Song I listen to: Special – Garbage
As soon as Cersinia got home, she buried herself on the sofa. An old hut located in a remote forest, quite far from the village. This was Cersinia’s home, which is hard to find unless you’ve been here before. The old and worn-out house, which you can see when you raise your head, is made of wood.
Among them, the ceiling was so old that there were holes everywhere that mice had gnawed. When it rained through the hole, the water leaked in, and on days of heavy rain, the house was often flooded with water. She tried to break down the old ceiling with the money she will get from the gambling house. She felt the heat rising up in her body again. As promised, if they don’t pay her a week later, I’ll burn them down.
“I…”
A small sound like an ant crawling made Cersinia turn her head.
‘Oh, that’s right. I brought him as a collateral. “
A child was standing in the corner with a limp. She forgot everything because she was thinking about what happened at the gambling house.
“Why? “
“Well, the reason you brought me here….”
“Because it’s collateral.”
It was right. I can’t be without pity, but 90 percent of collateral slaves were due to money.
“Yes…”
He bowed his head to hide his sullen look as if the child was disappointed. She felt guilty about the way she acted, but she can’t help it. She needed the money. Cersinia looked slowly at the child, wriggling his hands and touching his nails. The child’s shaggy black jet-hair was stiffened. It’s so poorly managed that a brush is likely to break at once.
Below it, there was a dark red bruise near the skin of his mouth visible.
‘Whoo. ‘
Cersinia sighed inwardly as he seemed to have been constantly abused. It’s a felony to hit a child now and then. She pulled herself up from the sofa in the face of necessity.
“I’m gonna have to put some medicine on you.”
If she keeps applying it while she’s holding him here, the wound will heal to a certain extent. Cersinia walked away. Every time she moved, the wooden floor, which had nothing wrong with falling apart immediately, made an unpleasant creak. There was nowhere decent in this house to be found.
‘Let’s just move out.’
If I get paid, I’d rather move out than paying. Not a house made of old wood, but a house built solidly of brilliant marble. By the doorstep, she opened a small drawer next to her.
Inside the drawer were medicine boxes containing the medicine and disinfectant that had been prepared not long ago. Returning with a heavy box, Cersinia sat on the bed. The child flinched and shuddered at her small movements. Just from the sensitive reaction, it was possible to guess what kind of life he had been experiencing so far.
“I’ll heal you.”
Cersinia took a little bit of cotton from the lump and rolled it into a shape.
“Well, I’m fine….”
She patted him on the face and ignored the trembling voice of the child.
“This way. “
However, the child became as stiff as a statue and did not even move. He’s more stubborn than I thought.
“I’m going to count to three.”
The child’s face turned pale upon Cersinia’s ultimatum. But regardless, she began to count.
“One.”
The child wiggled his hands, dithering. He seemed to be thinking about what to do.
“Two.”
The child’s hands were glued to the corners of his mouth. He gnawed his thumbnail with his teeth as if he was nervous.
“Three.”
Soon the last number flowed from her lips without mercy.
On the count of three, the child came up and stood up next to her. He stands with his hands together as if he was being punished. Cersinia crumpled her face showing she didn’t like his behavior. She didn’t mean to scold him, but she was annoyed by his scaredy cat behavior.
“Sit over here next to me.”
“Uhh, standing here is comfortable.”
“Sit down.”
“Yes.”
With a low voice, the child sat with his butt on the bed. He was sitting on the edge to the point where a slight push would make him fall, but she just pretended not to know. I don’t want to see you flinch no matter what I say.
Cersinia took out a disinfectant and buried it in the cotton. The child rolled his eyes to the opposite side of her nervously. Without saying much, she patted the cotton with disinfectant on his face that is full of wounds.
The stinging made the child draw a grimace. But there was no other response. Not even a little moan. As if not to make a sound, the child was holding his breath, biting his lips with his teeth tightly closed.
She felt sorry for him, so she picked up the pace of the treatment. Fortunately, there were only slight bruises on his legs and body, but there were no major injuries, so there was no need to apply any medicine.
“Thank you, umm…” said the child, breathing hard.
“What.”
Sterilizing pills and medicine were arranged back. As she put the box back in place, she heard a question from behind her back.
“What should I call you….”
She turned and stared at the child.
“Cer si nia.”
“Cer si nia?”
“Yes, what’s your name?”
The question made the child sullen and he slumped his shoulders.
‘What is it?’
Cersinia just thought about what she had done wrong. But even if she bad mouthed people, she has done nothing wrong this time.
No, what’s wrong with him?
