Chapter 153 – Chapter 4: Breakup – 1
“Huh!”
I came to my senses.
Did you get hit in the back of the head with a club? It feels tingly and painful, as if my bone is about to break.
“… “Wow!”
What I soon felt was a vision so dizzy that I couldn’t control my body.
My head and stomach are all mixed up and I have no sense of consciousness. It’s hard to understand what I was doing right now.
The only thing visible is the ‘ruby necklace’ held in one’s hand.
And it was a background that stumbled beyond that.
Shake it off!
My head was so heavy, but to my surprise, my body fell as lightly as a feather.
Only after hitting my temple on the cold ground did I come back to my senses, buzzing like a bell on a bell tower.
Immediately after, a sharp sound that rings in your eardrums.
“Oppa Ritz!”
“… !.”
It’s Marie’s voice.
Yes.
This is my house. I am… Did you come here to find something to eat?
And I found Tia’s illusion and followed it, and even found this ruby necklace.
Thanks to Marie’s shouting, my sense of reality was quickly coming back.
“Is it okay?”
“Ha-ha-ha-.”
I exhaled and wiped my face.
My whole body is drenched in sweat. It feels like I was hit by the rain pouring down like a waterfall instead of avoiding it.
It wasn’t because of the heat.
This was a kind of ‘reaction’ created by all the emotions I felt while looking at the memories.
Disgust rising from within. The discomfort caused by endless despair.
And I feel a sense of crisis, hoping that I am wrong.
“… No.”
Last.
Finally, Tia apologized to me and put down her ruby necklace.
What did that mean?
Ruby necklace.
The proof of love I gave.
A proof of the promise we made.
Since I personally put the necklace on her, Tia has not taken it off her body even for a moment…
Why did she put the ruby necklace directly on the ground?
And why… Did she leave my house in tears, like someone saying goodbye forever?
“Probably not.”
It has to be not.
Please.
As soon as my thoughts reached that point, I tightened my grip on her hand.
Passsyuk-!
Have I ever had this much strength since I woke up again?
The veins on her fingers pressed against the ground. He was so bloated and gaunt that he lifted her body up with his hands.
Her legs were so shaky that she had to rest against the wall for a moment.
“Tell me when it hurts… !”
Marie screams and blocks my path.
For him, that might have been the best way to stop me. Sorry, but I was able to easily defeat it with one wave of my arm.
“Oppa Ritz!”
Marie, who was pushed to her side, grabbed my arm again. As she ignored him and walked away, the girl was grabbed and dragged away.
To stop me, all you have to do is pull on my scarf. That weak-hearted child couldn’t do that.
Tap!
Eventually, as my strength gave out, something light that had been holding on to my arm fell away.
Marie sat down on the ground and began to cry.
“…”
But before I knew it, that cry was no longer heard.
The moment you leave the house and step into the yard.
The devastated and scorched village suddenly burst into life, and familiar faces began to appear.
Elderly people gathered together and talking. Grandma Madrina walks while bending her waist. A boy who resembles Uncle Marvin runs eagerly, followed by two girls who resemble her aunt.
I don’t know when. Seeing that there were even elderly people who couldn’t even remember, it seemed like the distant past.
So I… We arrived at Brisden, which was clearly ‘old’.
It was a long time ago, but the warm and friendly atmosphere I remember was still the same.
What is happening in the village? Everyone looks happy.
The children were running and giggling as if there was some kind of big party going on, and the slow-moving elders were also walking slowly and laughing.
I followed them.
As expected, a large feast was held in the center of the village.
A large bonfire is lit, a large piece of pork is grilled between it, and everyone is chatting excitedly.
Perhaps because there were a lot of people at that time, the kitchen was crowded with women, and the people gathered were talking so hard that it felt ‘noisy’.
As I squeezed in between them, I heard a voice full of anticipation.
“So what do you think about the child?”
“I bet on the peppers!”
“Haha! It would be quite a sight to see if that rambunctious Lina gave birth to her son!”
“They’ll probably try to eat the village chief too.”
“Puh-ha-ha!”
I overheard the conversation, but I couldn’t figure out why they were holding such a grand feast.
It just seemed like the happy event that was planned had finally come true.
This chaotic atmosphere feels like… Would you say it is similar to the atmosphere that Marvin and his wife celebrated when they just had a child?
And soon I found out why.
Because a group of people were coming up from the bottom of the hill in the village, cheering.
“It came out-!”
At the sound, the people sitting around the campfire jumped up.
“What! So, pepper?”
“It’s a girl!”
“Wow!”
Even though they lost the bet, the seniors smiled brightly without any signs of disappointment.
It was a tremendous blessing that a new life was born in this village.
“Let’s go see it!”
Everyone ran down the hill.
The place they headed to was the ‘big house’.
… It was the Antheer couple’s house.
It was the first time I saw the house intact.
As a newly built house, the roof and pillars were so stiff and strong that they looked pure white. The fences were spaced loosely enough to divide only the boundary, allowing a clear view of the garden and the interior.
