Gate Guardian - Song Of The Frozen Soul

Rikkun"s words struck down my heart. My breathing became heavier, and my eyes become wide open.

I thought Frederick didn"t care for me, but the fact remains that he still saved me when I was a child. It was too late for that thought to cross my mind. I"m so insensitive and selfish that I let my emotions run over.

"...Auuuu…" I cried. "If father really saved me back then, then I should be grateful. I shouldn"t be beating up his b.u.t.t."

Rikkun just had this forced smile at me as a reply. His eyes are silently telling me "Yeah right." but he"s not going to expressly say it because he"s scared to go against me.

I continued to talk worriedly. "Rikkun! I have to talk to him! W-Where is Frederi-... I mean, father? Where is my father?"

"He"s currently in the shrine infirmary. He can"t walk due to the injuries you gave to him, and he refuses to heal treatments from the others. He said that he will savor those bruises and cuts he sustained until you yourself heal him."

Why is my father so cheeky!?

Anyway, I have to hurry and talk to him!

<>

It"s still afternoon, but the sun will be gone soon. I finally made my way to the room where my father is resting. He"s sitting on his bed, his eyes gazing upon the swaying cherry blossom trees just beside his window. His sky blue eyes twinkled when he saw me visiting him.

Actually, only one of his sky blue eyes twinkled. His left eye is currently swollen and black. His right jaw also appears bloated and violet. He"s currently resting his broken right arm on a medical swing. But even with those injuries I gave him, he still returned it with a smile. A smile with incomplete teeth. Apparently, his left fang is missing.

He"s so pitiful that I wanted to kill myself.

"Tiara…"

"F-Father! You idiot!" I cried as I rushed towards him.

Bam!

"Ouch!"

I unleashed a punch straight to his broken jaw. But that"s not an ordinary punch. It"s a , which has the power to repair and heal a body part that it touches. It"s way quicker alternative than a , and it does numb the pain better.

I"m actually planning to introduce it first to Rikkun, but I think my father would be a greater guinea pig for this spell.

My father raised his body again, holding his healed jaw. He also realized that his swollen eyes and other bruises on his face have healed too. But he didn"t care about that. He cared when he heard me calling him properly as my parent.

"F-Father? Tiara, you…" My father had his mouth open wide.

"You really are an idiot, father!" I cried once again as I sat on his lap, hugged his battered body tight, and cried on his shoulder. "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!"

My father"s only response was to smile. He gently caressed my long and soft hair with his rough hands. Then, he returned the very same hug, like a pandbear tight hug. It gave me a sensation which made me not capable of feeling before.

He gave me the warmth of fatherly love.

"I"m sorry if I made you cry, Tiara my dear. I"m sorry if I made you wait." My father smiled.

I shook my head as I suppressed my tears. "I should be saying sorry to you. I shouldn"t be hurting you. You saved me back when I was a kid, right."

"Yes." Father gave out a relieved sigh. "That, I can remember. There"s no way I can forget how Yukiko died in that stake."

I secretly used to heal my father"s remaining wounds. Since we"re both wearing clothes, the healing effect would be minimized, but this will still do. There"s no way a teenage girl can caress his father naked, so this will do.

Father swiped his hands to my silky-smooth hair non-stop. "I"m sorry if I failed to save your mother that night. I"m sorry if I didn"t appear before you when you were growing alone. I"m sorry if I revealed myself when everything is too late."

"N-No, it"s okay," I said with tears in my eyes. "I know you have your reasons, so I"m going to listen. I will certainly understand. Because you are my father."

I withdrew from our tender hug and stared at the handsome eyes of my father. He touched both of my shoulders and gave me an a.s.suring smile.

"Don"t worry, my beautiful daughter. I"ll make up for all the losses I gave to you. I"ll catch on to become your real father." He said.

<>

So to grant his promise to be my real father, we scheduled a fatherly date in a warm Sunday. And it"s not just your regular father-and-daughter date.

It"s a kiddy date.

We went to the Children"s Playground in Heightsburg City and I experienced playing with my parent for the very first time.

I sat on a swingset, happily yelling "Yaaaaaay!" as my father pushed it over and over again.

We both played the seesaw and laughed as we alternately rise up and fall down.

He took pictures of me happily going down on a slide.

We raced at the monkey bars and I won first place.

