Chapter 1140 – #271_Vendetta
#1134
1.
Time rewinds to the point where Lydia’s death was certain.
That is, the time just before Lydia’s funeral.
“Get ready.”
Lydia’s secretary, dressed in black mourning clothes, ordered the children curtly.
The children, who had taken their belongings from their two-person dormitory rooms, were gathered in the garden of the House of Angels, all with bewildered expressions.
The children, feeling a slight fear at the always curt headmistress’s urging, lined up in a disorderly fashion.
One of them cautiously approached the secretary, like approaching a tiger.
“Headmistress.”
The secretary knew the child’s name.
Patricia.
She was particularly shy and out of step with her peers, and as such, she was a child who was especially afraid of the secretary, the headmistress of this orphanage.
“…Where is Lydia-nim?”
“……”
Patricia, suppressing the urge to run away, asked the secretary.
As Patricia mustered her courage, other children also threw out questions.
“That’s right. Where did Mom go?”
“I miss Lydia Unni….”
They couldn’t ask directly because the headmistress was too scary, but the children asked using the unique soliloquy method of young children.
Gathering them like this was to follow Lydia’s secret will.
The will that was naturally filled in after Shin Siwoo killed her.
The first item mentioned in the will was this.
[Upon confirmation of the death of Lydia Magnus, all children of the House of Angels shall be returned to their biological mothers.]
Lydia’s death was confirmed.
Her limbs were cut off, and the brand was spiritually completely destroyed, leaving it empty, and she was found on the beach.
The godmother of Las Werphanas had truly died.
“You will be returned to your biological mothers.”
The children blinked in surprise at the secretary’s words.
However, before they could fully understand the secretary’s words, several witches walked through the front gate of the House of Angels.
They were all in fear, and they were doing their best to hide it.
“Come forward in the order I call your names. Isabella, Charlotte, Patricia….”
They were the biological mothers of the ‘angels’ that Lydia had turned into meat sacks and thrown into the storeroom.
In other words, they were the teachers who actually gave the vessels.
“Come quickly…. I’ve really missed you….”
“Really, are you… my mom?”
“Charlotte…! I’m your teacher!”
“My… teacher…?”
The bewildered children ran to their biological mothers in the order they were called.
Although they all felt bewildered, at least on the surface, it was a dramatic reunion of separated families.
The young children may have been moved by the appearance of ‘their own mother,’ but the biological mothers would not be.
They had only received the prophecy and given the vessel by force, so they had never met before.
After all, wasn’t it the case that the master-disciple relationship of witches was not based on blood?
However, under the secretary’s coercive demands, they acted as mothers, hugging their first-time disciples and shedding tears.
There would also be a sense of relief that they had survived, so not all the tears were false.
But not all the children willingly embraced their mothers.
“My mom is Lydia! I don’t know this old lady!”
“Headmistress! I want to stay here! Please call Lydia Unni! Lydia Unni!!!”
The purpose of the House of Angels itself was a blind faith towards Lydia.
The older the children were, the more they cried out for Lydia, their ‘real mother.’
“That can’t be. The House of Angels will disappear now.”
“Huh? Why! I want to stay here!”
“No, no! I want to see Lydia Unni!”
The secretary brushed off the crying children and left the House of Angels, leaving the rest to the newcomers.
She could also see the biological mothers, flustered, trying to soothe the wailing children.
“……”
In fact, the secretary, who had been by Lydia’s side the longest, was also well-versed in the operational know-how of the House of Angels.
If she had a mind to, she could have usurped Lydia’s position and monopolized the children’s faith.
She also knew how much value absolute faith, more tightly bound than blood ties, had in a public society where no one could be easily trusted.
She also knew that the Solitudus Merchant Guild, which was collapsing after losing its center of gravity, the Golden Witch, needed even one more person’s strength.
Nevertheless, the secretary followed Lydia’s will.
A will.
Words left by the departed for those who remain.
Its effect is proportional to the affection and respect for the deceased.
“Mother….”
Only when she was out of sight did the secretary, who had collapsed in place, crouch down and heave her shoulders for a long time.
2.
“…Umm….”
Nari opened her eyes amidst a groan.
“Oh….”
As soon as her light blue eyes found Siwoo, she jumped up from the bed as if startled.
Trying to get up with her body not moving as she wished, her face turned pale as she felt a piercing pain.
“It’s okay. Lie down and rest.”
“I can’t do that…. How could I dare….”
“I said it’s okay.”
When he pressed her forehead and spoke, Nari, who had finally relaxed her body, widened her eyes as if she had noticed something.
This was because she remembered the grip that had firmly held her hand when she was getting up.
“Godfather, I’m sorry…. Could it be that you stayed by my side all night?”
He had just held her hand because she was holding it so pitifully.
There was no need to deny it.
“Well…. It’s not a difficult thing.”
“Ah….”
Nari stroked her hand as if she were a devout believer who had received a blessing from the Pope, and her body trembled.
Tears also trickled down.
The way Nari looked was different from any type of human relationship he had ever felt.
It was a desperate, almost religious devotion, an absolute trust and respect that was not an exaggeration to call foolish.
Even if Siwoo tried to kill Nari out of a whim, she would show the back of her neck without resistance.
He felt a sense of incongruity knowing that the reason was simply because Siwoo was named as the godfather in the ‘will’ written by Lydia.
All Siwoo had done was kill her beloved godmother Lydia.
The legacy Lydia left behind was too heavy.
He must not lose sight of his purpose.
The reason Siwoo suddenly healed Nari, who had barged in, and watched over her all night was to ask her the whole story as soon as she woke up.
