True God In Another World (Tensura x Tbate)

Chapter 84 - Burning Bonds

Kathyln Glayder POV

I remembered one time being lectured as a child by my home instructor. The memory itself was hazy around the edges, but the impact of that day remained crystal clear. From what I was told, I had refused to participate in class with other nobles' children - an arrangement my mother had orchestrated in hopes of me making friends while pursuing my studies.

Her well-intentioned plan had backfired spectacularly on the first day when I threw what the adults later called a "royal tantrum." I had declared, with all the self-importance a young princess could muster, that I wouldn't make friends with them because they weren't princesses like me.

The home instructor had tried to reason with me, her words carefully chosen and gently delivered, but I wouldn't hear any of it. Instead, I had stormed into my room and slammed the door shut with enough force to make the hinges rattle. I remembered sitting on my bed, arms crossed, convinced of my own righteousness.

Later that afternoon, after the other noble children and the flustered instructor had departed, my mother came to my room. She knocked softly on the door, even though we both knew it had no lock. It was her way of respecting my space, a gesture I wouldn't truly appreciate until years later. The sound of her knuckles against the wood still echoed in my memories.

She sat down beside me on my bed, the mattress dipping slightly under her weight. Her fingers found their way to my hair, gently working through the tangles my earlier outburst had created. The familiar sensation of her touch had already started to soften my resolve. Though my own response has faded from memory, her words remained etched in my mind, as clear as if she'd spoken them yesterday:

"My little Kathyln, I know you think you did nothing wrong; everyone gets angry and fights for what they believe in. What I want you to know, my little baby, is that before you are a princess, you are a person. It doesn't matter if it's a king, a servant, a powerful mage, an elf or a dwarf. A person is a person."

"Everyone is different and that is what makes everyone special in their own ways. Don't hate someone for something that they can't change. What if people didn't like you because you have round ears or because you have beautiful white skin? Or a perky little nose?"

She punctuated each example with gentle tickles, transforming my sullen mood into helpless giggles. Looking back, I realized how skillfully she had turned a lesson about prejudice into a moment of connection. The warmth of that memory contrasted sharply with the current situation.

My mother had always defied expectations. Despite her sometimes stern appearance, she possessed a warmth that touched everyone around her. She saw people as individuals first, not as representatives of their race or class. When it came to any form of discrimination, whether based on social status or race, she was uncompromising in her discipline of both my brother and me. Her lessons had shaped my worldview more than any formal education ever could.

"Everyone, towards the explosion now!" Claire's sharp command yanked me from my memories, her voice cutting through the stunned silence that had fallen over our group. The urgency in her tone left no room for hesitation.

We rushed toward the source of the noise, our footsteps echoing through the corridors. The sound of running feet mixed with distant screams and the crackle of flames. When we emerged outside, the scene before us made my heart sink. I couldn't help but cringe, my fists tightening in a mixture of frustration and deep disappointment.

Thick clouds of smoke rose from the center of the campus, dark against the afternoon sky. The acrid smell of burning wood and stone filled the air, making my eyes water - or perhaps those were tears of a different sort. The heat from the blaze reached us even at this distance, a physical reminder of the hatred that had sparked this destruction.