How About a Refill? ~The Elegant Tea Party of the Grand Witches~ - Chapter 34

Gilbert

There was once a family who proclaimed to be descended from the Holy Dragon. The family worshipped the Holy Dragon as their ancestor long before the Evil Dragon woke and ravaged the world.

The family would, once in a blue moon, give birth to a person with silver hair and golden eyes. They believed that people with these features, with their exceptional magical powers, had inherited the blood of the Holy Dragon.

“Oh, this silver hair and these golden eyes! There is no doubt you possess the blood of the Holy Dragon!”

“You will regain this land from those witches who robbed our family of the Holy Dragon long ago!”

The man would tell this to his son at every opportunity.

When the boy with the silver hair and the golden eyes was born, the man had seen a dream of reviving his family that had been in ruins for a long time.

He planned to overthrow the celebrated grand witches of the kingdom, and find new witches who would be loyal to his son who, possessing the blood of the Holy Dragon, can appropriately be called the reincarnation of the God of Salvation. With this goal in mind, he dispersed to various places in the land to gather family members who had scattered over the land, and old friends to help him revive their clan. 

His followers increased as they saw the mysterious features of his son, and the magical energy flowing from him in large doses. More and more people started believing in the ‘God of Salvation.’

By the time his son reached adulthood, they had gathered many supporters for their new organisation, both in the kingdom and from outside the kingdom.

Their benchmark was the ‘red robe’.

“Gilbert.”

The leader of the organisation opened the door without even a knock and entered the room. Gilbert, who had been gazing outside the window, furrowed his brows in a frown, but then put on a smile as he turned to the man.

“Is something wrong?… Father.”

“There is nothing wrong! Why did you abduct Caparoni’s daughter?”

“Ah, so it’s about that…”

Gil turned his attention back towards the scenery outside the window, breaking his smile.

After releasing Alessia from the mansion with the flower garden, the royal knights had secretly snuck into the mansion for investigation. For that reason, he had currently moved his hiding place to another location. 

Since it had been revealed that the Feline family was related to the ‘True Salvation’ religious organisation, they could no longer use the place connected to their family. However, it wasn’t much of a problem because they now had countless followers as well as family members to support them.

“You went to so much effort to kidnap her, but then why did you let her go so easily? She fits the ‘nobility’ criteria, right?” 

“It is fine since the ‘seed’ has already been sown. Now, I just need to wait for the flower to bloom before plucking it. Everything will go according to your wishes, father.”

“Saying these confusing things again… and we still haven’t been able to find ‘the one sent from a distant place’. Honestly this method of just pulling in whoever is closest to the time warp connecting to our world is just not working.”

“Was it a young boy who was summoned the other day? What happened to him?”

“We threw him in the forest thinking he would be eaten by some beast. But, lucky for him, he was picked up by the witch of the forest. How annoying.”

“… fool.” Gil muttered in a small voice while he looked out the window.

“Did you say something?”

“No. I didn’t say anything.”

Smiling once again, Gil turned around, got up and walked to the door to leave.

He didn’t really want to be in the same space as this man who called himself his father.

“Wait, Gilbert.”

He grabbed Gil’s shoulder as he tried to pass by the man.

Gil’s face screwed up in a scowl, but when he turned to the man there was another smile placed on his lips.

“Don’t forget. You are the ‘Halfblood’. You have the blood of the Holy Dragon, and you’re a reincarnation of the God of Salvation.”

“… I will bear it in mind.”

Gil left the room and walked down the corridor in large strides.

‘What a foolish man. Honestly, I don’t give a damn about the revival of the family…’

Gil, who had been born with silver hair and golden eye, had been called ‘the reincarnation of the God of Salvation’ or ‘the true Halfblood with a strong inheritance of the blood of the Holy Dragon’ before he even gained awareness.

He blindly believed these things when he was young and spent his time as the ‘living god’ of his father’s organisation. However, as he grew up and learned more about the world, he looked more into historical facts behind his father’s back and that’s when he noticed it.

He was not the God of Salvation.

He was merely the son of a fallen aristocrat.

From the beginning, there was no such thing as the God of Salvation.

It was only for the sake of gathering followers. There was no Holy Dragon, and no great threat in this world that required a God of Salvation to fight it.

His father really believed the deluded idea that his son was the God of Salvation. However, it was just blind fanaticism based on the groundless delusions passed down his family from one generation to another. It didn’t take long for him to become disgusted by this.

Gil stepped out into the garden of the mansion he was currently hiding in, and sat down in a small gazebo.

‘I wonder what you’re doing right now… Alessia’

The first time Gil saw Alessia was when he was just a boy. It was at a garden party thrown by the royal family. The purpose of the party was to find a playmate and candidates for marriage for the two princes. They invited everyone with children close to the princes’ age.

Even the Feline household that had fallen from the rank of Marquess to Count a few years ago was not excluded.

Gil was shocked at the party. He had his breath taken away at the pair of beautiful siblings that seemed to be around his own age.

Dazzling blonde hair and amethyst coloured eyes. The people around them blurred into the background, and as he watched them standing in front of the various colorful flowers blooming in the garden, they looked like they were straight out of a beautiful painting. 

His eyes were especially glued to the young sister, Alessia. Even at a young age she was perfection; a beauty that was already completed with her porcelain skin, peach tinted cheeks, and pink lips.

Since then, he became obsessed with Alessia. He found out all that he could about her. He wanted to see her, even if it was a glance, and found himself going to all the events she was likely to attend whether he was invited or not. 

As he was always chasing after her, he noticed something in her that was similar to himself.

She looked like she was always keeping herself in check. It was as if she restrained herself thinking ‘I must be perfect’. And in that, he saw himself. As the ‘reincarnation of the God of Salvation’ he had had his way of life decided for him ever since he was born. 

“Alessia… I want to set you free. I wonder what the real you looks like.”

He recalled her exposed emotions at the mansion. Her scowl that surely no one had ever seen before, her disgusted expression, and the anger on her face when he forcibly placed a kiss on her lips.

Gil let out a laugh.

“All of her expressions were those of hate. I want to see her smiling next time. Not the feigned smile she always has, but a genuine laugh that comes  from the bottom of her stomach.”

He tried to imagine it but then laughed mockingly at himself.

“I guess it’s impossible. She hates me too much.”

His fingers flew to his lips as he remembered the softness of the kiss he had stolen forcibly.

TN: We know more about Gil now. What do you guys think? Ship with Alessia or not?