Ch.7Red Eyes (1)

*

Creating the gravestone for my little sister wasn’t as difficult as I had expected.

Having spent far more of my life as a commoner than as a nobleman, I had quite a bit of experience handling tools.

A few years ago, I even used to carve small wooden figurines for my much younger sister, Laila.

Though I wasn’t particularly skilled, I mostly made four-legged animals with plump bodies like bears or pigs, and Laila absolutely loved the figurines I made for her.

Honestly, given our family’s circumstances—nobles in name only without any territory—we couldn’t afford expensive dolls, so I was incredibly grateful and touched that Laila was content with those simple wooden carvings.

Remembering Laila’s bright smile as she held the figurines I made brought sudden tears to my eyes.

The current situation—carving her gravestone—felt surreal by comparison.

As I shaped the wood into a flat marker and carefully engraved her name with a knife, I had to look up at the sky several times to keep my tears from falling.

But when it came time to carve the date of her death, the tears I had been holding back finally overflowed.

I sobbed heavily for a long while.

Having something to do made time pass quickly.

I finally completed the grave marker on the third day as promised.

I ran my fingertips over her name that I had carved into the wooden board with the dagger.

“I’ll miss you so much, Laila.”

That evening, when Ms. Milwood returned from hunting, I returned her dagger and informed her that the grave marker was complete.

Ms. Milwood smirked, saying she “honestly didn’t think I could do it,” and refused to take back the dagger, calling it a parting gift.

She said I could either use it myself or sell it for money.

I jumped to my feet and bowed deeply several times, expressing my gratitude to her.

She took me to Laila’s grave.

After carefully placing the grave marker I had made in front of Laila’s grave, I slowly knelt down, clasped my hands together, and prayed.

I sincerely hoped that the goddess would look upon this poor child and safely gather her soul.

I had heard in some legends that souls of those devoured by wild animals wander the netherworld forever—I could only hope that wasn’t true.

After finishing my prayer, I glanced to the side and noticed numerous gravestones.

In this cemetery, only Laila’s marker was made of wood rather than stone.

“…hah,”

Suddenly, I felt terribly sorry for Laila.

Even when she was alive, I had never been able to give her the best of anything.

Just like how I couldn’t afford expensive toys and gave her homemade cheap figurines instead.

Even in this final moment of her passing, all I could offer was a wooden marker rather than a stone gravestone.

“…I’m sorry.”

Nevertheless, I had done my best.

Although it was a small cemetery in ruins, it was still a proper burial ground, and Ms. Milwood would continue to maintain it. This was truly the best outcome I could manage in my current situation.

But the fact remained that it looked so shabby and inadequate.

I resented myself for only being able to give Laila such meager things despite my best efforts.

I slowly rose to my feet.

Ms. Milwood, who had been praying with her hands clasped behind me, slowly stood up and, seeing my face as I turned away from the grave, reached out and touched my face.

She wiped away the tears on my cheek with her thumb and whispered:

“I’ll take good care of Laila so she won’t be lonely. Let her go now.”

“…Yes.”

“Good. Let’s go back now. It’s our last night together.”

“That’s… right.”

“I have some good liquor I’ve been saving for a while. Would you like a drink?”

“…Yes, thank you, Ms. Milwood.”

Somehow, my body felt drained of strength.

She silently took my hand and led me back to the cabin.

*

The woman bolted upright in bed, her eyes flying open.

“Ugh, ack!”

Despite biting her lip hard enough to draw blood, a faint scream still escaped between her teeth.

As she shook her head and slowly steadied her breathing, her clothes were completely soaked with cold sweat.

The sheets she had been lying on were in the same condition.

The damp sheets looked as if she had wet herself, but the unmistakable smell of sweat emanating from both the sheets and her body left no room for doubt.

Besides, this wasn’t the first time it had happened.

The woman often sweated so profusely in her sleep that it caused dehydration.

It was because of the terrible nightmares that plagued her whenever she started to forget about them.

“Ha… damn it.”

The woman sighed once and ran her palm over her arm.

The damp sleeve clinging to her skin felt extremely uncomfortable.

She decided to wash herself in the nearby river.

It was still night, but the nightmare had been particularly brutal this time, and she felt she couldn’t possibly go back to bed without washing away the sweat covering her body.

She carefully left the room, making sure her footsteps were silent.

On the small table lay scattered glasses, a bottle of liquor, and crumbs of bread and meat.

On the bed located right next to the door leading outside, she could see a man sleeping.

The man had fallen asleep after drinking a few glasses of alcohol during their farewell dinner.

Unable to show her face, she hadn’t touched the food or drink, but somehow just watching him eat with enjoyment had made it a satisfying time for her.

