Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem-Chapter 516: Love

Victoria was Calserra’s personal maid and had been with the family since long before Nora was born. Calserra trusted her almost more than she trusted herself. If she wanted to speak up about something, she could do so without worrying about being reproached or reprimanded.

But she didn’t do that since she strictly adhered to what she believed a perfect maid should be like.

But now, she broke away from that.

"...What do you mean by that, Young Master?" She pressed when Zach didn’t say anything.

At first, Zach didn’t look at her, but after a few moments, he slowly turned toward Victoria.

"Nora. Is. Dead," He said with a grim expression and shadows swirling within his eyes.

"You…!"

Zach wasn’t sure what kind of expression Victoria was making, but it was the most emotion she had ever shown in the twenty years he had known her. It seemed like a mix of shock, outrage, disbelief, and anger.

He raised an eyebrow.

"I don’t understand why you’re so upset. It’s almost like you cared for her."

It wasn’t just the most emotion she had shown him. Zach was sure that Victoria had never been this expressive with Nora, either.

Maura was perhaps a little too flirtatious in front of her daughter, and she didn’t mind flaunting herself. She had kept things from Visla and pushed her away since she didn’t want her to get in trouble.

A little bit of bad communication but with good intentions.

Calserra was busy, and she hadn’t always had time for Zach when he was young, but she made sure to send him gifts and hug him when she found the time. She made it clear that she loved him. Zach did not doubt that until recently, when his entire family abandoned him without so much as a word.

Victoria…

"...What is that supposed to mean?" Victoria asked, her face snapping into place and covered with frost that seeped into her voice. The icy edge in her tone was telling Zach to tread very carefully.

Normally, she would never use such a tone when talking with anyone, much less a member of Calserra’s family. But she did not like what Zach was implying, and with the shock of hearing about her daughter’s death, Victoria could not control herself.

Zach shrugged.

"Just that it feels odd for you to have this reaction. It’s not like you ever showed Nora you cared about her when she was alive. Why do it when she’s dead? When it’s too late?" He asked, meeting Victoria’s ice with fire.

"I want to question whether you ever loved Nora, but—"

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"Don’t you dare—!"

"Did you even like her?" Zach asked.

"Of course, I loved her!" Victoria shouted. It was the highest Zach had ever heard her voice go. He didn’t even know it was possible for her to sound like that.

"Oh? I guess you have—had an interesting way of showing it. Or maybe we just have different definitions of love," Zach remarked with nonchalant shrug.

It was too little and far too late, but he finally had the strength to stand up to Victoria for Nora. Besides, it wasn’t like Nora could blame him for ruining her already strenuous relationship with her mother now. He might as well take the opportunity and vent everything that had built up over the years.

"You see, in my book, when you love someone, you want to see them happy. You want to see smiles on their faces. You want them to thrive. And, most importantly, you want to be the one who makes all of that happen.

"Tell me, Victoria, how often did Nora smile in your presence? Five times after her sixth birthday perhaps? And how often was she punished for smiling when it wasn’t ’appropriate’? By you, I might add.

"Once? Twice? Thrice?"

"Zach, that’s enough," Calserra interjected. She couldn’t stand to watch this anymore. Victoria was about to snap.

Zach ignored his mother and continued.

"Don’t tell me you punished her every time she smiled? Surely, no ’loving’ mother would ever do such a thing." Zach’s voice was filled with sarcasm.

"...It was just training…" Victoria said in a low voice to try and justify it.

"Right. Training. Training how to get beat up by her own mother, perhaps. Is that why she hated training with you?"

"Enough!" Calserra raised her voice.

Zach continued ignoring her.

"Is that why she dreaded returning to the estate? Is that why she didn’t want to step foot into a training room for years? Is that why preferred training with me over so much as thinking about her training with you?

"Because your training was just so full of love? Hmm?

"In the first place, if you cared about your daughter, you would have never agreed to this stupid fucking plan. I wasn’t the only one left behind and labeled a traitor.

"What do you think would have happened to Nora the moment it was confirmed I betrayed the Empire?

"With how my mother listens to your every word like it’s gospel, you could have easily done something.

"If you had, Nora wouldn’t have been sent to the frontlines with me. If you had, Nora wouldn’t have been forced to see the tragedy of entire towns reduced to nothing but ash and burned human corpses. If you had, she wouldn’t have had to join the fight against the Children.

"If you had…She wouldn’t be dead right now."

"ENOUGH!" Calserra’s voice boomed not just inside the tent but the entire camp, sending shivers down the warriors’ spines. They stopped what they were doing and waited for something to happen. But it was dead silent everywhere.

Zach took a step back from Victoria’s face and glanced at his mother. His disappointment was blatant.

Calserra’s heart stung seeing that look on her dear son’s face. But some lines shouldn’t be crossed even when one’s heart was in tatters.

However, Zach’s heart wasn’t the only broken one.

"...She wouldn’t have died if you had done a better job protecting her." Victoria couldn’t hold back.