episode_0114

December 25th arrived.

That day was Breezedon’s baptism day, and also the day my funeral was held.

The villagers gave up on my life support.

Due to the fire, all pharmaceutical facilities were lost, and even Tia, who could remake the medicine, had been exiled.

Now, the only remaining method was to ‘let Ritsu go.’

Marvin, the most influential person, decided to remain as the village chief.

People placed my stiff body into the coffin.

On this day, when people should have been most joyful, no laughter could be heard.

The children who were supposed to receive the sacred Dragon God’s baptism, dance awkwardly, and drink bitter wine, had all disappeared.

With everyone’s sobs behind him, Marvin dug my burial plot.

After digging a plot exactly my height, he moved the coffin and placed it into the pit.

He closed the coffin lid, then covered it with soil.

Thwack!

Marvin took out a dagger and carved my name into the burial tree.

[Ritsu]

Thus, a preposterous death was declared.

Sigh… To be judged dead while still alive.

No, the ignorant and pitiful villagers couldn’t possibly know.

Because they don’t even know that Fosao was watching this entire situation.

“Pant- pant-.”

Deep in the distant forest.

Fosao looked down at Breezedon and smiled.

“Heheheh.”

The fellow who had been watching my funeral, circled widely through the forest and headed towards the general store.

On the first floor of the general store, Tia was deeply asleep, covered by a blanket.

As soon as Fosao entered, he woke Tia.

“Ti, Tia!”

“…Uncle?”

“W-while passing through the forest, I, I accidentally saw… it seems Ritsu has died.”

“What?”

Sleep vanished completely from Tia’s face.

Fosao explained what he had just seen.

“They held, held a funeral… and buried him under a tree.”

“That can’t be… The doctor-nim said Ritsu wasn’t dead…”

“Oh, what should I do?”

Rustle-!

Tia threw off her blanket and got up.

Then, only grabbing the coat hanging nearby, she immediately ran out of the general store.

“N-no! Tia!”

The place she headed for was Taildon, the lower village.

Lest anyone see her, she tightly wrapped her face with her cloak and sought out the house where the doctor lived.

Knock knock!

As she desperately pounded on the door, the doctor appeared.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me. Tia.”

“Tia?”

Soon, as if understanding the reason, the doctor cleared his throat with a ‘hmm’.

Tia spoke with an urgent voice.

“Doctor-nim… The villagers are burying Ritsu… Please… quickly go to our village and stop them…!”

“Well, now… I’m sorry.”

The doctor scratched his head.

“Those people also spoke to me last night. They said since they’d exiled you, they wanted someone else reliable sent. But where would I get such power? When I told them to either pay more or handle it themselves… it seems they’ve decided to give up on that child after all.”

“What? No…”

Thump.

Tia knelt before the door.

Whoosh-!

Fiercely blowing snowflakes piled up on Tia’s shoulders.

Because of this, her tear-filled eyes looked even more piteous.

“C-can’t anything be done? If it’s about money… I’ll give it to you! Can’t you send anyone to take Ritsu out and care for him?”

“But… do you even have money? You said you were exiled.”

Tia was speechless.

She could do nothing.

Even knowing that I, who was clearly alive, had been buried in the ground, she couldn’t return to the village to dig me out.

Because Tia was an ‘exile’.

It seemed that rumor had immediately spread to Taildon as well.

Since the doctor knew what had happened just yesterday, she couldn’t even lie about being able to get money.

All that remained was to beg.

To beg and beg again.

It was the only way to appeal to any remaining pity in this doctor.

Tia prostrated herself on the ground.

To the extent that the sound of her forehead hitting the threshold could be heard.

Her pitiful body trembled.

“Please… Please… Please save Ritsu…”

“…”

He placed his hands on his hips and sighed.

“I’m sorry, Tia. The more I get involved with your village, the more trouble it causes. I’ve seen you often since you were little, and that boy is your best friend, so I feel close to you, but… there’s nothing I can do.”

“Teacher-nim…”

Unable to avoid her desperate gaze, the doctor crossed his arms.

“If that’s truly the case, then first, by any means necessary, get that child out of the coffin. And…”

The doctor went inside his house and brought something out.

It was a piece of parchment.

“This is the private residence of the court physician who helped you last time. If you write a letter here, you might find a way. However, Deseo’s situation is currently bad, so it’s uncertain if the letter will be delivered properly.”

Tia realized this was the best the doctor could do.

She received the parchment with trembling hands.

“Thank you…”

Tia returned to the general store.

She slumped down weakly, then suddenly realized her thighs felt sticky.

“…”

When she wiped the inside of her thigh with her hand, bright red blood stained it.

That was when it happened.

“You, you’re back?”

Fosao was holding a blanket.

It was the same blanket Tia had slept under tonight.

And on it… was a bright red liquid that anyone would recognize as ‘blood’.

As Tia stared at the blanket, Fosao gave an awkward laugh and said,

“Ah… this? Heheheh… I t-tried to wash it off because there was b-blood on it… but it’s not, not coming off well… But it looks like you’re, you’re badly hurt? Bleeding this much…”

Even though he clearly knew what it was.

