It has dawned on hermind that perhaps it was best that she didn't accept it.
Her eyes were still puffy from the tears she bursted out, as she walked around the pavement, she thought she could find some peace, but not while being escorted by the man behind him.
He hummed a gentle tune, while her mind was still in disbelief. They walked and walked in awkward silence until they finally arrived at her own house.
"..... Right." She didn't know how to open the conversation, "This is the place."
"What a short walk… But I guess the night isn't always so young." He chuckles.
"You know, perhaps I–" before Lisbeth could say anything about rejecting his proposal, a finger was placed on her lips.
"You know what, I won't hold it against you for whatever immediate rejection you wanted to do, I do realize I could be a little… Looney." he swished his wand and out of thin air, a paper appeared.
"But, should you change your mind, either find me here, or don't. It's up to you." He gave her a note containing an address with his signature on it. "I still stand by what I said, Lisbeth, I do need you. I wish you could see how talented you are, without me sounding flattering all the time."
".... Thank you for respecting it, at least." She pocketed the paper to the pocket on her apron.
He just chuckles lightly, then bow slightly as in tradition with the eastern culture.
"I'll see you around, if not, then farewell." He nodded, then without looking back, he disappeared into the night. There wasn't a hint of sadness nor joy from him, only silence followed.
From all the information and offering she just got, the only thought in her head was just wishing for a nice warm bath.
As she turned the doorknob, she heard the sound of pan sizzling and boards being cut, she walked to the kitchen to hear that her father was using his wand to levitate the knife on the board and wooden spoon spinning inside the pot.
"Ah, Lisya, you're home. Very early." He called with her little nickname, "I am making dinner for today, would you like to eat as well? It's beef, I can make yours rare." He asked.
She shook her head, "No… It's okay, I still have some pouches. You and Gale eat, dad." She replied while opening the lower door of the fridge.
"... Something on your mind?" He peeked through his daughter, who didn't move an inch after opening.
"Huh? What? No, I guess I am tired." She closed it again, didn't even take what she was supposed to.
"Is Gale home?" She asked.
"He was, just a few moments ago and then getting called back by his knight friend, they have some… work to sort out, your brother is getting busier each day." He smiled.
But that smile for Lisbeth was suffocating, the offer always slipped through her mind yet imagining her father all alone was unbearable.
"On second thought… I'll eat with you." She forced her usual smile, the one she served to customers, a perfect kind smile that people wouldn't piece through. "But I'll go to my room first to get changed."
He left the man to his station without looking at his face. It made her wonder has she always been like this? Was her kindness fabricated?
The guilt is seeping through her the moment the door was closed, she slumped to the floor and held both of her knees.
A memory of when she was running, with blood on her hands, was becoming more and more surreal. A memory of when she was in the forest with dead leaves. There was a haunting silhouette of a tall figure, asking where Lisbeth is going in their sirenic tone.
But then she changed her image.
Instead, a dragon was there. Scaled through her smaller stature, the dragon was big enough to carry her alone as they flew out of the forest.
The smaller Lisbeth hugged the nape of the dragon, thanking him for helping her escape.
Then the image just disappeared when she heard a knock from behind the wooden door.
"Lisya, I know you won't talk but… Can you hear me out? I, actually… A man arrived today wanting to talk to you."
She didn't reply, but her eyes widened by the muffled statement by the door.
"He was a teacher at Lectorus, one who taught Gale as well during his senior years. He asked me about how you wanted to enter school, why didn't you tell me you applied…?"
The pounding of her heart was louder, the fact that knowing he actually talked to her father prior was surprising. But the one that shocked her the most, is how her father approached her for this.
".... I, nevermind, we can talk later if you'd like…"
The man steps back and a loud thumping sound of footsteps and a cane can be heard fading away, but immediately, the door to her room was opened by herself.
"Wait, dad–! I… I can explain…" She breathed out, holding out through the chest.
He turned his head slightly, "lift your head Lisya, don't talk like you have committed a sin…" he then smiled, "but come, come, I finished cooking as well. I'll be waiting downstairs." He turned and continued walking, as if nothing urgent was going on.
