The car came to a halt at a luxurious villa near the border of Sui Cornal after a long drive across the highway bridges.
Inside the villa, the usual grandeur one would expect was missing, replaced by a somber atmosphere. The air was heavy with the sounds of grief and loss, sounds that only emerge when a loved one reaches the end of their life's journey.
Passing through the crowd of mourners, Lenore walked toward the main hall where an exquisite glass coffin was placed. Intricate carvings on its surface reflected the dim, multicolored light, and he looked inside.
An elderly woman lay within, her neat silver hair swept back behind her neck. Her eyes were tightly shut, her breath long gone, and her lips were relaxed in a way that made her look expressionless.
"Mr. Lenore, this is my mother. She passed away in our arms just the day before yesterday."
"I see. Has she... still not been able to return to the arms of Crystal?"
The man turned his head toward the coffin with eyes full of sadness and regret, nodding solemnly.
"That is correct. She was a kind and strong woman. Ever since we realized our father had abandoned us and her because of gambling, she has always been our pillar of support throughout all those years, even until now. She never asked for anything. Even when we grew up and became wealthy, she still said she desired nothing except for her children to live happy lives."
As he spoke, the man could no longer hold back his tears. They fell down his strong, middle-aged face, which bore the marks of many hardships, making him look like a grieving child in that moment.
"But because of that, we ignored her true desires. Now that her life has reached its end, we realized she had other longings beyond just our happiness. It is those longings that prevent her from returning to the arms of Crystal. We don't want her to suffer even in death, for she endured so much for us and for our lives while she was still with us."
The man let out a sob, wiping the tears from his reddened face. He turned to Lenore with a look of pleading and hope.
"So, Mr. Lenore, please give us, her unfilial children, a chance to fulfill her wishes, so that she may return to the arms of Crystal."
"Praise the Crystal. Of course I will help you, for the sake of our relationships and bonds, which are as clear as Crystal."
As Lenore spoke, he traced a circle and two sparkling stars across his chest. The man immediately followed his lead.
"Praise the Crystal. Thank you, for our bonds are as clear as Crystal."
Stepping toward the man, Lenore took an intricately carved mystical black pen and an Occult Artifact shaped like a delicate mechanical butterfly, about the size of two palms, from his small suitcase. When he let go, the pen floated in mid-air without falling.
"I will begin now."
He closed his eyes. The tattoo beneath his white glove began to twitch and grow hot.
In an instant, Lenore's vision was enveloped by darkness. It wasn't terrifying, but rather gentle, like a soft whisper of comfort. He looked up. Before him was the faint silhouette of the woman from the glass coffin. She was sitting on the coffin with her legs tucked in, looking as she did in her twenties. Her face was filled with a lingering sadness reflected in her eyes like a wilting sunflower. Yet, despite that look, she still gazed toward her now-grown children, her lips curled in a tender smile.
Concentrating on the circulation of his blood as a fluid path to pour the ink of Miracles into the pen, he began to write in the space before him. Multicolored letters of light formed in the air, carrying the thoughts of the living toward the deceased.
Once finished, he adjusted the floating letters with his hand, guiding them toward the mechanical butterfly. The small body between the wings opened up to absorb each character. The butterfly flashed with multicolored light and began to flap its wings, flying toward the silhouette of the woman. It circled around her while shimmering colors fanned out from its wings and scattered into the surroundings.
Surprised by the butterfly's actions, the woman watched it for a moment before looking at Lenore, who stood opposite her. She gave an appreciative, helpless smile toward her children, then slowly stood up and pointed toward a room across the way, one that was sealed with numerous locks.
"The doll... Husband... Burn... Accepted... Love... You all... Goodbye..."
Lenore nodded in respect. He closed his eyes, stopping the flow of Miracles to the butterfly and the pen, allowing them to float back toward his Ego. When he finished, he opened his eyes and the world returned to normal. The somber colors of the room now felt more melancholy than the gentle darkness from before.
"Mr. Lenore, what... what did she say?"
Pointing toward the room sealed with locks, he replied:
"She pointed toward that room and said something about burning a doll. It seems to be related to her husband. She has accepted something, and finally... she loves you all very much."
The man looked toward the door Lenore indicated. His face clouded over, but was soon replaced by surprise and nostalgia. He went over, used a large ring of keys to open the door, and looked into the dusty room. It felt like a place where an unrelenting grief, a deep-seated regret from long ago, had been left behind.
In the center of the room was an exquisitely crafted cloth doll kept in a glass display case atop a walnut pedestal. The doll wore a velvet red dress, and it sat there like the heart of the room, the source of that lingering sorrow.