Fosao pretended not to know, smiling slyly as he spoke.

Tia lowered her head in embarrassment.

“…It’s not a wound.”

“Th-then?”

She answered in a small voice.

“It’s… my period.”

“Ah, ahhh…!”

The fellow gave an awkward smile.

With a twisted expression, he imitated what I had said.

“I-it must be hard. Sh-shall I make… you some herbal tea?”

“…”

Tia nodded.

“Alright! I’ll make, make it right away!”

“Um… and Uncle… there’s one more thing I’d like to ask you.”

“Hm? Wh-whatever it is, just say it!”

After a moment of hesitant eyes.

She spoke with a firm voice.

“Tonight… let’s go to Breezedon together.”

* * *

That night.

Breezedon, which should have been bustling with the baptism ceremony, was as quiet as a grave.

Tia targeted that time.

She secretly climbed the mountain and entered the hill where the burial trees were gathered.

Fosao, who had reluctantly followed her, asked in an anxious voice.

“Ti, Tia… Do we really have, have to go this far?”

“…”

“I-if we get caught, won’t I, I die too?”

Tia said nothing.

She simply quickened her steps silently towards where I was buried.

Thump.

Finally, her small boots stopped.

There was the burial tree with my name carved into it, and traces of the freshly covered ground remained.

Thud!

Tia immediately thrust the shovel she had been carrying on her shoulder into the ground.

Fosao urgently tried to stop her.

“First, let’s g-go back and think about it again… I’m sc-scared…”

“Uncle, keep watch for me.”

“Tia…”

“Please.”

“A-alright.”

Fosao, who had been grumbling, closed his mouth and checked for any signs of people towards the village.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Tia, illuminated by the moonlight, looked almost mad.

Like a female wolf howling in madness after losing her mate.

Her red eyes glowed crimson as she began frantically digging into the ground.

How arduous it must have been to dig the frozen ground with her small bare hands on that cold winter night.

Not long after the first shovel full, her hands became red and swollen.

“…”

Still, Tia didn’t stop and continued to dig.

By the time she was knee-deep.

Thunk!

The tip of the shovel hit something hard.

As Tia cleared away the soil with her hands, the surface of the wooden coffin appeared.

“Ritsu…!”

Her movements became even more urgent.

To open the lid, she still needed to clear away the remaining accumulated soil.

It was while she was diligently scraping away the surrounding earth with the shovel.

“Ti, Tia! It looks like someone’s coming…”

Fosao, who was keeping watch, said in an anxious voice.

Tia looked back.

A single lantern floated through the darkness covering Breezedon.

A patrolman was coming this way.

“We, we need to run…!”

“It’s done!”

Unlike the terrified Fosao, Tia kept digging.

Thud! Thud!

After clearing away the last of the soil, Tia pushed the coffin lid open with all her might.

Slide-.

As the incredibly heavy wooden lid slid open.

I, lying dormant within, was revealed by the moonlight.

“Ritsu… I’m here… Were you cold?”

Tia wiped the soil from my face with her hand.

Fosao urged.

“Ti, Tia. Quickly…!”

Slide-.

Tia took me out of the coffin, then refilled the pit with the coffin lid and soil.

“Uncle! Carry him on your back!”

“M-me?”

“Quickly!”

Fosao made a displeased face, then reluctantly carried me on his back.

In the meantime, Tia handled the aftermath and picked up a stone.

Whiz! Thwack!

The stone, thrown with force, landed in a remote spot.

The patrolman, who had come close to the bottom of the hill, turned his head at the sound of the stone.

“Now!”

Tia and Fosao took me and entered the forest.

* * *

From that day on, my body remained at the general store.

Tia redecorated the first floor.

She decorated the areas visible from the main entrance and windows as a ‘general store’, then transformed the areas out of sight solely into a treatment room for me.

She connected unused chairs to make a bed, then covered it with a huge tablecloth to create a sickbed.

She also used the remaining medicinal ingredients from the general store to make ‘medicine’ in the kitchen.

Her plan was this.

While Tia was taking care of me in this relatively safe place.

She would write a letter to the court physician and somehow find a way to wake me.

Of course, Fosao was not pleased, but for some reason, he didn’t stop Tia and let her do as she pleased.

The research for treatment continued day and night.

Every day, she asked Fosao to get medicinal ingredients and books from the lower village.

At first, Fosao granted all her requests, but as the demands increased and the costs grew, he began to add comments.

“To buy a-all this, it’ll cost quite a bit…”

“I’m sorry… But it’s absolutely necessary…”

“Hmm… A-alright! If it’s necessary, then there’s no choice. I’ll get it.”

He would say that in front of Tia.

But when he left the general store, he would scowl and yell.

“…Tsk! Why can’t she g-give up on a guy who’s practically d-dead?”

The fellow’s cheeks trembled.

“C-coming into my house… and still Ritsu, Ritsu, Ritsu… I’m so s-sick of it, I could die!”

Fosao, who had been stomping along, suddenly spoke in an eerie voice.

“Indeed… I h-have to do it…”

The fellow twisted his lips and laughed.

“Heheheh. Heheheh…”

His laughter was chillingly sinister.