I was in a cabin on top of a rocky mountain.
On the surface, the cabin looks shabby but the inside is unexpectedly cozy. There was a comfortable chair in front of the well-equipped fireplace that made me reluctant to get up once I sat down.
At some point, that seat became my spot.
The most abundant thing in this house were books that filled the huge bookshelves. I spent most of my time reading them on the spot.
This cabin had its own front yard. Colorful flowers bloom there without regard to the seasons.
Perhaps it was some kind of magic. Since the flowers kept blooming, I casually picked them and decorated the inside of the house. It was one of the precious pastimes.
“I’m bored…”
I closed the book I was reading and stretched my body. Arsene had told me that I didn’t have to do anything, and indeed, there was nothing much for me to do.
Read a book for a while, have the meal prepared by Arsene, read some more, go admire the flowers, and if I find a beautiful one, I will bring it back home and use it as a decoration, then read some more. I pressed my eyelids hard because my eyes felt stiff for some reason.
I had forgotten because there were always people around me.
Right, being alone like this is truly a lonely thing. It used to be a familiar thing when I was Ha Sohee, but it felt strange now that I was Mary Conler.
If Arsene was here, it would have been a little better. But Arsene was busier than I thought. He was gone all day and didn’t return until the evening.
I absentmindedly gazed at the ceiling and decided to go for a walk to clear my mind.
I didn’t know what kind of magic it was, but there were new flowers blooming in the front yard today as well.
Maybe it was Arsene’s consideration, telling me to enjoy the view because I was always stuck inside the house. While I was admiring the flowers, I found a child lurking around behind the fence.
“…… Hello?”
The child, who had been stealing glances at me, was startled by my greeting and immediately turned away. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but it was my first time seeing that child.
Moreover, the child seemed smaller in stature compared to others. The child ran away at a brisk pace.
I didn’t have any intention of chasing after her anyway, so she didn’t need to run like that. The child ran precariously, as if she were about to fall, then stopped for a moment and turned around to look at me.
She seemed surprised that I was still looking at her, and after looking at me for a while, she ran off again.
I watched the whole process with regret and then turned my head away.
I wanted to have a conversation with her, but I didn’t feel the need to catch her when she looked so startled.
However, as I held the flowers in my arms and entered the house, I slightly regretted it.
‘I shouldn’t have greeted her.’
Surprisingly, there’s a village on this rugged rocky mountain. There didn’t seem to be many people living there, and it was mostly children.
When I first arrived here, Arsene had assured me that the god of the underworld would never find this place.
Although it was said to be located in a hard-to-reach area, the orphanage I had been in before and Tahata, which I had visited once, were also located at the top of a mountain.
Especially here, even though it was small in scale, it looked like an ordinary village, so I secretly wondered if that person couldn’t really find this place.
However, when I saw the magic inscriptions on the stones surrounding the village, I understood.
Since they were very ancient magic, I couldn’t understand everything, but they were definitely protective magic barriers.
When I saw the stone barrier as if they were determined to protect this village, I naturally became tongue-tied. They were meticulously erected with such attention to detail that it reached an obsessive level.
Being secluded from the world like this, the people in this village were wary of me.
When Arsene arrived, they were glad and didn’t know what to do, but when they saw me, the guest brought by Arsene, they hurriedly ran away.
However, they still came to see me, even though they were wary. I couldn’t fathom whether it was because I was a newcomer or if they found me intriguing.
According to Arsene, there interest was sparked by the arrival of a stranger who had black hair and black eyes.
Of course, that was only natural, but the gazes of those who looked at me were mixed with something more intricate.
At first, I tried waving my hand and initiating conversations with the children who came to see me, but I naturally gave up after watching them run away like that every time.
Well, I won’t be staying here for long…
‘It won’t be long, will it?’
Lately, I have been reading books related to “Yusa,” an ancient sorcery mainly favored by the god of death, from the vast bookshelf in this giant library.
Since people hesitated to use or even mention this sorcery, there wasn’t much information available.
When I asked him about it, he said with a sullen face that he had only collected what he could while traveling around.
Arsene told me that even if there was just a mention of a story related to it, he would go to any distant place to obtain it.
