(Dandeline's POV)
I watched the pathetic crews in the airport inspect the airship Zaeramil piloted. He landed in a strange city that holds the branch of Cardozen Vil. The spring made the place lively. Or I might describe that it's more full of zeal than Plandreas now. After a few interrogations from the authorities for piloting an unlicensed airship, we donated the airship—we've transformed into a shining gold—to them.
To my surprise, I saw Eleus and his minion in the city. Looks like that started a new life. Luckily, they didn’t see me.
We walked to the village. The boys and my dogs proceed first to Otakwen’s Bar whereas Lanasia comes with me on my way home. The increase in the population of the residents here made the village—which looks more like a town now—busier than the last time I have known it. My clingy friend has the same judgment.
"Do I have the right to appear before my twins after all my absence these past 5 years?"
She taps my chin upward. "That won't change the truth that you are their mother. I lost that feeling of right as well when we lied to our son that I'm dead. Everything became alright eventually," she cheers me up. There's nothing I should worry about too, Hessuel is there to win back my twins. However, there's something wrong going on that intensifies my heartbeat: I can't identify his scent in the atmosphere.
Lanasia found an old friend and they chat ecstatically. I wanted to leave her behind for there was no other way to tame my shaking legs but to visit the house directly until I heard the adorable name I gave to my child. "Thank you so much, little Danteleon!" an old man said, giving a piece of sweet to Danteleon. And when I saw him, I couldn't take it off. He is filled with excitement and gratitude as he receives the candy.
He's such a soft and adorable boy with a contagious smile. Hessuel dreamt of having long hair insomuch he made it come true again with the twins. Currently, Danteleon is wearing his red uniform. He runs back to where he came from, that's when I ceased gazing at him and to chase him.
"Danteleon!" I called in the middle of the crowd. Gladly, he pauses to wait for me looking innocently. However, I became speechless in front of him. It might stir up private emotions if I pour the truths about my identity instantly. Or I should be more considerate and careful about what he might feel. So, other than these words, I hold my dying desire to embrace my own child. "Danteleon... I'm so happy to see you."
"Why? May I help you?"
I sat in front of him. "I'm looking for your father. Is he around?"
"He left last night with mom."
My smile was turned off. "Mom?"
"Yes! He said they're going to meet a doctor in the city!"
"Which city?"
"Uuuh, Plandreas...?"
"What!?" I blurted out.
"Yes! And he said they're going to play hide-and-seek!"
"Whaaat?" I sighed. What is Hessuel thinking? And who is this mom!? I never stalked him through Acro again as my bitemark ache triggers whenever, and for a span of unvisited hours, he found a mistress!? Danteleon is glancing alternately in my two eyes.
"What do you need from dad?"
"Well, we've got a lot to talk about. Anyway," I restored my smile, "my name is Dandeline. It's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Ms. Dandeline!" he responds generously. Our conversation stopped as his teacher called and he came back to his school house. He's so innocent to describe to me what his father and so-called mom would do. But after that, I cannot stop myself from gazing at nowhere and scratching my chin at the same time. If Hessuel is going to Plandreas, then it means we crossed paths without knowing!
Other than that headache, who is that mom? I asked a vendor resident to feed my curiosity. "Hessuel's wife?" she answers, "Yes! We saw them together last night! But I'm not sure where they're going."
"You heard it, too?" a woman gossiper initiates an approach. "We just saw a gorgeous woman yesterday. They're so sweet just by crossing the roads!"
"How gorgeous is this gorgeous?" I asked with an eyebrow raised and I pulled it down.
"She's fair and white. We knew where his kids inherited that whiteness when we saw her!"
The vendor adds, "Indeed! The seamstress got a chance to know her a bit when Hessuel bought her new dresses. She told the seamstress that they separated for years and got back together again."
"They look good together. Their kids deserve a complete family, too. They are the town's favorite!"
This woman is something. I already know she's a wise liar from their hearsay. Too bad these gossipers aren't professional enough to know that woman's name. The mouse plays while the cat is not around. But this mouse's mess manipulated the whole town, worse, my twins. Lanasia finally came back to me when I'm on my way to the dome house. I told her the news along the way and she comments,
"That's absurd! Ugh, the people here still love lies for leisure!"
We're staring at the entrance for I'm certain there's no one inside. Plucking a piece of leaf from a vase, I feel more disappointed than I expected. I pressed the leaf in my palm and it transformed into a key. "I'll wait for them inside. You may revisit your bar."
"I'm looking forward to seeing Hessuel again, too. We'll wait for you there."
