I Became a Childhood Friend With the Villainous Saintess - Chapter 158



158 – The Dirty Cabin (3)

Sirien personally conducted the funerals of Therion and Henna.

We did some simple procedures before leaving, but we didn’t have time at the time.

In fact, all they did was cremate the body and offer a moment of silence. It felt like it wasn’t enough to send off the two who were family and friends.

Although the souls of the two people had already departed, funerals were originally meant to be held for the living as well.

If we had overcome the wounds in our hearts in the Forgotten Forest, this time it was time to properly tie up our farewells with the two people.

There was no need to make a grand show.

Even without that, the meal became more serious than ever.

I stayed behind until Sirien took back the sacredness of rest.

“What are you going to do about the hut?”

“I have to burn it. Let me just look around once before that.”

I discovered this by chance while preparing for the Eligos expedition, and there was a record of this hut in Reheim.

This cabin, which Roxen said was her hiding place, was from the time when the Empire was a kingdom.

So, it was a place built during the early days of the Illencia Grand Duchy.

Even at that time, Illencia was protecting its borders from the demons.

The political world was as chaotic as ever, and the demons had not had a single day of peace.

As such days continued, Sirien’s distant ancestors began to worry that severe storms would hit Illencia in the future.

In the long history, there is no such thing as eternal revival or eternal decline.

I hope that doesn’t happen, but if the entire clan is in great danger.

In other words, Illencia was on the brink of extinction. This hut was a refuge to at least save their lives until the storm passed.

The snowfield that protected us from the monsters of the forgotten forest was the will of our ancestors to save their descendants.

And Count Roxen took advantage of that sentiment.

‘Anyway, when I think about it again, he’s still a despicable guy.’

Anyway, the cabin itself was a place built with good intentions.

Now that I have become a sword master, I can feel the faint magical power surrounding the snowy field.

As it turns out, Illencia’s direct lineage is now passed down to Sirien, proving its usefulness.

This shelter itself might have some use later on.

But that refuge doesn’t have to be this cabin.

It would be impossible to use this building again. There were so many uncleaned blood stains inside that it was no longer a place to live.

We thought we’d clear this place out first before we had people build a new building.

As Sirien climbed the steps to the door, the stairs still creaked.

– Uncle, I don’t like it here.

– It smells weird and looks dirty.

– Does it have to be here?

A memory that flashed through my mind.

Young Sirien shed tears in front of these stairs.

But she hid behind my back because she didn’t want to be seen crying.

What was different from then was that the door to the cabin was broken.

I remember it breaking when I was fighting the rats, but I roughly blocked it up before I went to sleep to block the wind.

As we approached the cabin a little closer, we saw that the scars of our fierce battle were still preserved.

The blood that was left behind as I returned. The footprints left here and there. Those were the traces that brought back memories I didn’t want to remember.

Sirien paused for a moment and put her hand on her knee.

“Ah… … This is a big problem. I can’t go in.”

“Is it very difficult?”

“Just, for a moment, I can’t breathe.”

His white-gloved hands trembled.

I decided to wait for Sirien to calm down, holding her trembling hands.

I wonder if it’s okay to think like this, but I was a little relieved.

Because Sirien’s gaze couldn’t leave the footprints on the wooden floor.

Just as this place was a wound to her, it also felt like evidence of my failure and helplessness to me.

I wasn’t sure what kind of expression I was making right now.

Still, I think I’ve grown somewhat.

Instead of feeling sad or lost in thought right here, I started thinking of words to comfort Sirien.

If it were in the past, it would have been much more immature than it is now.

“It’s okay. It’s all in the past. Breathe in slowly, and breathe out again. I’m here with you.”

“huh…….”

“Recall good memories rather than bad ones. For example… … Remember? Here, when you saw Henna, you shouted out loud, ‘Henna! I want to clean too!’”

“That’s right. Then we were both kicked out. That’s when I really thought I had talent.”

The first day at the cabin was a mess.

Therion, who fell asleep on a dusty bed without thinking, Sirien, the cleaning genius who made Hannah work twice, and me, who made laundry when I told her to take the kids out.

