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Chapter 75 – Sign Of Holy War (IV)

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IV. The Shape Of Love Part II

Canterbury Cathedral

Before they left the Boar Hat, Gelda raised her hand "I will stay here. You know why".

Diane tilted her head "why?".

Gelda flatly stared at Diane before she sighed "...I guess you will fully understand once you get there. Just tell Melody that I say 'Hi', okay?".

"will do, sis", Meliodas had explained to them that Gelda was his sister-in-law since her lover was his little brother, which was only proper to treat her as his sister too. Waving his hand, Meliodas grabbed the knob "see you later!".

Before Guinevere left, she said forlornly "take care, Aunt. We will check you periodically, okay?".

"Yeah, yeah", Gelda smiled and waved her hand. When they left and it was only her in this room, Gelda sighed and frowned deeply "…you better keep your promise, Merlin".

Before they went to the Canterbury Cathedral, Merlin gave them all a ring or a bracelet "please wear it. It is functioning to prevent someone from reading your mind, thus whoever with the ability to read your mind or heart like Gwen or Tina is unable to read our mind or heart".

Tristina narrowed her eyes "why would you not give this to me sooner, Aunt? You should have known better than reading people's mind is suck sometimes".

Merlin shrugged with a knowing smirk "I just finished it. What can I do? Besides... Last time I checked, Tina, unlike your little sister, sometimes you quite enjoy reading people's mind, no?".

Tristina deadpanned "welp, you're right at that, especially when it's someone I can mess around with".

Howzer twitched his eyebrow "say, Tina... Does it mean you're also having fun of reading my mind?".

Tristina smirked "give it up, Howzer. By this point, you should have known that even without my ability to read people's mind, I can easily predict what you're thinking because what you're thinking is clearly written on your face".

Howzer fumed to his friends who laughed their head off "don't laugh!".

Gilthunder chuckled "it seems like you will be a hen-pecked husband if you and Tina are really tied in a relationship".

Meliodas hugged Tristina from behind "no! Her sister is going to marry soon and I was having a hard time to let her go for another man, si I don't want to let this little girl of mine, not yet".

Tristina flailed her hands "Dad, seriously! Yesterday Tristan, and now you too?".

Elizabeth chuckled, patting her head "well, I guess it can't be helped, Tina. Your father and brother love you~".

Tristina blushed with a cute pout when Elizabeth patted her head "well, I guess so... but don't treat me like a child...".

Howzer grinned "isn't it harder to do looking at your child-like body?".

Tristina puffed her cheeks "not you too!".

Margaret lifted her hand to ask Merlin "ah, but why should we wear this, Lady Merlin?".

Merlin smiled thinly "...think of it as a simple necessary precaution measure".

Meliodas nodded his head "yep, otherwise, we're afraid that someone will die this time".

Hawk snapped "WHY?".

After they parked Hawk Mama safely on the outskirt of the nearest mountain from the Canterbury Cathedral, they mounted on the horses before they all arrived near the Cathedral. The group who had decided to go to the Canterbury Cathedral consisted of Arthur, Guinevere, the Liones princesses (Elizabeth, Margaret, and Veronica), the Three Misfits (Gilthunder, Howzer, and Griamore), Jericho, Guila, the Sins and their Juniors. The Arch Bishop and Pope, along with the Bishops, Sisters, and several Templar Knights welcomed their arrival.

The Arch Bishop Gio smiled and welcomed them warmly "welcome to the Canterbury Cathedral. We have been waiting for your arrival, King Arthur and princess Guinevere with their party".

The Pope guided Arthur and Guinevere to the chapel to pray, an early blessing etc. As the King's older sister, Morgan came with them. Obviously, Lancelot, Merlin, and Escanor also came with them.

A young Bishop lifted his hand to the hallway nearby "for the other Guests, please, come this way. I will lead the way to the Holy Water room".

Elizabeth wondered if she was wrong, but for a moment, she thought that Meliodas winced and his children like Tristan and Tristina went rigid. Not only Ban and Elizabeth, the Sins realized it as well.

When the young Bishop was about to usher the party other than from the Camelot party, Arch Bishop Gio stopped him and pointed to Meliodas and his children "ah, you don't need to include them for the inspection".

