Ch.70Omen (3)

*

It feels awkward.

Throughout the meal sitting across from her, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something about Ms. Sylvia’s attitude seemed unnatural.

She was clattering her fork against her plate with an expressionless face.

She clearly didn’t seem to have much of an appetite.

“…Ms. Sylvia, it’s getting cold. Please eat.”

“…Yeah.”

Today’s venison steak was quite a masterpiece of mine.

After all, I had salt.

I finally succeeded in completely removing the stone powder that had been mixed with the salt she had collected on corpse-gathering day.

I couldn’t help but look forward to tasting that salty flavor after such a long time.

Even though it must have been ages since she last tasted food seasoned with salt and pepper, she merely picked at her meat, tearing off small pieces without really enjoying it.

I wondered if I had made some mistake while cooking, but the meat that entered my mouth was delicious enough to melt my cheeks.

Perhaps the salt had clumped together, leaving her meat with too little or none at all?

“Ms. Sylvia, perhaps…”

“Hmm? Ah, no, it’s fine.”

Sylvia gave a weak smile, saying the taste wasn’t the problem so I shouldn’t worry.

I let out a small sigh at her awkward smile that seemed forced and unnatural, like a congealed lump.

Today, Ms. Sylvia’s emotions had been fluctuating wildly all day.

Early in the morning, she had chattered about how satisfying last night’s sex had been.

In the afternoon, she had presented Laila’s coffin with a bright smile.

Then suddenly her expression darkened and she became much quieter.

Now she sat like someone who had lost her soul, her eyes unfocused.

Of course, I wasn’t annoyed or tired of seeing her like this.

Her current gloomy mood was probably because of Sister Maria.

No matter how much she told me not to worry about it, now that she knew I was Maria’s brother, she couldn’t help but be concerned.

I kept telling her that my sister’s death and my curse weren’t her fault, but each time, shadows of indelible guilt clung to Ms. Sylvia’s face.

In the end, she left more than half of her steak uneaten.

Since the salt was precious, I ate it all.

After the meal, Ms. Sylvia went to her room alone.

I wiped the grease from the dishes with cloth scraps torn from my old tattered clothes, wondering how I could cheer her up.

If I had known it would be like this, I shouldn’t have revealed it so hastily.

Honestly, her reaction to my sudden confession had been so calm that I thought everything was fine, but apparently not.

Perhaps the shock was so great that she couldn’t even muster a reaction.

It was my fault.

I had kept it secret anticipating the shock she would receive, but I impulsively revealed it, moved by the fact that she had prepared Laila’s coffin for me.

I regretted my short-sighted thinking and selfish impulse.

The sun had already set completely, and after extinguishing the candles in the living room, I entered her room.

Ms. Sylvia was sitting on the bed with her head bowed.

“Ms. Sylvia.”

“…Ah, yes, Ash. What is it?”

“…We should sleep now.”

“Ah… yes, we should.”

As she slowly lay down on the bed, I carefully climbed up beside her.

Lying next to Ms. Sylvia, I tried to cheer her up with various conversations, but her mood showed no signs of improving.

She even firmly refused my request to help me hold another funeral for Laila tomorrow.

It was a request she would normally have granted, but she shook her head and whispered a small “I’m sorry.”

I nodded, understanding her feelings.

Now that she knew the girl she had hastily buried was Maria’s youngest sister, it was natural for her to be reluctant to dig up Laila’s body again.

She seemed even more depressed because of my foolish request.

By this point, I was beginning to worry that Ms. Sylvia might have another nightmare.

“Ms. Sylvia.”

“…”

“Sister Sylvia.”

“…Huh? Yes… what is it?”

“…”

“…”

“Would you like to have sex?”

I tentatively suggested intimacy to cheer up the dejected Ms. Sylvia.

Despite my cautious attitude, my words were quite direct.

Since I had no sexual knowledge to begin with, I couldn’t possibly know any euphemisms or slang for the act, so it couldn’t be helped.

It was the first time such words had come from my mouth, as she had always been the one to initiate intimacy.

This was more embarrassing than I expected.

I waited for her answer with a flushed face.

“…No, I think we should just sleep tonight.”

“…Ah, okay.”

She refused even that.

Then she slowly turned her back to me and exhaled a deep, slow sigh.

It felt as if her sigh was seeping into and widening the dark, long gap between us.

Suddenly, the scene from that night when Ms. Sylvia was strangling herself flashed before my eyes.

I hugged her tightly from behind to prevent her from choking herself.

“…Ms. Sylvia.”

“…”

“I’m here. I’ll always be here. So… when you feel better, please hug me.”

“…Heh.”

As if trying to fill the gap between us, I wriggled my body to press it completely against her back, adjusting my position.

Fortunately, Ms. Sylvia didn’t stop me from doing even that.

I carefully placed my cheek against her broad back and slowly drifted off to sleep.

