Episode 42
Translator : Missme Editor: Aru
I couldnât stand it. I was afraid to become a stranger with Ash. I feared that someday I would not be special for him causing him to kill me with his own hands without any hesitation.
That was my greatest fear since I knew the future.
So I wanted to run away. I wanted to run away completely even if I couldnât guarantee what life would be like after I ran away.
Whatever happens after that, it will obviously be better than watching me become nobody to Ash.
âIâm not a fool.â
I couldnât hate Ash. When he held my hand, I couldnât really hate and I respect the warmth that he conveyed, as normal and warm as other people.
âSo idiot.â
Even though I know he would kill me.
âDullardâ¦..â
Sitting absent-mindedly on the bench, I tilted my head.
I tried to look at the clouds. I tried to watch it just flow, but the sun invaded my vision. At a moment, my eyes were dazzled and I frowned.
Then I heard a rustle.
ââ¦Sir Davery?â
Or Bessi? Alex? Did she come looking for me?
He isnât Ash, is he?
I turned my head with a throbbing heart. And I soon became perplexedly firm.
Hiss, hiss, hiss.
ââ¦â¦â¦. a snake?â
What, what?
A long snake with a yellow body and a speckled pattern fluttered its tongue at me from the grass. I was caught in a daze watching it. First of all, it was a shock.
âWhy a snake in the garden?â
Was there a snake originally in the garden? No, it canât be.
I broke out in a cold sweat. Slowly I lifted myself up from the bench.
The snake turned its head in my motion.
âDonât do that.â
Donât look at me. Donât pay attention to me, snake.
Unfortunately, however, the wish did not seem to have been conveyed. The snake kept its eyes on me. The long, vertical pupil looked straight at me.
Hiss, hiss, hiss.
Perhaps because of my feeling, itâs tongue was more threatening.
âIs this⦠is this dangerous?â
Thatâs the situation, isnât it?
My body stiffened. Honestly, I donât know what to do.
Should I turn around and run away? What if it comes after me? Can I avoid a sudden bite from behind?
I had all kinds of thoughts. My mind has become complicated. Why did I have to face a snake-like this one on one?
I was still relieved to find out that the snakeâs head was round in the midst of this.
âThereâs no poison.â
They said that the poisonous snake had a triangular head shape.
Itâs a relief that heâs round everywhere. Yeah, poisonous snakes arenât common anywhere.
If there was Ari here, it would have become common, but fortunately or unfortunately, it was just me here now.
In a good way, itâs a crisis, but at least itâs not a death crisis.
I swallowed my saliva.
It only hurts when bitten â of course, I didnât like it â but I felt a little bit brave to think that I wouldnât die.
I kept my eyes on the snake and moved my feet slowly. Reallyâ¦. slowlyâ¦.
The snake just looked at me as if it was watching me and did not move from its place.
Thatâs right, you are really good. Stay still like thatâs like what youâve been doing.
Until Iâm completely â¦â¦.
ââ¦â¦!â
Murphyâs Law!
Why did that come to mind at this moment? Yeah, thatâs probably because I made the mistake, spraining my feet on the ground, that I didnât usually do well at times like this.
I stumbled heavily and fell.
And it seemed to provoke the snake.
Oh, please, I hope it wonât hurt as much as possible.
I closed my eyes tightly to see the figure of a snake running at me.
ââ¦..â
But there was no pain even if I waited.
I crept open my eyes when I felt something, a shadow, instead of the pain of being bitten by a snake.
Soon, my mouth opened.
âEh, Ash?â
âAre you all right?â
I could see Ashâs face in front of me. Ash, who lowered his upper body as if to wrap me around, was looking down right at me when I fell on the floor.
I stared blankly at the unexpected face. Then the next moment, I shouted as if I were screaming.
âAsh!â
The snake was biting Ashâs arm. I could see a thin stream of blood flowing from Ashâs left arm with a snakeâs fangs in it.
Ash, who slightly narrowed his forehead, broke the snakeâs head with his other hand and took it off without a groan.
I couldnât shut my mouth while seeing the vivid lice soup with fresh blood. But Ash didnât seem to care too much about his wounds.
Rather, he looked at me and asked.
âAre you all right, Noonim?â
âNowâ¦â
Am I in the danger? Iâm fine. Of course, Iâm alright. It was Ash who wasnât okay.
I raised myself up in contemplation. The fingertips, which held Ashâs arm to avoid the wound, trembled weakly.
