The shower of love continued until every single elf in the village had gotten a chance to embrace Leona and say sothing to her—words of apology, words of gratitude, words of love that had gone unspoken for far too long.
Leona had no choice but to smile and accept it all, even though she felt deeply embarrassed inside.
She wasn’t used to this. Forty years of isolation had made her forget what it felt like to be held, to be cherished, to be welcod.
The little ones were the most enthusiastic. They climbed onto their mother’s, demanded to be lifted, and peppered her face with kisses.
Leona laughed, a genuine, surprised laugh and kissed them back, her heart swelling with each tiny embrace.
It felt like a drought was finally ending.
Forty years of emotional starvation, of holding back, of keeping everyone at arm’s length and now, the love she had been denied for so long poured into her like rain after a long, cruel sumr.
Color returned to her cheeks. Light returned to her eyes. She felt, for the first ti in decades, truly alive.
Finally, Nyx stepped forward and raised her hands.
"Okay, okay, everyone! I get it! You love Leona!"
She smiled, her voice warm.
"I love my sister too."
She pulled Leona into a fierce hug—and Leona hugged her back.
It was the first ti in years they had embraced like this. Nyx’s arms were strong around her, familiar, like coming ho.
When Nyx pulled back, her eyes were bright with unshed tears, but her smile was radiant.
"But let’s not coddle her to death." She said, glancing around at the crowd. "We just got her back."
This made everyone chuckle warmly.
Then Nyx’s expression grew more serious.
"I also have a question I want to ask." She looked around at the crowd. "So everyone, step back a bit and give us so space."
The villagers obediently moved back—though noticeably, they didn’t go as far as they would have before.
They stayed closer to Leona now, already breaking the old boundaries that had kept them apart.
Seeing that everyone was listening, Nyx turned to carefully study her sister, observing her reactions.
This made Leona herself grow nervous.
Finally, Nyx folded her arms and said, "What I’m about to ask is probably sothing a lot of people here are wondering about right this instant."
A solemn mood settled over the square.
"What I want to know is this." Nyx said clearly. "Do you really think the one behind all of this is our father’s spirit? Or..."
"...was it Julius himself?"
Murmurs and whispers rippled through the crowd.
So looked surprised at the suggestion, while others—particularly the elder elves remained calm and steady, almost as if they’d been thinking the sa thing.
Nyx pressed on.
"After all, the one who benefited the most from all of this was Julius himself. You’ve all seen how he’s taken control of the village. Even though you’re the the Matriarch, he’s the one pulling all the strings."
Everyone nodded in sudden realization.
Nyx narrowed her eyes. "So is it possible that Julius orchestrated this entire thing? That this was his plan all along to seize control of the village?"
All eyes turned toward Leona.
Lulu and Luna leaned forward, their eyes fixed on their mother’s face. They needed to know.
Had their father truly been the monster they believed him to be, or was there more to the story?
Leona hesitated.
The silence stretched. Ten seconds. Twenty. The villagers waited, patient but anxious.
Finally, Leona sighed. A reluctant smile crossed her lips.
"I’ve thought about what you said many tis, over the years, Nyx. And you’re right—Julius benefited the most from this. He beca the impromptu leader of the village."
She frowned.
"But despite that, I don’t think he’s the one who caused this. I still believe it was the influence of my father that made him act the way he did."
Shocked whispers spread through the crowd.
"What is Leona saying?"
"Is she defending Julius right now?"
"Is she saying Julius has no part in this at all? That it was all the forr Patriarch’s fault?"
Nyx was the most suspicious of all. She frowned deeply.
"How do you know, Leona? How can you possibly know sothing like that?"
Her voice grew sharper.
"Not to ntion, that Julius is an extrely crafty person. Behind that smile he always wore, you could never truly read his thoughts."
"So how can you say with certainty that he had no involvent in this? That he was sohow just a victim?"
"I had the exact sa thought back then."
Leona replied calmly.
"The idea that he might be the one who planned all of this went through my mind over and over again."
She looked around at the crowd as she explained her thought process,
"Even though he was considered a decent person, I also knew he was extrely intelligent. And ambitious, in his own way."
"So it made perfect sense that he might want to do sothing like this."
Nyx nodded emphatically, as if to say, Exactly!
But Leona shook her head.
"But I could never prove that Julius was behind it. No matter how hard I tried."
Everyone leaned in to listen more closely.
Leona continued, her voice taking on a more analytical tone.
"There are many reasons why I believe Julius is innocent in this matter. The first is the projection I saw that night—the image of my father. That’s not sothing Julius could have simply manipulated."
She clasped her hands together, trying to explain.
"Of course, back when mana still existed, we could perform all sorts of complex spells. With enough practice or the right spell books, soone could create projections—illusory images of other people."
"It’s not impossible."
Several of the elder mages nodded in understanding.
"But the projection I saw wasn’t just so image conjured on the spot." Leona insisted. "It had my father’s aura. His very essence. The projection itself was infused with my father’s own mana signature."
Her voice grew more passionate.
"You can manipulate images. You can create convincing illusions. But those are just screens—empty shells. You can always tell they’re fake if you know what to look for. But this..."
She pressed her hand to her chest.
"I knew for certain that my father’s aura was in it. His magic was what created that projection."
She looked around at the gathered elves.
"Not to ntion, I’ve known my father my entire life. He’s the one who gave life, after all."
"And through that bond of blood, I felt a connection to that projection, my very essence reacted to his mana...I could feel it was genuinely him."
Her voice hardened as she said with a narrowed gaze,
"Even if it was his spirit, his ghost, or so lingering will he’d left behind—it was definitely him."