All three of us were a bundle of worries for Henna.

Yeah, this cabin wasn’t all bad memories.

It’s not often that the four of us get a chance to be together in one space for this long.

Besides, isn’t the experience of living without adults something we all imagined at least once as children?

Sadness could be covered with memories.

Sirien walked along the covered road.

In the living room, old, blackened bloodstains were visible.

It was where Therion and Henna last lay.

At that table rolling on the floor, the four of us would gather to eat and play cards.

Especially during meal times, all four of them had to be together.

No one set the rules, no one enforced them, and yet it was considered an absolute unwritten rule between us.

It seemed as if the same chaotic voices from back then could be heard at the shattered table.

“The basement… … Ah, I remember. I had scattered everything here and there, trying to take as much as I could.”

“I had a really hard time because of the dust.”

Moved location to basement.

The warehouse where we stored our supplies was in disarray, as if it had been robbed.

Even though Henna had organized it so meticulously, we had no choice but to open it up because we didn’t know what was inside.

Sirien helped me even though she was coughing constantly because of the dust.

Other than that, there wasn’t anything worth remembering from the basement.

Before the rats swarmed in, only Henna was going in and out of the basement.

There was one incident, but I decided to bury it in my grave, and I only remember that I was so tired that I fell asleep right after packing my bags.

Where there are no memories, there is no regret.

We decided to head straight to the attic on the second floor.

On the way up, Sirien pushed her side hair behind her ear.

“It’s a bit bittersweet. I’ve been thinking of places like this as ‘home’ without even realizing it. So, I have something to say. It’s something I couldn’t say before because I was scared. But now I can say it freely.”

“Words you couldn’t say because you were scared?”

“Yeah. Will you listen?”

“I will listen to whatever you say.”

In the attic on the second floor, there were four beds lined up just as I remembered.

Two of them were neatly arranged just as Henna had arranged them, and the other two showed clear signs of having been hurriedly pushed aside as soon as they got up and left.

I somehow felt uneasy that the condition of the bed seemed to distinguish between those who left and those who stayed.

So I just messed up the end of Therion’s bed.

Sirien sat down next to him, on the bed that was originally hers.

A crimson sunset streamed in through the attic window.

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The softly setting sun sparkled on the back of Sirien’s hand.

“It must have been the day after the debutante that the first thought occurred to me.”

“That day… … Ahem.”

“The day we embraced each other. And when you became my master?”

“Anyway, what were you thinking?”

Her hands went to her sunken stomach.

The black cloak followed her hand slightly and then returned, and Sirien gently curled the corners of her lips.

“I thought about having a child. And then when I got to that point, it was like the sky was falling.”

“……why?”

“I am the saint of Hybras. Hybras is the god of rest and death. Can I, who carries death within me, conceive life?”

“ah.”

“It was the first time I regretted it. I became the Saint of Hybras to save you. That’s why my saintly attire was always my pride. But now that I’m regretting it, I realize that I’ve become a lot more greedy.”

Sirien chuckled after saying that.

“I was afraid of that, so I couldn’t look at you any further. I might not be able to have children. That’s why I secretly looked for it when we were looking for the old book together, but I couldn’t find any clues.”

“What did Edwin say?”

“You can do it.”

“huh?”

“They say that if there is life, there must also be death. They say that among the saints of all time, there was one who gave birth to a child.”

Her hand guided mine towards her stomach.

That gesture sent shivers down my spine.

No way. No way?

I raised my alertness as if I could hear a thumping sound inside the ship.

About three minutes passed like that. I couldn’t feel anything in my hand.

Sirien giggled.

“Were you expecting it? Not yet.”

“You… were surprised.”

“It feels really good to see that kind of reaction. When I came here, the word family kept coming into my mind, so I said it.”

Her fingertips touched my ring finger.

Sirien rubbed the first word gently.

“So, Rajen. I’ll wait for you this time too. We still have a lot of work to do, but one day, everything will be sorted out.”

“Would you like to receive a gift from me then?”

“Yes. Please give me this as a gift that I can only receive once in my life.”

“……okay.”