Chapter 87

Chapter 87

How many years have passed?

Since Evan first held me like a doll and shook me vigorously, we’ve gone through twelve cold winters, so it must be twelve years.

The first year, no matter how much love we made, there was no child, so I thought we might be infertile, but soon after, I gave birth to a daughter, followed by a son.

Nothing special happened.

Up until now, we’ve lived quite ordinarily.

When my daughter was bullied by children in the village and came back, I didn’t burn those kids to death, and when two hunters and a rough woodcutter from the village tried to assault me, I only castrated them and let them go.

Of course, I sealed their mouths with a spell.

But living so peacefully and ordinarily, why has this person come to find me?

“It’s been a while.”

“Yeah, it’s been a while, Erica.”

I heard a knock at the door, thinking it might be the mother of a child I had befriended bringing over the eggs I had asked for, but when I opened the door, there was someone entirely different and unexpected.

I wouldn’t have been so surprised even if those three men, whose balls I had removed, came for revenge.

It was Vivian, standing there in a pure white robe.

“It’s cold, how about coming in first?”

“…Okay.”

Vivian pushed back the hood of her robe, shook her hair once, and entered the house.

“It’s warm here.”

She sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace and began to warm her hands.

“Evan has taken up an interest in making things like this. This fire, it’s not a magical fire, it’s charcoal.”

At these words, Vivian frowned slightly as if her mood was disturbed and muttered to herself.

“Why bother not using magic?”

Understanding the implication of her question, I answered with a slight hint of sarcasm.

“Do you want me to use it?”

Vivian shook her head instead of answering.

Then she took out a cigarette from her pocket and lit it.

I thought she would never smoke something like that, how surprising.

“This is where kids come and go, so it would be nice if you could put out the smoke.”

“…Oh, right.”

Vivian looked slightly dazed before snipping off the lit end of the cigarette.

“Do children live here?”

It was as if she was saying, “How dare you have children and live happily like this?”

Or perhaps she was asking if I was kidnapping children for magical ingredients.

From the tone, it seemed more likely the latter.

So, almost in defense, I started talking about my children.

“Two. One looks like me, so she’s cute, and the other looks like Evan, so he’s both cute and handsome.”

Crunch.

I heard a sound like teeth grinding.

But Vivian was smiling normally, so instead of pointing it out, I just looked at her for a while.

The silence was not particularly awkward, but there was a tension in the air, wondering when she might attack me, causing me to fidget with my fingers.

Vivian seemed to have no desire to fight because she spoke again.

“That’s quite enviable.”

“Yeah, but that’s not why you came.”

I walked to the kitchen to brew two cups of tea.

I didn’t bother with something foolish like poisoning it.

I figured Vivian would know spells to detect even poison.

It was tea made from green tea leaves that had been fermented until they turned black in a cool place.

“Drink it, you are a guest after all. I should treat you.”

“Thanks for that.”

Vivian took the tea and, still not good with hot drinks, blew on it before cautiously sipping it.

“So, why did you come?”

“I came out of curiosity to see if a terrible villain would eventually face punishment with time.”

Villain.

They burned to death.

If she was calling me a villain, wasn’t that too cruel?

I could easily come up with some fine and disgusting excuse that I didn’t act that way because I wanted to, but the conscience that remained in my heart had long fallen off the day I became a villain.

“It must be disappointing; we’re living quite happily.”

At those words, Vivian gripped the teacup tightly, and at the same time, with a cracking sound, the handle broke off, and hot tea spilled on the floor.

“Erica, it’s not over yet, is it?

Even now, if I pick up my staff and turn your children into ashes, wouldn’t that make for a typical good-versus-evil story?”

“Maybe.”

I suddenly felt a bitterness in my mouth.

Was it from fear, or from anger at this magician, who no longer resembled her old self, threatening me about my family?

Instead of responding to Vivian’s threat, I went to the kitchen, poured a lot of milk into the tea I had brewed.

As I drank it again, the bitterness in my mouth seemed to dissipate a bit.

“So, are you going to kill them?”

“I don’t know. I’ve always pursued what’s right.”

