Chapter 241: After 9 years (1)
Herduke Imperial Year 10, April 12th.
“And then? And then what happened?”
A girl with rich ash-gray hair and bright golden eyes clung to the knees of a benevolent-looking middle-aged man, urging him to continue the story.
The middle-aged man, with brown hair slightly streaked with gray, chuckled and stroked the child’s hair.
“Now, now, don’t be so impatient. Where did I leave off? Ah, yes. I said the two went south, right? They rode south on horseback. To see different countries and regions that they had never seen before. Those two were very strong. No hardship could break them. If one was about to crumble, the other would reach out a hand. But there came a time when that didn’t work.”
The girl’s expression was a mixture of curiosity and worry at the middle-aged man’s words. Young children always immersed themselves in stories like this, bringing joy to the storyteller.
The middle-aged man continued with a gentle smile.
“It all started in a cave in the mountains on a rainy day. When the man woke up thirsty, he saw his wife moaning and suffering. Oh dear, there’s no doctor here! The man panicked and hurriedly touched his wife’s forehead, and oh, it was burning hot! It was like holding a burning coal. The man quickly tried some of the medicines he had that were good for fever, but even after an hour, two hours, his wife didn’t get any better. It had only been three months since they started their journey, what was this all about!”
“Wow, and then? And then!”
“The man pondered. What should he do? There were people looking for them all around. He had prepared a lot of medicine just in case, but nothing worked! After much deliberation, the man finally made up his mind. I don’t care if I’m in danger. But my wife! I must save my wife! Even if it costs me my life! My wife’s life is worth more than a hundred of mine! So the man took his wife and started descending that dark, rainy mountain.”
“Wow! That’s so cool!”
The child expressed pure admiration. Then, as if urging him to continue the story, she tugged at the middle-aged man’s baggy clothes. The middle-aged man gently stroked the child’s head and said,
“Hmm, have you ever been in a dark mountain forest?”
“No, I haven’t. Mom and Dad told me not to go out when it’s dark. They said it’s not too late to do that when I’m an adult. They said it’s really scary and very, uh, uh, um……”
“Dangerous?”
“Ah! That’s right. Is it very dangerous? Is it that ‘threatening’?”
The child was young, but her language skills were excellent. Like most young children, she wanted to use the words she learned in any way she could. Moreover, smart children sometimes use surprising words.
The middle-aged man burst into laughter at the cute way the little girl pronounced the word ‘threat’.
“Ahahahaha! Yes, it’s threatening. The forest at night, especially when it’s raining, is extremely dangerous. Even if you turn on a lantern, the light feels like it’s being sucked into the darkness, where you can’t see an inch ahead. You feel like a hand of darkness might reach out from somewhere and grab your foot or neck. The rustling footsteps, the sound of raindrops falling on the leaves, walking through the forest with no sense of direction…… Roar!”
The middle-aged man raised his hand and brought it close to his face, intending to startle the child, but the child just stared at him. She was too young and lacked the experience to feel the indirect, realistic fear.
On top of that, she was smart.
“I’ll tell Mom I was really scared. Please continue.”
“Ahem, ahem! Anyway, the man took his wife and safely brought her down to the village at the foot of the mountain. He found the doctor’s house and knocked on the door. But no one came out, perhaps because it was dawn. That’s how it always is in mountain villages. So the man cut down the door and went inside and shouted. ‘Come out and save my wife right now, or I’ll boil you in hot water and disinfect you―!’ Then the doctor popped out. As if claiming that healing patients was his greatest duty. In reality, he was just startled by the threat and ran out in his sleep.”
“Ahahaha! And then? Huh?”
The child’s expression was genuinely joyful. She was able to understand and laugh at a somewhat difficult metaphor. The middle-aged man wondered if her previous apathetic and cunning response was intentional.
“The doctor carefully examined the man’s wife. Her fever was so high that she couldn’t regain consciousness. At first, he suspected a cold, then later malaria, but the man had already tried those medicines. The doctor palpated her in various ways, used a stethoscope, checked her pulse, and then touched her eyelids. He finally figured out what was wrong with the man’s wife.”
“Wow! That’s amazing! What is it? Huh? What was it?”
The middle-aged man smiled. This was the most important part of the story. He acted as if he were the doctor, bringing the scene to life.
“The doctor said, ‘Are you this woman’s husband?’ The man tilted his head. He didn’t know why the doctor was asking that all of a sudden. But he nodded anyway. ‘Yes, I am.’ Then the doctor suddenly burst into anger. ‘Are you crazy?! Huh?! Breaking in in the middle of the night shows you have no common sense, but to be this clueless! Are you really this woman’s husband?! What have you been doing until she got this sick! Do you even love her?! Huh?! I’ve never seen anything like this in my life!’ The man was intimidated. He knew he had done something terribly wrong. He stammered, ‘No, I, I apologize…… What is it? Is it serious, perhaps……’ The man’s face was filled with the worries of the world.”
The middle-aged man imitated the expressions of the characters in the story as they spoke.
Although smart, the little girl was still a child, and she had a blank expression on her face, lost in the story. Satisfied with her reaction, the middle-aged man continued to act out the roles of the doctor and the man.
