Chapter 065
Evan, not seeming to expect a response from the child, adjusted his hold on them and turned back to face me, making eye contact.
“I’ll be right back.”
“No, wait!”
I barely managed to grab the edge of Evan’s clothing as he was about to take a step.
“I’m coming too.”
Evan’s expression soured at my words, and his lips began to twitch slowly.
He was surely about to tell me to sit and rest like before.
Before he could open his mouth, I quickly added to my statement.
“Thanks to the massage you gave my legs earlier, they’re fine now. And I wanted to check on the child’s mom myself, so I said I’d go with you.”
As I rapidly poured out my words, I could see Evan’s mouth gradually closing.
He cast a glance at my legs, wearing a dissatisfied expression, but didn’t add anything more as I moved closer.
After walking with Evan, who was holding the child, for a while, I heard him say, “We’re almost there.”
The child’s house was not far from where we were, so we arrived quickly.
The child, who had been quietly nestled in Evan’s arms the whole way, began to stomp their feet as soon as they spotted their home, as if asking to be let down.
Once freed from Evan’s arms, the child hurriedly lifted the curtain that was covering the entrance and dashed inside.
The houses on Delling Street were built with light curtains draped over the entrances to allow easy viewing inside.
Just like the child had done, I pulled aside the curtain at the entrance and leaned in to look inside.
Seeing a woman sitting alone in the empty interior, I opened my mouth.
“……Hello.”
I greeted her while making eye contact, but there was no response.
The gaze wandering somewhere in the void seemed filled with a hollow light, making any stimulus utterly meaningless.
‘It’s definitely as Sir Paul said. She looks the worst.’
Unlike others whose conditions had improved somewhat, the woman before me resembled an empty doll.
To examine her condition more closely, I stepped further inside and bent down.
‘It seems she can’t even eat properly.’
She had barely satisfied her hunger with thin soup, and her body was alarmingly emaciated.
It was at that moment, while I was looking at the woman with a heavy heart, that I made eye contact with the child, who was closely observing my actions while clinging to her mother.
‘He’s worried.’
Did he think I was going to do something to his mother?
There was no change in his expression, but I could tell by the small hands tightly gripping her clothes, causing wrinkles, that he was anxious.
“I’m just checking to see if your mom is healthy.”
I smiled gently and spoke to the child.
Given the poor conditions for the child, I wondered if he was getting proper meals.
Typically, young children like the one in front of me did not live on Delling Street.
Children who had lost their guardians or were unable to receive proper care, even with guardians, were gathered and cared for by the guards.
The only child who had refused care among them was the one before me.
As soon as the child realized that the guards were trying to separate him from his mother, he reacted violently in refusal.
The child, who had been quietly sitting next to his mother, began to convulse as if having a fit, leaving the guards no choice but to keep him by his mother’s side.
“Have you eaten?”
I asked the child, and he nodded her head slightly up and down.
Fortunately, it seemed he was managing to eat well, which relieved me somewhat.
‘Still, I can’t just keep watching like this forever.’
The children taken away by the guards were currently receiving care and education appropriate for their age.
Among them, there were several children learning skills as apprentices to craftsmen so they could become independent when they grew up.
“What should I do…?”
Even if the child could manage like this for now, when the time comes for him to become an adult and live on his own, he would undoubtedly face significant hardships.
“I need to think more about this issue.”
It wouldn’t help the child to be separated from his mother under the pretense of wanting what was best for him, as the child wouldn’t be able to eat properly or receive an education.
As I slowly began to rise, I noticed a strand of hair stuck to the woman’s cheek.
Thinking it would be uncomfortable to leave it like that, I cautiously reached out to remove the hair from her face, but just then…
Thud!
The moment my fingertips touched her, I witnessed a strange light flicker in her previously vacant eyes.
In an instant, the woman grabbed my wrist with a surprising strength.
“No, don’t…! I have to kill…”
“What is this…!”
Where was she getting such strength? I couldn’t even pull my arm away from her firm grip as I found myself staring into her eyes.
She continued to mumble incoherent words while refusing to let go of my wrist.
“I have to kill! I have to kill! Otherwise, the curse won’t be lifted!”
Her once empty eyes were now filled with a desperate light as she looked at me.
“Dahlia!”
It was at that moment that Evan, who had been watching from behind, rushed over and reached out to separate me from the woman.
“Please, ugh! Aires, his dad… Clay, definitely…”
The woman, who had been rambling, suddenly coughed up blood and ultimately collapsed to the side, breathing heavily and helplessly.
Until the moment she collapsed, she didn’t let go of my wrist.
Staring at the woman who had fallen while coughing up blood with a dazed expression, I suddenly came to my senses and shouted loudly.
“Doctor! Please call a doctor!”
As the commotion grew, nearby knights began to gather one by one, quickly assessing the situation inside before rushing off to find a doctor.
At that moment, Evan, who was beside me, placed his hand on the woman’s neck and soon opened his mouth with a faint sigh.
“Fortunately, she is still breathing.”
It was too early to feel relieved, but hearing that she was alive eased my heart a little, and only then did I take in my surroundings.
The first thing that caught my eye was the face of the child, who seemed shocked, blinking rapidly.
The child was clutching the hem of the fallen woman’s clothes, constantly moving his lips.
“It’s okay… It will be okay.”
I quickly hugged the child to my chest, covering his eyes with one hand, and repeated the same words to her.
“Ugh! What on earth is happening here?”
At that moment, Paul arrived with the doctor at the child’s house, shouting with a shocked expression.
“Quickly, check on this person’s condition!”
“Yes, yes!”
Hearing my loud voice, Paul snapped back to reality and entered the house with the doctor.
While the doctor examined the woman carefully, I continued to pat the child’s back, who was still in my arms.
However, the trembling I felt from his body only intensified.
How long had it been?
After finishing the examination, the doctor tilted his head slightly and cautiously spoke.
“Well, it’s hard to say for sure without a more detailed examination, but from what I can see right now, it doesn’t seem to be that serious. She did cough up blood, but she’s regulating her breathing and her complexion looks good… She really looks like someone who just fell asleep.”
Hearing the doctor’s words and looking at the woman again, she indeed appeared to be peacefully asleep.
“For now, it would be best to take her to the castle. We’ll depart shortly, so please prepare.”
At that moment, a low voice resonated heavily throughout the house.
Evan, who was listening to the doctor with me, quickly organized the situation.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Sniffle, sniffle.
A soft sniffling sound echoed in the quiet room.
When I turned my head slightly to the side, I saw the child, tightly holding onto his mother’s bony hand, quietly sobbing.
They could have cried out loud.
The child, with a face that looked like he was about to burst into tears, still kept glancing around nervously, letting only silent tears fall.
