Lightning Empress Maid Chapter 8

——Greetings, Mother.

hi

Do you remember about that day? Yes, the day we got separated. You were probably troubled by Nanaki who was sobbing all the way until the end of your life. But Nanaki will not apologise. I think crying when a daughter is separated from her mother is natural.

It’s okay dear

That was much too early. Nanaki still needed Mother.

I’m sorry

Young Nanaki didn’t understand, but Mother probably found out about your own time of death. I remember that one day you suddenly became stricter towards Nanaki. I remember the love I received from Mother. You were surely in pain.

its nothing

Thank you for being strict. Thank you for scolding me. Thank you for thrusting the crying spoilt me away when all I wanted was to be loved. I was sad. Even so, I apologise that I realised so late that that was love.

uuu

At that time, Nanaki was actually awake. The night Mother became strict, when you embraced me as I slept and you apologised endlessly. At that time Nanaki was such a child that I did not understand why Mother was trembling, why Mother was crying.

…

But, after Mother passed away, ten years of days and nights have passed. Nanaki is still a child, but she is no longer a daughter that just keeps crying. Please watch the current Nanaki. And please be proud that this is your daughter.

I am

I am a foolish daughter that was complaining just a while ago, but there are two things I would like to report.

number 1:

I have had the best encounter, Mother. It was a situation where the encounter could be called a miraculous coincidence, but now Nanaki serves that person. And I am able to hold my chest high and say that this was the best encounter.

why

Simply put, he is a strange person. To put it a bad way, he is horrendously deviated. But I still feel it. After meeting him, I became able to remember Mother’s warmth which had been fading. No matter how much time passes, I’m a daughter that cannot become independent, please laugh at me.

no ,it’s fine

And I am an unfilial person.

not really

The day I left the imperial capital, I denied the world that Mother said is beautiful. Not someone else, but Nanaki, the daughter of Mother. No doubt I disappointed you. No doubt I have made you lament. But I think even apologising about that would be off the point.

you have been a good daughter

Thus today I have a report to make.

what is it?

Does Mother remember the five promises you bound Nanaki to in your dying moments? Today I would like to speak about fulfilling one of those promises.

so soon?

A while before, my master faced a trial.

how did it go?

He was weak. But he was a true weakling that did not mistake weakness for shame. I will not deny that our meeting was a coincidence. But he grasped onto that coincidence. In that one instant, just once, he grasped it. And with courage, he chose to stand up with pride in his heart.

a brave master

At that time, Nanaki only strove for power. The one who decided everything was my master. The bravery to choose to fight while being weak, that easily overwrote the world he was in. My master is now boldly advancing down his path in a new world as one of the strong.

admirable

Nanaki is thinking of following after him. As a servant, as well as as Mother’s daughter. I no longer have any doubts, Nanaki is now confident. The day Master changed the world, Nanaki also changed that world. We became master and servant.

you will do greater things

Now, I have fulfilled one of the promises from that day.

yes

Nanaki——has affirmed this world

you have done well

This might be hasty, but even so Nanaki cannot stand still. My master has started walking. A servant must not fall behind. It is only halfway, no, only the beginning. From here on, even if there is suffering, Nanaki will become a strong person that can continue affirming the world.

you are strong already

Thus, please, I want you to congratulate your daughter’s departure.

itterashai~

And in truth, there is one more thing. I’m sorry for being a selfish daughter. But please listen to these words I couldn’t say back when I was always crying. When I think about it, I was just thinking it and never said it out loud even once.

what is it?

“——I love you, Mother.”

I love you too

I will walk on together with my master.

live well

Mother liked blue. The colour of my master’s eyes is sapphire, the colour Mother loved. And also please look at this sky. Today is a clear day. Can you see it from that place? The blue that Mother loved continues on forever.

Yes, I see it

“Nanaki, we’re gonna be late.”

“I’m sorry, I will come now.”

“Was there something strange in the sky?”

“No, just——”

farewell

I am going, Mother.

beloved daughter

“—— it’s good the sky is blue.”

The end

Author’s note: Preface -end-

Hecate’s add-on: quite a short ending to the preface…which somehow has a lot of feels TT^TT. Well, the real story starts now~

Chapter end