The young Bishop was clearly confused "but Arch Bishop Gio, it's an unwritten rule for everyone who wants to enter the Cathedral to rinse their body or dip the part of their body for the purification and to detect if the Demon or evil beings possess the guest. Why would they be an exception?".

Arch Bishop simply replied, "this man is Lady Melody's father".

"This young boy is Lady Melody's—!", the young Bishop gasped and turned pale before he bowed 90 degrees to Meliodas "I mean… my greatest apologize for my impudence, Sir! I should never doubt of your origin, knowing who is Lady Melody!".

Meliodas waved it off "Nah, never mind. Also, for your information, these are my kids too, Melody's older sister and older brother, so you don't need to include them as well. Now, stand up. No need to be so formal towards me".

The young Bishop stiffly stood and saluted "understood, Sir!".

"my greatest apologize as well, Lord Meliodas. This young Bishop is new here and he never saw your daughter. Otherwise, he would recognize you immediately. I should have taught him better", Arch Bishop Gio bowed his head slightly before turning to the young Bishop "and you better remember their face, young Bishop. His young appearance may deceive you, but trust me, he's far OLDER than he looks. Trust me, when I said he's far older than he looks, I really mean it that he's far older than me because he looks exactly like this too and he barely aged ever since the first time I met him in my childhood".

"teach him later wherever I can't see you, brat", Meliodas smacked Arch Bishop's head "also, I'd like to see my little girl. Where is she? Her siblings also missed her".

A young Priestess came to them "Arch Bishop, I want to inform you that we can't use the Holy Water room in the right flank because the Saintess takes a bath and has a meditation right now. She asked me to inform everyone that she will be finished in an hour before she locked the room so... huh?".

This time, this young Priestess rubbed her eyes and pinched her cheek, blinking her eyes as if she just woke up from her dazed state post-deep-slumber before turning to the Arch Bishop "...Arch Bishop, Sir, I wonder if my eyes just play the trick on me or not, because I think I just saw a man version of Lady Melody".

Huh? The Sins and the Liones party rolled their eyes to Meliodas who had a vein popped on his head. Meanwhile, for those who knew it already... at least, Isolde tried hard to not laugh, covering her mouth. The opposite with them, Meliodas' children who came here as Tristan and Tristina laughed out loud.

Tristina raised her hand in surrender, wiping her tears "ah, sorry... Let me explain... Between me and all my siblings, Melody has the most resemblance with Dad. People tend to mistake her with Dad because when you meet her, you can even tell that she's like my father's twin sister... Pfft...".

Meliodas pinched her daughter's cheek because the others especially Ban and Hawk laughed out loud "stop being cute~".

Tristina mumbled, rubbing her stinging cheek "sorry..."

Unlike the others, Elizabeth's eyes sparkled with genuine curiosity and excitement "she's a girl version of Sir Meliodas? I bet she must be cute, then. Can I hug her?".

Meliodas snickered. Oh, so she thought he was cute too, then? "of course, you can, Elizabeth. I bet she'd love it because she's quite touch-starved, thus she would love it when it came to hug or cuddle, especially with her family members or her close friends. Well, female friends only".

Ban didn't live it down "and I guess it's the proof that you indeed look cute as a girl, Cap'n~".

"shut the hell up", Meliodas punched Ban on the gut before cleaning the dust off of his hands after Ban went flying to the nearest wall "it's because I and Melody took after my mother".

Diane asked purely in curiosity "how your mother looks like, Captain? I guess she must be a beautiful woman".

When their Captain didn't answer and simply walked faster to the point of running away to where he could no longer hear them, reasoning that he needed to meet with Melody as fast as possible, Diane felt bad "uh, did I do something wrong?".

"nope, Di. Don't mind it. It's just Dad being a smart-ass, as usual", Tristina floated in the air, using her magic power to levitate with an intention to follow her father "well, I will go after him, so I leave it to you and Isolde, brother~".

Tristan scowled "cute sister of mine, you always leave the troublesome things for me to be taken care of".

"Because I know you're capable of it~", waving her hand, Tristina went flying and disappeared to the corner "it's better rather than I messed up like the last time, right?".