Despite being told to just lie down, Nari stubbornly knelt down before starting the conversation.
“So, what happened?”
3.
Lydia Magnus’s funeral was modest.
The venue was the ‘Almak Club,’ the building representing the Solitudus Merchant Guild and where Magnus’s workshop was located.
It was held in a format that only allowed entry to invited guests, so even with all the mourners, there were not more than thirty people.
The Solitudus Merchant Guild had many achievements and outcasts under its command, but with the leader dead, it was ultimately treated like a kite with a broken string.
Nari, who also wanted to mourn the godmother’s last place, also attended the funeral and received an invitation to a banquet from Lydia Magnus’s secretary.
The moment Nari received the invitation, she sensed it.
This was a separate gathering for the ‘capos’ of Las Werphanas.
The true value of Las Werphanas lay in the fact that it was a thoroughly secret organization.
From its inception, it was Lydia’s most secret move, so it had to be.
Even the members did not know each other’s faces, and under the ‘capos,’ who were the executives, the House of Angels’ peers, who already knew each other’s faces, were attached as subordinates.
However, in an unprecedented situation such as the death of the godmother, which was not a formal succession, exceptions were applied.
Just by looking at the fact that only 7 out of 13 capos responded to the round table meeting that was originally used to summon the daughters, it was evident that the current method was bound to falter.
The ‘secretary,’ who had been by Lydia’s side the longest, had been the headmistress of the House of Angels since a long time ago and would know all the members of Werphanas, so she must have gathered the sisters to discuss future matters.
Twenty-five daughters gathered in the secret lounge of the Almak Club.
They were quite embarrassed to face each other without masks or disguise magic to hide their faces.
Although it was not said directly, it was not difficult to guess that they were feeling emotions like ‘Oh? You too?’ ‘Huh? You too?’
Even Nari herself felt embarrassed to meet one of the witches she had often been in conflict with.
When everyone was wearing black mourning clothes and veils, expressing their condolences with one heart.
“Thank you for accepting the invitation. Those who came from far away have also worked hard.”
The secretary appeared.
This witch, who was only known as ‘secretary’ by everyone, had no witch name or name.
It was said that she had thrown everything away herself, saying that she would dedicate everything to Lydia.
No one knew who started it, but they all called her by the nickname ‘Pin.’
The secretary, or Pin’s, rank was 19.
It was below the average of Werphanas combatants, who were used as dukes and assassins.
Nevertheless, everyone bowed their heads to her.
As the eldest daughter who had been assisting Lydia since a long time ago, she was a witch who deserved to be respected.
At that time, they did not know her identity, but she was also everyone’s ‘headmistress.’
When everyone was gathered, Pin opened her mouth.
“I believe everyone has checked the will, so I will proceed with the story. The Golden Witch, Lydia Magnus, was the mother of us all. You presented the path for our Werphanas to take and left your last words.”
All the Werphanas gathered here recited the contents of the will.
“Upon confirmation of the death of Lydia Magnus, all children of the House of Angels shall be returned to their biological mothers.”
“After the death of Lydia Magnus, Shin Siwoo inherits all rights and obligations as the godmother of Las Werphanas and has full access to all funds of the organization.”
“All Werphanas pledge absolute loyalty to Shin Siwoo and absolutely follow his instructions.”
“If Shin Siwoo’s orders are not respected as Lydia’s orders, the member of the organization will be immediately excommunicated.”
“The succession of Shin Siwoo’s dominion is confirmed through the artifact ‘Round Table Meeting.’”
The contents of the will flowed from the mouths of 25 people without a single deviation, as if reading a passage from the Bible.
Despite the fact that many of the contents were clauses that required them to follow the one who killed their most respected and beloved mother, no one seemed to be shaken.
“Mother’s words are absolute, and we must follow them. Even if it is a will that we do not understand, it is our duty as her daughters to obey if it is something that you have instructed.”
Nari felt an instinctive sense of unease.
An invisible line had formed between the Werphanas who had been naturally mixed together.
A gap had formed between the witches gathered around Pin and the witches who were not.
“But. Mother’s will is not in this piece of paper. Moreover, for that will to be passed on to Shin Siwoo, who killed Mother, is utter nonsense.”
Pin’s eyes slowly shone.
At the same time, the witches lined up as if guarding Pin began to raise their magic power one by one.
“What are you doing!”
“Are you out of your mind? How could you do this!”
The daughters who were standing opposite Pin’s group at the sudden development of the battle.
That is, the witches who, including Nari, would have responded to the ‘Godfather’s Round Table Meeting’ were bewildered.
“Then, where is Mother’s will?”
Pin placed her hand on her chest and continued calmly.
“It is in the hearts of our Werphanas.”
Lydia used her daughters as tools.
From the very beginning, the first bond was a planned and twisted relationship.
She had received absolute loyalty as much as that, and even after Lydia’s death, they were designed to move within the absolute rules that Lydia had presented.
All Werphanas pledge absolute loyalty to Shin Siwoo and absolutely follow his instructions.
If Shin Siwoo’s orders are not respected as Lydia’s orders, the member of the organization will be immediately excommunicated.
If the same clause was included in the will, she believed that the subsequent events would proceed as she intended.
“He is not our godfather.”
But even the great Lydia had not foreseen something.
“We will kill Shin Siwoo. That is the will of the sisters who have allied with me.”
The irrationality brought about by the emotion of love.
It was the heart of a daughter who wanted to avenge her mother’s enemy, even if it meant being stripped of her daughter’s qualifications.