We had fun finding each other in the tube maze.

My father a.s.sisted me as I ride on a horse in the merry-go-round.

Normally, I would"ve been embarra.s.sed doing these immature but fun things. I didn"t even have the guts to ask my boyfriend to have a date here since he"ll just insult me. But since it"s my father"s turn to pay all his debt back, I thought this would be a good idea.

The kids and the parents in that playground may be eyeing us, but father and I didn"t care! As long as we are having fun, n.o.body can stop us!

We took a break after long hours of playing. We hired a swan boat to venture around the Heightsburg Lake with ice cream and cotton candies as our snacks. There, father explained his side to me.

"Tiara, I didn"t really forget your mother Yukiko." My father scratched the back of his head. "Errr, I may have forgotten her name, but her face is still printed on my brain. She"s the most beautiful girl that I have ever met. She"s also the kindest."

"I bet you say "Your mother is the most beautiful girl" to your other sons and daughters from other women." I had this doubtful stare at him.

"N-No! I"m not lying! Not all!" Father waved his hand. "I can certainly see your mother in you. You"re a perfect copy of her; gorgeous, sweet, and innocent. To be honest, you"re the most beautiful daughter I have."

I blushed upon hearing those. "R-R-Really? How about your daughters Alice nee-san and Bella nee-san?"

"Alice and Bella are ugly." My father forced a smile as he continued to scratch his head.

Alice and Bella are my half sisters from another mother. They are those ladies who got a lot of insults from Rikkun on the previous book. After that encounter, I have never met them again. I wonder where they are now? I remember they also hate our common father.

I finally remembered something that I should have asked a long time ago. I bowed as I held my chest.

"Dad… Why did you appear just now? Why didn"t you show yourself in front of me when I was a kid?"

"It"s subjective, and you will never understand my answer." Father looked up in the afternoon skies as he continued to row the boat slowly. "I have said this before. You really look like your mother. Every time I see you from afar, your face would remind me of her. It"s not that I hate you or anything, but looking at you made me terrified."

"D-Dad…"

"I"m not terrified of you. I"m terrified of the curse. The Curse of the Brightmore Witch that is pa.s.sed from your mother"s generation. It"s a curse that binds fate to a bad ending. Whenever I see your crimson eyes, the image of Yukiko burning at the stake would haunt me. I wanted to save her at that time. Believe me, I really wanted to."

Father started to grab his aching heart. I kept my silence as I pay full attention to his words.

"But I couldn"t. If I save her, you will die. If I save you, she will die. Only one Brightmore Witch can be permitted to live at a time. Yukiko"s last wish for me is for you to live. That"s the only thing I can do."

Tears started to crawl from my father"s eyes. To calm him down, I held his hands and cheerfully stared at him with a jolly smile.

"I completely understand, Dad."

"Tiara…"

I offered a hug which he can never resist. While resting my head on his shoulder, I whispered my feelings to him.

"I know what the feeling of having a loved one die. I know the pain. I know the suffering. Even though I don"t want my mother to die in such a horrific way, I know that there is no other option that you can choose. I"m just… I"m just glad that you saved me that night. I… I may not look like it, but I am proud to be your daughter. I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, Tiara." My father said.

We pulled away from other"s grasps after a short moment. My father wiped his tears and smiled manly again.

Now that I think of it, he"s like Rikkun. Trying to act tough and manly, but he"s tender as a marshmallow inside.

...

There was a long silence between us. It"s like my father is charging his courage to open up another topic that shouldn"t be discussed to me. I glared at him, wordlessly trying to say that he should speak out loud. And it succeeded.

"I"m sorry, my beautiful daughter. I"m sorry if we won"t be spending more times like this." My father suddenly muttered.

"W-Why?"

For some reason, his tone made me a lot more worried.

"I"m terminal." My father softly said.

"T-Terminal?" I tilted my head. "But we"re not even in the airport..."

My father facepalmed himself. I don"t think I get what he"s talking about. I"m pretty sure he now thinks of me as an idiot, but he can"t blame me for that because he"s the one who gave me these stupid genes.

Suddenly, his tears went down non-stop.

"The other reason why I don"t want you to see me is that… my days are numbered."

I can see triangle sigils on both of his sky-blue eyes.

It is certainly a mark of a Cursed Guardian.