Tristan put his hands on his hips and sighed heavily "…damn, she's right".

Elizabeth prodded hesitantly "um, Sir Tristan, Miss Isolde?".

"just drop the formality, princess. Don't worry, I will explain, but…", looking around, Tristan found a vacant gazebo "let's speak somewhere quieter and more private, there".

Walking to the gazebo, Isolde started "well, I hope you guys can understand it, just this once. When it comes to parents-figure, father-in-law has no idea about how to describe it perfectly".

Tristan answered "what we knew, my grandmother… Dad's mother passed away when she gave him birth. Technically speaking, Dad knew nothing about his mother. He only knew that she's truly a beautiful woman from the large painting of his mother in his father's den".

Diane gasped and covered her mouth "oh, my! I'm so sorry!".

Isolde waved her hands "no, no, no, Lady Diane. It's not your fault. We assure you. We simply never talked about it, so it can't be helped that you guys don't know about it too".

"When I was a kid, after learning about my grandmother, I asked him 'then how could you know how to raise and treat me well?'. He simply answered that he learned from mother and followed his instinct. He's a bit clumsy, but I knew he's trying his best", sensing the curiosity from the Sins, a vein popped in his head before Tristan clarified "and don't even mention my grandfather. We never thought of that old bastard as our grandfather. No wonder Dad eloped with Mom".

Isolde added in a deep frown "for this once, I agreed with you. Isn't it too much to say 'you are the reason why your mother died' in front of father-in-law when he was still a toddler? No wonder mother tried to steal the custody and raised him before father-in-law eloped with mother-in-law. Even if mother-in-law cried and kind-of stole father-in-law from his family, I don't feel bad at all. Instead, I'm glad for them".

Veronica raised her hand "wait, Isolde… you referred to Lilith?".

Tristan raised his eyebrow "yes, she did it because Daddy is her nephew. My Dad's mother, the late grandmother was Lilith's older sister. We haven't told you yet?".

Isolde just realized one thing and clarified to Tristan "ah, no wonder she didn't know. She wasn't there in the last battle".

Hawk prodded "so Meliodas eloped with your mother?".

Tristan proudly raised his thumb "yup. Fun fact, it was my mother who seduced my Daddy first, though it's Dad who confessed and proposed first later".

"wait, is it fine to say it in front of—?", Veronica turned to where her little sister was supposed to be, only to find her disappear "huh? Where is Ellie?".

Margaret cupped her cheek "she's gone to find Sir Meliodas right after Sir Tristan said that Sir Meliodas is Lilith's nephew".

Looking around, King just realized that they also lacked one more member "wait, where is Ban?".

Elizabeth found the outstanding cowlicks of the familiar figure walking down the hallway. When she followed him to enter this room, Elizabeth was quite taken aback by how clean this place. Maybe, the word 'plain' was fitter from how this room lacked luxury goods.

"it's fine if you get out, Elizabeth".

Elizabeth flinched. She had found him out of lucky, honestly. Walking out of her hiding space timidly, she fidgeted with her fingers "…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…".

"it's fine", without looking back at her, Meliodas sighed, looking around "I planned to stay here because I want to wait for her here, in her room. Also, there's something I want to see here".

Elizabeth tilted her head "what is that?".

Meliodas pulled the rope beside the red curtains and the red curtains spread to the side, revealing a large painting of a beautiful woman. Elizabeth lifted her hand up to cover her mouth. Standing side by side, they admired the beautiful woman in the painting. She had long wavy blonde hair that reached her hips and a pair of emerald eyes like Meliodas.

"she's so beautiful".

"This is Melody's painting. She drew it with imagining how my mother looked like", lowering his head, his bangs covered his expression "I didn't know how my mother looked like, neither I knew what kind of a person she was. When I asked my father, he blamed me instead, telling me that my mother passed away because of me, when she gave birth to me… I couldn't deny it at all".

"it's not your—".

"—I know, but I don't want to follow his lead", Meliodas looked up to her with a restrained smile "I've been trying my best, to raise my children. Though, I'm not the best father for them".

Elizabeth shook her head and she hugged him "you are their father, and I'm sure you are a good father for them, Sir Meliodas. Just looking at how your children reacted when they worried about you, I know they love you so much".