Vivian let out a sigh, speaking with a tone mixed with anger, almost growling.

Then, looking at me, she smirked on one side of her mouth as if mocking me.

“But you seem to be scared of your children dying.”

“Yeah. I am scared.”

“Ha.”

Vivian, in the same manner as when she came to my room long ago to pick up glass for me, was picking up the fallen glass.

It seemed like the broken glass slightly scratched her hand, but there was no wound, perhaps because of calluses.

“…Hey, Erica, you asked why I came?

I came because I wanted to see you and Evan living miserably. It would feel refreshing.

Since you left such indelible scars on others, seeing you live normally would make me hate you even more.”

She let out a hollow laugh.

“You know? The knight who raised me after my father died, you killed him too.

I found out after you two ran away.”

What, she came just to vent?

Seems like she doesn’t have many people around to confide in.

She used to have plenty of people around, how did she fall this far?

If I tease her enough, she’ll leave on her own.

It’s nearly impossible for me to chase her out by force.

“Can you kill them?”

At that, Vivian glared at me with a spark in her eyes, retorting.

“Do you think I can’t? How many pieces of trash like you zealots have I killed…”

“Yeah, you’ve killed trash. So you’re going to kill our cute, kind children who are so good?”

I stood up and approached Vivian, who was sitting in front of the fireplace.

She didn’t even show signs of being on guard, as if any foolish action would be pointless.

“The children, including Evan, are my whole world.

If they die, I might shed bloody tears and follow them, don’t you think?

But Vivian, you can’t kill them. There’s no future for you.”

I pulled out a pistol from my pocket and pressed the barrel against my temple.

Even if it means offering myself as a sacrifice…

“That’s why you let us go, isn’t it?

Without punishing the villains, scared that maybe tens of millions more might die, you let me go.

What nonsense are you talking about now, Vivian?”

I heard the sound of someone running outside and opening the door.

Perhaps it’s my daughter, who had gone out to play with the kids, returning.

I whispered, making sure my voice wouldn’t reach my child.

With the conviction that Vivian would never, ever kill my child.

If it’s Vivian, who tormented me with her principles, she absolutely wouldn’t…

I could probably block an attack or two.

I just need to throw myself in the way. And if we start again?

Then we start again.

At least my children would survive here.

If I die, Evan would come running faster than anyone to protect our children.

“You can’t kill them. Never.”

Vivian scoffed at my statement that she couldn’t kill me, but when I added “never,” her hands trembled before she let them drop.

“Right.”

And then my daughter came in.

“Oh, someone I’ve never seen before! Mom, who is it?”

“A friend I haven’t seen in a long time…”

While I pondered how to introduce Vivian, she spoke with a sullen face.

“A friend, an old friend from long ago.

I’m jealous, Erica, that you’re living so well.”

Then she stood up and walked out of the house.

I gripped my daughter’s hand, calming my trembling one for a moment.

When did it start shaking?

Looking out the window, Vivian was smoking outside.

“Callia, go upstairs and wait in your room.

I’ll bring up a snack soon.”

My daughter nodded, dragging her tired legs up the stairs after a long day of playing.

I went to stand beside Vivian, took out a cigarette, and started smoking next to her.

I didn’t know why she came.

Or maybe she came because of a breakup with a lover.

But Vivian was too busy inhaling and exhaling smoke, tears trickling from her eyes, so I didn’t speak.

When the cigarette was almost finished, Vivian spoke in a low voice.

“Sorry for coming for no reason. I won’t come again.”

It felt like a ghost from the past speaking, and there was a slight satisfaction in that.

“Yeah, don’t come again.

I’ll allow you to visit my grave after I’m dead.”

“Ha, there won’t be that chance.”

Vivian then disappeared somewhere.

After sending up the snack, about two hours might have passed.

Evan walked in, his face flushed, possibly from drinking with friends.

Today’s kiss was tainted with an unpleasant smell of alcohol.

“We had a visitor.”

“Who?”

“Vivian.”

“…Why?”

“I don’t know. Anyway, it was unsettling. Hold me.”

With that, Evan hugged me tightly.