TL/Editor: Butter Cat
Status: 4/week mon-thurs
Illustrations: none
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〈 Chapter 16 〉 Chapter 16. Blood Scent.
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**
Ever since I was born into this world and witnessed the passing of seasons, experiencing my second first snowfall, Remi began reading fairy tales to every night.
Back then, six-year-old Remi would diligently read to , a two-year-old, with her still-developing pronunciation.
She was so cute back then.
I would burst into laughter whenever she encountered a word she couldn't read, secretly asked Mother for help, then proudly resud the story after learning the correct pronunciation.
Honestly, I can say this now, but I knew it all, Remi...
Remi would read a new story every day, but she would often read her favorite fairy tales over and over again.
Among them, the first fairy tale she read to .
And the book Remi loved most out of all the fairy tales.
『Alice of the Blue Forest』
The protagonist, Alice, was a young girl who dread of adventure. She felt like her life was fixed, spinning in place like a windmill.
So she resented her parents who kept her from entering the forest.
'A monster who eats people lives in the forest, so never go in there.'
To Alice, the forest wasn't a scary place inhabited by a monster, but a peaceful space where birds chirped and deer frolicked.
Why wouldn't her parents let her enter the forest?
Could there be treasure hidden there?
If she had been an obedient child who listened to her parents, the story wouldn't have progressed. She would have grown up to be an ordinary girl, gotten married, had children, and lived a long life without causing any trouble.
But unfortunately, this story was a fairy tale.
And — fairy tales exist to teach lessons.
This story is a warning.
Good people are rewarded, and bad people are punished.
Children who disobey their parents' advice will face misfortune.
Excessive greed only leads to harm.
Foolishly, on a day when the sun was shining brighter than ever, Alice ignored her parents' words and entered the forest.
And there, she t fantastical beings and ford bonds with them.
She helped a little fairy who had lost her wings by the water and found them for her.
She transplanted a tree that was worried about not receiving enough sunlight because it was shorter than the other trees to a new location.
She gave advice to a dwarf who dread of making boots that would last a hundred years, and to a passionate fish who aspired to one day fly in the sky by training its gills.
These encounters with mystical beings, sothing she had never experienced before, made Alice's heart race.
‘Living is the most enjoyable thing,’ Alice said.
She couldn't call herself alive just because she was breathing. She said that her past self wasn't a living person, but rather a sculpture that rely existed.
'Now, I am more alive than anything.'
With each precious bond she ford, her surroundings beca noisier, but to her, that noise was a pleasant one.
But a child who disobeys their parents must face punishnt.
Because this fairy tale was written to warn children who don't listen to their parents.
A warning.
A place where her friends told her not to enter, a place everyone warned her about.
The deep, dark forest.
A box that should never be opened, but was more tempting than anything else.
'Hey, hey, who are you?'
'.......?'
Alice, entering that place, encountered the 'monster'.
**
I felt the soft touch of fabric against my eyelids.
I tried to move, but it was as if my entire body was weighed down by heavy stones, and I was drowning in the sea. A strange scent wafted around .
The bitter scent of dicinal herbs mixed with the coppery tang of blood, creating an unsettling sll.
Haa.
My consciousness gradually awakened.
I tried to rember what had happened to , replaying my last actions.
A perfectly executed plan, a death so beautiful, the affection of those I cherished—yes, I rembered everything.
I was stabbed multiple tis in the stomach by Anna. Even though she avoided vital points, I ended up falling off a cliff that seed to be at least tens of ters high.
Even if they pulled out of there imdiately, there was absolutely no way to save .
Yes. It wasn't just a low possibility, it was completely impossible.
Then, what is this sensation? Was I reborn after dying?
No. This is different. Sothing is wrong. I, more familiar with death than anyone else, could tell. This wasn't that feeling.
Sothing more desperate, more pitiful, more tragic than death.
A wave of despair, misery, and sorrow washed over .
I felt tears welling up.
So that's it.
—I'm alive?
"......ㅡㅡ,Ahㅡ"
Where, am I?
My mouth was as dry as parched earth. I tried to speak, but only a small groan escaped. It felt like my vocal cords were cracking.
The voice was raspy, with a lower pitch, but it was so familiar. I was certain.
For so reason, Aris Akaia had survived.
Click.
"—You're awake."
"...Ah...!!"
"Please don't move. I'll give you so water first. Carefully, take it easy."
The sound of a solid object being placed on a wooden table, followed by the voice of an unknown woman.
