"However, I do have some questions that I want some answers to. I hadn't been able to ask them since I couldn't find a good chance, but I think now is a good time." Facing Sakura, Diehauser asked, "Why didn't you try to contact us? And where is Ryouta?"

Sakura made a complicated expression and looked down at her tea. After seeing her reflection, she turned her head towards Kisuke who was also looking at her.

Kisuke, on the other hand, nodded at her in encouragement, "Whatever it is, I'm always with you, mom."

Sakura smiled at him and took a deep breath before facing Diehauser, "...It's because I'm afraid."

" "Afraid?" " Diehauser and Cleria both asked.

Sakura nodded, "...Yes. Let me start from when we were attacked. Father used his own body to block the attacks aimed at me and forced both me and Ryouta to leave. Of course, I refused to do so, but father knocked me out and entrusted me to Ryouta."

"I didn't know what happened next or how long I was out, but when I woke up, Ryouta and I were still escaping from the enemies that were still chasing us and had no way to contact the house."

"It was only a month later that we finally got a connection to the world, however, we were still being chased at that point. We thought we could contact the house for help, but at that moment, I received the news of my father's death... Not just that, the crimes that were placed on my head..."

"...Those crimes... Were absolutely true." Sakura looked back down at her tea before continuing, "While hiding it to everyone, I secretly captured stray Devils and experimented on them. That's how I advanced my research in such a short time."

"The first one to discover this was Ryouta and he tried to stop me. However, due to the results I got, I couldn't stop it and continued capturing stray Devils, even after promising him that I wouldn't do it anymore."

"And I only realized how inhumane my actions were when a certain stray Devil kept chasing after us to avenge her lover that I'd captured before. All those times that I captured a stray Devil, I only thought of them as rebelling criminals and anything that I would do to them was fine."

"I failed to realize that they were also people, and those unavoidable circumstances might have pushed them to rebel against their masters in the first place."

"Either an abusive master or some other reason which I couldn't fault them for... None of those crossed my mind and I only got more excited with the results I got."

"That's also the time I got afraid and refused to contact the house... I was afraid of what you'd all think of me..." Sakura gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. Although a long time had already passed, the fear was still hidden deep inside her. However, she knew that she couldn't escape from this forever and had to come clean with everyone since she was already given a chance.

Cleria and Diehauser looked at each other for a minute before the former stood up from her seat and hugged Sakura, "True... We would have been angry, and even now, we think that you did a really messed up thing back then... But you should have trusted us. Although we'd be angry, we would never have hated you. In fact, we'd do our best to make you realize the things you'd done wrong and give you a chance to atone for them."

Sakura bit her lips and returned Cleria's hug while trying to keep her tears from falling, "I know... My time as an escapee was long, and it gave me many valuable lessons and a chance to regret a lot of things. I too, have matured from back then, albeit, slightly... Finally... Thank you for listening to me and forgiving for what I'd done back then."

Cleria tightened her hug on her sister and whispered, "You're forgiven... You also already learned your lesson, and I know you'd never do such a thing again."

Sakura wept silently as a large weight was removed from her heart after almost two decades of enduring them all by herself. Of course, she'd never forgotten to atone for her sins and was actively thinking of ways to redeem herself.

After a few minutes of silent sobbing, Sakura was able to get hold of herself and her expression became a lot lighter than before.

Wiping her tears away, she continued talking and went to mention her other regret, "Regarding Ryouta, you already knew that we always had feelings for each other, so when we escaped, it was obvious that our love would bear fruit..."

"For why he isn't here right now, is another fault of mine. The one I mentioned earlier, the stray Devil that chased after us to avenge her lover, after realizing the truth from her, I let her escape... My mind was a mess back then and there was no way for me to take another stray Devil's life."

"But because of that, she was able to call for more reinforcement to chase after us, and that chase spanned for one whole year until an enemy Devil, with the assistance of his contracted mage, cursed me."

"It wasn't a very strong curse... Its aim was only to slow us down. However, I was already carrying Kisuke at that time, and he couldn't have survived the curse for long. Both Ryouta and I almost knew nothing about curses and the only solution we had was to kill the caster."

"Ryouta was successful in killing the Devil, but the contracted mage was able to escape. He then proposed a plan. Since we had no choice but to chase after the mage, Ryouta told me that he'd go alone, and while he's at it, he'll gather the pursuers' attention so that I could escape on my own."

"I tried to argue with him, but I was already too weak from protecting Kisuke from the curse, so I couldn't stop him. We agreed to meet at Kuoh Town after some time, but even though the curse was indeed lifted soon after he left, that was the last time I've seen him..."

"I settled down in Kuoh Town just like we promised each other, and successfully gave birth to a healthy son, but my husband never returned home. I've searched for him for a few years until I received the news that he died in a foreign land soon after he separated from us."

"From then on, I tried to live a normal life and raise Kisuke as a normal Human..." Sakura then looked towards Kisuke with a wry smile, "But as you can see, he got involved with the supernatural world himself." While ruffling his hair, Sakura added, "I guess that's fate. Thanks to that, we were able to talk like this again at this table."

Kisuke scratched his cheek with mock embarrassment, "Iya~, please don't compliment me too much~. You know I get embarrassed easily~."

Pinching his nose, Sakura refuted Kisuke's claims, "Damn kid! You're the one with the thickest skin from all the people I know!"

Kisuke then made a serious expression, "Then you obviously haven't met a lot of people."

Watching the mother and son antics, the atmosphere on the table lightened up and Cleria even chuckled a little bit.

Sighing, Diehauser muttered, "So that's the real reason why Ryouta was in Romania... It was regrettable and we should have a proper funeral for him. It's better late than not doing it at all. I also want to show my gratefulness for the things he has done through this."

"Nii-sama..."

=======================

=======================

=======================

Editors:

28th00: Backstory part 2! I won't lie, I just wanted to see Phis-chama being incredibly smug at beating a… 8 year old at games? I'll remember her age one day! Wait, does she call Claire by her real name!? That's the greatest respect Ophis would ever give, since she doesn't even remember names that aren't Heavenly Dragon tier or above, and even then they gotta be dragons. I wonder, did Serafall name Kisuke Mr. Hat on her show, or did she just copy Phis-chama's nickname for him?