The atmosphere in the dining room turned instantly silent. Their footsteps, having just reached the dining table, halted even before they managed to pull out chairs to sit.
Kazien, Alvin, and Allen, all three tensed up and froze where they stood after Elisa asked that pointed question to her son. The woman sitting at the end of the table, a still-steaming cup of tea in hand, stared sharply, demanding an honest answer from her son who had just arrived.
Allen gripped his academy uniform. Cold sweat began to dampen his temples. He knew he could run no longer. With a trembling voice and his head still bowed, he attempted to answer.
"I-I am wrong for liking my own cousin... who is a man just like me." Allen said softly, admitting the taboo he had violated before his mother.
Elisa did not avert her gaze in the slightest. Her eyes were cold, trying to probe the depths of her son's heart.
"If you realize it, do you still persist with those feelings? Are you aware of the consequences awaiting you?"
Allen lifted his face slightly. Seeing his stern mother, the fear in his heart slowly gave way to a desperation that birthed courage.
"Mother, forgive me! I know my feelings are very wrong in your eyes!" Allen exclaimed, his eyes beginning to tear up. "But I don't want to be apart from him because I love him so much. I beg you, Mother, allow me to be with Kazien forever!"
Elisa placed her teacup onto the saucer slowly.
"Are you sure that your happiness lies with your own cousin?"
"I am very sure!" Allen answered quickly, his gaze now full of conviction without a shred of doubt.
Elisa narrowed her eyes, testing her son further. "You still want to be with him even if I cast you out of here?"
The threat was so heavy. Allen fell silent for a moment, bowing his head. He imagined a life alone, being an outcast. However, the thought of a life without Kazien felt far more torturous to him. Because all this time, Allen had always been tormented by his own feelings.
He took a deep breath, then looked back at his mother's face.
"Even though I don't want you to be angry with me, Mother, and I don't want to be a rebellious son... I still want to be with Kazien. Honestly, I just want to be with him! Because he is the only person who has made me fall in love and the person I have chosen as my life partner forever!"
That answer echoed through the spacious room. After hearing her son's answer, which was so stubborn yet sincere, Elisa shifted her gaze. She looked at Kazien and Alvin standing beside Allen. Her gaze was sharp, as if demanding accountability from them.
Kazien felt bad towards his own aunt. He felt guilty for being the cause of the rift in this mother and son relationship.
"What about the two of you?" Elisa asked coldly.
Kazien cleared his throat softly, trying to answer respectfully. "If Aunt Elisa gives her blessing, then I am willing to accept him. Especially since Alvin has been urging me to accept Allen."
Elisa turned to Alvin. "Alvin, is what he said true?"
Alvin smiled widely, looking not the least bit pressured. "That is true, Aunt Elisa! Kazien and I are immortal beings! Allen will also become immortal like us. His presence will—"
Hearing his answer, Elisa immediately cut him off. Her eyes widened.
"Immortal beings? What do you mean? You two are immortal?"
Alvin nodded firmly, confirming Elisa's words.
"Even if we willed it, he and I cannot die! Even if our hearts were destroyed, we would always rise from death and recover as if nothing happened!"
Elisa was shocked to the core after learning that Kazien and Alvin were immortal beings. This information was far more shocking than the cousin love scandal. However, a mother's instinct made her immediately think of the long-term implications. She became worried thinking about her son's fate.
"Won't my son die of old age in the future?" Elisa asked worriedly. "While you two? Both of you remain young forever."
"He won't die, Aunt Elisa." Alvin answered quickly. "He will make an eternal contract with Kazien. Because that is the only way he can live eternally with us!"
Finally, Allen understood completely what Alvin had said earlier in the bathroom. Alvin's offer wasn't just empty talk, but a real solution.
Elisa looked into Alvin's eyes. She searched for lies there, but the High Elf's mint-green eyes were clear, devoid of any deceit.
It seems they aren't joking. If they truly can make my son an immortal human, I must prove it myself for Allen's future.
Elisa straightened her back, making a major decision.
"Kazien, prove it before me right now!" Elisa challenged. "Prove that you can turn someone into an immortal being like yourself!"
Kazien was startled. He knew the great risk behind this contract.
"Aunt Elisa, are you serious about asking that of me?" Kazien asked hesitantly. "If Allen becomes immortal and I cancel the contract, he will die! His life will depend on me."
"Just prove it!" Elisa asserted, refusing to hear any doubts. "If the contract works, I will bless your relationship!"
Hearing her words containing that conditional blessing, Alvin and Allen immediately smiled with pure happiness. Allen's face beamed brightly. But not Kazien. He was shocked to the core by his aunt's decision to so easily ask him to make an eternal contract with her own son.
Allen immediately looked at Kazien beside him. He shook Kazien's arm gently.
"Kazien! Let's make the contract immediately! I really want to be with you!" Allen exclaimed enthusiastically, impatient to bind his soul.
Kazien stared at Allen who seemed so eager to make an eternal contract with him. His cousin's purple eyes sparkled with hope.
Elisa also appeared to be waiting for the result of the contract. She looked at Kazien with arms crossed, a gaze that seemed to demand absolute certainty from him.
Kazien felt confused and pressured about what to do.
This is crazy! If Allen makes a contract with me, it is certain he can never cancel it for the rest of his life. If he cancels or rejects the contract, then he will die. What must I do?
Kazien looked back at his cousin's face, who had been waiting for his answer all this time.
Seeing this enthusiastic face makes me not want to make him sad. If I refuse and make Allen sad, Alvin will also feel sad or even disappointed in me.
He was trapped in the circle of their promises and hopes. There was no way back.
Kazien took a deep breath, then released it slowly so it sounded like a long sigh, a sign of surrendering to fate.
He looked at Allen seriously.
"Stand over there and close your eyes!" said Kazien while pointing toward the empty dining room wall, a little distance away from the dining table. "I will perform the ritual immediately."