Liberation of The Slaves

Chapter 115 – Pretend To Be Happy

The soft morning light spilled through the dining room windows, painting golden stripes across the wooden floor. The scent of warm stew lingered in the air as Selena—Len—sat across from me, cradling her bowl with both hands, her silver hair glowing softly in the sun’s embrace.

We ate in a comfortable silence until I cleared my throat.

“By the way, Len… There’s something I want to tell you.”

She glanced up, tilting her head slightly. “Hm? What is it, darling?”

I set down my spoon and looked at her seriously. “It’s about my…”

She blinked, curious but calm.

Since she trusted me so deeply, it felt only right to show that same trust in return. So, I told her. About my multiple elemental affinities, the status manipulation skill, and… my immortality.

Her eyes slowly widened.

“You were jealous of my skills,” she murmured, lips curling in amusement, “yet you’ve been hiding all that?”

“W-Well… I wasn’t exactly hiding it…” I scratched my cheek, avoiding her gaze.

She leaned back slightly, arms folded under her chest. “Let’s see... I think I know a place that has a really big boulder.”

“Really?”

“I’m not entirely sure if it’s the kind you need, but we can check it out later.”

“Okay! That’s more than enough!”

I’d need to break a massive boulder to awaken the earth element, but I still wasn’t sure if brute strength alone would do it. Even Aza couldn’t determine the threshold.

Len set her bowl aside and looked at me again, thoughtful.

“As for your status manipulation… just distribute the points evenly across mine. It should reach around 4200 each if I’m estimating right.”

“Got it.”

“But you don’t need to do it just yet,” she added with a smirk. “First, I want to stretch a little to warm up my body. So…”

Her eyes glinted with challenge.

“Want to spar with me?”

I almost dropped my spoon. “Huh?”

She rested her chin on her hand. “You’ve been training for two years, right?”

“But… wouldn’t that be unfair to you?” I asked hesitantly. “I mean, my stats are also higher than yours right now…”

“That’s exactly why I want to spar,” she said firmly, standing and stretching her arms overhead. “You’ve been spoiled by numbers, haven’t you? It’s time I break that mindset. Just because you have the stats doesn’t mean you know how to fight.”

I frowned slightly. “…That’s not entirely fair.”

“Be honest. Have you ever even held a sword properly?”

“W-Well…”

She gave me a long, exasperated sigh. “Haa… You wasted two whole years and didn’t even learn the basics of swordsmanship?”

“I-I was hoping to learn directly from you, okay?” I muttered, flustered.

She crossed her arms with a sharp, satisfied grin. “Hmph. That’s the only excuse I’ll accept.”

“...Alright, we’ll spar later.”

Len leaned back in her chair, her golden eyes fixed somewhere past me, thoughtful. “So… lastly, immortality, huh?”

Her tone wasn’t teasing or impressed, just quiet and not particularly joyful.

My smile faded. “Yeah… Um, you don’t seem excited about it. Do you… not want to become immortal?”

She blinked, then waved a hand gently through the sunlit air. “Ah, no, of course I want it. Living with you forever… Doesn’t that sound like the most romantic thing ever?”

She gave a soft chuckle, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “It’s just… surprising.”

“Surprising?”

Instead of answering right away, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes, letting a breath escape slowly through her nose. Morning light pooled across her face, catching in her lashes like dew on silver threads.

“My father died before I was born,” she said quietly. “And my mother… she passed away from sickness before I even turned fifty.”

Fifty for a half-elf was still a child in human terms. Barely ten.

“I thought I would die too.”

My chest tightened. It was hard to imagine the strength it must’ve taken to survive that alone.

“But… Rin’s family saved me.”

“Rin?” I asked.

She nodded, her smile softening. “My best friend. She was the light of my childhood, the one who made me feel like living wasn’t so scary. Her smile… it was everything.”

A pause lingered in the space between us. I could feel the weight of what was coming next.

“During my enslavement, Rin died right in front of me.”

Her voice was thin now, a whisper carried on cracked breath.

“And in that moment… I wanted to die too. I begged for it. But the curse kept me alive.”

“I think… that was the cruelest part.”

The image of her memory flashed through my mind, one I’d seen once in the Imaginary World Aza showed me. A girl screaming in grief, her world unraveling in crimson and silence. Now I knew who that girl was. And who she’d lost.

“But then… my master found me.” Her voice regained strength, like the memory of that woman steadied her. “She became my reason to keep going. We were alike, both haunted by guilt we couldn't outrun. So we made that guilt our mission… and saved as many slaves as we could. It was our way of saying sorry to the past.”

Her fingers clenched lightly on the edge of the table.

“But even my master couldn’t escape time. I watched her grow weaker day by day… until finally, I had to watch her die. And it was then I realized, just because you live a long life… doesn’t mean you get to be happy.”

She looked at me again, her gaze glassy but calm.

“But before she died, she asked me to keep living. Asked me to find my own happiness.”

“Back then, I didn’t understand.”

“I had no family, no friends. I was cursed, and I was alone. So instead of chasing happiness… I just kept saving others, until that curse finally claimed me.”

She reached across the table, placing her hand lightly over mine. Her fingers trembled, just slightly.

“And then, you know the rest. You’re the one who saved me. You… are also the happiness I was looking for, Freed.”

The air stilled.

Only the quiet clink of spoons in bowls and the whisper of wind brushing the wooden walls broke the silence. I looked down at our joined hands, at her warm skin over mine, and swallowed hard.

“Life’s full of strange turns, huh?” I murmured. “My family died in front of me too. And now here we are, sitting across from each other in the morning light like none of that ever happened.”

She gave a weak laugh, brushing her thumb across the back of my hand.

“It feels like I was crying just yesterday. Wanting it all to end… And now, I get the chance to live forever with you. I just… I wonder if I really deserve this.”

Ah…

So that’s why she hadn’t looked excited. It wasn't immortality that scared her.

It was the idea that happiness might not belong to someone who still carried so much pain.

But I didn’t want her to drag that pain with her forever.

“Then how about this?” I said softly. “As a starting point… you can still feel guilty while living as an immortal.”

She blinked, startled by the suggestion.

“Call it punishment if you need to. We’ll still save people. We’ll keep making things right. But… I want you to try one thing for me.”

I looked her straight in the eyes.

“Act happy, even if you're not.”

“Pretend you are… until, one day…”

“You forget you're pretending.”

She stared at me, stunned, then slowly let out a breath.

“Acting happy until I forget I’m acting,” she repeated with a faint smile. “That’s… ridiculous. And yet… oddly wise.”

She chuckled. “I thought you would ask me to be happy right away.”

“I know it’s not that easy. I’ve lived with guilt too. I still do. But just because it’s there… doesn’t mean we can’t create moments that are real.”

“You’re right,” she whispered. “Thank you, Freed.”

We finished our breakfast.

She stood from her chair and walked slowly to my side, then touched my shoulder with her hand.

“So… can we start now?”

“Alright.” I looked back at Len and took her hand gently in mine.