"they're just a worrywart", Meliodas chuckled, leaning his face blissfully on her chest "but thank you".

A red-figure leaned his back on the wall, walking away and leaving them alone.

Ban had walked away from the group before he entered a clearing. It was a beautiful flower garden with a pond and a white gazebo nearby. Elaine must have loved this, he thought. Sauntering casually to the pond on the centre of this place, Ban didn't expect to see it. When he saw a little girl, both eyes closed with her body floating in the pond, he normally thought that she was drowning. Taking off his upper shirt, he jumped to the pond, pulling her out of the water. When the little girl woke up, a pair of round-shaped emerald eyes like the doe eyes stared at him and said nothing.

It unnerved Ban who snapped to her "what's with that eyes? I was the one who pulled you out of the pond. That is what normal people do when they see someone drowning, right?".

"she was not drowning at all. She just meditated", Tristina appeared behind Melody and wrapped a dry blanket around her little sister "and you're soaking wet now, sis. Let's change your clothes in your room before you get a cold".

Ban cursed incredulously "what the fuck? The meditation inside the pond?".

"it's not an ordinary pond, but a pond fulfilled with the Holy Water", twisting her sister's skirt, Tristina tried to make the water drained out of her little sister's soaking white dress before she quickly retracted her hands, patting her hands on her skirt. Feeling the questioning stare from her little sister, the silverette girl simply raised her hand "oh, don't worry. He doesn't bite".

Ban took his shirt on the ground "Tina, what am I? A dog?".

Tristina scoffed "shut up, young man".

Young man? Seriously. It had been a while since he was called like that by someone who practically looked much younger than him, but in fact, far older than him, like Tristina. Just from her resemblance with the Captain, yep, Ban recognized Melody immediately. Meliodas had told them that the 6th child, Melody was mute. Ban narrowed his eyes and he had to stomp down on his rising anger when he saw the multiple scars on Melody's body.

Leaning his chin on his palm, Ban asked "are you Melody De Argonautica?".

Melody went rigid, hiding behind Tristina's back.

"don't worry, he's one of Daddy's friends", patting her little sister's head, Tristina trailed off for a while before she grabbed her little sister's hand "…Father and our siblings are waiting for you. Let's change your clothes first".

Melody simply nodded her head and followed behind Tristina who grabbed her hand and ushered her back to the room. When Ban stood, he saw Tristina stopped in her tracks before looking back at him.

Looking behind over her shoulder, Tristina offered "what are you doing there, Ban? Let's go. We can ask the Sisters here to dry and clean you up, too".

Ban thought Tristina was still mad at him, thus he didn't expect this. Like father like daughter, huh? Well, maybe it was simply an act because of the pity.

Unbeknownst to Ban, Tristina and Melody had communicated through telepathy.

Melody had asked, "nee, sister. Who is he?".

After Tristina had answered her question that Ban was one of their father's friend, Melody had asked back "but he's a human, right? Do you think we can trust him?".

Tristina didn't want to let her already-dying anger rise up again. She could not let Melody know that Ban was trying to kill their father even if the reason was that Ban was tricked by the Supreme Deity. Tristina just didn't want to add her little sister's already heavily-scarred heart which was caused by a human. It took centuries for Melody to forget and forgive, till Melody could find the place she might call home in the Canterbury Cathedral. She could not possibly ruin her little sister's place just because of her anger. That, if whatever she felt towards Ban after knowing his assassination attempt to her father, could be called anger. She was not sure anymore of what was being left from her heart, after all.

When Meliodas and Elizabeth returned to where their friends waiting, they came with Melody, Tristina, and Ban. The walk was too quiet and tense, Elizabeth realized it. No one spoke until they reached the gazebo. Though, they surprised to see what happened when they arrived there. Merlin and Escanor just arrived with Lancelot and Morgan here, too. When Gilthunder wanted to welcome them and walked down the stair, there was a stone flying to Gilthunder's head. As the well-trained Holy Knight, it was easy for Gilthunder to catch it, but still, it was dangerous to throw a stone at other people like this.

When King and Diane brought the main culprit, it was a little girl. She had shoulder-length white hair and blue eyes. Her white dress, the uniform for the Apprentice of the Canterbury Cathedral, was covered by dust and dirt on her skirt.

