perhaps irritated by the conversation, interjected. It seemed that Hyliris liked Hilg Papa.

But Hilg Papa liked Mother. Hyliris must have known this and had been jealous for a long time. This time, she must have realized the existence of me and Kugaru and jumped to the conclusion that the two had mated, leading to an explosion of jealousy towards Mother.

"At first, she sent me a letter."

Mother began to explain the sequence of events. Father seemed to have lost interest and closed his eyes—though I doubt he was sleeping at such a crucial moment in this love triangle—but I listened carefully.

Before I went on my errand, a letter had flown to Snowlea Mountain, which turned out to be a challenge from Hyliris. The content was something like:

"You and Hilg mated! I won't forgive you! We'll settle who Hilg belongs to tomorrow! Be prepared!"

Mother, finding it ridiculous, tore it up. After I left on my errand, Hyliris came here, and the battle began. Mother must have tried to reason with Hyliris at first, but Hyliris didn't believe her. Mother, not being the most patient, must have eventually fought back. This means they battled for about two days, which explains the heavy snowfall.

However, Hyliris seemed to have been rational at first. She managed to control her strength, which allowed the battle to last so long. The fact that she sent a challenge letter and gave Mother a day to prepare shows that she wasn't initially crazy.

"I didn't want to kill Snowlea. She's a rival in love, but I didn't hate her that much. After all, Snowlea is kind and even took care of me when I was young, right? She brought me to Hydelyn."

Hyliris turned her face away from Mother as she continued.

"I didn't intend to kill the two children either. I didn't mean to hurt them. I just wanted to tease them with fairies. I swear."

Hyliris, who had been explaining in a weak voice, choked up and her shoulders trembled.

"But..."

Her voice faltered, and tears began to stream down her large, yellow-shadowed eyes.

"But as I fought Snowlea, I started thinking about things like whether Hilg likes her long hair or her white skin... Ugh..."

Transparent tears fell from her eyes, one after another.

"Snowlea is beautiful even when she's angry, and she has bigger breasts than me... Sniff..."

It was rude to think this while Hyliris was crying, but I couldn't help but compare Mother's impressive chest to Hyliris' flat one. Hyliris, well... she's slender and thin... so it can't be helped. Right?

"Thinking about these things made me feel incredibly sad, and it became hard to control my strength. But I knew I had to do something, so I hid in the hole where Snowlea lives... and then—"

Hyliris' face contorted, and the tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes overflowed. She then shouted at Hilg Papa like a child.

"The stone I gave to Hilg was there!!"