About ten seconds passed. Flora still had her back to them, but now her hands relaxed, her body relaxed, and she remained silent. The sunlight fell on her, warm, but not just warm. But she felt something stuck in her chest, heavy.
“Let’s go.” Ilya’s voice sounded beside her, gentle yet reminding.
Flora didn’t move, still standing dazedly. She listened to the footsteps behind her growing farther and fainter, until they disappeared into the cemetery. Only then did Flora softly hum an acknowledgment.
She glanced at Ilya holding her hand, then took a step and moved forward.
After a dozen or so steps, she couldn’t help but look back. In the distance, she saw Eileen crouching in front of a tombstone, reaching out to pull weeds beside it, her movements exactly the same as Flora’s had been.
Kaan stood beside her, head bowed. Flora watched for a long time, but she didn’t stop walking. Then she turned back and continued forward.
Ilya walked beside her, saying nothing.
While walking, Flora suddenly spoke.
“Mother.”
“Mm.”
“At the cemetery earlier… were you… praying?”
Ilya was silent for two seconds.
“No.” Ilya answered firmly.
Flora was taken aback.
“Just stood there for a while.” Ilya interrupted her, not letting her continue.
“Then you…”
Flora looked at her. Ilya’s profile in the sunlight was calm. But Flora clearly remembered how she had stood in front of the tombstone.
Her eyes closed, eyelashes trembling slightly, lips moving faintly. That was definitely not “just stood there for a while.” Should she ask again? No, she wouldn’t.
After walking a bit further, Flora suddenly said, “They probably won’t realize we came here, nor will they know we saw that tombstone.”
Flora didn’t know why she was bringing this up again.
“Mm.” Ilya didn’t ask why she said it again, just gave a soft reply.
“Even if they do, they won’t know who left it.” Flora said another line.
“Mm.”
“Oh, and one more thing.” Flora quickly added, her steps hurrying a bit as she walked ahead of Ilya. It seemed she had originally wanted to say something, but suddenly forgot what it was, so she rambled again about whether they’d be discovered.
“My dear daughter, tell me, what is it?”
For some reason, Ilya looked at Flora’s face, her tone no longer calm but very gentle, with a teasing feel.
“Huh, Mother, what’s wrong with you? Why are you talking like that…”
At first, Flora was a bit startled and confused. But halfway through her sentence, Ilya’s finger suddenly tapped lightly on Flora’s cheek, then gently slid down, finally softly cupping Flora’s chin.
For some reason, she didn’t pull away. Flora’s body tingled from the sliding finger, but she didn’t withdraw.
“M-Mother?” Flora said, trembling.
Ilya’s finger still rested on Flora’s chin, the pad lightly touching her skin. A trace of mana silently seeped from Ilya’s finger into Flora’s skin.
“Mm.”
Flora suddenly felt dizzy for a moment, then a bit better. She tried to steady herself, but soon her legs felt weaker and weaker, becoming soft and limp.
Ilya said nothing, just smiled.
“Mm, what are you doing!”
Suddenly, Flora felt all strength leave her body. She leaned forward and collided into Ilya. She thought something bad would happen, but actually nothing did. Ilya caught her steadily.
“What is this…” Flora said weakly, but her eyes remained open, clearly seeing Ilya’s face.
“What do you think?” Ilya said with a smile, but she didn’t give Flora any time to react. Her right hand supported Flora’s legs, and she lifted her up.
“Of course… playing a little prank, and then… suddenly wanting to spoil our little princess.”
Ilya laughed happily, happier than ever. As she was lifted, Flora felt her strength return.
‘Flora was speechless inside. What’s wrong with Ilya? What sudden madness was this?’
“Mother, are you going to keep carrying me?”
“Of course. What else?”
“Put me down. I didn’t fall and lose my strength. You’re carrying me.”
“No can do~ Our little princess has been walking for so many days. Now she’s just out of strength and needs to be carried. The little princess just needs to lie still, close her eyes, and not say a word.”
Ilya’s voice was filled with deep happiness and excitement, and she had already started walking forward.
‘Walked for so many days? What kind of logic is that? And her losing strength was clearly your doing. Did Ilya get mentally confused last night? She was fine just now, handling things, and now this?’
Flora remained silent.
“Allow me to say one more thing. Just now I didn’t even finish my sentence before you did this.” Flora’s tone was helpless, but she obediently closed her eyes.
“Mm, go ahead.”
“Let’s go back to the inn first. I originally wanted to go see a river now, but we ran into Eileen and them. I’m afraid if we go now, we’ll run into them again, so let’s go back first and check out the river in the afternoon.”
“Then we’ll go back to the inn. Whatever you say.” Ilya said with a smile.
“When do you plan to put me down?” Flora still lay quietly in Ilya’s arms, eyes closed.
“Of course I’ll carry you back to the inn. I’ll put you down when we get to the room.”
“You’re just going to carry me like this, walking down the street, being seen by all kinds of passersby? If you’re not embarrassed, I am.”
“So what? Isn’t it comfortable being carried?”
Flora shut her mouth, said nothing more, and lay quietly in Ilya’s arms.
‘This is really strange.’
Back in the inn room, Flora was finally “gently” put down by Ilya. Flora collapsed directly onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. She had no idea how she had gotten back to the inn.
She only remembered being carried by Ilya all the way back, eyes closed the entire time, hearing only Ilya’s footsteps and the voices of people on the roadside.
The voices were blurry, she couldn’t make out what they said, but she could feel people looking at them, people talking about them. She didn’t open her eyes.
She dared not face those gazes, because it was really, really embarrassing. A girl being carried by another woman down the street—that was strange no matter where.
If she opened her eyes and saw the looks from passersby, she might be so embarrassed that she couldn’t help but ask Ilya to put her down.