episode_0139

It wasn’t even a market, yet just six merchants gathered and calling out prices were enough to quickly heat up the chilly, unheated interior.

Their eyes rested on only two things.

The item about to be put up for bid.

…And Tia’s scarlet lips, which were introducing the item.

“This wardrobe is made from timber grown in the Dragonez Forest. It’s incredibly sturdy and durable.”

That wardrobe had been in the corner of Fosao’s bedroom. It was full of the clothes Fosao used to wear, reeking of a terrible body odor. I knew it well.

The reason I often hid in this wardrobe every time Tia and I played hide-and-seek when we were young was precisely because the moment it was opened, a foul smell would emanate, and Tia wouldn’t bother trying to open it.

Even now, I can still remember that stench. Yet the merchants looking at the wardrobe didn’t notice the strong smell.

That was because Tia had already filled the wardrobe with pine needles while packing her moving boxes.

Instead, the slightly refreshing pine scent made them look interested.

“It is indeed unique. It seems to be of a different style from Deseo.”

“You won’t find it anywhere else. More than anything, it’s furniture made from trees grown in this country’s ‘highest place’.”

“Oh… Is there something different about the ‘highest place’?”

“This is the entrance to the Dragonez Mountains. How was the weather on your way here?”

“It was cold.”

I heard that our village’s winters are much colder than other villages’. The village headman had said that it was because it was located so high up that the warm winds from the sea couldn’t reach it.

As I remembered having relayed that story to Tia exactly as it was told, she repeated the same words.

“This is the coldest place in winter. Trees that endure such cold winters become tough and sturdy. Touch it yourself and feel. How is it? Can you feel the fine and delicate grain?”

“Indeed…”

The merchants nodded their heads as they touched the wardrobe. Tia was eloquent.

More than anything, she knew well how to stir people’s hearts.

She drew attention with strong rhetoric, everything she said afterwards was logically coherent, and she knew how to appeal by bringing out points that were difficult to think of.

It wasn’t because the supposedly clever nobles of Deseo were foolish that they fell for Tia’s enticements. It was unavoidable.

She precisely understood the plight of the nobles who were isolated by the king’s pressure. She suddenly appeared in their world where everything had come to a halt, and presented what they should do.

How could they not trust Tia?

Until now, I hadn’t known Tia was so good at speaking. In front of hardened merchants who had lived their entire lives doing business, she wasn’t intimidated in the slightest and spoke her mind, and the sight of her doing business *with* them was unfamiliar.

She was so skilled it felt as if she had inherited the blood of a merchant.

But I soon realized.

I… hadn’t known because I had always heard Tia’s excellent rhetoric.

She had always spoken that way.

She knew how to get my attention, knew what I wanted better than anyone, and tried to help me by subtly dropping hints about things I hadn’t even thought of.

From the beginning, Tia was doing business. Herself. To sell to me.

I. I was a fool who couldn’t recognize that precious jewel.

Now that jewel is shining brilliantly. By Fosao’s side.

The bustling transaction finally ended around afternoon.

“Are there any more items worth seeing?”

“Ah, no. There aren’t any…”

“Then let’s see.”

A money bag was set down with a thud on the table. Six thick money bags. Just by their weight, one could tell that a huge amount of money had been exchanged.

The merchant offered Fosao a handshake.

“It was a satisfactory transaction. You’re very good at business.”

It was ironic. Because Fosao himself hadn’t done anything.

After Tia appeared in the middle, she directly managed everything and haggled.

All Fosao did was calculate the final agreed-upon prices one by one.

Even so, the merchants’ praise did not go to Tia. Tia was ‘Fosao’s wife’.

…And a wife was a man’s property.

Whether she knew or not that she was being treated that way, she simply stood quietly beside him, smiling.

As the sun slowly set, ten people, pulling carts, came up to the general store one by one. They were all laborers who had come to collect the items the merchants had purchased.

They loaded the goods in an orderly fashion. It took less than an hour for the countless pieces of furniture and goods that had steadily accumulated in the general store for nearly 20 years to all disappear before my eyes.

“Well then, may you and your young wife have good fortune.”

“Hehe—! May you also pr-prosper.”

The merchants disappeared with the laborers, leading their fully loaded carts. The door closed, and silence fell over the general store.

The interior was completely empty, making it even more desolate.

Fosao sat down on the empty floor and took out the thick money bags.

“Hehehe…”

This was money earned from a life of poverty. Clink. Clink. Every time he placed a coin on the floor, his lips curled up greatly.

“Look at this. Ti-Tia.”

Tia, who was doing the final tidying of the empty house, turned around. And seeing the silver coins piled up like a mountain on the floor, she cried out.

“Wow—! Did we earn all of this today?”

“Uh-huh! We s-sold almost everything. It’s a success!”

Fosao swept his hand and scooped up a handful of silver coins. A greedy smile spread across his face.