âWhat about your arm? What do I do, doesnât it hurt? What about the bleeding? Shouldnât we stop the bleeding?â
âDo not worry about it.â
âHow can I not worry about this! Itâs bleeding like this..â
âNoonim.â
ââ¦..â
ââ¦â¦are you crying?â
Ashâs face came close to me as if looking around my eyes.
Only after hearing that did I realize that my eyes were filled with tears. I blinked my eyes. Tears welled down under gravity.
âNoonim?â
Ash immediately voiced embarrassment.
As soon as I found myself crying, Ashâs face was clearly shaken as soon as he saw me crying, but he had been bitten on the arm by a snake.
âWhatâs wrong, is it hurt? Are you hurt?â
Ash, who still neglected his wounds, held me and looked around for observation. Worries and nervousness were reading in his eyes, checking if I was really hurt.
Tears rolled up more.
Thatâs why.
Because youâre like this.
âLook at me. Noonim. Why are you crying?â
I canât hate you because youâre like this.
How can I hate you when youâre like this?
âNoonim.â
âWaahh⦠Waahhâ¦â¦ Waahhhh.â
Whatâs wrong?
Why are you so nice to me?
Why do you care about me? Why do you care so much about me?
Because Iâm your sister?
Because Iâm your only family, is that why?
Is that so important?
âUhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhâ
I let myself down and cried. I could feel Ash fidgeting in front of me, who had left the blood running on his arm.
Tears rolled up in my throat.
Ash was devastated. But I was more devastated.
In the end, I am a stranger to him. I have no choice, so I have to do all this.
It was so hopeless and devastated that I couldnât cry even when Ash was embarrassed and finally took me in his arms as if to appease me.
***
âOh, no, what the hell is going on?â
Bessie couldnât shut her mouth with a look of astonishment.
I understand. Iâd do the same.
I and Ash returned to the mansion with my eyes puffed up and his arm swollen. Of course, it was because I cried, and Ash was hurt, so there was only one patient.
Iâm sure itâs quite absurd to come back like this from a morning walk. Thatâs how I feel.
I opened my mouth at Bessie, who was about to go back.
âHe was bitten by a snake in the garden. Come on. Call a doctor for him. We need to treat the wound.â
âOh, my God, Alex! Alex!!â
After a while, the doctor, who had been called hurriedly, examined and treated Ashâs arm in a nearby parlour room.
I sat a little far away and silently watched the doctor disinfect the affected area.
I watched.
Sir Davery spoke to me while keeping his place together.
âAre you alright, my lady?â
âIâm alright. As you can see.â
âNo, your eyes arenât very good. You look like youâre stung. Was there a bee in the garden beside a snake?â
ââ¦â¦â
This guy.
Anyone can tell that Iâm crying, but heâs still making fun of me with these eyes?
Looking at his expression, I seemed to be right that he meant to tease me. I raised my eyebrows slightly and deliberately snapped in an exaggerated tone.
âSir, do you feel like youâre joking about a person being hurt? You must be having fun, arenât you? You must have had a lot of complaints about Ash.â
âWhat? No, no! Absolutely not.â
Sir Davery has actively denied it.
It was almost equivocal that I cried like a child in the garden because I was surprised to see a snake.
I thought it would work even though I made excuses, but it worked. Thanks to it, Iâm in a position to be teased like this.
Come to think of it, I think I saw a clock tower the other day and cried because I was so moved.
I wondered if my tear glands were okay as it is, but I decided to give up on him because I couldnât tell him why I cried.
At that time, the doctor arranged the medical equipment as the treatment was finished.
âThe treatment was done. Iâm glad the wound is not deep. If you just watch out for the water for a while, it will heal without any further damage.â
Ashâs left arm was wrapped with a white bandage from the wrist to the middle of the arm.
Ash raised his arm and moved lightly. The doctorâs voice followed.
âFor a while, you may feel a little uncomfortable with your arms. Itâs a species with paralytic poison.â
âPoison?â
I reacted unconsciously to the word poison. The doctor talked soothingly about how I looked.
âItâs literally just paralyzed poison. Thereâs nothing else to do but limit the movement, so you donât have to worry.â
âHow much is the limit? Would it be too uncomfortable?â
âHmmâ¦â
At Bessieâs question, the doctor drew the answer as if he were agonizing for a moment and looked back at Ash.
âYour Excellency, how do you feel?â
âItâs not like I canât use it.â
As soon as he answered like that, Ash and I met eyes. Suddenly his words changed.
âIâm fine.â
ââââââââ