What Side Didn’t Know Vol.2 – A5, C10. Forever

“Husband.”  Melsy is standing behind me.

It’s been a week since Lillia became a small-ish Gaia tree.  She isn’t nearly as big as the others we’ve seen, but she has fairly low hanging, sprawling branches, all laden with ripe or nearly ripe fruit.

“It’s been a few days, I think you need to do something else.  A change of pace.”

I haven’t moved from this spot since she changed.  I’ve been watching her grow. The dryadites have been keeping my company.  They haven’t left my side. They also haven’t said anything.

“You know, she has been thinking about this for a very long time.  It took her months to amass enough material and energy to start the process.  She didn’t do this without considering it .” I know you’re trying to comfort me, but it really doesn’t make me feel any better.

I mean, that means she hadn’t talked to me at all about her decision to do this.  I feel especially upset about that. I guess it was her choice, I just wish she had consulted me.  It hurts. Didn’t she trust me?

“She didn’t tell you, because of her geas imposed by Gaia.  You could have prevented her.  She was always selfish. I think she wanted to be selfish to the end.  It made her happy that you were with her.” Wait, why are you choking up?  I’m the one who’s sad and depressed here.

“She told me to take care of you. -hic”  Melsy kneels in front of me. “She didn’t want you to feel sad, or burdened.  So she thought that she could help you forever this way. -hic. I -hic. I miss wrestling with her. -hic.  And, I miss seeing her face. -hic. I lost a sister.” Oh Goddess, she is outright bawling now.

I hug Melsy.  She’s right. Lillia didn’t do this to make us all sad.  Us crying our eyes out isn’t going to help anyone.  Damned selfish dryad doing whatever she wants all the time.  I love her, but clearly she had other plans. “Melsy. I’m sorry.  I was only thinking about myself.”

Melsy pushes me away and slaps me.  She’s clenching her teeth, and tears are streaming down her cheeks.  “You were! We’re all sad! Dubhe cried her eyes out for a whole night.”

“I-I’m sorry.”  I stand up, and reach out to Melsy.  She grabs my arm and helps herself up.  The dryadites hop up on my shoulders.  “Let’s steal some happiness and be selfish like some dryad we all know.”

“Yes!  Haha, that was so corny.”

Author’s Note: Thanks for the support! This is the “end” of book 2. There are some small-ish non-chapters for the next few weeks (epilogue, and some info stuffs, my editor and myself had a bit of fun with them, we hope you enjoy the filler); as I haven’t even started writing book 3 yet! (Yes, I’m behind, and may need to hiatus for a month or so for family reasons) Either way, thank you very much for supporting me. I will continue to write, and in the next books, it will become more and more apparent what this world actually is.

Editor: DungeonPalmz