When she heard Melody calling this little girl 'Bianca' in her mind, Tristina turned her head "who is she, sister?".

Since Melody could not speak, both Tristina and Tristan activated their ability to read people's mind and they heard the full story through their little sister's mind. When the twin had listened to the full story, Tristan scratched the back of his head, probably thinking that they had gotten into a troublesome mess again.

Tristina covered her mouth "oh, my…".

Meliodas blinked his eyes innocently "what did your sister say, Tina?".

Tristan and Tristina exchanged glances before Tristan explained "uh, so… this little girl is Bianca. She's an orphan who has been taken care of here. Her village was one of the villages in which the young men were taken by the Holy Knights".

Tristina nodded her head "you can say that she's including the refugee".

Gilthunder cut them off and prodded his friends "Tristan, Tina, you can stop beating around the bushes and tell us, why did she throw the stone to us?".

Bianca scoffed "oh, so you don't remember it at all?".

It turned out that Bianca was the sole survivor of the explosion in the church of her village. That day, Bianca went to the church with her parents. Her father joined the other in the church to pray and she stayed by her mother's side. Bianca overheard the church's visitors about how they prayed to the Gods to give divine retribution to the Holy Knights. Suddenly, the church's ceiling exploded and a Holy Knight emerged from the smoke. It was Gilthunder who left, ignoring the casualties in the church that day because Vivian had watched over him through her familiar.

"my father died because he was buried under the fallen ceiling and my mother died protecting me while she hugged me… my father cried out, asking you for help, but you simply walked away… leaving us to die… if it were not because of Lady Melody and the others from the church, I would die for good as well. Is that what the Holy Knight meant to do? To kill people and simply walk away, ignoring the cry of help from the commoners? As the Holy Knights, aren't you supposed to raise your weapon to protect people? You hypocrite!", Bianca cried harder and let out her bottled-up emotions "give back my parents, you murderer!".

PLAK!

They were shocked because the one who slapped Bianca just now was Tristina.

Caressing her cheek, Bianca snapped "hey! Why did you slap me?".

Tristina indifferently tilted her head "how old are you?".

Bianca was about to snap "what the—?".

Tristina coldly glared down at her "just answer me".

"tw…12 years old…", she said after she flinched, cowering under her cold glare.

"you know… I truly hate a spoiled brat who could do nothing and only could cry and blame other people like you when you know NOTHING, little girl", cupping her hand on Bianca's cheek, she sweetly said with a bitter smile "do you think… just because you cried, you would be forgiven for your mistakes and the adults will come to aide you? No matter how you cried and blamed Holy Knight Gilthunder for your parents' death, no matter you begging to whoever your God, your parents would not come back alive and your God didn't come right away to save you. Am I right? So, I guess it's pointless to blame the Holy Knight Gilthunder".

Ban lifted his thumb "she's got the point".

King stunned "Tina! Aren't you going too harsh on her? And Ban! Don't just agree with her like that!".

Tristina pointedly asked Meliodas "did I say something wrong, father?".

Meliodas scratched his cheek "well, well, well, I can't say it as wrong… but the way you wording it was…".

Elizabeth tried her best to lower the tension "Tina, what we mean… there's a better way to say it if you want to defend Gilthunder. We understand what you've tried to do, but that was too harsh for children".

Melody hugged Bianca who started to cry "she's right. Don't go too harsh on her, sister!".

"the broken bones will get harder once it fully heals. I don't tell that you're wrong, trying to protect this child. However, you can't simply turn a blind eye when she did something wrong. She will only end up as a nuisance if you only can spoil them and not guide them. Am I wrong?", Tristina sighed "it seems like you're still too naïve as usual, no matter how long has it been ever since that time".

"it's better than being heartless!".

Tristan, who had been using his ability to read their mind, snapped "Melody!".

Tristina froze before she let out a bitter, dry chuckle "…I guess so. After all, unlike you who are so soft-hearted like our mother. I have no idea to whom I take after this, being this cold-hearted—".

