There she was, right in front of him. The object of his hatred, the person responsible for his suffering. His wife, Qulia.
Seeing her, the emotions that Raymond had barely managed to control surged once again and his heart returned to a state of turmoil.
She was so close, and there was no one else nearby. He could exact his revenge, he could make her suffer just as she had made him do the same.
It wouldn't take long for him to make her tell him everything. Why she had done it, who had helped her, and what she had done to their daughter. And then, he could kill her.
He could do it all within minutes, and no one would be able to stop him.
So then why wasn't he doing so? Why was it that, despite everything, he still found himself hesitating at the thought of hurting her?
He thought about how much pain he had gone through, how much resentment he had harbored against her. He told himself that she deserved it, she deserved to suffer.
But every time he did, he also saw memories of their pleasant past flash before his eyes, memories of all the joys and sorrows they had faced together.
He remembered the kind and caring woman he had fallen in love with.
Raymond started doubting his judgement.
Maybe there had been some misunderstanding. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe someone had forced her to do it and she didn't have a choice.
While Raymond's emotions clashed with each other after seeing Qulia, Niko, who had been worried before, was strangely calm.
The boy's ears pricked as he heard a slight rustling nearby, and he quietly moved in its direction.
As the battle between Raymond's emotions reached its climax, he erupted with anger.
'Don't make me laugh! A misunderstanding? An accident? What a joke!'
A hateful flame ignited in his eyes while a chilling cold enveloped his surroundings, causing leaves to wither and puddles to freeze.
She knew what she was doing. That was why she didn't hesitate, not before forsaking their love for each other, not before plunging a sword into his chest, and not even before throwing him to those rabid beasts!
'And what about my daughter? She's nowhere to be seen, so she must have been killed by that witch too!'
And with that, he steeled his resolve and moved forward, ready to make that backstabber pay for her crimes.
But his steps froze as a small figure ran towards Qulia to hug her. It was the girl they had saved before.
"Mother~!", she called out.
"Yuna! My baby!", Quila lovingly embraced the girl and kissed her cheeks, prompting Yuna to giggle.
But her face paled once she noticed the bruises on Yuna's body.
"What happened to you?!", she gasped, "You're bruised all over!", she hurriedly looked over her daughter's body, making sure she wasn't badly hurt.
"I'm fine mother, i got stuck in a tree, but someone helped me get back down."
Yuna decided to leave out the part about the monsters, as it would only make her mother worry.
"Oh, you should be more careful! What would I ever do if something happened to you?", just the thought of it made Qulia's eyes tear up and she hugged her daughter tightly.
Raymond's eyes widened at the scene in front of him. His rage receded, his thoughts became slow, and for a moment, all he could think was...
"...what?"
Hazel brown hair and grey eyes, it was definitely his daughter, Yuna. The girl he had saved, the girl hugging Qulia in front of his eyes, it was his own daughter.
She had grown so much that he didn't recognize her before but now, thinking about it, it was obviously her.
He had thought she would be dead or, even if she was alive, he was expecting to find her in a miserable state due to Qulia treating her harshly, and was fully prepared to make the woman pay for that!
And yet, contrary to all his expectations, here she was, being hugged by Qulia who continued to shower her with nothing but pure, motherly affection.
She was alive, she was well, and by the looks of it, she was loved and cared for. Qulia clearly took great care of their daughter.
Knowing that should have made him feel relieved, it should have made him happy.
But then why didn't it?
Instead, what he felt was...sadness.
The two of them were living happily together, and Qulia loved their daughter a lot. So then why did she kill him?
Why couldn't he be allowed to live happily with them? What had he done to deserve that?!
It was unfair! He had done nothing to deserve such a fate!
He clenched his fists as his emotions stirred, throwing his surroundings into chaos once again.
The wind roared, the temperature fell, and the shadows around him bent and twisted, mirroring the turmoil of his emotions.
The ghostly girl, hidden behind bushes, watched with a tense gaze. Raymond's anger was getting the better of him, and he might resort to doing something rash.
She couldn't let that happen. It wasn't right!
She had often observed the mother and daughter, and had grown fond of them after seeing their love and care for each other. She couldn't let anything bad happen to them!
So, she prepared to intervene should the need arise. She gave a mental command, and several mounds of dirt rose from the ground around her, thick vines sprouting from each of them.
Raymond started moving, heading in the direction of his wife and daughter. Before he could reach them, the girl commanded the vines, and they shot forward at breakneck speed.
But they didn't make it far, as pale, skeletal hands tores through the ground to catch them. Shocked, the girl looked up and saw Niko sitting atop a tree branch, the glow of his eyes piercing through the shadows around him.
One eye shone with an eerie emerald hue while the other was ablaze with a blood red flame.
Both eyes calmly stared at the girl from above, yet that calmness only made him look all the more frightening.
The girl stared at him with a silent question; why?
Why was he stopping her? Wasn't he trying to help these people? Wasn't he against Raymond's desire for revenge?
She felt a chill run down her spine as Niko only responded by curving his lips into a small smile, before turning his attention back to Raymond and his family.
The girl tried to send more vines, but no matter how fast they moved, they were caught in an instant.
Her shoulders slumped and her eyes grew dim.
Was it all hopeless now?
Raymond was quickly approaching his wife and daughter and with the Child of Death stopping her from intervening, she could only watch in horror as the vengeful man terrorized his own family.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought of what the rage-driven man would do to his wife, as their daughter could do nothing but watch helplessly.
She wanted to do something, she wanted to stop it, but she was powerless to do so with the wicked heir of Death standing in her way.
Cursing her fate, she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, preparing to hear the chilling screams that would soon follow.
A moment passed in silence, and then another, and then another...and another?
Why was it still so quiet? There were no screams, no cries for help.
She hesitated before slowly opening one of her eyes, and what she saw made her eyes widen.
Raymond didn't head towards his wife and daughter.
Instead, he carefully moved through the bushes so as to not be seen by them. Getting close to the door of the house, he quietly moved to put down the medicinal herbs he had picked from the forest at the doorstep before returning.
Niko looked back at the ghostly girl. His smile widened, turning a tad bit smug, and he shrugged as if saying;
See? I was right.
He had known for a while now that Raymond wouldn't be able to bring himself to harm his loved ones. After all, he could tell a lot about a person by looking into their soul.
The girl sat down with a thud, feeling glad that things didn't take a turn for the worse
'It pains me, when I think about all the endless suffering I had to endure,' Raymond thought, 'I want to ask her why she did that to me, and maybe even get revenge on her for it. And I most certainly can't bring myself to forgive her for all that.'
'However,' he continued, 'I also can't bring myself to robbing my daughter of both of her parents' love. So, whatever Qulia's reasons for killing me may have been, taking such good care of our daughter will have to be enough to atone for it.'
Niko jumped down from the tree to meet Raymond, his face beaming with happiness at Raymond's decision.
Raymond chuckled seeing the boy's expression, and then asked him in a sincere voice, "Niko, can I make a request?"
Niko didn't hesitate before nodding.
Relieved to see that, Raymond continued, "I don't want revenge anymore, but I still want to stay here for a few days. I have been away from my family for so long, now that I'm back, I want to watch over them for some time. After that, I'll gladly go back, even if I have to return to being trapped in a corpse."
Niko thought for a bit, and then raised his hand and showed four fingers while Leta spoke, "Four days, we can give you four days at most."
"Thank you, that's more than enough", Raymond smiled.
And so, Raymond prepared to spend his next few days as a silent observer, content with the thought of watching his family from afar.
But his fate had other things in store for him...