The woman's voice, heard from nearby, was so captivating that I forgot I was crying.
It was a clear, lodious voice, like jade beads rolling. But beneath it, I sensed a hidden depth of experience and wisdom.
Dreamlike. Beautiful.
I've never heard a voice like this.
Who is she?
"I've soaked the cloth in water. I'll place it in your mouth, so please suck on it slowly. Slowly, slowly. Yes, you're doing well."
"......Hap, haa, haa."
"Little by little, little by little... Yes."
A soft, water-soaked cloth entered my open mouth.
I fumbled with my unresponsive tongue, trying to drink the water. A trickle, moisturizing my tongue.
It was like irrigating a dry rice paddy, but even so, the water was fresh and cool.
Swish.
"...—Ah."
"That's enough."
My body craved more water, but the woman refused to give more, saying I shouldn't drink too much.
The cloth left my mouth.
Hmph.
How an.
Although the words didn't co out of my mouth, did it show on my face? I thought I saw her smile for a mont.
I opened my eyes to see her, but I felt a stinging pain in one eye and had to close them again. I let out a soft groan.
Ouch.
In the brief glimpse I had, all I saw was darkness. It seed like sothing was covering my eyes. Was the foreign sensation I felt around my eyes the touch of cloth?
It felt like a rough bandage was wrapped around my entire head, specifically the eyes.
I heard the sound of her organizing the tools she had brought to give water. The clinking sounds stopped, and a few seconds later, her voice ca again.
"Are you feeling better now?"
"......Yes."
"That's good to hear. When I first saw you, I thought you were dead."
Her voice ca from right beside . I could feel her breath, her scent, her presence, all so intensely.
The scent I felt earlier, I thought it was coming from .
What is this person?
Is she even human?
"You looked in such bad shape, so I brought you here and 'treated' you... but could you tell what happened?"
"......Ah...?"
"If it's too difficult, you don't have to speak."
She was being considerate. From what I gathered, she was the one who found drifting downstream and rescued . And it seed she still didn't know .
She doesn't know ? Is this so remote countryside?
How did she even treat ?
She treated , all by herself?
My curiosity only grew, instead of being satiated.
And.
Even though her tone was polite and warm, her voice was so full of consideration that it made think, 'If empathy had a voice, wouldn't it sound like this?'
"Ah, I haven't introduced myself yet."
From your mouth.
From your fingertips.
From your clothes, soaked and clinging stubbornly.
"My na is Saelli."
What is that sll of blood?
And you're saying you're a doctor?
Not a murderer?
"I... I'm...?"
I was intrigued.
I had no attachnt to this world, so I could wander around and end up a naless corpse, or go back to the royal palace to see Anna and Remi.
But if I saw them now, the sculptures I had painstakingly crafted would crumble again, and...
Dying right now wouldn't be right, considering my newfound interest in you, Saelli.
Ah, as I always thought, I'm just too kind.
"Ah.... Aaah.... I... I'm...!?"
"....What?! Calm down!"
Yes, let's just assu I died and was reborn. Let's not overthink it.
Aris Akaia is dead.
That's all.
"I don't, know. Why, why? It hurts... It hurts... I need to know... I had sothing precious... But it hurts... It hurts... Help ..."
"......!!"
I heard her gasp.
I heard her mumble sothing beside as she looked at , but I continued my act.
I didn't need to force tears. The cloth covering my eyes was already soaked and dripping onto the floor.
"Please don't, leave ... It hurts... I need to know... It hurts, stop, stop it, it hurts, don't stab — big sis."
"...Ah..."
I raised my hand with all my strength, reaching out to Saelli, who was sitting beside . Thud, as my fingertips brushed against her, Saelli reacted violently, and I heard the sound of furniture, presumably a chair, collapsing.
While reeking of the thick scent of blood, unlike anything I've ever slled before, she's weak to this?
My interest only grew.
"This is...!!"
"He,lp, , big…si— "
Whoosh, sothing seed to be flying towards , cutting through the air. Unable to react, I could only brace for the impact.
How kind, sis.
Thud.
"—Sis."
"...Just how much... has the outside world... fallen!?"
My body shook lightly from the impact. Did she hit my neck? Well, knocking out a delirious child is a valid solution.
Co to think of it, I haven't thanked her for saving . Well, I'll do it after I wake up.
Then, good night.
My consciousness began to sink back into the abyss.
Sleepiness washed over . The bright sun-lit surface of the water receding.
Glug, glug.
Deeper.
Gurgle.
Even deeper.
**
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