Chapter 126 – Chapter 4: Baptism – 3
That evening when the music from the coming of age ceremony continued uninterrupted.
The lights went out in the general store.
Dalgak.
Tia and Posao opened the back door and came out.
The two exchanged a brief glance in the dusky evening glow, then began to ascend the secret passageway together.
Sabak. Sabak.
It was a road I hadn’t walked on for a long time.
Normally, if the path was interrupted even for a moment, the powerful forces of nature would have erased the path with bushes, but now that it was mid-winter, the secret passage was preserved just as Tia had drilled it.
Posao looked around him, looking at the dreary path.
“Well, it feels like it’s been a while.”
“Hmm… Yes? “It must have been about a month since he passed this road.”
“Has it already happened like that?”
“Yes. Before you know it… A lot of time has passed.”
When winter comes, our sense of time gradually becomes dull.
All that was visible in the cold wind was a field of pure white snow.
Especially in Dragonez, the snowy landscape was the same no matter where you went, and it was extremely quiet as birds, bugs, and even animals were hibernating in the winter.
How long did this winter feel to Tia?
So many things passed by in an instant like the wind.
Just a month ago, I would never have thought that I would be climbing a secret passageway with Posao to have a ‘baptism ceremony.’
The two walked up the road in silence.
Finally, in the distance, what was once Tia’s house… I saw a ‘big house’.
The guy said quietly.
“I’m glad we made this road.”
When this secret passage was first opened, it was to secretly rescue Posao, who was being chased by Deseo’s soldiers.
Like a mother hiding a runaway child in the warmth of her skirt. Tia hid Posao in a cellar and cared for her until her soldiers disappeared.
“… Why?”
“Thank you, about you… “You know better.”
However, the existence of this road, which seemed like it would simply end as a one-time thing, is now… It became an indispensable and valuable connection for Tia.
‘Secret’.
How excited was it?
Tia’s heart would be very heavy when she passed this road every night.
She must have been anxious, wondering if she might be discovered by the villagers.
But every time I go to see Posao with such a pounding heart… Did Tia, without realizing it, gradually misunderstand this fast-beating heart as meaning ‘liking’ rather than ‘anxiety’?
It’s like secretly going to meet her lover.
On the other hand, Tia’s path to my house is… It was truly a path that took her breath away.
The guy who became a criminal had to go up to the pharmacy while receiving all the attention of the villagers.
So for Tia, this path was like her only way to breathe.
Sabak.
Finally, the two stopped in front of Tia’s house.
Shootaaa-.
It’s quiet.
There is no sound.
I raised my head and looked towards the center of the village.
There was not a single person in that empty place.
“It’s cold…”
Posao rubbed his cold shoulder at the dreary scene.
Where have all the people disappeared?
What happened after being taken to Taildon?
It was as if she had such a question on her face, but Tia soon let go of her curiosity.
Posao asked.
“But uh, the village was empty anyway. “Wouldn’t it have been okay to go to the main road?”
“I have clothes I need to take out of my house.”
“Clothes?”
Tia approached the wooden door and touched the piece of wood.
Dalgak. Dalgak.
February 2. As soon as it was his birthday, the wooden door swung open.
“Uncle, please wait here for a moment. “I’ll be out soon.”
“Ugh.”
Tia went into the house.
The sun has completely set before we know it.
Posao lit the lamp and waited quietly in place.
And indeed, it wasn’t long before Tia opened the door again and came out.
“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting.”
“Oh, no. However…”
Posao raised the lamp.
When he saw Tia’s reflection in her light, his mouth widened.
“That…”
“Hehe.”
Tia gently held the hem of her dress with her fingertips.
“These are the clothes my uncle bought me. Because she’s going to have a christening with you… “I thought I should wear this.”
Sarak-.
Even though it must have been cold because her bare skin was exposed, Tia didn’t care and lightly twirled her body around.
The wide hem of the dress looked like snowflakes falling in the sky.
Posao was amazed in a daze.
“Oh, oh… So pretty… Tia. Really…”
“I’m ready. “Where should I go now?”
“Ta, follow me.”
The two passed through the center of the village.
There were many cabins around, but none of them had lights.
It felt like Tia and Posao were walking as patrollers in the middle of the night.
At the same time, it was paradoxical.
A girl who was expelled from the village, and a middle-aged man who was abandoned by the village.
The sight of them passing side by side through the middle of the village… Something was creating a wrong sense of heterogeneity.
Posao entered the mountainside and took a rather unfamiliar path.
It was a ridge that usually people did not go in and out of.
Tia also knew this road, but when she actually went there, she seemed to feel something strange.
“Is there something over here?”
“Huh. Sue, it’s hidden.”
Posao slightly deviated from the path and pushed the grass with his hand.
Sarak-.
Then, a very wide open space appeared in front of her.
Me and Tia… It was a space I had never seen before.
She certainly thought from a young age that she had been to every place around town.
I had no idea there was such a wide open space.
It’s truly amazing.
The wind that had been blowing so hard until a while ago stopped like a lie when we entered this place.
