31 Aftermath

"Mother... why?..." Arc Stratford forced himself to believe Claire's words was an illusion.

'Mother will not say something like that. That's right, it might be him who made this illusion.' Arc Stratford didn't want to accept. He was in a state of denial.

However, the final line was immediately crossed. Claire looked at him with disgust as if he was the most abominable thing she saw in the entirety of her life.

The mother who always looked at him lovingly, was now like this.

"...I see, mother..." Arc Stratford's eyes turned grey. It actually lost it's luster, as if he was dead.

His love and respect toward Claire was underestimated by both Ren and Claire herself.

Claire was like everything to him, so if he lost her, then there was no meaning.

"What happened?" Claire was quite confused.

"... His alive. But he doesn't want to continue on anymore." Ren was about to finish him off.

"No, wait. We can't kill him right now. As much as mother would like to do it herself, but there are some circumstances. He needs to live." Claire stopped him.

"Why?" Ren was taken back, wasn't she going to kill him just a moment ago. Why the sudden change?

"There are a lot circumstances, until I'm done. I can't move recklessly. And what's more. I know you are going to severe your relationship with the household later down the line, considering how they treated you. That being said, he will have to continue the bloodline." Claire gave him some details of her reason.

"Yes, but... he might recover." Ren could only accept. Although the thought of severing his relationship with his family never came to mind, but it was possible.

"I'll cast a curse magic on him, unless I die it won't be disabled. The curse will put a limit on his magic. In his entire life he won't improve. He will only be able to cast basic magic." Claire explained.

"Sigh. I'll also add proper measure on my own." Ren could only sigh. Her suggestion still could make a lot of problems in the future.

With how lucky Arc Stratford is... to find a mysterious book and a mysterious master. His luck to these things can be compared to protagonists in a lot of stories

What if he met another master that is stronger than Claire, that posseses a magic that can dispell the curse. He could recover.

"Thank you for understanding." Claire nodded with a smile.

"Hm." Ren hummed in response before crouching down at Arc Stratford.

"Look into my eyes. Remember. I'm Ren Stratford, your fear...!" Ren looked at him eye to eye before saying so with a strong voice.

Arc Stratford's eyes trembled. Like Ren said, he can recover. What he said was only meant to be a deterrence.

Ren wanted to traumatize Arc Stratford. So that if he ever thought of him, he would be struck by fear. That way, chances of him planning something behind his back is close to impossible.

Ren also didn't forget to zap him to make him feel extreme pain again. This increase the chances that this whole ordeal will not be forgotten.

"Ahh...!" Arc Stratford could still feel pain. Despite his mind giving up, his body was still living.

He eventually passed out because his body couldn't endure it.

From now on. If he ever thought of something scary, this whole ordeal would resurface to the depths of his mind.

Ren will now be his worst nightmare, and his fear.

Committing suicide was a possibility, but Ren didn't think much. If he does, then good. But Claire should have already taken proper measure to keep him alive, at least.

...

Claire healed Arc Stratford to keep him alive.

"Ren, who was that woman just now?" Claire suddenly asked after she was finished.

"What do you mean?" Ren was quite surprised that she saw Freya, with how fast Freya disappeared. But he pretend to not know anything.

"You don't need to answer, but be careful, okay? She's very powerful. I even thought that she was the one who was behind all this, so I was not confident." Claire knew that this son of hers is quite mysterious, sometimes he acts and answer like an adult, instead of acting like a child.

"You can't beat her?" Ren asked with a smile.

"...Fufu, surely you jest. I didn't even fight her, how could I know? If I ever go all out I'm quite scary, you know?" Claire chuckled.

"Haha. Is that so." Ren laughed.

Ren added: "Then, do you want to fight her?"

"So you are not planning on denying that there really was a woman anymore?" Claire asked. Honestly, she was not quite sure if there really was a woman, because she only caught a glance before the woman disappeared. She thought that maybe her eyes were just playing tricks.

"I'm not. Yeah, there was a woman. I already trust you... enough for me tell you this" Ren said, this way Freya won't have to hide everytime and maybe both could become friends. Two beautiful women that could go against the sky, laughing together. It would be quite a sight for him to see.

His trust toward Claire was also because she would even dare to release that amount of murderous aura toward her son, just because of him.

Ren had to say. He loved that.

Freya appeared.

Claire was surprised seeing her this clearly. She was so beautiful, that it can be called heavenly.

'A royale?' Claire thought since both their hair were a bit identical.

"I'm Freya. Nice to meet you." Freya introduced herself with a smile.

'I may have a good opinion about you, but Ren is still only mine!'

"You can call me, Claire. Nice to meet you, too." Claire followed.

'My god! What a vixen. I have to protect my son before it's too late. She'll seduce him, and then... then... ahh! I don't want to think about it.'

As they shook hands, it seems like invisible sparks was clashing.

When two beautiful women meet. The two will eventually have a sense of rivalry. After all, not many can be compared to them.

""Fufu...""

Ren was quite confused why they were laughing all of a sudden.

...

Above the sky.

"Princess of the Moon, will you also act like that?" Amaterasu chuckled.

"Goddess of the Sun, don't worry you'll join me, soon." Kaguya replied naturally.

"Let's see..." Amaterasu didn't bother.

...

AN: Still have plans to let Arc Stratford suffer, so he won't die, yet.