Vol 7. Chapter 5.1: Ground Yourself, Let It Flow

"A very powerful friend?"

Rebecca tilted her head. "Who?"

Leon smiled but gave no answer. He simply turned and headed toward the exit.

"I'm going to find your sister-in-law. See you tonight."

Rebecca opened her mouth, as if she wanted to press for the truth, but seeing the captain's clear disinterest in explaining, she let it go.

She lowered her eyes to the photo in her hands. The sun was setting, the lake shimmering. The elderly couple stood side by side, supporting one another. The rings on their fingers caught the last rays of sunlight, gleaming brilliantly.

After a moment of silence, Rebecca’s lips lifted into a faint smirk. She huffed proudly,

"Who the hell wants to grow old with that idiot. So mushy I could die."

Saying that, she carefully tucked the photo away, and with a little bounce, skipped off from the chamber’s doorway, humming an upbeat little tune of unknown origin.

...

...

Rosvisser and the girls had gone to the fishpond, where they could finally try out the long-awaited breath-holding fishing experience.

But Leon guessed they’d eventually just have Xiaoxue transform into Gungnir and start spearfishing.

After all, Gungnir never missed once thrown. No need to worry about missing the fish.

With random thoughts swirling in his mind, Leon arrived in the central district.

He paused for a moment, as though remembering something. After a short moment of hesitation, he turned down another street.

After crossing several avenues of the central district, Leon found himself standing in front of a church.

Large characters on the outer wall read: Casmod Welfare Home.

He stepped forward and opened the door. In the courtyard, a group of children were playing games.

They didn’t pay much attention to Leon—after all, various adults came and went from the church daily.

Some came to adopt. Some to donate. The children had grown used to it.

Leon crossed the yard and pushed open the door to the chapel.

Inside, a prayer session was underway.

Sister Caroline stood at the front, leading a group of devout followers in reciting the sacred verses, her focus unbroken.

Leon knew the etiquette of prayer—after all, he’d grown up in this very orphanage under the church’s wing. It had left its mark on him.

Even if he didn’t believe in anything personally, he still respected the faith of others.

He took a seat quietly in the very last row, listening to Sister Caroline’s prayers.

Roughly twenty minutes later, the session ended. A few more followers approached Caroline to ask questions, and she patiently addressed each one. Only after that did her work for the day finally conclude.

As the believers filed out in an orderly fashion, Caroline let out a long breath.

Perhaps due to fatigue, she didn’t notice Leon sitting in the back.

She turned to leave—but hadn’t taken more than a few steps before someone called her name.

"Miss Caroline."

Caroline stopped, turning instinctively toward the voice.

She assumed it was one of the shyer followers, too nervous to speak up earlier. Without clearly seeing the person, she answered gently,

"If you still have questions, you can ask me, ask—"

Her voice caught mid-sentence.

Across the rows of pews, she saw him. Leon.

She stared for a few seconds, then curved her lips into a soft, self-deprecating smile.

"I really must be getting old. I didn’t even recognize your voice."

"The echo in here makes it hard to hear clearly at first," Leon said, stepping forward to sit with her in the front pew.

"You left the Empire with your wife and daughters after that fight. Haven’t seen you in months, but you’ve changed again," Caroline said.

Leon raised an eyebrow. "It’s only been a few months. What kind of change?"

She looked him over for a while before replying.

"You seem even more weighed down than the last time I saw you."

After a pause, she added,

"Or maybe there’s a deeper sorrow in your heart that you can’t work through on your own—that’s why you came here to find me?"

As expected of the first person Leon ever considered family, Caroline saw right through him.

Leon smiled and didn’t hide it.

"You got me, Miss Caroline. There’s something that’s been bothering me."

"What is it?"

Leon rubbed his fingers together, lips pursed. He was thinking about how to explain Hera’s situation in a way Caroline could understand.

After a moment’s thought, he said,

"Miss Caroline... I recently found my biological parents."

Caroline’s pupils trembled faintly at that.

But she quickly calmed.

"No wonder you came to me. That is something you can’t resolve alone."

