episode_0033

Only the occasional moonlight seeped in to stare at them.

All I could hear was the familiar sound of insects crying and loud conversations coming from the other side.

Kamiel broke the silence and opened his mouth.

“… Yes?”

How much time is left?

It was a sudden sound, but Kamiel’s reaction was sensitive.

Long eyelashes were trembling slightly.

‘no way… . no. ‘How does he know that?’

The doubts passing through his mind added to his confusion.

The old woman said, moving the wrinkles around her mouth.

“I mean… Do you understand what I mean?”

“… No.”

Kamiel shakes his head without making any hasty guesses.

Not yet… It was too early to be sure.

The old woman was depressed.

The way he closed his eyes seemed as if he was trying to remember something.

“The moment I first saw you, I couldn’t hide my surprise.”

It was an unusual story.

“Me… ?”

“That’s right. Do you know what I saw?”

Camiel shook his head.

“I saw death… .”

“… … .”

There was silence.

If anyone had heard her, they would have burst out laughing.

But it wasn’t Kamiel.

“That… What does it mean?”

He was more confused than distrustful.

“I… You have extraordinary abilities. This ability is not just limited to me. Past years. Our ancestors were just like me.”

No one knows when it came down.

However, among many elves, her family had special abilities passed down from generation to generation.

“Eyes that allow us to see what cannot be seen. And the sense that allows me to know the remaining time of the object I have pointed out is my ability.”

The old woman’s eyes widened as if she was looking right through him.

“I see it. see… How could this not be seen? Like this… It’s dark and constricts your entire body. It hasn’t gotten to the head yet. But it’s only a matter of time.”

“That… … .”

The question is how do you know?

It was pointless.

Because she explained it quickly.

Kamiel just didn’t know what to do in this sudden situation.

Until now, no one other than people of his own species knew about his death.

However, one new person emerged here today.

‘I never imagined it.’

Who would have imagined it?

The elf elder has this ridiculous ability.

“But there is something strange. why… Death, which would have been a little slower, has been hastened, right? As if something artificial had intervened.”

Although he was an old elder, his tone of voice was full of energy.

She asked, looking directly at Kamiel.

“You… What on earth happened?”

“… A lot happened.”

Kamiel looked helpless, as if he realized there was no need to hide it anymore.

I blurted out everything that had happened so far.

In fact, I didn’t even know if he wanted it deep down.

‘Did I speak so well?’

He spat it out like rapid fire.

Even so, the pronunciation was clear and there were no errors in conveying what was in memory.

‘Is it because I always suffered alone?’

After telling everything, I felt somewhat refreshed.

But at the same time, depression reached out and groped my body.

One way or another, it was an undeniable fact that it was a bad past.

To speak, you have to remember.

But dark memories existed at the very bottom.

It was as if Kamiel had penetrated deep inside himself to get to the bottom.

As he had tried to forget about it, his first exploration of the bottom brought about severe aftereffects.

“True… A lot has happened.”

The elf elder’s complexion was dark.

‘I knew it wasn’t a good thing early on.’

I never imagined that such ugly people would appear in the past.

Even the elder knew now.

The reason why that gloomy energy is behind that young man.

Why do we live a life shorter than our original lifespan?

“How much trouble it must have been… .”

The elder trudged over and gave Kamiel a warm hug.

“Ah… .”

Kamiel was confused at first by the unexpected hug, but soon felt an unknown emotion.

Someday, I wanted to be hugged by my mother like this.

To my mother, who does not mistreat me, but still distances herself from me.

‘warm… .’

I’ve hugged her a lot too.

Things were different now.

‘I wonder if my grandmother would have felt this way if she were alive.’

My eyes were hot.

Pop… . Pop… .

“Ah… .”

“It’s okay. I will cry as much as I want.”

“… … .”

I don’t think it was an emotion that was overwhelming enough to make me cry… . I don’t know.

He couldn’t understand himself either.

‘but… Even for a moment… .’

I have always endured it.

Ignorance from parents, which I started receiving from a young age.

Although Kamiel is now quite mature, he still wanted to act like a child in front of his parents.

Of course, if only I could… . If only you would accept it.

It’s still like this… When I was young, if you add more, you add more. It would never have been less.

It was exhausting. Holding back your tears and suppressing your desire to complain.

For others, there was a place to rely on.

A sanctuary called home and family.

