I couldn’t stop crying. The feeling of bringing a new life into my life was sothing that was hard to describe. Her loud cry didn’t make the people in the room suffer at all. Instead, they cheered happily at the first cry of the baby.
The woman who helped give birth turned out to be the daughter of the chief of the village. She also helped a lot during my last month of pregnancy. I could only let out a cry. I was too moved to express a single word.
I wished Amadea was with us. The man would be really happy now. He always said that he wanted to be the first person to see our little Snowdrop. And now I could only pray to the Moon Goddess as well as the Sun God so that Amadea could co back to see our little snowdrop. It didn’t matter if he was the last person to see our baby, as long as Amadea could know the result of our love.
I felt so tired and at the sa ti relieved. The old woman, who was always with , wiped my sweaty forehead.
"You have done your best. You have beco a perfect mother. Be happy," she said.
I returned the hold of her hand weakly. It felt like there was no energy left in my body. I had released all of it while enduring the pain of the contraction earlier.
The village chief’s daughter ca over and placed my little Snowdrop in my arms. I did my best to hold back my tears because I didn’t want my tears to spill over her. I stroked her a few tis and her loud crying slowly subsided and was replaced with a very pretty smile.
"What na have you prepared?" asked the old woman while putting her finger on the little head of the baby.
"Snowdrop."
"Snowdrop?"
I had absolutely no na I could give to my baby. Amadea always said to let him think about it first, and he called the baby in my womb using the na Snowdrop for the ti being.
A flower that I liked, and I just found out that the flower would beco a very deadly poison for Amadea.
"Yeah, a little white flower that always appears at the end of winter. It describes a new hope to see spring soon," I replied while looking at my daughter’s beautiful face.
It turned out that my little snowdrop was a girl. Amadea once said that she didn’t want to think whether our child was a girl or boy. The most important thing was that she would grow into a good and kind girl. However, I knew that Amadea hoped to have a daughter after I accidentally read his mind.
"If my husband was here, he would be very happy. He always wanted a daughter."
Soone touched my shoulder.
"Do not be sad. Your little Snowdrop is the connection between you and your husband. Wherever your husband is right now, he must feel it too. Nature has a unique way of connecting one to another. So, ever since Snowdrop was born, nature must have connected her with her father."
I wiped my cheeks as the tears started to trickle down then nodded in understanding. I gently stroked my daughter and after that, she fell asleep. I was told to rest to get ready for a new life as a mother.
Lots of won in the village gave a lot of quiet advice on looking after my baby. I took it well. Even as my eyes struggled to stay open, I tried to respond to their friendliness.
Until the old woman scolded all the won and told them all to co back later.
Then, I slept soundly, replenishing my energy to care for Snowdrop tomorrow. Today I beca a mother. Did I have to stay here? Or should I return to Birwick?
I wasn’t sure where I was now. What kingdom was this and how far was it from Birwick? At that ti, I just walked around aimlessly for days because I was too overwheld with sadness and anxiety.
And after that, I just found out one thing. Being a mother was not easy. My sleeping hours began to get erratic, waking up in the middle of the night because Snowdrop was hungry and an hour later, I had to go back to cleaning Snowdrop’s clothes, which were dirty from urine and feces.
The old woman tried to help , but I couldn’t trouble her any further. I had been living in this house for quite a while without helping her, so that was why I wanted to take care of Snowdrop as much as I could by myself.
Maybe later, after Snowdrop’s sleeping hours slowly ford, I would find another place to live on my own. I felt bad if every night the old woman who was tired of working and looking for food in the forest all day, had to be woken up by Snowdrop’s crying.
"Cecillia, grandma is absolutely fine. Holding Snowdrop like this feels like holding my own grandchild."
"Thank you very much, Grandma. But, I really don’t want to trouble you anymore. I’m grateful you have helped ."
The old woman touched my hand that was holding Snowdrop. I didn’t know why Snowdrop, who was fast asleep, suddenly cried loudly. It was so loud that it deafened my ears. I felt sothing terrible was going to happen. I looked at the afternoon sky that looked dark. Maybe because it was cloudy and was going to rain soon?
No, no... my feeling told sothing worse was going to happen. I stood up slowly when I felt that the water in the clay glass on the table beside vibrated lightly.
As ti went on, the vibrations beca bigger, and it wasn’t just who felt it, but the old woman also could feel it.
The old woman and I imdiately left the house, along with several other people. We saw that the sky that had darkened before was now glowing in red. The birds flew away restlessly and everyone panicked when they heard a woman’s scream from a distance.
"What? What happened? This kingdom had never experienced anything like this before! What happened?" asked a man to the chief of the village who also just ca out of the house.
I saw the village chief who frowned and looked around.
"War. The war has reached our territory. Hurry everyone, evacuate the won and the elders! The n stay in this place and protect the village with all of your might!"
War? I wasn’t sure it was a war... had I been traced? Was it the Northedell troops? No. The n and young n must not stay. They also had to evacuate imdiately. They wouldn’t stand against the Northendell troops.
I must tell them right away.
"No! All of you should evacuate too! Don’t fight them!"
The village chief turned to . He had already prepared a sword. The young n beside him looked confused as well as scared. This was a peaceful area. There had never been a conflict before, so they had never been trained in combat. Unlike the troops that they would face.
The village chief’s daughter tried to drag away from there.
"We must go to the forest imdiately! Grandma! Don’t be left behind! Children, run faster!"
I was being dragged away to be evacuated, but I kept asking the n to just go with us. Their lives would be in vain as they would all be killed in the end! I didn’t want to see any more victims to protect a territory. We could go together to find new territories! I didn’t want to see them get hurt.
The won, elders, and children followed the river path. We must imdiately cross the swift river. The troops would have a hard ti crossing it later. I saw my very beautiful Snowdrop’s face. She never stopped crying, making everyone even more panicked.
A total of twenty people led by the village chief’s daughter ran from the Northendell troops.
My heart beat fast. We all stopped and looked back, and at the sa ti, we heard the screams of n from our village. It was getting closer. The children were crying in fear. We had a hard ti crossing the river.
I was also scared. I was scared to face people who thirst for blood. However, my doubts suddenly disappeared when Snowdrop put her tiny hand in front of my chest. Amadea’s sparkling light shone again like a small sun.
I saw my baby who was no longer crying but laughing. My hands shook violently when finally the Northendell troops also entered the forest. Instantly, all my senses beca much sharper. I could hear the endless hooves of horses. Even the scent of blood had filled the entire forest.
"Grandmother, as you always did, please hold Snowdrop very tightly. I will stop them."
"Cecilia, are you crazy!?"
I shook my head.
"This is the result of not getting things done to the end. I have to face it to solve everything. Please take care of Snowdrop well. And tell her that her father and mother will always love her. If she misses her father, look at the sun, and if she misses her mother, then look at the moon."
I placed Snowdrop on the village chief’s daughter’s embrace. The old woman held my hand, trying to stop . I just smiled then injured my hand. I dropped my blood over her injured forehead. When her wound healed, everyone was in silence.
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