Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 67

[Translation By Divinity]

Whether Yugo Song was truly a spirit or not, Damian could easily guess that, as Ray had said, she viewed mythical creatures with a warm gaze.

Not only the painting of the witch and the spirits that Damian had seen at the museum, but also the legendary winged horse Pegasus, the beautiful mermaid living in the sea, and the dragon dwelling in the deep mountain caves…

As he read the explanations and appreciated the paintings one by one, Damian started to feel a bit bored and glanced at Lilliana. She was reluctant to show him the painting she was working on, saying she was embarrassed, but he discreetly observed her.

She was painting the orchestra performing a street concert, and even to Damian, who had no artistic knowledge, it seemed like she had quite a talent. Then he suddenly noticed that Lilliana’s drawing style seemed similar to Yugo Song’s.

The catalog included not only completed colored paintings but also pencil sketches and drawings, making it easy to compare. Lilliana’s style was indeed similar to Yugo Song’s.

A moment later, Lilliana finished her drawing and turned to the next page in her sketchbook. Damian quickly pretended to be looking at the catalog. Lilliana leaned closer to him and, seeing him look up from the catalog, said while looking at the page he was reading,

“Did you read some?”

“I did. I skimmed through the less interesting ones and focused on the paintings with longer explanations.”

Lilliana nodded and smacked her lips.

“Ah, you should see this painting in person. The canvas is large, so you can see all the detailed brushstrokes and the vivid expressions of the figures.”

“Have you seen these paintings in person? They wouldn’t have been in Noster Province.”

“Ah…”

Caught off guard, Lilliana smiled awkwardly and averted her gaze.

“Well… that museum had a traveling exhibition a while ago. I saw them then. Anyway, how did you like the paintings?”

At Lilliana’s question, Damian scratched his head and said,

“There were a lot of paintings by Yugo Song.”

“That’s natural. Yugo Song was a painter who mainly focused on mythical creatures, and she’s quite well-known here.”

“As you said, I mainly looked at paintings about mythical creatures, but I’m not sure if they depict actual events or the artist’s imagination.”

“Hmm… Imagination…”

Lilliana laughed playfully.

“Some are based on real events with added embellishments, and others are purely from the artist’s imagination. The artists exhibited in this museum, besides Yugo Song, also lived in the era when mythical creatures interacted with humans.”

Damian nodded, and she continued,

“That’s why I brought you here. To show you how artists who actually interacted with mythical creatures depicted them.”

“That guy, Ray, also said the museum’s theme is paintings of mythical creatures.”

Damian understood Lilliana’s words, and she looked surprised.

“Oh, right. He explained that part correctly. By the way, what else did he say? What did this Ray person tell you?”

“He talked about the interactions between humans and mythical creatures depicted in the paintings, the ecology of mythical creatures, and magic… He also explained how to interpret… or rather, appreciate… the paintings based on that.”

“Yeah, that’s also correct. Wow, it seems like he explained things properly.”

Both Lilliana and Damian were a bit surprised that Ray’s explanations were relatively sound.

“What was strange about him then?”

Lilliana asked cautiously, and Damian rolled his eyes, searching for the right words.

“Well, he didn’t seem like a professional… and his expressions were quite biased.”

“Biased?”

“He gave explanations that were overly skewed towards the perspective of mythical creatures… I don’t know. Usually, curators try to remain neutral, but he sounded like… he wasn’t speaking from a human’s point of view. He also used some far-fetched expressions.”

“Like what kind of far-fetched expressions?”

“I didn’t listen to him for long, so I’m not sure about the others… but he said that Oracis wasn’t just a spirit, as the legend says, but a hybrid of a spirit and a human. And he also said that Yugo Song was actually a spirit…”

Damian said, looking unsure, and Lilliana suddenly grabbed his sleeve.

“What?!”

“You mean Yugo Song is a spirit…?”

“How did he know that?”

“I’m not sure about that either.”

Damian replied, blinking his eyes. Lilliana’s gaze flickered rapidly as she watched him. She took a deep breath and then muttered,

“It’s all true.”

“What?”

“The story about Oracis being a half-spirit is well-known among spirits. But the Shelbyr royal family never acknowledged it openly. Because if Oracis had spirit blood, it would mean he was an illegitimate child. The royals considered the stigma of being an illegitimate child more shameful than having spirit blood. So they changed the story to make Oracis a spirit. That way, anyone who heard it would dismiss it as a mere myth! And they clenched their teeth and pretended it wasn’t true, acting like they didn’t know.”

Damian’s eyes widened at Lilliana’s words.

“In the process, the spirit bloodline in the Shelbyr royal family became diluted over time, and they gradually forgot about being descendants of spirits. Or rather, they probably knew, but with diluted blood, they couldn’t wield the power of spirits, so they were no different from humans. Whether they had a spirit ancestor or not, it didn’t matter to them until the Shelbyr dynasty was on the verge of collapse. And the real problem isn’t this…”

Lilliana unconsciously bit her right index finger.

“The fact that Yugo Song is a spirit, that’s also true. But no one knows about it. So how did that Ray person know?”

Lilliana’s expression looked quite unstable. Damian, sensing something was amiss, asked cautiously,

“Then how do you know that Yugo Song is a spirit?”

“Because she’s my mother.”

“What?”

“Yugo Song’s real name is Deltaius Salamander. She’s my mother.”

Lilliana’s shocking confession left Damian’s mouth agape. He finally realized that the sense of incongruity he had felt earlier wasn’t just his imagination. Lilliana’s painting style resembled her mother’s. And it also made sense why Ray had referred to Yugo Song as “she.”

Lilliana frowned and muttered,

“This is a story only our family knows. How does he know about it?”

Lost in thought for a moment, her expression gradually changed as if something was coming back to her.

“Ray… what does he do? Damian, what did he look like? His face? Any distinctive features?”

Lilliana seemed to have a hunch. Damian recalled Ray and replied,

“His hair covered his face, so I couldn’t see it well, but he was a young man with blonde hair. Honestly, his features were so delicate that I initially wasn’t sure if he was male or female. But other than that…”

As Damian was answering, Lilliana suddenly jumped up.

“I can’t shake this feeling. I need to go back to the museum.”

She was about to leave, abandoning her art supplies, but Damian grabbed her and stopped her.

“Lilliana, where are you going?!”

“I’m worried! I want to go back and find Ray!”

“What are you going to do when you find him? We came here to avoid him because he was suspicious!”

“But…!”

Lilliana was strangely stubborn. For some reason, it was clear that she was determined to go back to the museum immediately, even if Damian tried to stop her.

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