There was a wooden door in the middle, and it was not a shabby door like it is now, but a beautiful and mysterious door with a pure white color.
The Antheer couple’s house, which is open to everyone, looked really beautiful.
Even more than what Tia and Ruev restored.
No. It was a house so beautiful and perfect that it could not even be said to have been imitated in the slightest.
I finally realized why this house was called the ‘big house’ and why the elders gave me a wistful look.
Because I had such a wonderful house in my memory.
People gathered in front of the big house and groomed the women.
“Let’s see quickly. “Let’s see how pretty it is!”
“Lina’s daughter. Haha! “She must be very beautiful, just like her mother!”
“All newborn babies look the same, so you’re already saying that.”
While the women were busy moving around, a man came out of the house.
Then the older men giggled and shouted.
“Albert! “Now I’m a dad!”
“Haha. I see.”
Albert.
It was a man with the same hair color as Tia’s bright red hair.
It was heterogeneous.
He was a man with dignified yet elegant eyes that put the word handsome to shame.
At first glance, it doesn’t seem like he’s from a mountain village… There was a status that could not be hidden.
Yet, the strong and strong jawline and body imbued with the spirit of an adventurer and a captain… I could see what he had done so far.
Is that person Tia’s father?
Although his appearance was different, Albert was already a man of Brisden.
He received congratulations from the elders and shared a drink to commemorate his fatherhood.
“Come on, I’m ready.”
It was a time of great commotion. A woman came out from inside the house.
I recognized it right away.
It was Aunt Sherry when she was young.
“Look at our cute baby that Lina gave birth to!”
“Oh!”
Aunt Sherry showed everyone the little baby wrapped in a blanket.
Her entire body was covered and barely visible, but the newborn baby, whose face was clearly visible through the wrappings…
“Oh my god.”
It was such a ridiculous exclamation.
I thought newborn babies were ugly because they were shriveled and had thick cheeks.
I realized that it could look pretty like this.
The skin is white, soft and round, as if it was made of the moon.
“You look so pretty like Lina.”
“My wife put in a lot of effort, but I also put in some effort. “Do you have any stories about me?”
“Ah, Albert, he looks just like you and has pretty hair!”
Haha!”
It was that time.
The laughter suddenly stopped, and people rushed to one side.
When I looked back there, I saw an old man standing alone.
A long-haired man holding a cane and wearing a black robe.
His heart was pounding.
Almost no different from my memory… It was the village chief.
The chief slowly approached Aunt Sherry and asked.
“… “What is this child’s name?”
“Ah. According to Lina…”
The aunt smiled and answered.
“They say I’ll call you ‘Tia’.”
“Tia.”
The village chief opened his dark eyes and quietly looked down at the child.
“… “That’s a good name.”
“Is that so?”
“Is this your opinion, Albert?”
Suddenly, the village chief’s question was directed at Tia’s father.
When it suddenly looked like he was being interrogated, Albert made a funny expression.
“No, chief. “This is the name Lina has been thinking about since she was pregnant.”
“…”
“Haha. Why is that? Still, I have some naming skills…”
“It’s too big a name for a kid from this town.”
“… Yes?”
When the happy atmosphere turned cold with one question from the village chief, Aunt Sherry quickly smiled and said.
“Oh my, Chief. You shouldn’t be too mean to Albert. If you keep doing this, Lina might break another chair leg without the village chief knowing.”
“By the way, isn’t the village chief your ‘father’ anymore? Haha! “I’ll ask a lot of questions.”
“Oh! “I was hiding here!”
Aunt Sherry looked down at the village chief’s long robes in surprise.
There, a baby who had just started walking was clutching the hem of his robe with an expression in his eyes.
When it suddenly attracted people’s attention, it cowered, whined, and tried to hide under the village chief’s legs.
But Aunt Sherry did not miss and gently knelt down in front of her village chief. And she showed the baby she was holding in her arms.
“Ritz. Look here. “It’s your younger brother.”
Lifting her head above the robe, she stares at Tia.
The newborn baby, who couldn’t open his eyes yet, just wriggled around.
My aunt said.
“This is the child who will be your best friend. We have to be friends from now on.”
“Ahaha! Now that I think about it, they say she’s a ‘best friend’ here.”
Albert also smiled and squatted down in front of me, stroking his still short hair.
“Ritz. We need to grow up well and take good care of our Tia. “Understand, right?”
“…”
Whether you know the meaning of those words or not. ‘I’, who was staring, nodded.
“Yes!”
Haha!”
People laugh loudly.
Even my father who never smiled… Smile gently.
Saaa-.
The blissful past fades away.
Tia, who was a newborn, and I, a two-year-old, gradually dispersed.
The distance I felt as a child, holding on to the hem of my father’s robe, when I saw Tia wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Right there.
Tia was with her back turned, hiding her body under her thick coat.
The girl I couldn’t protect…
I walk up the stairs and slowly go up to the big house.
And in that very beautiful and elegant house, it wasn’t the handsome Albert…
A completely out of place pig-like man jumped out.
“T, Tia… !”
