Chapter 30
“…..!”
I almost opened my mouth for a moment.
I nearly broke my promise with the student council president, almost spitting out the holy water to ask Madam Ranart a question.
I can never give up on Raven.
I won’t go back either.
I even turned back time for that child, so that’s impossible.
Could this ghost be trying to make me speak?
She might be trying to make me break my promise with the student council president and spit out the holy water.
“I was happy during the time I spent with you.”
The young Madam Ranart spoke again.
I looked back at her. She was smiling at me as if she had truly been happy.
Why is she saying such things at this moment?
I remember how kind the Chesswind Village people were to me.
But these aren’t people. Even during the time we spent together in the village, they were never human.
Don’t be fooled.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
However, as I closed my eyes tightly, the memories of the days I spent with her flashed more vividly in my mind.
“It’s a gift. In this village, it’s tradition for mothers to knit scarves for birthdays. I knitted this one, so think of it as from your mother.”
“Why are you skipping meals like this? We might be old and have trouble digesting, but growing children like you need to eat well.”
“What are you doing alone on the holiday? Come to the village chief’s house. The chief said we should all spend the holiday together this year.”
To me, who had no parents and was separated from my younger sibling, the Chesswind Village people became my mother, father, and siblings.
I needed a family. I was still at that age. I was only eighteen, after all.
To think that the people who showed me the warmth of family weren’t actually people.
‘Although I ended up in danger, it’s true that the Chesswind Village ghosts cared for me and gave me affection. That hasn’t changed.’
Didn’t they share even their travel money with me generously, showing me affection?
“Ah, don’t feel sympathy about destroying them. The Chesswind Village ghosts seem to have been unable to sleep here for 100 years. They probably desire destruction more than anyone.”
But I had to destroy her.
I sprinkled the holy water I had been holding in my mouth onto her. Then I took out the cross and pressed it against her forehead.
Whoosh—
At the same time, her body burst into flames. It wasn’t real fire, as it wasn’t hot.
Through the flames, I could see Madam Ranart smiling gently at me.
“I’ll miss you.”
Thud— Thud—
I heard sounds from above. It sounded like someone was digging the ground.
After a while, the wooden board opened.
Someone lifted me as I was crying.
Through my blurry vision, I could see the student council president’s face.
“Melody, are you okay?”
The student council president asked me. His face showed traces of bewilderment and anxiety he hadn’t managed to hide.
He seemed startled by my unexpected disappearance into the grave.
I noticed that the student council president’s face was covered in blood. His whole body was full of wounds.
The student council president took my hand and helped me up. I barely managed to climb up onto the cemetery ground following him.
The surroundings had become quiet. The ghost story had really disappeared.
When I turned my head, I could see scattered skeleton bones on the dug-up dirt floor of the cemetery.
‘Ah.’
Feeling pain, I looked down at my right forearm. I saw a cross tattoo appear and then disappear.
The Chesswind Village ghosts had really been destroyed.
Drip.
My nose started bleeding again. Strangely, I felt like my body had become weaker since the regression. I kept getting nosebleeds at the slightest provocation.
The student council president kindly took out a handkerchief and plugged my nose.
He was in as much of a mess as I was. The only difference was that his body was covered in wounds.
With my nose plugged by the handkerchief he gave me, I asked,
“President, are you okay?”
“Not president, call me senior.”
I hesitated for a moment at the student council president’s words. The term ‘senior’ felt a bit awkward.
After fumbling for a moment, I remembered that I had many questions to ask and quickly nodded.
“Okay, senior. Are you alright? You look in pretty bad shape.”
“Ah. I’m not okay. But it’s bearable. It’s not as serious as it looks. More importantly, you seem to have questions. Ask what you want to know.”
The student council president, or rather, Senior Noah, asked me. He seemed to have noticed that I had been wanting to ask something for a while.
He’s quite perceptive.
“Why are the gravestones of the Chesswind Village people here? Chesswind Village is on the mainland, isn’t it?”
“Ah.”
Senior Noah looked at me with a thoughtful expression.
“The people of Gloria Island call this place the Cemetery of the Forgotten.”
“The Cemetery of the Forgotten? Why do they call the Chesswind Village people that?”
“That’s…”
Senior hesitated with a troubled face, then sighed and continued his explanation.
“The Chesswind Village people are the shadows of a hero. More precisely, they’re Sister Gloria’s shadows. They died protecting her.”
Hero’s shadows. It’s an incredibly sad title.
Sister Gloria was a person who became a national hero 100 years ago by sealing numerous evil spirits.
And according to the student council president, 100 years ago, the Chesswind Village people were accused of being a devil-worshipping cult by those persecuting Sister Gloria and were massacred.
The villagers died protecting Sister Gloria until the end.
As Sister Gloria began to be revered as a saint, people of later generations erected the villagers’ gravestones next to Sister Gloria, he said.
That’s how the villagers’ actual remains and gravestones were moved to this island. Right next to Sister Gloria, whom they had protected with their lives.
The president’s guess was that what I saw might have been the living spirits of the villagers.
After all, the place where the villagers met their death was Chesswind Village.
My heart felt heavy. The Chesswind Village people were good people even when they were alive.
The two men in front of me proved that everything I had experienced until now wasn’t a dream.
In modern times, people don’t believe in evil spirits.
So even that incident from 100 years ago was being reinterpreted as the Vatican inciting ignorant people for political reasons.
I, too, had believed that interpretation until now.
‘Many people believe the records are wrong, but it was all real.’
If this is all a real situation, what should I do from now on?
I might continue to experience the things I’ve been through if I stay here. It might really be dangerous.
If so, I had to stay here even more to protect Raven.
“More importantly, senior, your condition looks serious no matter how I look at it. We should quickly go to the hospital for treatment…”
“Haa. You’re right.”
Senior Noah sighed, running his hand through his hair with a tired face.
“I think I’ll need your help.”
“What?”
Senior slowly bowed his head and rested his forehead on my shoulder. His breathing had become rougher than before.
“I need to ask you for treatment.”
“Where’s the nearest hospital? We should go to the hospital.”
“What do you plan to say if they ask about these wounds at the hospital?”
He asked me instead.
“Couldn’t we say you rolled down in the forest? Or that you encountered a wild animal?”
“Such excuses won’t work on this small island. Even if they did, it would make things bigger. I don’t want things to get bigger.”
Then Senior Noah sighed and said,
“If you go about 100 meters east from here, you’ll find a small church behind the school building.”
I was wondering where we were, and it seemed we were behind the school.
“Go there and find Father Cesario. He’ll take care of it.”
🐈⬛
Thank you for reading! ♡