She moved carefully so as not to wake the man.

Accustomed to stealthy movements, she was able to slip out of the cabin without difficulty.

She walked slowly toward the river.

“Ugh, the water’s still a bit cold,”

After reaching the riverbank and roughly removing her clinging clothes, she entered the river water without hesitation.

Despite the hot weather, the forest stream felt refreshingly cool, almost chilly.

Her skin, so pale it appeared almost white, seemed to glow even in the darkness of night.

Her equally pale blonde hair glistened in the moonlight as it spread out across the water’s surface.

From head to toe, her body appeared completely white except for one place—

Only her eyes were an ominously murky red.

“Ahh—”

She slowly cut through the water’s surface, creating small ripples in the river’s flow.

Her unclothed figure, despite her toned abs and slightly broad shoulders, couldn’t hide its feminine charm.

Her beautiful breasts, perfectly shaped and sized as any man might dream of, and her healthy, toned waistline curved dramatically into the lines of her full hips.

In the moonlight, her form balanced precariously between goddess-like beauty and succubus-like sensuality.

However, beneath that beautiful form, across her white skin like her eyes, numerous scars and traces of terrible wounds were densely etched.

Cuts, stabs, and tears,

Burns, ruptures, and amputations.

The woman who had been covering her entire body for days now revealed both her beautiful form and hideous scars under the moonlight.

Eventually, she lay down on the water’s surface.

As she relaxed her body, the upper part of her torso and face floated to the surface, perhaps thanks to her full breasts.

Looking up at the moon in the sky, she murmured:

“…It’s been a while since I had that dream.”

She certainly had nightmares frequently.

At least two or three times a week, it seemed.

She didn’t particularly mind the fact that she had nightmares.

I’ve done things that deserve this.

I can’t expect to forget and live comfortably, nor should I want to.

That’s what she thought.

She had been forced to watch her companions, whose smiles had gradually disappeared during their difficult journey, die miserably.

She had been forced to watch as her worst enemy, exhausted of strength, spat blood along with mockery and cast a terrible curse upon her.

She had been forced to watch as that curse, which she had failed to understand, eventually harmed the villagers.

From adults to newborn babies, she had to kill everyone the curse had spread to with her own hands, witnessing all the devastation with her own eyes.

Afterward, she imprisoned herself in these ruins.

To prevent the terrible curse that had attached itself to her from spreading to anyone else,

And she accepted as natural the painful nightmares every night, waking up with shameful tears and ridiculous screams.

Like an ascetic, she confined herself to this place where no one else was, allowing nightmares and depression to consume her.

To live until the end of her heaven-granted lifespan without meeting anyone, and then die.

That was her fate and duty.

Therefore, what she was truly curious about was something else.

Why had I been freed from those nightmares for a while?

“…Ash,”

She whispered a man’s name.

Ash.

A guest who had found his way to this small cabin in the ruins, dying from an accident in the forest.

A man who appeared slightly younger than herself—it must have been because of him.

At first she was wary, but he was kind and considerate.

He was someone who knew how to show gratitude and courtesy.

He was also relatively quick to pull himself together despite the tragic loss of his entire family, including his little sister.

And at the same time, he was someone who would throw himself in harm’s way to protect those dear to him.

The proof was how he had dragged his broken body all the way to her cabin, bleeding along the way.

He was a person with a strong heart.

Unlike herself.

She knew she needed to send him away quickly.

The longer he stayed here, the greater the danger grew.

It was obviously impossible to hide her face forever.

You never knew when an accident might happen.

But despite knowing all this, she found herself enjoying the time spent with him.

So she hesitated.

No, it wasn’t just hesitation.

She had subtly suggested a stone gravestone to him when he wanted to make a marker for his sister, knowing it would take longer.

Like a vulgar merchant failing to hide her crude desires, she had hinted.

But when he shook his head and started carving wood, she felt disappointed and even became a little sulky.

Vulgarly.

“…Tomorrow, then.”

She murmured slowly.

Ash would leave this place tomorrow.

The ten days he spent unconscious, the five days of recovery after he opened his eyes, and the three days he spent making his sister’s grave marker.

During the 18 days they spent together, nightmares no longer visited her nights.

And as soon as she realized he would leave tomorrow after completing the grave marker, she immediately had a nightmare—it was embarrassingly obvious.

Moreover, though she couldn’t remember the details of the dream anymore, judging by the amount of sweat she had shed, it was clearly a worse nightmare than usual.

“Ha, it’s like I’m feeling regretful. After I was the one who urged him to leave,”

As she said this, feeling her face suddenly flush, she dunked her head into the cold river water.