"shut the hell up", Tristan covered Tristina's mouth and glanced up to his sister "Melody, you know that you crossed the boundary, right? Apologize to Tina. I know you're angry and maybe you're right, but it doesn't give you the right to call your older sister like that".

"don't bother to apologize. Half-hearted apologize is meaningless", lowering Tristan's hand, Tristina walked away, without looking back "unless you want me to freeze you to death, do not follow me. I'll go back to the Boar Hat and stay with Aunt Gelda since it's better for us".

Elizabeth was about to chase after her "Tina…".

Lancelot grabbed her hand and shook his head "let her cool off her head first, princess. She will not listen to whatever we said in this state of hers, anyway".

When Howzer followed her, Tristina turned her body around and snapped to vent her anger out "I said do not follow me! Does it not clear enough for you? I want to be alone right now".

"if you want to freeze me to death, do it. However, I don't want to let you alone", Howzer reached out his hand and dropped one knee "in case you forget, let me remind you. You saved my life and my life is yours. It's up to you, to kill me or not after you saved me".

"do as you please, Idiot", Tristina sighed heavily and reached out her hands "…carry me, then. I'm tired of walking".

Arthur and Guinevere just arrived here. The Royal Couple were at a lost because Howzer simply passed them by, carrying Tristina in his hands. The latter buried her face on the crook of his neck.

Looking back to his companion, Arthur asked "did something happen when we were away? What have we missed?".

Morgan sighed "yes, you did".

Guinevere added, "someone can explain what happened here?".

So, long story short, her younger sisters were having a fight over a little girl who crossed the boundary when this orphan girl blamed Gilthunder for her parents' death. Giving a light massage on her forehead, Guinevere felt like she had a sudden headache "…give me a break".

Arthur asked worriedly "Dear, are you alright?".

"yes, let's solve the problems here, one by one", turning her attention to her (secretly) youngest sister, Guinevere said firmly "first of all, Lady Melody. I know you have a reputation to keep here and with your position as a Saintess, no wonder you tried to defend this child. However, this and that is different matters. This is a problem between siblings, so I only can give a bit of advice to you. Apologize to Tina".

Melody fidgeted with her fingers "still… older sister brought that tragedy up… I hate it and I were not sure if she would forgive me or not".

"being forgiven or not by her, it's your next problem. Do you know? Because they share the same blood, siblings are really close, to the point they can easily say something unforgivable and hurt each other's feelings sometimes. However, the bond between them undeniably exists. You should have known that no matter how harsh and cruel your words to her, she would always forgive you", Guinevere patted her cheek before she smiled ruefully "good to know that you regret it. Now, go find her and reconcile".

Wrapping his arms around her waist, Arthur hugged her from behind and nuzzled his head against her nape "I guess people will wonder who is the Saintess here, my Dear".

Guinevere patted his cheek, this handsome soon-to-be husband of her, really "Art, remember there's a kid here".

Ban raised his hand "to be honest, I agree with Tina. She didn't say anything wrong. Not to mention, Gods aren't helping".

Merlin laughed in mirth "I agree with you for this once, Fox's Sin".

Turning her head to Margaret, Guinevere said "big sis Margaret, I can trust Gilthunder to you, right?".

Margaret smiled and wrapped her hands around Gilthunder's hand "let's go, Gil".

From a far distance, Guinevere's familiar, the Cath Sith named Fou, was watching over Gilthunder and Margaret. Sitting on top of the tree branch, Fou yawned "Lady, I seriously should watch over this lovey-dovey couple?".

"just do it if you don't want me to change your name into Cathy".

"…yes, My Lady".

"Now, the last problem", Guinevere crouched in front of Bianca "so, I heard your name is Bianca?".

Bianca sniffled "if… you want to persuade me… like the people here… to just forget my parents' death and forgive him…".

Guinevere said casually "okay, don't forgive him, then. You don't need to forget about your parents' death, too".

Morgan, who leaning her back on the pillar, slid down "sister-in-law, seriously?".

Arthur raised his hand "trust her and just watch".

"I don't forget my parents' death. I remember it clearly, how they died to protect me in the middle of the catastrophe which destroyed my Kingdom, Cameliard", Guinevere slipped her bangs behind her ear "how painful it was when you lost someone you love, don't forget it. So, you can cherish the time you spend with the people you".