But for Lisbeth, it felt like an interrogation, despite that is not the reality of this situation.
A few hours later, Lisbeth has finished taking her bath and donned a comfortable leisure outfit of loungewear set in navy and brown color. She tied her hair to a ponytail to make herself at least not as miserable on the expression.
She took a step down the stairs, her father was really waiting for her by the kitchen table. He was preparing what seems to be mashed potatoes, a beef steak lathered in gravy and some steamed vegetables consisting of carrots and broccoli on the side.
"I have yours cooked rare and changed the vegetables to tomatoes, just as you like them." He says, didn't bat an eye when his daughter was walking down, as if he had his own eyes at the back of his head.
She took a seat on the dining table, but then her father suggested, "why don't we watch something on the television while eating?" He took both of the plates. "Those arcane crime scene investigators series are really interesting, I have been watching that for a while.
Lisbeth just nodded, and helped him with carrying the plate. As they all both took a seat, with plates placed on a folded table in front of the sofa, Lisbeth looked to the side, waiting for him to talk.
"His name was Shin Tatsunori, I recall… He hailed from Hanajidori long before he taught anything." He took a sip on his red cup, filled with water. "I actually knew that man when he was your age."
"You do?" She tilted her head.
"During my day as an adventurer, yes. He was applying to become one of the Selectors. But failed again and again during his trial, I'm surprised he ended up teaching instead." He replied while cutting the steak with a knife and fork.
"You were still young, still at high school getting dragged by that witch of a mother." He hissed, "but then again, my greatest regret was that I couldn't save you in time."
She was focused, then looked back to her pale skin on the back of her palm, a color that shouldn't exist on her own body.
"I guess it's been ten years. He is in his thirties… And, how old are you again, Lisya?" He asked while munching.
"Twenty six…?" She raised her eyebrows, but quickly realized they didn't have time enough to bond with each other, so it makes sense that he forgot details about his own daughter.
"Oh my, then I must've been very old by now." He laughed, in a joyful manner instead. "Truth to be told, I am not that close to that man, but his achievement was commendable enough that even someone like me, a gold-ranked adventurer, had noticed."
"I see…" she finally loosened up after the talk, and then gazed through the television where it showed a scene where a man was pointing his wand at what seemed to be the culprit.
He paused, and then another silence was filled except the sound of the television actually helped to ease the tension.
"So… about the application…" She finally said, "I was applying for the Lilatio course, I wanted to study flora and fauna, and how parts of them can be used to create medicine…" she gulped.
"I know, it's weird… I can wield magic but my condition deteriorates every month. When you cried after I was caught with Vampirism and begged me to forgive you, I thought… At least I don't want to give up." She plays with her fork.
"It wasn't your fault, Lisya" His voice trembles. "Up until this day I wish I can find your cure, but not without killing the source of it all." He bites the meat in anger.
The thought that his father won't hesitate to kill the person who birthed her was slightly intimidating, but even Lisbeth has no ounce of remorse for the one who inflicted this curse upon her.
"I know, I know… I-it's alright dad. That's why I was working on your cure as well, I'm… actually been an apprentice to a former Lectorus." She sighed.
"Oh I know very well." He nodded, "Samira told me everything when she was the one tending to my wounds. She couldn't believe herself when she heard that two members of the family, back to back, got cursed." He drinks again, "she jokingly waited for Gale to get one in the future for lucky strike, her humor is as morbid as her past as usual."
It is as if her dad just dropped an ancient lore of a veteran war soldier, she never really heard of his adventuring days. It piqued Lisbeth's interest and they both bonded over the past.
Apparently, when Lisbeth was still a young child, her father worked as an adventurer who dabbled in combat sorcery and didn't enter any school. But he got bored and changed course to wield a sword and other weapons he could get his hands on.
He was pretty reckless for his youth. And as he experienced many things, it wasn't a surprise how he could become who he is now. An understanding father that Lisbeth didn't expect to exist. She felt grateful for having him in her life albeit arriving late. Compared to her supposed-to-be maternal figure.
