Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 53

[Translation By Divinity]

Lilliana looked down at the fireball she had created, then turned her gaze to Damian. Her eyes seemed to hold many meanings, but her words were brief.

“Do you believe me now?”

Lilliana’s heart pounded. It was the first time she had shown or spoken about such things to anyone other than her family. She was so nervous that cold sweat ran down her back.

But Damian’s reaction was different from what she had expected. He sat blankly for a moment, then quickly shook his head.

“No.”

“Why?!”

Lilliana pointed at Damian, exasperated.

“I showed you this, so you should believe me!”

“But there could be some kind of device I don’t know about…”

“You’re so suspicious! Do I look like a scammer to you?”

“That’s not it, but it’s a bit much to ask me to believe this all of a sudden…”

“Then what do I have to do to make you believe me?! Tell me!”

“Lilliana, if you keep making noise, you’ll wake up Asher. And if he wakes up, it won’t just be a nagging session.”

Damian’s remark made Lilliana clutch her throbbing head and groan inwardly. She ruffled her hair and said to Damian,

“So… My mom was from the Salamander tribe, fire spirits, and my dad was an alchemist. Alchemy might have declined in this era, but it was a family tradition that the Carnell family barely managed to keep alive. Alchemists usually get along well with spirits, and my mom and dad hit it off, so… well, that’s how it happened… And then I was born, and thanks to my mom being a Salamander, I was also born with the ability to control fire, to some extent, if not freely. So creating fire like this is a piece of cake. Do you understand so far?”

“No.”

“Why?!”

Lilliana was getting frustrated with Damian, who kept shaking his head with an indifferent expression.

“As I’ve been saying, I can’t follow your story because I’m not convinced that spirits even exist.”

“But I’m a second-generation spirit, standing right in front of you?”

“You look human on the outside.”

“But fire is coming out of my hand?”

“It’s not very realistic… I mean, how can you expect someone who’s lived for over 20 years without ever thinking about spirits or anything like that to suddenly believe it just because you tell them to? It’s natural to be skeptical.”

Lilliana understood Damian’s point intellectually, but she couldn’t shake off her frustration.

She wasn’t lying, and she had revealed her biggest secret because he asked her to, but this was the reaction she got. Even with her cheerful personality, Lilliana couldn’t help but feel like setting Damian’s head on fire.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just that it doesn’t feel real. I need time to process it.”

Damian pressed his temples and explained his predicament.

Lilliana could tell that Damian wasn’t dismissing her as a liar or thinking she was crazy. He was genuinely trying to process what she had said.

“Then can you follow the rest of my explanation?”

“I’m not confident.”

Lilliana sighed deeply at his honest answer.

“Well, then there’s no point in me saying anything. You asked me to explain, but what’s the use if you can’t even understand it?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Lilliana sounded disappointed, and Damian lowered his head, looking a bit dejected.

But he truly couldn’t grasp even a tenth of what Lilliana was saying. It wasn’t that he thought she was lying. It was his own problem.

‘What? Spirits? What? Magic? What? Mythical creatures? What are those?’ He had never been interested in such things, and no one had read him fairy tales as a child. As a result, he could barely remember the stories about mysterious fairies and whatnot that children talked about.

Damian didn’t pay attention to anything outside his interests, so he never bothered to learn anything beyond common knowledge.

“I don’t get it. I’m not going to explain anymore.”

Lilliana turned her head away, sulking. He couldn’t force her to continue explaining. Damian, feeling at a loss, spoke again in a subdued voice.

“I’m sorry.”

“Hmph.”

“But please give me some time to organize my thoughts.”

That was the best Damian could do. However, Lilliana didn’t uncross her arms and snorted again.

“Hmph.”

“Um…”

“Whatever, just go. I don’t have anything else to say to you.”

At Lilliana’s words, Damian hesitantly stood up.

“Then… I’ll… excuse myself.”

As Damian reached for the doorknob and glanced back at Lilliana, she deliberately turned her head away.

“Hmph!”

Damian had no choice but to leave Lilliana’s room, half-forced out.

***

Recently, Damian had nothing much to do after being suddenly hired by Lilliana. It was natural to work once he got a job, but the only task Lilliana had given him was to be her bodyguard. Even for that, she had told him to take care of his arm first before worrying about protecting her.

So, for two weeks after the surgery to attach his prosthetic arm, Damian stayed quietly in the boarding house, waiting for his body to recover, without any outside activities.

With his limited options and no hobbies to speak of, these past few days had been some of the most boring in Damian’s life.

That’s why he had started going to the library a few days ago, not because he loved books, but because he wanted to get out and do something.

So, for the past week, Damian and Lilliana’s daily routine looked like this:

Annette’s boarding house provided breakfast and dinner at set times. Annette would prepare the meals in the kitchen, and everyone would help themselves.

Damian was a creature of habit. He woke up at 7 AM, washed up, and went downstairs to eat. Then he would read the newspaper or a book he borrowed from the library until Lilliana woke up.

Lilliana was a bit lazy. She would come down around 9:30 AM, just before Annette cleared the table, finish her meal, and then sprawl on the living room sofa, using the excuse of shaking off her sleepiness.

When Damian quietly prepared to leave, Lilliana would quickly change into her going-out clothes, worried he might leave before she woke up from her nap. Then, they would leave the house and walk silently towards the library.

Today was no different. In fact, until yesterday, Damian, excited about his new arm, had planned to skip the library for a few days and focus on rehabilitation training.

But now, he had a mountain of books to read at the library as soon as possible. So, just like he had for the past few days, he headed to the library today.

However, today, he had planned to go alone, but Lilliana was following him three steps behind with a sullen expression.

Damian couldn’t help but be aware of the light footsteps behind him. When he stopped, the footsteps also stopped. He glanced back and cautiously asked,

“Lilliana… don’t you have anything to do?”

“What do you mean by that?”

Lilliana retorted sharply, and Damian flinched and quickly explained,

“No, I mean… you must be busy and have things to do, so I was wondering if it’s okay for you to follow me around.”

“I do have things to do.”

“Then…”

“But they’re not urgent.”

“…”

Damian couldn’t understand why Lilliana was following him again today, even after he had acted that way yesterday.

She seemed to have been offended by his attitude yesterday, and she still didn’t look happy. So why was she following him…?

TL/N: Interesting (⁠・⁠o⁠・⁠) i guess Lilliana or should I say Lintray is behind the fire in edenfallen. Probably she couldn’t control the fire or something like that… well that’s my theory. What do you guys think?

Also, do you want more chps tmr? It seems you are loving this series although there are lack of comments and ratings on NU. ಠ⁠︵⁠ಠ
I wish to have 50 ratings on NU by the end of sept. Do help help me by sharing this series to get more exposure and motivate me to churn out more chaps. Signing out, Bai Bai!