Chapter 119 – Chapter 4: Five Steps
Time passed again.
A year has already passed, and it is January 6th.
Posao went out early in the morning, and Tia, left alone, looked out the window.
Today, the sky was brightly sunny, unlike winter.
Zek-.
I opened the window and a soft breeze came in.
It made me smile.
It felt like spring had arrived very early.
Tia came to me with a bright smile.
“Ritz! The weather is very warm today!”
He talks chatteringly into the ear that is deeply asleep.
“I feel like there is some good news. Lol. I’m looking forward to it-.”
She was Tia, who had been spending her days shaking with anxiety and cold.
As if to rest comfortably for today, the sky gave us good weather as a gift.
Tia, who of course likes to go outside, was very happy.
Although she couldn’t leave Po Sao’s house, she seemed happy just taking a short walk around the yard.
As if she was welcoming her long-awaited guest.
I cleaned for the first time in a while, did laundry, and picked out her dry grass.
He also told me the story of catching a bug and made me giggle.
That leisurely and peaceful day passed so quickly that every moment was regrettable.
The warm sun has already set, and cold winter nights are coming again.
Tia sat blankly in front of the fireplace.
At that time, she was dozing off due to the warmth of the flame.
Clutter.
The door to the general store opened.
Posao, who left early in the morning, has returned.
Tia got up and greeted her warmly.
“Mister, are you here?”
“Ah. Yes. Hey, I took some medicine and bought some cooking supplies.”
“Thank you. I will write well.”
“Ah. That… And this… Is this the ‘letter’ you mentioned before?”
Posao took something out of his fat pocket and showed it to me.
It was a wad of paper sealed by pressing it down with candle wax.
The red eyes widened.
There was no name written on the letter, but even at a glance, I could tell who had written the material and sent it because it looked luxurious.
Royal doctor.
A reply came from that person.
“That’s right!”
Tia screamed with joy.
For some reason, it seemed like good news would come today. It was to receive this letter.
The girl was so moved that she ran around holding the letter.
“I received a reply! Uncle!”
“Yeah, yeah…”
“Ah… Ah…”
The exasperated joy soon turned into tears.
This letter contained very precious words that would prove and repay all of Tia’s hardships so far.
Tia’s eyes running towards me were filled with indescribably complex emotions, like ‘it’s over’.
That decision was a mixture of happiness, sadness, liberation, and guilt… It’s all contained in one sparkling teardrop.
But those complicated emotions too. The moment I wake up, everything disappears.
There are still unresolved issues, and there are definitely things for which Tia needs to apologize.
Anyway, it was more important to him that I at least wake up.
All this dedication… Because it can never be achieved without earnest love.
Tia held my hand in a sobbing voice.
“I’ll wake you up now…” Ritz.”
Zech.
Trembling fingers began to open the seal of the letter.
Stuttering, I unravel the golden thread that was tied up.
With a sharp knife, I slowly cut the hardened candle wax while melting it.
With a popping sound, the seal was finally released.
Charalak.
Tia opened the letter.
“Ha-.”
I held my breath for a moment.
Eyes filled with hope began to read the tiny letters.
[I’m sorry, but such a disease cannot be cured. I don’t know what you want from me, I don’t want to know, and I won’t ever give you an answer. Do it yourself.]
There are only two lines written in the letter.
“…”
Tia turned over her letter.
Nothing was written.
She rubbed her tear-filled eyes and read the letter again.
It was the same.
In a font that looks like it has been scribbled.
The royal doctor refused, suppressing his anger in just two lines.
Not an ordinary rejection, but a very fierce and hateful rejection.
“… Huh?”
A short question popped out that I didn’t understand.
Tia’s expression was covered with confusion.
Why? It seemed like the question was ahead.
Did I say something rude in her letter? No. She wrote with the formality and respect she had learned at Deseo.
Even if he had made a huge mistake because he was a commoner and did not know the etiquette of the nobles, the royal doctor would not have been this angry.
Because he was the one who worked day and night to save Ritsu, a mere commoner boy, and warmly comforted the grieving Tia.
However, this reply contained a frighteningly cold and cold rejection.
As if he didn’t want to share a single word. It’s even sharp.
I thought I might have sent it to someone else by mistake, but that wasn’t the case.
This neat and clean handwriting was undoubtedly that of a royal physician.
Because the content of the letter also talked about ‘disease’.
It wasn’t something mixed wrong or anything.
Tia didn’t understand.
I knew.