It’s like a shy love sworn by a young man and woman… As if trying to prevent the wind from blowing away.
It felt like an invisible divine force was confining this space.
Posao held the lamp high.
“Woah, we’re holding a ceremony here.”
“Wow…”
“And…”
Holding a lantern, I approach the trees surrounding the vacant lot.
“I lit a fire here.”
When I looked closely, the inside of the tree was hollow like a knot, and there was a lantern inside.
There is one such light on each tree.
Dozens… It amounted to hundreds.
Posao took out embers from the lantern he was holding and moved them one by one into the lanterns on the tree.
Since we couldn’t light up hundreds of lights one by one, we placed them at intervals, but when we turned on about half of them, colorful clusters of lights began to brighten up the vacant lot.
It is so mysterious and beautiful that it takes your breath away.
“… “It’s pretty.”
Tia turned her head and looked here and there.
A hundred lights sparkle in clear and soft ruby eyes.
It’s beautiful no matter where you look.
Numerous lights flickering in the dark night sky.
It is a spectacular sight as if countless stars have fallen, while fireflies are dancing and staying in place.
Tak.
Posao, who lit the last fire, put down the lantern.
The stage was prepared for the baptism ceremony for the people of Brisden.
“Woah, sit here. Tia.”
Posao gestured.
When Tia sat down next to her, she opened the bottle of alcohol she had brought and poured herself a drink.
The glass of wine clinking against the indigo blue sky was filled with stars.
“Drink it.”
The girl carefully took the glass with both hands and drank it down.
The alcohol seemed to be quite strong. She frowned and coughed.
“Cough! Kellogg!”
“Huh, how are you?”
Tia stole the corner of her mouth.
“It’s not tasty.”
“Hihihi! Water used in ceremonies, alcohol is originally used. Instead of… Mo, doesn’t your body feel a little warm?”
“Surely… I see.”
A feeling of fire rising from within the body.
My body, which felt chilly wearing a dress, quickly warmed up.
Feeling the pleasant intoxication of her drink, Tia pulled her knees closer.
“Hehe-.”
“T, Tia. “Her face turned red.”
“Is it so? My face is so obvious… I guess I can’t hide it.”
“Lina said the same thing. It’s the same…”
“Are you mom?”
“Yes. “During the baptism, I and I drank like this.”
Posao started talking about old memories.
“Lina is Su, she is not good at alcohol, she originally hated alcohol. Well, I told you not to drink it… Lina drank alcohol for me. Even back then, people were whispering.”
“Why?”
“Lee, Lina chose me for the christening… Because people didn’t understand.”
“…”
“And she learned to dance. Lina went and taught me. Me… Even though my body is sluggish. Lina taught me so well, she still remembers how to do it.”
In Tia’s eyes, it was a long time ago… My mother and Posao when they were young were seen dancing together here.
The two shared a drink again.
After emptying her glass, Tia continued urging.
“What happens next?”
“After dancing… I asked Lina. Why did you dance with me? Then…”
Posao said blankly.
“I wonder if it would be a waste to spend the only baptism in my life alone… I did it.”
“…”
Those were the words Posao said to Tia.
“Lina… Also, I sympathized with you. Well, I could have danced with a nice guy… For me, for myself… That was it. What a good kid…”
“So it was…”
Before I knew it, the bottle was empty.
It seemed like it was quite full, but only drops were dripping from the gourd.
Tia exhaled her warm breath and looked up at the sky.
“Mister.”
“Huh?”
“Did you like my mom?”
“…”
Posao did not answer.
But you could tell just by looking at its thick, flinching neck.
Judging from the story so far, for Posao, Helina may have been something more than just a favorite.
After a while. Posao nodded his head.
“… Joe, I liked it.”
“Did mom like you?”
“… No.”
“Why do you think that? If you listen to the story, my mother cared for you so much.”
“Lina… Oh, because I married Albert.”
Albert.
He was referring to Tia’s father.
I also heard it from Tia’s mouth.
I heard that ‘Albert Anne Shea’, a wandering adventurer, happened to stay in Brisden, and at that time he became friendly with Helena and even pledged her love.
At that time, I thought Tia’s parents’ story was a very romantic love story.
Not for Posao.
Perhaps, she may have resented Helina for her entire life because she caught eyes with an outsider who was not even from the same village and only stayed there for a short time.
… And.
“Mister.”
Tia knows that painful heart better than anyone else.
She was an angel who knew how to care with devotion.
“Because I am ‘Lina’s daughter’… I think I understand. “Why did her mother teach her dance to her uncle?”
“…”
“Mom, she didn’t do it because she sympathized with you.”
The girl’s soft hand grasps the back of Posao’s wrinkled hand.
“After a long time… In order to leave a connection with you as ‘me’… “Mom danced with you.”
“… Tia.”
A smile slightly blurred by intoxication.
Cheeks that are deliciously ripe, and the nape of the neck that exudes a very sweet apple scent.
“Mister…”
Tia raised her head and looked at Posao.
“Please teach me how to dance.”
Kkook.
Posao responded to the girl’s earnest request by hugging her tightly.