There were even strange languages that I saw for the first time in my life, but Arsene kindly provided translations as well.
Due to the scarcity of materials, despite reading and rereading to the point of memorizing, I still couldn’t comprehend this sorcery.
It is said that the god of death used this magic to make people hate each other and even cause war.
‘Two people who have lived similarly…’
Tia Bluea and Sofia Bruno.
What could be their similarities? Why was Tia Bluea summoned here? What was she planning to do?
Where’s Sofia Bruno? Just when I was lost in thought, sitting on my spot…
Knock, knock.
I heard someone knocking on the door.
“Ouch!”
Startled by the knocking sound, I tumbled off the chair. However, I was so focused on the knock that I didn’t even feel the pain of hitting the floor.
Could it be that Arsene had returned? But if it was Arsene, he wouldn’t be knocking on the door. I approached the door cautiously, on high alert.
“Who’s there?”
No response came.
Maybe that man had come. I bit my lip tightly.
Did he come because Arsene wasn’t here? Could he have some ulterior motive? What happened to the magic barrier? My hand gripping the doorknob was trembling.
“Who is it?”
I tried to act calm, but the uncontrollable tremor seeped through.
I bit my lip tightly, hating how my voice sounded as if I was scared even though I was the one inside.
How should I handle it if it really was that man? Such a thing wouldn’t happen. If someone touched the magic barrier, I would immediately sense it. I remembered Arsene’s advice to hold on and endure no matter what happens.
I recalled the attack magic that I had memorized.
“Um… earlier…”
A voice so fragile that it seemed as if it could easily break reached my ears. Finally regaining my senses, I peered through the large window next to the door to see who had come.
It was the child who had run away from me earlier at the fence. I could tell from her hunched shoulders that she was still quite tense.
Why did she come? When I opened the door with half a doubt, what I saw was the small top of her head.
“……what’s the matter?”
I almost laughed because the top of her head was cute, but I asked politely.
“I felt guilty for running away earlier…”
The child held out a basket of cookies with trembling hands. I received the cookies in daze.
The child’s cheeks turned bright red. Somehow, it reminded me of when I first met Rex.
She was almost exactly like Rex back then. I turned around and cautiously grabbed the child’s shoulder, asking carefully.
“Would you like to come in?”
After hesitating for a moment, the child quickly nodded.
The child’s name was Jenny. While drinking the tea I offered, Jenny still seemed somewhat wary of me.
I couldn’t imagine how she gathered the courage to come all the way here with cookies. Jenny seemed incredibly shy and lacked confidence.
“Well, thanks for coming again. I thought I wouldn’t have a chance to talk like this since they always ran away.”
“Oh, I’m sorry for running away…”
“Ah.”
Feeling inexplicably flustered, she scratched the corner of her eyes. She brought this cookie because she was worried about running away as if she had seen a monster.
Most of the people in this village reacted the same way, but seeing Jenny in front of me, I thought she was cute. I even took out the bread I had been saving.
It was the spoils I obtained with great effort, barely clinging to Arsene as he was leaving in the morning. Jenny’s eyes widened in delight as she took her first bite. This is what the world tastes like.
“Every time the other older sisters and brothers mentioned seeing you, I became curious too!”
As Jenny’s nervousness seemed to dissipate after eating something delicious, she began to chatter away.
It seemed like she was considered an outcast among the young ones in the village, as they didn’t include her in their group.
Running away after gawking at me seemed to have become a trend, but these children were still humans after all…
Although she was filled with guilt, I couldn’t possibly blame young Jenny for anything, so I simply put one of the cookies she brought into my mouth. It was firm, but had a moderate sweetness, and it crumbled in my mouth.
“What the older sisters and brothers said was true.”
“Huh?”
I couldn’t respond properly as I chewed on the cookie. But Jenny continued regardless.
“They said you resemble the saint.”
“The saint?”
I replied, wiping the crumbs from the corner of my mouth.
Perhaps Jenny liked my response, as her pink sausage-like legs wiggled happily. I look like the saint… It felt somewhat uncomfortable. Is that why people look at me like that?
“Yes! The one who created this village.”