The ‘letter’ contained in this anger was a letter sent to Posao.
When he was in Posao de Seo, he wrote a letter to the court doctor, harassing him and provoking him to cure him of his venereal disease.
The royal doctor who was angry at him left this reply.
That’s right.
Posao had kept the letter hidden until now, but has now returned it to Tia.
To prevent Tia from waking me up.
To completely shatter the last hope Tia held on to.
To make the broken Tia his own.
The back of this poor girl standing on the edge of a cliff… It was pushed away.
“Ah…”
Tia was dazed, holding on to a two-line letter, and then she flopped down in her seat.
She raised her head.
In her red eyes, my face is reflected, with her eyes tightly closed, as if she were sleeping.
Tia… Now I had to admit it.
That there is no treatment that can wake me up.
“Ah… Ah… Ugh…”
Tia crawled, her legs weakened.
And she held my face and cried.
“Ritz… Ritz… Sorry…”
The girl’s sobbing sound echoes through the general store.
“Ugh… Ugh… Ugh…”
It was a miserable cry that took my breath away, with all hope lost.
“T, Tia!”
Posao came in.
The culprit of this evil act grabs Tia’s shoulder as she cries.
“Why, why are you like that… ?”
Tia roughly shook off her touch.
In front of Posao, who hesitates and retreats.
The desperate cries did not stop.
* * *
Tia’s lips began to crack.
The apple-colored lips that were always vibrant turned white, and the dry lips were torn and crusted over.
Her hair also became brittle, and she could not tie it on the left side.
There were dark shadows under her eyes, and her arms and wrists quickly became thin and bony.
Tia… It seemed like she didn’t even have the strength to lift her favorite sword.
In fact, she had been losing her muscles a long time ago. It seemed like she could no longer show off her sword skills like she used to.
Daily life has not changed.
She still made the medicine, fed me, and maintained the furnace to keep it warm.
The rest of the time she just squatted like this and watched me.
“Never… I won’t give up…”
Even when she was told by the royal doctor that there was no cure, Tia did not give up.
She stood up with a firm resolve that she would figure it out on her own.
Rattling.
Tia stopped when she opened her drawer.
Her medicine has run out.
Tia went out to the living room.
“… Uncle.”
“Huh?”
“The medicine is running out.”
“Oh, really?”
“I need it.”
“… Okay. “Next time I go out, I’ll try to get it.”
“When is ‘next’?”
“Maybe… “Maybe the day after tomorrow?”
“No. “I need it right now.”
“Ji, now? But there is a deal the day after tomorrow… “Can’t we get it together then?”
“… “Ritz is having a hard time.”
There was no strength in Tia’s voice.
Maybe that’s why every word sounded even more gloomy and cold.
Posao was terrified, but he grunted and protested.
“But… T, Tia. Me too these days… Joe, it’s a little difficult. The price of the medicine is too expensive… Although I wasn’t talking… I spent all my money buying medicine. I can’t even buy food…”
“…”
“So I said this… I’m really sorry, but…”
The guy spoke as if he was being generous.
“I heard that even the royal doctor doesn’t have an answer… Stop… Po, giving up…”
“I don’t like it!!”
An angry voice came out.
“Never… “I can’t do that.”
Tia sucked in her breath.
Even the shouting just now seemed like a struggle.
“If you don’t have money to buy food… I will starve. So, please buy me more medicine.”
“What do you mean, Tia! Buy… “The living must live!”
“Without Ritz, I’m as good as dead.”
As her remaining hope was taken away, Tia’s voice was filled with venom.
Posao was afraid.
If you don’t eat it… Are you saying you’re going to starve to death?
After hearing such nonsense, it seems that Tia thought that it could really be like that.
“I’m going to go buy some medicine first! Don’t starve…”
“…”
Clutter.
As Posao hurried away to the village below her, Tia leaned her exhausted body against the wall.
But soon it slips and falls down on her floor.
She said she wouldn’t eat, but in fact she hadn’t eaten for a long time.
Tia took out her letter again and read it.
[I’m sorry, but such a disease cannot be cured. I don’t know what you want from me, I don’t want to know, and I won’t ever give you an answer. Do it yourself.]
Since I received this letter, I haven’t been able to put anything in my mouth.
Crack!
Tia crumpled her letter in her hands.
She crushed it so hard that it was flat and invisible.
It was surprising that she still had the strength to do so.
“I will save you… I must… I will save you.”
She gritted her teeth and chanted her spell to herself.
Tia’s voice became increasingly hollow.