I used the key to come inside alone. Hessuel's scent is circulating throughout the house, the same as the flowery scent of my twins. My new scent of home. All the lamps hanging on the wall and ceiling lit up after I tapped the lamp on the table thrice. I roamed around, touching anything, especially the colored wall they painted. It's heartwarming to step on the smaller footprint they attached to the floor.
"My footprint is the only missing print here," I said softly to myself. It's a pity that I wasn't here during the moment they created it. To console myself, I covered the floor with colorful paintings too without daubing their footprints. I enchanted those cut papers to beautify the footprints, not excluding the paintings of the stairs. Is this all I can do? to watch them behind their sight and join them when they're not around?
This is comparable to tasting the sweetness of my dream but not eating it, and neither am I able to.
I plunged myself onto their bedsheets. And my mate's bed will always be wholesome! Touring into their kitchen, I thought about preparing the specialty I learned from Haiban. But I'm afraid it'll make things awkward between me and my children. I shut my feet on the couch, staring at the ceiling until I recognized one thing: Acro is not around. "Right! Acro!" I'm assuming Hessuel took Acro with that self-esteemed mom.
I was about to possess Acro when I heard the arrival of a carriage. Bewildered, I looked around where I could hide and briskly ran—crawled—upstairs to compress myself beside the wardrobe! What happened to my guts!?
I heard the door open, my twins' voices and a girl:
"Woaaah! Look! The floor!"
"What happened? Was it like this before we left?" said the girl.
"No. But it's pretty!"
"A-And the door is open. I have the key with me so why..."
"Leon! Look! The painting is moving!"
For some reason, my chest was filled with warmth when I heard my other child's voice. I'm like an idiot sandwich eavesdropping on them!
"All the lamps are on... Wait! Hed, Leon, stay near me! Someone's here. Whoever you are, come out!"
This girl is good. Inhaling my guts back, I revealed myself here on the upper floor. My twins are hiding behind this teenage girl; tan skin, braided long and black hair, and she's undeniably pretty. Slowly, I stepped down the stairs to come closer.
"Who are you? Haven't you thought that this is trespassing?"
"It's hard to explain without their father."
"It's you!" Danteleon points at me. "Ms. Dandeline! I know her!"
"Did you let her in?" the girl asks.
"No."
"You must be Dayana," I approached.
"How did you know my name?"
"You've always been with my— with Hessuel's twins. Thank you for ardently chaperoning them until now."
"I-It's my pleasure and of course, this is a paid service. How about you? Whatever your relationship with Mr. Hessuel, it is still a sacrilege to enter someone else's house without the owner's permission. Should you have anything needed with him, it is more polite to wait outside."
"I know. I understand. But— Let me breathe first to introduce myself further!" I compressed my cold hands. However, I never got the chance to explain myself anymore when Hedwelch confronts me,
"You're an intruder! You're scaring Ms. Dayana and my brother! Get out of our house!" He's standing boldly in front of me. And thanks to that, his cuteness dissolved the sweat on my hands. At the moment, he's wearing the gauntlet he dearly possesses but he's preparing a fist with it.
"Are you going to punch me?"
He flinches backward as he notices I wasn't taunted. "If... If you're an enemy, that won't be a disgrace!"
I lifted a finger to enchant a dining chair and make it crawl going to me, sit on it, and say, "Go ahead and punch me. Let me see what you got."
"No, I want you to leave!"
"But what if I don't?"
He's sucking his lower lip, keeping an eye on my smirk and when I recoil for a false attack, he socks his gauntlet at me without any second thought. He didn't solely punch me but he mixed his force with magical shock, resulting in why the plants and hanging lamps around us sway. My face felt that shock, too.
"You have good reflexes!" I praised my son for the first time. The next thing he knew was his gauntlet transferred onto my hand which caught his fist. Frightened, he stepped backward. "Do you know what more you can do with this gauntlet?" He fell on the floor the second I raised my hand but a cottony pillow caught his butt.
I only face my palm with the gauntlet on the floor and the whole house turned into a huge childish bedroom that can be a playground too because of giant stuffed toys and candies catered on the table. Both of my twin's mouth circles. "I can teach you that," I said to get Hedwelch's attention. With a clap of my hand, the house came back to normal. I offered a hand to him although he was reluctant at first, his little hand didn't touch my hand but my heart, too.
He's gazing alternately at my two eyes, then at my birthmark. "The gauntlet is in your hand, my child," I uttered compassionately. He did glance at his hand and amazement was transparent in his eyes again as the gauntlet magically appeared there. Gradually, his eyes are tearing up.
"Mom...?"