"so, you are… the future Queen of Camelot?", Bianca had heard the adults whispered about how the sole survivor of Cameliard Kingdom had been taken care of by the Camelot Kingdom because the rumour had it, she was the direct descendant of the Goddess Clan. Holding her hands, she asked the older woman "Lady Guinevere, how could you survive?".

"because I know I'm not alone", Guinevere smiled "don't just focus on your painful past. Look around you, there must be someone who cared about you here, even if just one person. When people here told you to forget and forgive, they only tried to reach their hand. It's your choice to accept their hands or not. Other people only can offer their help, but the one who can save you, only yourself".

"you or Lady Melody can't bring back my parents?".

Guinevere raised her hand to halt her friend before she shook her head "forgive me, Bianca. I am not God. My Divine power is not powerful enough to bring back the dead to life. It must be as strong as the Saintess, Lady Melody".

"then—".

"Melody's Divine power is strong enough to revive the dead, indeed. However, there's a payment that she should give to bring back the dead to life. If she ever tried to revive the dead back to life, she would die", Meliodas said grimly, both hands crossed over his chest "that's exactly what happened to her late mother when she tried to revive Melody. The previous Saintess, my late wife, Elise had revived our dead daughter, Melody, thus she lost her life".

Leaning her head on his shoulder, Tristina was so tired of this silence "...If you have something to say, just say it".

"well, first of all... Are you okay? You don't look well at all. Also... Strangely, Melody, your sister is so close with Tristan, your father, Isolde, and Merlin. However, you and her look strangely... well, how to put it… Tense?".

"so perceptive of you. Yes, I don't deny it. After all...", looking up, Tristina admitted, "I was the one who killed the man she loved".

Howzer froze "you... killed the man... that your sister loved?".

"it's the truth. I killed her first love in cold blood. I never felt bad about it, neither I regret it".

Howzer knew Tristina was not the type of someone who would do something meaningless "Tina, I want to trust you. I believe you have a good reason. Just... Tell me, why?".

"I wonder about whether I can tell you about it or not, because unlike my sister…", Tristina smiled like the fallen flower petals, so beautiful, yet so sad. She rose up from the dead, after all, "I don't believe Gods".

Howzer stared at her before running his fingers on her hair, giving a light peck on her forehead "alright, don't force yourself to tell me the story. You can tell me when you're ready. I'm good at waiting, you know?".

Closing her eyes, she smiled "…thank you".

"sister!".

Lifting her head, Tristina looked around "huh?".

When she saw her little sister running in the hallway (with Merlin, Escanor, Tristan, and Isolde in tow), Tristina patted Howzer's back "wait, wait, stop! Put me down!".

Looking back over his shoulder, after Howzer saw Melody, he put Tristina down on the floor. After Tristina and Melody exchanged glances, Tristina simply smiled and spread her arms. Running to her older sister, Melody jumped and hugged Tristina, silently crying with multiple apologizes for her older sister from her mind (since she could not talk).

Later, when everything was solved, Merlin told them all to rest.

Tristan found Merlin who smiled when she was looking down to where Melody was playing with the orphans in the garden "what's so funny?".

Merlin shrugged "well, I'm just relieved... Look at her, to think I can see her playing with the human children like this when she was the one who said it...".

Tristan closed her eyes slowly "oh… yeah, like the hell I could forget it, the day when we realized how terrifying the human beings could be…".

Ban stepped out of his hiding place "what do you mean with that?".

"Fox Sin of Greed, Undead Ban, you asked the wrong person. Do you think Tristan and my Godmother will give you the answer you're seeking?", Guinevere turned her body around, walking away "come with me to the chapel. Not to pray, but to tell you the truth. We need to talk. I also can answer whatever you want to ask my siblings. Well, even if I only will answer it when I feel like to".

That day, in the middle of the burned land where the ground was covered by blood and rains, a single child cried silently, looking up to them "...I am going to kill all humans...".

A/N:

So, I will take a break for my honeymoon holiday! A week will be the fastest, when I feel up to kick my lazy butt, haha. I planned to have a break for two or three weeks, though. If I were too lazy, then I guess it would be a month. Consider this chapter as a gift before my break. Bye~