“The doctor sighed deeply when he saw that. He realized the man didn’t know anything. Of course, there was nothing he could do if he didn’t know. The doctor took a few deep breaths and said, ‘Listen, you’re lucky you came here now. Just in case, do you have a house? It’ll be a bit difficult if you’re a wanderer.’ The man thought it might be a matter of expensive medical bills and hesitated for a moment. But he didn’t forget his initial resolve. He nodded and said firmly, ‘Yes, I do. I’m not a wealthy man, but I’m confident that I can make a living.’ The doctor scoffed. He thought the man looked like a good-for-nothing who ran away from home and seduced a decent young woman to travel with him. Of course, he didn’t know that the man’s house was much wealthier than he claimed. The man’s appearance was shabby from his long journey and drenched from the rain. The doctor said, ‘Then take my advice. Take your wife home right away. Go home, let her rest, and leave her to a specialist. I’m not a specialist, but when you’re the only doctor in a village like this, you become a general practitioner who deals with all kinds of illnesses. I’ve figured out what the problem is. I’ll write you a referral, so take her home and show it to them.’ Then the doctor started writing something. The man tilted his head. A referral without any medicine or treatment, telling him to leave her to a specialist, could it be that serious? Besides, a specialist, not a priest, that’s strange. So the man asked desperately, ‘But what is the illness? Please, tell me at least that much!’ The doctor said nonchalantly, ‘Well, the treatment will be quite expensive. It’ll cost you money for at least 20 years.’ The man was shocked. A serious illness that requires 20 years of treatment! He had never heard of such a thing before. The man became desperate again and asked, ‘Doctor! What illness does my wife have?!’ The doctor replied, ‘A fever.’ The man was confused. A fever with no medicine, just a referral to a specialist, it didn’t make sense. The man asked again, ‘Excuse me? A fever?’ The doctor stopped writing and glared at the man. It was a look of accusation, asking if he still didn’t get it after all that, and it was enough to scare even a man who had been through countless battles. However, the fear of not knowing his wife’s illness drove him forward. He bowed his head and pleaded, ‘Please…… just tell me what it is. Doctor, I beg you! This woman…… my wife is everything to me! Without her…… I can’t live! Doctor, please!’ The doctor looked at the man. He was young, but the doctor could feel his genuine love. He had learned to recognize such things after living a long life and meeting many people. The doctor sighed and decided to answer the man’s plea. He had originally intended to send the man home without telling him anything, to embarrass him thoroughly. But he was moved by the man’s sincerity. The doctor said, ‘It’s a stress-induced fever. Early pregnancy symptoms.’ ‘Excuse me?’ ‘Pregnancy! Pregnancy! She’s pregnant! How difficult must it have been for her to tell you that she developed a fever! You didn’t even keep track of your wife’s period?! And you gave her medicine?! You almost caused a miscarriage! Trying to kill not one, but two people, what a clueless fool. Tsk, tsk……’ Only then did the man realize. He understood why his wife’s period had been absent for two months and her recent strange behavior. Yes. His wife was carrying his child.”
“Wow! Kyahahaha! That’s so funny! And then?”
“At first, the man had planned to settle down and live peacefully somewhere once the baby was born. But while the man was staying in the village for a few days, seriously contemplating his future, the people who were looking for them showed up. The man couldn’t let his pregnant wife fight, and he couldn’t fight them off alone. In the end, the two returned to their home, and their runaway adventure ended after just over four months. It is said that they lived happily ever after, having a child. The end.”
“Kyahahaha! Ahahaha! That was so much fun! Is that real? Huh? Is that a true story?”
The middle-aged man’s smile contained various meanings that a young child couldn’t comprehend. He smiled and nodded.
“Of course it is.”
The child’s eyes sparkled as she asked the usual question.
“Who is it?!”
The middle-aged man’s expression immediately hardened. Seeing his expression, the little girl stopped laughing. A deep, low, and sinister voice flowed from the middle-aged man’s mouth.
“Your mom and dad.”
“Huh?”
“And that child back then is you, Sermaila Herdu…… Gahk!”
Clang!
The sound, which somehow seemed fitting for the scream, was produced by a tin tray held by a noblewoman with neatly braided black hair. The tin tray, which had mercilessly struck the back of the middle-aged man’s head, was dented.
The noblewoman, who looked elegant in her pearl-colored dress, sighed as she looked at the crumpled tray.
“It’s broken again…… He says anything to the child.”
“Mom―!”
The girl, who had been listening to the story from the middle-aged man, ran to the noblewoman and clung to her. Then, putting together the story she had just heard, she spoke, implying that it wasn’t true.
“Th-th-that, Dad getting pregnant is a silly doctor, right?!”
“So even if that child was you, cough!”
The middle-aged man, who was trying to assert the truth until the end, was this time knocked down by the noblewoman’s splendid kick. As if this was a frequent occurrence, the noblewoman was wearing shorts under her skirt.
The child, seemingly accustomed to such events, clung to her mother without a care.
“Mom! Mom!”
“Aila, listen to your mother.”
“Yes, Mom. I’ll listen.”
The girl, called Aila, looked at her mother with eyes filled with deep trust and affection. And the woman, who had played the role of the wife in the story, spoke with a determined expression.
“Actually, that doctor is Gardner.”
“Eh.”
Leave a Reply