How foolish—had she forgotten what situation she was in?

Was she actually enjoying his presence?

‘…I did enjoy it. Certainly.’

Treating his wounds, sharing food, conversing, laughing and chatting at playful jokes, comforting each other’s inner wounds.

All of these things had been absent from her life for so long that she had unknowingly enjoyed them too much.

The image of Ash’s face smiling at her floated in her mind.

‘Ms. Milwood!’

Her head cooled rapidly.

She vigorously lifted her head above the water’s surface.

The water droplets falling from her scattered golden hair sparkled like jewels in the moonlight.

“…Milwood,”

It was an alias.

The former name of this village, now in ruins, which she had destroyed with her curse.

Hiding her real name, she had used the village’s name as her alias.

It was both a warning not to forget her sin and a declaration that she would not forget.

“…Get a grip.”

To say she enjoyed it—that shouldn’t have happened.

No, she certainly did enjoy it. She couldn’t deny that.

But that was enough.

She would spend the rest of her life atoning in pain.

The memories Ash left behind would become a mirage in the form of an oasis, helping her endure that long suffering.

A mirage that could never be found but gave false hope.

She could still torture herself.

She slowly turned her body and approached the shore.

The sweat had already been washed away by the water, so she could go back and try to sleep.

She slowly stepped onto the soil with her clean body.

As she picked up her discarded clothes, they smelled musty.

“Oh, what a fool I am. I should have soaked the clothes too,”

Having just bathed, she didn’t want to put on sweat-soaked clothes.

Should she quickly rinse them now?

No, the sound of dripping water might wake Ash.

Should she just walk back naked?

No, if Ash happened to wake up, he would see her face immediately.

What about covering only her face with the clothes?

…Wouldn’t that make her look like a pervert with strange fetishes?

After considering various options, she sighed and slowly put on her clothes.

Starting tomorrow, she wouldn’t need to cover her face anymore.

She struggled to put the wet clothes on her wet body and slowly made her way back to the cabin.

*

As soon as she entered the cabin, she instinctively looked first at the bed where Ash would be sleeping.

Ash was sleeping in a slightly different position than before, with his face against the wall and his back curved.

The sight of him curled up like a baby made her want to smile, but she held it back.

Hiss- hiss-

The faint sound of breathing…

Breathing…

“…Ash?”

The breathing was different.

It was clearly shorter and faster than his usual sleeping breath.

Almost as if someone awake was pretending to sleep…

“No way…”

She stared intently at the sleeping Ash.

His face, turned away from her toward the wall, somehow looked flushed.

She felt her mind go blank.

“…No…”

“…”

An ominous feeling.

A terrible suspicion.

Endless regret and despair at her own carelessness.

She had just bathed, but her back was instantly soaked with cold sweat.

“…”

“…”

Ash, lying down, twitched his cheek, then,

“I… I’m sorry.”

He spoke.

“…I wasn’t trying to look. I… I didn’t know you were bathing… I’m really sorry…”

“…Did you… see…?”

“…”

Ash didn’t answer.

He probably didn’t understand the severity of the situation.

Of course, she had never explained it to him.

At most, he might think she was feeling shame as a woman.

But this wasn’t that kind of problem.

My shame is completely unimportant—this was a much more serious issue.

Despite all her warnings not to…

Frustration, anger, sadness, and concern exploded through every nerve in her body all at once.

Finally sensing that something was wrong, Ash slowly turned his body, got up from the bed, and bowed at the waist.

“I’m truly sorry!”

“…Did you see?”

“…Well, yes…”

“How much?”

“…That… um,”

“Tell me quickly!”

She shouted at the hesitating Ash.

The sound was too high and sharp to be called a scolding, almost like a scream.

Ash flinched and answered.

“Well… your chest and…”

“Not that—my face, did you see my face?”

“…Yes… I did…”

“Ha, ugh… ah, aah…”

She staggered as if her legs had given out.

Barely managing to support herself by grabbing the table behind her, she spoke to the fidgeting Ash with her head bowed.

“Look up…”

“…Um, right now isn’t—”

“I’m not joking. Look up right now. Before I—”

Before I kill you.

She almost said it.

She barely managed to swallow those words.

Or perhaps she simply couldn’t finish the sentence.

When Ash raised his head, his eyes had lost their original color and were glowing red.

“Aah, aaagh!, Ah… no! NO!!!”

She screamed, tearing at the cloth covering her face.

Ash sat down on the bed, startled.

She let out a cry like that of a beast and pounded the floor frantically.

Ash looked at her with concerned eyes.

Ash’s pupils were a murky, ominous red, just like hers.

.