D class dungeon, Border Town.
Lith was standing above the crater where Liam's body had recently disintegrated. He was trying his hardest to figure out if he had gotten any special abilities from Liam, but even after a few minutes, he couldn't feel anything.
Hecate looked at Lith, trying to figure something out. She roughly had a guess as to what he was doing. But she kept quiet and didn't interrupt him and let him do his things.
A few more minutes passed and seeing how Lith still was trying his best to look for unique abilities, Hecate cleared her throat to grab Lith's attention and explained,
"Ahem. He wasn't killed. There was an Emperor rank protective spell surrounding the magic core and when his highness attacked him at that area, it got activated and caused him to resurrect in the next instant at wherever the phylactery was placed."
"Huh?" Lith said, not being able to believe what Hecate had just said.
His eyes started taking a darker shade of red once again and he thought to himself,
'How!? How could I have not thought about such a thing beforehand!? What was wrong with me?? What was wrong!? What was wrong!? What was—'
As he was about to fall into a spiral of self doubt and curse himself for his stupidity, space fluctuated around him and two beautiful silver-haired, purple-eyed ladies, one that seemed to be in her early 30s and the other that seemed to be in her early 20s, appeared out of thin air.
It was Lilith and Lucy who had just arrived. Lilith was wearing a brown top and a long black skirt and shoes. Her hair was tied in a bun and Lucy, on the other hand, wore a white hoodie, black skirt and shoes. They were in their casual outfits when they just arrived.
Teleporting close to Lith, Lilith quickly went over to him and said hugging him from behind gently in his ears, "it's okay. Relax, my baby."
Previously, Lilith and Lucy could sense Lith's worries when he was trying to figure out why he didn't get any unique abilities. Lilith decided to wait it out to see if Lith could overcome the mental hurdle of failing, and when she realized he couldn't, she grabbed Lucy, teleported here, and hugged him.
Hearing his mother's gentle words, Lith's thoughts were interrupted. His eyes, which were starting to take a darker shade of red, stopped. Lilith couldn't notice Lith's eye color, but feeling his emotions, she could roughly make out his mental state.
Lith turned around to see his mother's face after hearing her voice and looking at her, he felt ashamed and said in a sad tone, "I failed, mom. I was rash this time."
He felt ashamed because he failed to adhere to his mother's teaching. She had taught him so many things, one of them being to not be rash and hurry things, but he failed to adhere to them. He thus felt very ashamed of himself and felt sad.
Lilith cradled Lith's face in both hands and bowed down to kiss him on the forehead, as she was taller than him. She forced him to look her in the eyes by turning his face up. She smiled and gently said to him,
"Did mama ask you how you performed, my baby?"
Lith averted his gaze in order to not look his mother in the eyes and didn't respond. He was disappointed in his own self for failing to follow her teachings and thus the guilt made him avoid eye contact.
Looking at such a response, Lilith once again turned Lith's head to have him look into her eyes. With the same smile and gentle tone, she said,
"If you avert your gaze, mama will be sad."
Lith was about to do just that, but stopped after hearing his mother's words. This time, he didn't avoid eye contact and said to her, looking in the eyes, "mama, I am so—"
Lilith put a finger on Lith's lips and interrupted his apology. She then said with a smile, "Shhhh. Mama didn't ask you for an apology or how you performed. No need to bother with such trivial things. Come, let's go home first. We can talk about everything else later."
Lith nodded his head in understanding and didn't say anything extra but simply heeded his mother's words.
Lucy and Hecate also, in the meanwhile, said nothing to interrupt Lilith. Lucy, for one, wanted to know what her little brother was up to. However, what she felt was him having self doubt as well as being sad and disappointed in his own self. She felt sad knowing this and thus quietly watched, hoping that her mother would handle everything well.
Hecate, on the other hand, decided to mind her own business and kept quiet. Lilith had arrived, and she knew the reason for it was her son. Interrupting her or trying to initiate a conversation with her at such a time would only mean her own demise. She wasn't a fool to do such things.
Though she didn't interrupt them, looking at such a wholesome scene, Hecate felt happy. Her respect for Lilith increased by looking at how much she cared for her children and how good of a mother she was.
Lucy, on the other hand, sighed in relief looking at her mother being successful in comforting him and him feeling a little better.
Lilith held Lith's hand and walked closer to where Lucy was. She held her hand too after reaching her and before leaving, turned to Hecate and said nodding her head, "you did a good job. You deserve a bonus. Visit the castle later and get it."
Lilith rarely gave praise, but today she did because Hecate had done an excellent job. She never interfered or went above and beyond what was required. She never tried to be greedy, only doing what Lith asked of her and nothing more.
Lilith liked this attitude of hers. Had she intervened today and told Lith beforehand about the protection on the magic core placed by an Emperor rank, Lilith would've been disappointed with her.
Failure was a necessary step toward success, and one cannot grow without it. Her children needed to experience them in order to become better versions of themselves, and Lilith had Hecate's impression raised because she didn't meddle too much in Lith's affairs.
Hecate felt happy hearing the praise from Lilith. It had been so many years that she has been providing her service to her, but it was only now that she got praised like this. Today marked the day when her relationship with Lilith improved just a little bit more than that of a business relationship, and Hecate felt gleeful.
Hecate nodded her head and, bowing a little, said happily, "thankyou, your majesty. I will visit the castle later."
Lilith nodded her head and vanished from the dungeon along with Lith and Lucy. After they left, Hecate too took her leave and the lively dungeon floor from before seemed deserted again.
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