Chapter 58

"Stone?"

When Hylg Papa tilted his head, Hairilis said angrily,

"It's the stone I gave you before! The stone that's the same color as my eyes! It's very beautiful, and I thought humans value such stones, so I gave it to Hylg. Every time I see it, I want you to think of me... That's what I thought! But Hylg gave it to Snowlea!"

"Terrible!" Hairilis cried, sobbing loudly.

The wind grew stronger again.

"Yellow-green stone... Is it the one Milfuria had stored away?"

As Mother murmured, I also remembered the stone. In the depths of my treasure pile in the burrow, there is indeed a large stone that looks like a gemstone.

The stone that Hylg Papa gave to Mother as a gift was one that Mother refused to accept, so I took it instead.

However, I never imagined it was originally a gift from Hairilis to Hylg Papa.

I suddenly looked at the beautiful red stone on my white chest fur, which is part of the necklace Kugal gave me.

This stone is the same color as Kugal's eyes.

If I gave this to another boy, Kugal would be very sad, and like Hairilis, he might get angry and attack the boy.

Similarly, Hairilis was deeply hurt to find the stone she had given in the home of her love rival, Mother. This was the main cause of her jealousy, leading her to lose her mind and control her power.

While Father was still lying there, it was unclear whether he was sleeping or awake, Mother, Kugal, and I all glared at Hylg Papa.

"Wait, wait, wait! Yellow-green stone? Yes, I did give it to Snowlea a year ago... But it had been rolling around in my home for decades before that."

"But I gave it to you decades ago! How could you forget that!"

Hairilis cried, and Hylg Papa hurriedly apologized.

"S-Sorry...!"

Hylg Papa is rather careless, for better or worse. He didn't notice Hairilis's delicate feelings, and the sincere gift had probably slipped from his memory.

But perhaps that's just how spirits are. They don't attach to things and probably don't have much interest in gems.

Mother had also forgotten that the yellow-green stone was a gift from Hylg Papa.

Thinking about it, Hairilis doesn't seem very spirit-like. Her burning love for Hylg Papa looks no different from that of a human girl.

I was originally human, so I'm not as emotionally detached or indifferent as spirits. Therefore, I felt a sense of kinship with Hairilis.

Of course, she's not a former human, but I feel we could get along well.

"To give something received from another to me... What a ridiculous creature."

After scolding Hylg Papa, Mother also said to Hairilis,

"But you should know Hylg's character. If you still like him, don't let such a small matter upset you. And don't involve me."

Mother tightened her hold on me.

"I am different from the past; I have a child. If you had hurt Milfuria this time, I wouldn't have forgiven you."

Hearing this, Hairilis looked at me for the first time with a proper expression. There was reason and a sense of guilt, but still jealousy.

It might not be easy to let go, but Mother shouldn't have any complex feelings toward me.

Because I—

"First of all, as I've said from the beginning, Milfuria is not Hylg's child. She is the child I had with Wotlast."

Mother put into words what I was thinking.

"Wotlast...?"

Hairilis blinked and looked at Father. When their eyes met, she shuddered.

"Really, not Hylg's child? But what about the other one? The one with Snowlea?"

She shifted her gaze from me to Kugal.

Hylg Papa laughed heartily and answered.

"Snowlea kept rejecting me! The one who accepted was Daphne! A spirit of the earth!"

"Daphne? The child of Daphne?"

Hairilis seemed to recognize the name. She might know her.

"Right, wait here."

Hylg Papa placed Kugal on the snow and disappeared, returning shortly.

However, when he reappeared enveloped in flames, he was not alone; a tall woman stood beside him.

She was a beautiful woman with a languid air.

Her hair, eyebrows, and long lashes appeared black in the dark but might be dark brown in daylight.

Her warm, dark brown eyes were gently drooping, and her lips were thick. She had long limbs but a feminine, curvaceous figure, and her skin was darker than Hylg Papa's, like melted chocolate, looking sweet.

"Hylg... What's this all of a sudden?"

As she pushed back her wavy long hair, the woman in a black long dress noticed the spirits around her.

"Oh, it's rare to see so many spirits gathered in one place. And they're all such uncooperative ones—Hylg, Snowlea, Wotlast, and Hairilis."

The woman looked at each of us in turn and made a tired face.

I had a hunch.

This woman is probably the most sensible among the spirits.