Leon had spent time trying to work through this with Rosvisser.

But it hadn’t eased the anxiety.

He even made a trip to the Sea Dragon Tribe to see his master and mistress.

His old master was good at preaching about resolve—but when it came to emotional matters, he faltered.

Thankfully, his mistress spoke with him at length.

She told Leon to live in the present. To stay calm before Hera’s awakening. Compared to the difficulties he had already faced, this wasn’t such a big one.

Those words helped.

But still—not quite enough.

From daily life with his adoptive parents to the teachers who’d raised him, Leon had always been trying to find his path by walking in reverse.

And the answer was Hera.

But something was missing between himself and that answer.

Now, with Hera’s awakening close, he returned to the Empire. Passing through the central district, he remembered the Casmod Welfare Home.

And in that moment, Leon realized what had been missing all along—Caroline.

On that stormy night so long ago, she had found him as a swaddled infant. In the days that followed, she laid the foundation of his sense of justice, kindness, and responsibility.

Her influence on his life was no less than that of his master, mistress, or even Rosvisser.

Now, at the critical moment of confronting the origin of his life—he was lucky to recognize Caroline’s significance in time.

Even luckier—Caroline was willing to be that final missing piece.

"So, let me guess," she said. "You don’t know how to face your parents. You don’t know whether to accept or reject this love that comes thirty years too late. Right?"

She asked with calm patience.

Leon exhaled in relief.

That was how it always felt talking to Miss Caroline—he didn’t need to say much. She always understood what lay behind his words.

Leon nodded. "Yeah..."

"Alright then..."

Caroline thought for a moment before asking,

"Let me ask first—do you resent your parents for abandoning you? Do you care why they did it?"

That would determine how she guided him.

Leon thought it over, then shook his head.

"No. Our situation is... unusual. I can’t explain it easily, but just know this, Miss Caroline: the fact that I’m even upset proves I’ve already chosen to accept them—not reject them."

The dynamic between Leon and Hera wasn’t as simple as "abandoned" and "abandoner."

What he said about "finding his biological parents" was just a simplified version to help Caroline understand the context.

Explaining the full truth would’ve been too much at once.

Now that she understood where he stood, Caroline could finally begin to advise.

She looked at him and asked,

"Do you remember the time after you were adopted by Mr. Edgar and Mrs. Charlotte?"

"I do. Why?"

She smiled.

"Back then, you wrote me letters saying you were happy—you finally had a mom and dad. But you also said it was hard to get used to. Strangers one day, suddenly 'mom' and 'dad' the next—it overwhelmed you. I understood completely. A lot of kids feel that way after adoption. And now... isn’t this the same kind of dilemma?"

She smiled again.

"Another sudden bond, another wave of family love. And you still don’t know how to handle it. You were like that as a child. And even now, after building a life of your own... you’re still like that. Hmm... do you remember what I wrote back then?"

Leon’s memory stirred—he remembered Caroline’s letter.

"You told me that if I couldn’t bring myself to say ‘mom and dad’ right away, I shouldn’t force it—and I shouldn’t force myself to match the expectations of my master and mistress either. Because trying to fabricate family just for the sake of appearances would only lead to rejection and resentment. Family has to come from real feelings. You can’t just force a title and expect affection to bloom."

He remembered that letter word for word.

Caroline nodded.

"Exactly. So Leon—use that same approach now. Your anxiety comes from trying too hard to build a 'family' bond with your parents. But that’s not something you can ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ rush. You’re worried about how to face them, about what kind of people they are, about how they’ll see you. But trust me, Leon—none of that matters. When you face them, you don’t have to see yourself as their 'child'. You’re equals now. You haven’t seen them in thirty years. And they haven’t seen you either. This anxiety over 'family'—they feel it too. So, if I could offer one piece of advice, it would be this—"

...

Caroline looked at Leon. Though her eyes were clouded with age, they still radiated the quiet wisdom that made Leon feel so safe.

"Ground yourself. Let it flow. Not everything in this world happens in an instant. You’ll have to slowly feel your way through the changes, step by step, Leon."