Noah looked puzzled.
"That Noah? What do you mean?"
Instead of answering. Akari leaned forward slightly. Her usually calm expression had completely disappeared. For the first time since they met. Genuine emotion appeared on her face.
"Tell me..." Her voice carried unmistakable urgency.
"Is your mother’s name...Catylen?"
Noah’s eyes widened.
"Yes."
He stared at her in complete disbelief. "How do you know my mother? And..."
Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, he asked,
"Are you... from the Narukami family? The ducal family that rules the Eastern Raigamine Dukedom?"
Akari immediately nodded.
"Yes. My father is Reiji Narukami."
Silence.
Noah simply stared at her. His thoughts came to a complete halt.
’Reiji Narukami...? Then...That would make her...’
His heart skipped a beat.
’No way.’
Before he could even organize his thoughts. Akari spoke first. Her brows were tightly knitted. "...But that doesn’t make any sense."
She looked directly into Noah’s eyes. "Why are you so young?"
Noah blinked. "What? What do you mean?"
Akari slowly shook her head.
"I knew Julian. I knew him since he was young. We are of a similar age before I found myself here."
She looked down at her own hands. Then quietly continued,
"I’ve been trapped in this place...For sixty years."
She looked back at Noah.
"If you’re Julian’s son...You should have only been seven or eight years old before I disappeared."
She paused. Her voice grew quieter.
"So...How are you sitting here before me as a young man barely twenty years old?"
The room fell silent. Noah’s pupils slowly contracted.
Then everything clicked into place. His thoughts raced.
’Time... Time flows differently here. Much differently than in the outside world.’
A chill ran down his spine.
He slowly raised his eyes toward Akari. Realization struck him. One that was really shocking.
’Akari Narukami...who is stuck here for Sixty years. Daughter of Reiji Narukami...’
His breathing unconsciously slowed. ’She’s... Ophelia’s mother. The woman everyone believed died twelve years ago.’
But now she was sitting calmly before him. Not exactly calmly anymore.
---
Silence lingered between them.
Only the gentle breeze drifting through the open veranda and the soft chirping of birds outside disturbed the peaceful room.
Neither Noah nor Akari spoke. Both were still trying to process what they had just learned.
After a long moment Noah finally broke the silence. "I think the time—"
"The flow of time here is different." Akari quietly finished his sentence before he could.
She let out a soft sigh. "Time moves much faster here than it does in the outside world."
Her gaze drifted toward the garden beyond the veranda.
"One year in outside world...is approximately five years here."
Noah slowly nodded. "So my guess was right."
Everything suddenly made much more sense.
Countless questions immediately surfaced in his mind.
’How did she end up here? Was she pulled in through a labyrinth like I was? What are those blue scales on her neck? And those eyes. They’re unlike any human’s.’
They resembled the vertical pupils of demons. The mystery surrounding her only deepened.
Still Noah chose not to ask. They had only just met. Some questions could wait.
Instead he quietly decided to let Akari ask whatever she wished first.
After all she had spent sixty years trapped in this place. Compared to his confusion, her curiosity must have been immeasurably greater.
Akari remained silent. Then, almost hesitantly she looked at Noah.
"How is my family?"
Her voice had become much quieter. "Do you know anything about them?"
A brief pause followed. Then she asked the question she had clearly wanted to ask from the very beginning.
"What about my daughter?Ophelia... How is she?"
Her blue eyes searched Noah’s face anxiously.
"You should know her. You grew up around the same time."
Noah hesitated.
He did possess the memories of the original Noah. But those memories of Akari herself were vague.
Blurry. He had been too young when she disappeared.
Besides. The woman sitting before him looked very different from the fragments preserved in those childhood memories. Far more composed.
And far more intimidating. And far more beautiful.
After gathering his thoughts, Noah answered honestly. "I don’t know much about Lord Reiji. I’m afraid I can’t tell you how he’s doing."
He offered an apologetic smile.
"But... I do know Ophelia."
A faint warmth appeared in Akari’s eyes.
Noah continued,
"She’s doing well. We’re about the same age now. And..."
He couldn’t help giving a small, awkward laugh.
"She’s grown into an incredibly beautiful woman. She’s also talented. And she is really doing good in Novaris Academy."
The words left his mouth but inwardly. Noah felt as though his stomach had tied itself into knots.
’Why am I praising her...? If she were standing here right now, we’d probably start arguing within five minutes.’
Their relationship had never been particularly friendly since that incident. If anything it was far more complicated.
Still looking into the hopeful eyes of the woman before him... He simply couldn’t bring himself to say anything negative.
’Maybe. Once I get to know Akari better. I’ll tell her the full story. Including every ridiculous thing her daughter has done.’
That thought made him smile inwardly.
Akari, however, seemed not to notice. The moment she heard Noah speak about Ophelia...
Her eyes trembled. She slowly lowered her head. Her fingers tightened around the fabric of her kimono resting upon her lap.
As though desperately holding onto decades-old memories.
"She’s... already a young woman..."
Her voice shook ever so slightly. A faint layer of moisture gathered in her eyes.
"Oh..."
She gave a quiet, almost disbelieving laugh.
"I truly thought...I’d never hear anything about her again. I believed that even if I somehow escaped this place...she would already be gone. That I would never see her again. But there is still hope."
A single tear escaped before she quietly wiped it away with the sleeve of her kimono.
She took a slow, steady breath.
Gradually the composure she had carried since meeting Noah returned.
Yet this time there was unmistakable hope within her eyes.
She looked directly at him.
"Noah."
A faint smile finally appeared on her face.
"I want to hear more. Tell me everything you know about Ophelia. Anything at all."
Her voice carried a quiet excitement. Like a mother trying to make up for sixty years of lost time. Noah looked at her for a long moment before letting out a helpless smile.
"I suppose. It’s going to be a long conversation."
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