The child was wiggling his toes in silence. When she got angry at her frustration, his voice settled down and touched Cersinia’s heart calmly.
“No, no name……”
‘Yes, Oh! I’m sorry. “
The unexpected answer was very embarrassing for Cersinia. She felt guilty for asking something without being thoughtful. On the other hand, however, it was questionable which character in the novel was not given a name. Was he not given a name and just a filler character made to explain the setting of slavery?
The beginning of the novel has a reasonable deduction to some extent, starting with the story of the heroine almost enslaved by her own father. Cersinia opened her mouth, looking pitifully at the child.
“How old are you?”
She secretly hid that her voice is a little shaky because she is afraid of another unexpected answer.
“I’m 19 years old.”9
“You? Oh, sorry…”
She stopped thinking inside her mind and spit it out loud. Cersinia immediately bit her mouth after she apologized.
No, he couldn’t be either. The child looked about 16 years old no matter how tall he was. Her height was only about above his shoulders, and his skinny arms and legs were about to break. And the most important thing is his voice. How can one be 19 years old when his voice hasn’t changed yet? The area around his chin was also as smooth as pottery, as if it had never had a beard.
“Yes, I’m 19 years old.”1
“Huh…”
She groaned briefly. He is only a year younger than me. I’m shocked. She was dumbfounded, but soon her feelings turned back into grief.
‘How much have you starved yourself….’
She felt like she actually saw a poor neighbor on TV.
She was eager to help with anything.
She wishes he could gain some weight while they are together. She just happened to scoop up the soup she had boiled early in the morning. She thought she would feel better if she gave it to him.
“Are you hungry?”
He shook his head.
‘growl rumbling’
In the quiet room his stomach clock rang out at a perfect timing.
“Oh, well, this is….”
His cheeks blushed and ripened like a red apple since he was embarrassed. Cersinia burst into laughter.
“There’s some soup left, so let’s at least eat that.”
She turned to the kitchen. She had no money right now, so she had to make ends meet with the rest of what was left at her household. Still, she’s glad to have enough food for a week.
“Uh no, it’s really okay!”
In an urgent voice he stopped in front of Cersinia and stretched out his arms.
“I’m really not hungry. I’m telling you!”
“If you don’t finish eating it today, the soup will be wasted. So help me out here.”
She said that casually. Of course it was a lie. But she knew if she didn’t say it like this, he won’t eat it until the very end. Cersinia pushed him lightly without hurting him. A light body, like a sheet of paper, he was easily pushed by her.3
Seeing that there was no response, he seemed to be no longer making a fuss and not refusing. She opened the cover of the fireplace on the side of the kitchen. The firewood in the morning had been scorched to gray ash. Cersinia put some of the pieces of wood piled up beside the fireplace into the fireplace. The dried branches of the tree were added too.
‘He wouldn’t care about little tricks, would he?’
Of course, there were no matches in the house of witch Cersinia, who can handle fire. She always used magic whenever she needed fire. She was a little worried because she has never used magic in front of other people, though.
‘But a little flame will do you just fine.’
She condensed the heat at her fingertips and reached into the furnace. Not long after the reincarnation, she was a little clumsy in making fire. Fortunately, she got to pick up the flame at once today.
‘fwoosh.’
Flames in her hands flew into the fireplace and quickly set fire to the leaves. A few seconds later, the firewoods gave each other fire and quickly covered the brazier with heat.
‘Crackle.’
Leaving behind the soothing sound of firewood burning, she closed the cover of the furnace. Cersinia raised her bent body. Then she saw him with his eyes glistening and his mouth wide open.
“Wow. Are you a witch?”
“Well, that’s what it is.”
She answered in a mundane, seemingly insignificant way. However, she was so embarrassed that she couldn’t believe it. She was a little embarrassed because it was her first time using magic in front of others. Smothering her embarrassment with a vain cough, Cersinia settled in the chair. It took some time for the pot on the furnace to boil.
“That’s cool! I’ve never seen a witch before.”
He followed her and stood beside her.
‘When I asked you to come, you didn’t come.’
His eyes were full of interest.
“Yes, for I am alone in this empire. Don’t spread rumors.”
“Yes, of course. I have no one to talk to.”
Cersinia nodded and looked beyond the window. The trees swaying in the wind were dripping the leaves off the trees. The cool breeze was now holding quite a bit of heat in it. Summer is coming.
“I…”
The gaze from outside the window was shifted to the small mumbling lips.
“Don’t you feel lonely alone?”
Cersinia’s head tilted to his question.