The man stepped forward, opened the glass case, and picked up the doll, stroking its head.
"I see... during her life, we often saw Mother sitting in this room. She would lean back in her chair, watching the night sky and the bridges through the window, always clutching this doll in her hands. It was a keepsake my father gave her when they were young and poor. Perhaps... perhaps even after being abandoned by him, a trace of that affection remained within her. Maybe she never understood why he left. Maybe she always hoped that one day he would return. But that day never came. Instead, it became a lingering regret, her final wish at the end of her life."
Lenore looked silently at the doll in the velvet red dress. Through his eyes, he saw the doll contained countless remnants of emotion, things that were shattering and gathering where the doll's heart would be, forming a deep black crack, a bottomless Abyss.
'I see. This woman's Ego began to dissipate after death, but those unrelenting emotions still clung to the remnants of her self. Now that there is no Ego left to hold them, those things would have been swallowed by her own Abyss. That is likely why she couldn't return to the divine kingdom of Cinderella.'
"But she has accepted it now. She told me she wants this doll to be burned with her. At the very least, she will no longer have these lingering regrets, and she can return to the arms of Crystal."
"Yes, we will certainly do so."
Returning to the main hall, the man and Lenore walked to the glass coffin. They opened it and placed the doll in her arms. As they did, for just a brief moment, the lips of the woman in the coffin twitched slightly into a soft, contented smile. The light on the coffin reflected in multiple colors, gently wrapping around the peaceful body.
In that moment, everyone, including Lenore, knew that she had returned to the arms of Crystal.
"A-Ah... thank you."
"Sniff... Praise the Crystal... thank you."
"That's so good..."
"What a relief."
The crowd erupted in emotion, relief, gratitude, and comfort. They all approached Lenore, thanking him profusely, turning the somber air of the villa into an atmosphere of warmth.
…
After the funeral, the man saw Lenore to the door and asked the butler to prepare a suitcase of money for him.
"I truly don't know how to thank you enough. Once again, we are so grateful. This is a small token of our appreciation from all of us. This suitcase contains over a thousand White Crystals, please accept it!!"
"It is my honor. May we all be as beautiful as Crystal."
"May we all be as beautiful as Crystal, Mr. Lenore."
Leaving the villa with the suitcase of money, he caught a bus and headed back toward the center of the Upper Bridge District. As he sat on the bus, he looked out the window.
'Lingering regrets, huh...'
Everyone in life has things they can't let go of or regrets about something. Those emotions persist deep within, stemming from a lack of closure or a desire to change something that remains in the past.
For normal, strong people, they can accept those lingering regrets or past sorrows and move on. It doesn't matter how, as long as they accept themselves and rise up, even if life is painful or grueling because of those regrets. They will surely overcome them, and their Ego will become more complete.
But if everyone were like that, there would be no Occult issues related to the Abyss. It's true that simply rising up can free one from those unrelenting emotions, it's just that... for the guilty, those drowned in love, or those who are nothing, that is almost impossible. Lingering regrets are just one of the many chains dragging our feet deeper into our own Abyss until, eventually, we are swallowed whole.
I don't know...
'Maybe later I should ask the Church of Crystal to make a visit, just to be safe regarding the Abyss issue.'
With that thought, he closed his eyes, sinking into the comfort of dreams. He dreamed of old days.
[Somewhere in the Bottom Bridge District]
"This is amazing! Just five matches and we've earned over fifty White Crystals. This is enough for half a year of food!?"
A muscular man was counting stacks of bills, calculating the food expenses for the three of them. Opposite him stood a nun with an air of arrogance and satisfaction.
"That's great, Nine!! You did so well this time!!!"
"I've got class. It's just that they were all too weak."
The girl looked back and smiled even though her eyes were still tightly shut, but then she suddenly seemed to realize she had misspoken and quickly corrected herself.
"Wait, my mistake. Praise Lord Grimm, thank you for guiding me..."
Smiling helplessly at the nun, the muscular man looked behind him to where a girl with wing-like hair was standing. She was looking toward a villa and a car with great interest, her vertical pupils becoming even sharper.
"Is something wrong, Ivory?"
"Oh, it's nothing. I just think we're about to get a new teammate."
"Wait, does that mean another mouth to feed?!"
The nun stopped praying and looked at the wing-haired girl in alarm.
"Don't worry, Nine. He's... very rich!"
With that, she spun around and walked in the direction of the car.
"Hey, where are you going, Ivory?"
"To interview the new member, obviously!!"
The wing-haired girl said with a mischievous smile, already thinking about high-quality gelatin jellies.