"All this being said…" he put his tableware on the plate, "Go with him, do what you want to do Lisya."
"But! What about your–" before Lisbeth could retort, he shook his head. "An ailment or a curse can only lock you out of your potential if you never honed it in the first place."
"The fact that you are trying your best to learn is already enough. Lectorus would want more people like you I'm sure. It's never too late to become a student, I know I am though." He stood up from his seat, holding his cane on his right while taking the plate on her left.
"Who will take care of you while I'm gone then…?" She yelped, her throat got stuck from the words she wanted to say.
"You still worry about that? Madam Bertha could take fulltime if she wanted, I think she would appreciate it if it can give her more money." He took the plate from her place. "I just got discharged after years, I won't be crippled forever you know." He said in confidence.
"Then, the money–" "if it's for me, no need to worry about that. A certain someone just decided to deposit some of his yearly earnings to us…. For reasons."
Her eyes widened by the statement and she immediately turned her entire body to face her father, knowing Lisbeth, she must've thought it was Shin who was behind this, but her father just smiled.
"It was Gale. His hard work finally paid off after he raised his rank to Magister. I also told him off but he didn't want to listen, so I obliged."
"What are you talking about…?" Lisbeth was in disbelief.
"He was secretly saving his money on my account all this time. Always the stubborn one, both of you. So the house can still be maintained, the stables getting renovations…"
"T-then the hospital loans…?" she trembles,
"had been paid." He answers proudly.
"So please, don't worry about it anymore, alright? No daughter of mine suffers for the fault of her father's making."
A tear formed at the corner of her eyes. Without hesitation, she leaned her head to his father's back while he was still doing the dishes.
At first, no sound… until it became a loud sobbing mess that her father tries his best to soothe her down. It all breaks down to this, a pathway has been formed for her, it wasn't just the light at the end of the tunnel…
It was a gate. A giant gate has been opened inside her heart and mind.
".... I gotta go." She rushed through the hangar and took her coat, then took her shoes to walk up through the front porch.
"Wait, At this hour? You have a shift?" He asked.
"N-no, but please don't wait for me, I'll be back before dusk!" She slips on her shoes and immediately runs out, before he could stop her, he just sighed.
"Why did the recklessness pass down to her too I wonder…" he shrugged.
—
Lisbeth ran.
And ran like there was no tomorrow. The sound of her breathing muffled through her pressurized ears has never felt so lively. Even the skies greeted her with millions of stars illuminating her pathway, along with the streetlamp on the pavement she runs through.
Her shoes slipped and she fell down to her knees, her hair was all over the place, but it didn't stop her and she kept going.
Again and again until she arrived at what seemed to be a mansion, but not the traditional western one, but the eastern one where the interior seemed like it was made entirely out of woods. The lights were still on, and coincidentally, Shin was outside having a walk.
"Shin!" She shouted, walking through the stone path to get closer to the man in his kimono. The man, noticed her, was surprised by the bruises and dirt on her clothes.
"Lisbeth! What happened to you? Are you alright?" He held her by the shoulder, "I'm fine, I just fell…." She was finally out of breath after running continuously.
".... You came here, that means…."
She nodded, flashed a huge grin made from satisfaction and adrenaline, her eyes, her red jeweled eyes, were sparkling like never before.
"Please let me work for you! I really want to finish what I've started, So…. Accept me, I'll do my best! "
Shin, who was surprised by the expression he never saw from her, couldn't hold his own laughter.
"Well now, I know you are as excited as you are with your eagerness, but…." In a swift, He pulled her up by the waist and lifted her to meet his eye level.
"I would not let my attendant serve me in this state." He smiled, in a playful manner.
Lisbeth, who had forgotten about how this man acts around her, flushed from ear to ear and tried to move away from the man. He didn't let go of course, His intention was clear as day without any hidden meaning, it was simple, he is simply worried about her injuries.
Like a dragon that is finally able to guard his precious hoard, The tale of a Dragon and the vampiric Cinderella has finally begun its new chapter.