“…Ash.”

At that time, I didn’t know that the reason for her depression wasn’t simply guilt about Sister Maria.

As soon as morning came, Ms. Sylvia left the cabin almost like she was running away, using hunting as an excuse.

*

What is courage?

Wielding a heavy sword with one hand and charging at an enemy that seems impossible to defeat,

Or revealing the truth for someone’s sake, even knowing you’ll be despised by the one you love and lose all future with them.

Which of these requires greater courage?

Ha, there was no need to ponder.

After all, she couldn’t do either.

Sylvia let out a self-deprecating laugh as she ran through the forest.

Coward.

Fool.

Despicable trash.

Once again, Sylvia had run away.

What would Ash be doing now?

Would he be digging up Laila’s grave as he said yesterday, taking out that decomposed corpse and placing it in the coffin?

He was brave.

Even if he couldn’t face a bear, his determination to confront his mistakes, failures, and terrible errors head-on and endure the resulting pain was a courage so great that Sylvia couldn’t even begin to imitate it.

Like Maria, who protected her allies with magic until the end while dying in terrible torture calling for her mother, Ash too possessed a shining spirit that might break but would never bend.

That light was so dazzling that she could barely look him in the face.

The more she loved Ash, the more she hated herself.

She despised herself for ruining dinner, overwhelmed by regret and guilt.

She resented herself for still not revealing the truth.

And when Ash suggested sex, she was disgusted with herself for being tempted.

And at the same time, Sylvia became afraid.

Would Ash,

Ash who had noticed her strange behavior and looked at her with worried eyes,

Ash who had hugged her back tightly last night and told her in a gentle voice that he would always stay by her side,

Ash Staff whom she loved so much and who loved her so much in return,

Would he still love Sylvia when he learned everything she had hidden?

“Ash…”

Despite having gained the love she so desperately wanted, Sylvia’s troubled mind didn’t improve.

Rather, it seemed to be twisting and breaking in increasingly strange ways.

After the deaths of her comrades, the horrific scenes created by the curse, and the soul-gnawing time of solitude, Sylvia’s crumbled soul was too shabby and wretched, riddled with holes, to accept pure love.

Through those holes, her obsession with Ash that overflowed in her heart was leaking out.

Ah, Ash.

No, no.

Don’t leave me,

Even if I’m trash, even if I’m the one who caused your sister’s death,

Even if I’m a fucking bitch who made you commit a cruel murder because of my selfish desire not to lose you,

Still love me.

Ha,

Fuck, I should say something that makes sense.

Sylvia suddenly stopped running aimlessly.

She seemed to have been running for almost an hour at a speed barely visible to ordinary people, but it wasn’t fatigue or pain that made her stop.

The atmosphere.

There was an unsettling atmosphere spreading through the forest.

Sylvia muttered at the discomfort brushing against her skin.

“…Something’s strange.”

She didn’t know where she was.

Although she had lived here for a long time, she hadn’t explored every part of this vast forest.

But if it had merely been an unfamiliar place, she wouldn’t have felt such discomfort.

Not yet understanding the nature of this discomfort, Sylvia slowly lowered her posture.

Her vision was filled with densely grown trees and leaves, which wasn’t much help, so she closed her eyes and slowly tried to feel her surroundings through her skin.

Was the forest really strange somewhere, or was it just her confused mind making her feel that way?

She felt goosebumps.

It was a clear signal that something was wrong with the forest.

Although Sylvia had been berating herself for having courage inferior to Ash’s, the fact that she was a hero remained unchanged.

The hero’s keen sense that had helped her countless times when advancing to defeat the Demon Lord was sending her signals, detecting her surroundings even as her mind was filled with regret and self-loathing.

“…Demonic energy.”

The area was filled with demonic energy as heavy and thick as what she had felt when reaching the Demon Lord’s castle.

How could she not have known about such a place until now?

It had been years since the Demon Lord’s death, yet an area so full of demonic energy still remained?

“…What is this?”

Creeeeak,

The sound of trees twisting.

Though there wasn’t a breath of wind, she could hear the trees around her screaming and slowly falling as if in pain.

They weren’t being uprooted, but rather bending sideways slowly, like a person’s waist folding.

Sylvia looked around and recalled the nickname of this forest.

The Forest of Lying Trees.

She had heard that trees grow away from demonic energy, and had seen trees growing as if falling to avoid it several times, but she never thought fully grown trees would make twisting sounds and lie down like this—it was quite a spectacle.

Watching the trees slowly falling as if lying down, Sylvia turned to leave, thinking she should get away from here.

“…Wait.”

Why are the trees falling now?

At that moment, Sylvia broke into a cold sweat.

It wasn’t that an area so full of demonic energy had remained until now.

At this very moment, demonic energy was beginning to fill this place.

“…Fuck.”

Demonic energy was starting to rise in the forest.

.