A place that was supposed to be as warm as a cradle that a baby briefly entered, but to Camiel, it was a stinging place, like swimming through thorny vines.

“Still… I remember.”

“What?”

“To the point where I thought the leaves were turning so fresh and the sky could never be this blue. A day with nice weather. It was my birthday that day.”

One day, I heard about it by chance and found out about it.

The village people remembered the birthday of a close friend and congratulated him.

It was so natural that it goes without saying that parents do this on their children’s birthdays.

but… Camiel’s birthday was a day he was so excited about.

For others, it was just an ordinary day like any other.

It might have been better if it had passed like that.

But he listened.

“Mother and father… I heard what you said. He asked me if it was my birthday a few days ago. Only then did they realize that my birthday had passed.”

However, his father’s next words left Kamiel completely devastated.

Let’s just pass it on. You didn’t say anything anyway, right?

He doesn’t even know my birthday, so what are we doing?

That day was a very tiring day for Katan.

That’s why you probably didn’t want to think about painful things while lying in bed.

Kamiel also vaguely guessed this.

“So? I am… I am. Was that really true? I didn’t even feel like crying. Because I learned it by watching my younger brother.”

Crying is a sign of disappointment.

Sadness is worth it because there is someone who will accept it.

There was no one who could accept Kamiel’s disappointment.

Even his parents, who should have been closest to him, have mentally abandoned him.

“At that time… For the first time, I thought I wanted to die. Should I cut my wrists with a knife? I also thought about it.”

Because at one time, he also had those feelings.

Even though I saw a young lady harming herself the other day, I couldn’t scold her harshly.

I automatically understood how difficult it must have been to make such a choice.

“But… I eventually quit.”

Anyway, he knows that no matter if he slices his wrist with a knife or whatever he does, no one will look at him.

If that were really the case, wouldn’t he have frowned as if it were annoying?

“What was more difficult than indifference and contempt… It was like giving up on myself completely. If I really had slit my wrists… … Maybe I wasn’t completely abandoned that day?”

After a torrent of countless emotions, all the embers burned out and what was left was a feeling of emptiness.

“Me too… I wish I had a grandmother who would hug me like this.”

When Kamiel first saw the light of day, his grandparents had already been buried in darkness.

“They say parents usually care about their grandchildren more than their own children… Is it true?”

“… When you raise a child for the first time, there are many shortcomings. I kept thinking about the things I couldn’t do for my grandson earlier, so I started to give more attention to my grandson.”

“Me too… I hoped for that kind of sincerity.”

Pat, pat… .

The elder patted the back of the crying child without stopping.

I really felt like a child.

Strangely enough, even though he was taller than me… Right now, as I was crying in his arms, I felt as small as a child.

The world was cruel.

What was so bad about this young sapling-like child that he got caught up in such a storm? .

Kamiel cried for a long time.

There was no sound, but the young boy’s sobbing seemed like an auditory hallucination.

* * *

Kamiel, who had stopped crying, looked embarrassed.

He apologized for the rude behavior he had just shown, but the elder shook his head.

“I was also happy because it seemed like I finally had a grandson. Hey. There is no need to try to live alone in this world. What am I… I’m like this because my family left first. Still, haven’t you lived enough?”

“Elder… … .”

Kamiel bowed politely.

It was a polite attitude that I had never shown to anyone.

It was also a promise in my heart to treat the old woman in front of me as if she were my own flesh and blood.

He hesitated until the end and reluctantly left at the elder’s words.

“Please come out now.”

“… … .”

Since when did it start?

Surprisingly, there was a human figure coming out of the darkness.

Light brown hair shone softly in the moonlight.

Eyes of the same color were trembling as if faced with an unbelievable fact.

“He’s a very pitiful child, isn’t he?”

“… … .”

It may have seemed rude, but Rheasian had no power to say anything.

It was she who had been hiding from the middle.

‘I knew my family life wasn’t good, but… .’

I had no idea it would be this bad.

How could it be that Leasian, who was only listening, could empathize?

It had become assimilated.

With his pain.

The elder glanced sideways toward Rheasian.

No, more accurately, it seemed like he was staring at her back.

“This is a child who carries a lot of pain. You, the Supreme, are no less so.”

“… … .”

“If you embrace each other’s pain, you will become a lover like no other in the world. Please think a lot and treat me well.”

The elder left after saying those words.

Even the moonlight avoided the spot for Rheasian, who was left alone.

Thanks to this, she was able to think a lot in the dark.