"Not Julius." She shook her head. "Julius couldn’t manipulate sothing like that."
Everyone nodded slowly. What she said made sense.
Each person’s mana back in those days had its own unique signature aura.
Not everyone could identify one another’s mana, but family mbers could almost always recognize each other.
It was like a scent that was impossible to fake, no matter how powerful you were.
Leona went on. "But of course, despite that evidence, I still conducted my own investigations. I monitored Julius secretly all the ti to see if he did anything suspicious or wrong."
She sighed.
"But the whole ti, he acted exactly as he normally would. He went around the village the sa way he always had. He never spread strange tales or spoke to anyone about secretive matters."
"He was just...the sa as usual."
Then her eyes glinted with a sharper intelligence.
"I even conducted a controlled test myself."
The elders looked at her with approval, clearly impressed.
"One day." Leona explained. "I told Julius that I had set up a special array in one part of the village to help the trees grow with more vitality. I said I needed him to monitor that location constantly and not leave that spot under any circumstances."
"Julius agreed." She gave a slight smile. "But what he didn’t know was that I had also placed surveillance spells all around that area."
Everyone listened with rapt attention.
"If he tried to leave, or even tried to use mana or send out any kind of magical signal, I would know about it imdiately."
"Then." Leona continued, her voice growing heavier. "I went ahead and spoke to so elves in an affectionate manner. I showed them warmth and kindness."
She looked apologetically at several won in the crowd.
"I’m sorry that I used so of you as test subjects back then...But it was necessary."
The won shook their heads imdiately.
"We understand completely, Leona. We would have done the sa thing."
Leona nodded gratefully, then frowned.
"Despite my precautions, those sa elves fell ill the very next day. But Julius had never left the designated area—not even once."
"The entire ti, he remained exactly where I told him to be. And he never used his mana. He didn’t cast any spells, didn’t send out any signals or signs. Nothing."
This revelation shocked everyone.
That ant Julius hadn’t pulled any trigger. He hadn’t invoked any spell to cause that pain.
He wasn’t the one directly causing the illness, at least not through magic or conscious action.
Leona rubbed her temples, as if the mory gave her a headache before saying,
"Beyond that, we examined the victims. Every single one of you here is sensitive to mana. We checked for any irregular or abnormal mana in their bodies."
"Did we find anything?"
She shook her head.
"No. There was no trace. Their bodies were completely normal, except for the pain they were in."
Her voice grew frustrated.
"There’s also the fact that there’s simply no spell that can inflict this kind of illness. I searched through countless spell books, dug through the oldest archives in the village."
"I found nothing even remotely similar."
"So I concluded that whatever this was, it had nothing to do with traditional magic. Julius wasn’t acting as so kind of magical trigger."
Hearing this, everyone felt a deep unease settle over them.
They had all been so certain that Julius was involved sohow.
But the more evidence Leona presented, the more it seed that Julius truly wasn’t the orchestrator.
It was almost as if the village really was suffering under so kind of curse, sothing that couldn’t be asured or understood through normal magical ans.
"If that wasn’t enough..." Leona continued. "...there were the mannerisms."
She looked at Nyx.
"Sotis, Julius would act exactly like my father. The way he spoke. The way he looked at . His mannerisms—things only my father did."
Nyx scoffed. "Anyone can mimic mannerisms, Leona. Especially soone as clever as Julius. If he wanted to act like Father, he could learn."
Leona nodded. "That’s true. I thought the sa."
She paused.
"But what about secrets? Things only my father would know?"
Everyone gasped in surprise.
One of the villagers called out. "What do you an, Leona? What kind of secrets?"
Leona’s voice grew quiet but steady.
"Julius told things—secrets I had never shared with anyone. Things about my childhood. About my mother. About the village."
She turned to face Nyx directly.
"And it wasn’t just about . He knew things about you too, Nyx."
Nyx stiffened.
"Do you rember the ti Father punished you for sneaking out at night? When you were young?"
Leona said carefully.
"He took a stick and struck your wrists over and over until they were completely bruised and swollen?"
Nyx’s face went pale at the painful mory. Her hands unconsciously moved to her wrists, as if she could still feel the phantom pain.
Leona looked at her sister intently.
"Did you ever tell anyone about that incident? Besides and Mother?"
Nyx imdiately shook her head, clenching her fists.
"No. I didn’t. I was too embarrassed and ashad to tell anyone else."
"Only you and Mother knew...and the only other person who knew about it was Father himself, since he was the one who punished ."
The crowd exchanged uncertain glances, murmuring among themselves.
The evidence was beginning to point uncomfortably away from Julius and toward the forr Patriarch’s spirit actually being responsible.
One elf spoke up hesitantly. "But what if your father kept so kind of journal? What if he wrote down what he did, and Julius sohow found it?"
Leona imdiately shook her head firmly.
"That’s not possible. I knew my father well. His entire life, he was an extrely secretive person. He didn’t trust anyone except himself."
She rolled her eyes like she was fed up with her late father as she continued to say,
"He would never do sothing like write all his secrets down in a book where soone might find them."
She looked back at Nyx.
"Besides, Nyx has always had a habit of keeping journals and writing down her thoughts. And Father always looked down on that practice."
"There was even a ti when he burned her journals in a fit of anger because he hated the idea so much."
Nyx nodded bitterly, confirming this.
"I know how much he despised that kind of record-keeping." Leona finished. "He would never have done such a thing himself."
The villagers looked completely bewildered now.
"What does this an, then?"
"Does this an Julius really isn’t involved at all?"
"Was he actually being controlled by the forr Patriarch’s spirit this whole ti?"
"I can’t believe it. I thought Julius was the villain here..."
"...But maybe he’s just another victim?"
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