Chapter 488 - 39. Pure Love (Two-in-One)
Chapter 488 of "Demi-human Girls Completion Manual" opens revealing the plot: Dressed in a Northern Realm attire, Alagina walked briskly along the bustling commercial streets of... Discover what happens!
Dressed in a Northern Realm attire, Alagina walked briskly along the bustling commercial streets of Patulshen Island. It was afternoon, and the sun above was dispersing sunlight, scattered by clouds or the contours of buildings, leaving only speckled islands of light that fragmented and transformed into stars upon the ground.
Although the temperature was just right at the time, and the atmosphere was warm, the further Alagina walked, the colder she felt, as if she had suddenly returned to the gardens behind her motherās palace from over a decade ago.
There, the vibrant sunlight of the moment turned into the snow-filled sky of the Northern Realm, and the thin islands of light on the ground seemed to thicken abruptly, becoming heavy snow that just submerged the middle of Alaginaās calves.
Alagina, taller than most men, seemed to suddenly shrink at that moment, turning into the five-year-old girl she was, dressed in cotton, her little face slightly red.
"Father!"
In the vast courtyard of the Feudal Kingās palace, her frail call traveled far, blowing the continuously falling snowflakes in the courtyard and making them sway. The surrounding lake and trees, covered in frost, did not respond with their own mouths, so she could only catch her breath as she ran deeper into the courtyard.
She knew her father was not fond of staying in her motherās bedroom and particularly loved to be alone in the depths of the garden without attendants.
Whenever little Alagina woke from her naps or escaped from her heavy studies and combat training, she would always seek out her fatherās figure like a timid boy.
At the time, the Northern Realm winter weather was unusually cold, as if the Frost Phoenix was enraged and wanted to punish the North Realm people for their sins, and within the Sardinia Female Country, it snowed heavily, a rarity in a century.
Young Alagina, despite the palace waitersā dissuasion, ran breathlessly and alone towards the deeper parts of the courtyard to find her father.
In the royal garden, many fierce beasts her mother, the Feudal King, loved were kept, but even those strong predators were tormented by the severe cold, hiding beneath rockeries and bushes, only watching with a pair of eyes the little Alagina running through the snow.
"Father!"
She ran so wearily she propped her hands on her knees and called out loudly to the empty courtyard once more, her breath seemingly driving out the last bit of warmth from within her, and her small body became increasingly exhausted, unable to help but almost collapse in the snow.
"Alagina?"
But just then, a response came from a small pavilion beside the distant frozen lake. That familiar voice ignited her heart like a matchstick, and she hurriedly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and ran toward that direction.
Finally, she saw her father sitting in the corner of the pavilion.
He was a kind gentleman with white hair, wrapped in a thick fur coat. His face was handsome, but it always revealed a sickly pallor and a hint of melancholy.
Just moments ago, he seemed to have been staring blankly at the cold lake outside until he heard Alaginaās call. He then started, coming out of his daze, and turned his head toward the panting little girl outside the pavilion.
"Alagina, werenāt you having a nap? Why did you come here?"
He slowly stood up and extended his hand to Alagina outside the pavilion, prompting her to run into his arms.
Men of the Sardinia Female Country were frail, and Alaginaās father was in particularly poor health, whether it was due to his body being consistently treated like a medicine jar or due to the day-to-day torture by her brutal mother. In any case, he could not withstand the force of Alaginaās embrace and inevitably sat back down against the pavilionās edge after taking her into his arms.
The father wrapped young Alagina in his fur coat, shielding her from the bone-chilling cold outside, and as she felt his steady heartbeat, a sense of unprecedented comfort filled her, and she began to nuzzle against him more and more.
"Father..."
"Iām here, Alagina."
"What were you looking at just now?"
Her father opened his mouth, waited a long time, then shook his head with a smile before replying,
"... I wasnāt looking at anything, just came out for some fresh air. How was your nap, did you sleep well?"
"It was alright... I just missed you a bit."
"Is that so? Do you still miss me now?"
"Miss~"
Without another word, Alagina just buried her head and stayed silently in her fatherās embrace.
While nestled in the fur coat, her azure eyes fell upon the distinct purple bruises on her fatherās neck and arms. Although young, she seemed to understand what had happened.
Her hands clenched the clothing by her side, as if she aimed to break the neck of an enemy.
Her father felt her tension and anger and gently took her hand into his own, soothing her.
It seemed not to be enough, so he suddenly remembered something, reached into his coat, and brought something out,
"By the way, Alagina, I have a gift for you..."
"Oh, yes, yes! Ah, what is this?"
Alagina sat up from his embrace and saw a necklace in her fatherās hands with an azure gemstone embedded in it. The necklace had been warmed by his grip for quite some time, so when he placed it in Alaginaās hands, it was already pleasantly warm.