“With this much, even if we go to the n-new house, we’ll be well-off for a while. Hehehe.”

“But—didn’t you say it would take a bit longer to go to that house?”

“Uh-huh.”

Tia looked around the kitchen and the storage room. Nothing remained there. Not even a single spoon or dish. Because they had either sold them or thrown them away.

She said in a hollow voice. “Here too… it’s goodbye now.”

“Yes.”

“…I was just starting to grow fond of it.”

Fosao placed his hand on Tia’s shoulder.

“It’s alright. I heard the new house is a bit bi-bigger than this one. You’ll l-like it too, Tia.”

“Yes… I suppose so.”

Unlike her answer, Tia’s voice was very disheartened.

“Why… why are you like this?”

“Because I have to leave my hometown. I feel a bit down.”

Whether the ‘new house in Goldburg’ that Fosao had supposedly secured beforehand was bigger or smaller than this one, she seemed to have a lot of lingering regret about leaving Dragonez, where she had lived her entire life since birth.

He stroked Tia, grinning widely.

“A-anyway, we’ll be staying at Tia’s house for a week… Let’s ta-take one last look before we go. ‘Our hometown’.”

Our hometown. The hometown of the two banished people. Their hometown, where they were born, but now there was no one left to welcome them.

Tia bowed her head like a sinner and said. “Yes…”

Clunk. The general store door opened.

They took only the simple luggage they had prepared beforehand and stepped outside. Fosao had a thick overcoat and a bag filled with money. Tia, wearing a belt and a short sword, looked up at the sunset-dyed mountains in the distance.

She picked up the lock. Click. And firmly locked it with the key.

Fosao, who was walking ahead, turned back and asked. “Wh-why the key? We wo-won’t be coming back anyway.”

“…Just because.” Tia wore a wistful smile.

“If I leave the door closed like this, the memory of me once being in Dragonez… might remain for a long time.”

Fosao wore a completely bewildered expression at Tia’s pensive actions. He grumbled vaguely for her to follow quickly and waddled up to Brizdan first.

Tia placed the hand holding the key over the opening of a flowerpot. And said her final goodbye.

“…Goodbye.”

Clink! The sound of the key dropping into the flowerpot was heard. Tia got up from her spot and left, following behind Fosao.

***

Whoosh—! The phantom of memory vanishes.

As the mist before my eyes cleared, reality was revealed.

The empty general store where nothing existed. Exactly as Tia and Fosao had left it, with nothing left. Only dust motes, shimmering in the warm sunlight, floated around.

“…”

It was quiet. I even forgot how to breathe.

I couldn’t move. No, my body refused to move. To prevent what I had seen in the illusion from becoming ‘reality’. To deny the memories that were too cruel and horrific… I struggled with all my might.

But the more I did so, the more vividly I felt what I had seen until now.

“Tia…”

With trembling hands, I covered my eyeballs.

Memories revived. Being banished from the village. Frantically digging the ground to save me. Despairing at the reply she had waited so long for. Ultimately giving up on me and trying to commit suicide. Finally deciding to live with Fosao. Experiencing a baptism for the first time. And making a vow of love. And…

Tia, whom I loved so much… Finally became Fosao’s.

“Ugh…”

Tia was pinned beneath that pig, her virginity torn. While receiving his semen inside her, she whispered she loved him.

“…Ugh!”

Oh, please. I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to remember it.

[It hurts… It hurts… Mister…] [Huff— Huff— I-I love you, Tia…]

Suddenly, Tia’s voice, gasping in pain, and Fosao’s voice, whispering he loved her with disgusting breaths, overlapped and echoed.

“Gasp… Gasp…”

I feel like I’m going crazy. My eyes and ears. Everything is painful. I have to tear these damned things out, all of them.

“Uwaaagh…!”

Clenching my fingers, the moment I tried to tear at my ears.

“Oppa—!!!” My back was suddenly pushed hard, and I fell weakly to the floor.

Thud! I was pinned down. But something so light that I couldn’t even properly feel its weight was on my back. This small body and warm sensation… it felt like a puppy was clinging to me.

Rustle— Through my blurry vision, thin blonde hair fell before my eyes.

“Ritsu Oppa…”

Is this voice Marie’s?

“Why… why are you like this?”

My ears were burning. How hard had I clawed at them? I felt hot blood trickling down my neck.

“…”

It hurts. My chest aches maddeningly. It feels like my heart has been stabbed hundreds of times with a spear. Now it’s become a tattered mess, with not even fragments remaining, and it feels like it will never heal.

“Are you hurt anywhere…?”

And yet… Marie’s frightened voice was proving that I was still pitifully alive.

“…”

Tears streamed down. Hot tears, enough to melt my eyeballs, poured down endlessly.

“Ritsu Oppa?”

I… had lost. Half of my soul.