Cursed Girl
"Sir, where do you plan to go?"
The carriage we sat in could be considered an a.s.set the company provided us. The coach was an old man; his skills at the reins were fantastic, nonetheless.
I rubbed my foot. After my left foot lost a degree of mobility, walking a few steps would induce immense pain. I hadn"t habituated to using a cane, but I could tell it alleviated some of the physical stress. Peering out the window, I replied, "Do you know where the pope lives?"
The old man dallied before turning his head to look at me. Hesitant at first, he answered, "Sorry, Sir, I think that you should not make things hard for a woman and a child regardless of what happened."
"I"m not planning to harm them. I just want to see his house," I answered with a chuckle. "I wouldn"t ever harm them. I wouldn"t do it even if someone else did. I"m aware how shameless such actions are. I merely want to take a look."
"Mm…" The elder subtly nodded then said, "I can see you are quite fond of children seeing as you brought your child with you."
"Not entirely," I corrected him, shaking my head. I chuckled under my breath: "I remember someone said it looks very lonely for someone to sit in a carriage alone, and I agree. I once lived a lonely life for a very long time. Now that I have my beloved daughter, it"s only natural for me to cherish her and be considerate of her."
The elder laughed and nodded. He didn"t respond. Instead, he whipped the horse, and the horse began to trot.
I shut the window. Leah rubbed her full belly and happily hugged my arm while humming a weird tune. I lowered my head to sniff her hair. Neither of us uttered a word. We just cosily rested there with each other.
Honestly, I considered whether or not to write Veirya a letter. It was always on my mind, but when I earnestly thought about it, I didn"t know what to write. What was I supposed to say to Veirya? I didn"t know what she was doing. I didn"t know if she wanted to tell us what she was doing. Would she reply to the letter? I didn"t know what to tell her, either.
It was best for me not to inform Veirya what I had in mind. If someone read the contents of the letter, our activities would be exposed. If I didn"t tell her about work, was I supposed to tell her I missed her and really wanted to return to her? My face and ears would turn red before I could even write that. I"d probably die from embarra.s.sment if I wrote it. Moreover, no matter how romantic I made it sound, Veirya would look nonchalant as always; it was pointless. Consequently, I didn"t write a letter in the end. It wasn"t as if she"d say anything. I, therefore, didn"t pay too much attention to it. Her wound is unlikely to have healed, so she should still be at home.
Our carriage arrived at a corner in the east of the imperial city. Most of the people residing in the eastern side of the imperial city were the wealthy. Commoners lived on the West side. The coach knocked on the door to notify us we had arrived. I opened the door and got off. I gently tugged my cape. The houses in the area were all orange. There was nothing unique or out of place about them.
The pope didn"t use his influence to protect his daughter and wife in the area. No wonder why the elder was concerned about me harming them.
The sunlight outside was a tad tough on the eyes, since it was just past afternoon. That said, the warmth was nice. There weren"t many people on the street. As a matter of fact, it was quite barren. I discovered there were lots of houses with n.o.body inhabiting them.
"They"re great houses. Why did the people leave?" I wondered.
I looked around to find there was only one inhabited house. I presumed it to be where the young girl lived. Suddenly, a gentle, yet cool, breeze blew over. The coach screamed. I dallied for a moment before turning around to have something hit me in the face. I felt ice-cold water and smooth silk on my face, startling me. I pulled it off my face to discover it was be a small piece of clothing…
My mind raced randomly: "Wait a second!! Could this be the event often seen in Anime? Is this someone"s panties?!! Is this some young beautiful girl"s panties?! Are lots of things going to happen between us, and then are we going to confess, and then Leah or Veirya will separate us? Sounds romantic."
I pulled it off to learn it wasn"t a pair of panties; it wasn"t even a piece of clothing but a square-shaped handkerchief. It was evidently meticulously made. There was a capital letter meticulously sewn on in one corner, which, presumably, was an initial for a name. It was probably the young girl"s handkerchief and had just been washed. However, I noticed a trace of blood on it.
"Hurry and throw that away!! Hurry!! Hurry!" exclaimed the coach The elderly coach leapt over from behind, albeit looking as though it was a movement he wasn"t capable of performing.
He startled me. I instinctively tightened my grip on the handkerchief. I exclaimed, "What are you doing?! What are you doing?!! Didn"t this fly out from that house? We should return it to them. How can we just toss it away?!"
"No! You misunderstand! The handkerchief belongs to the pope"s daughter!! It"s cursed! An evil spirit has cursed it! An evil spirit has cursed her! Whoever is infected with it will be cursed!! You"ll die! You really will die!"
The coach looked as if a menace approached. I looked at the handkerchief, thinking, "Isn"t this just an ordinary handkerchief? Who cares if there"s some blood on it? Also, this handkerchief belongs to the pope"s daughter, doesn"t it? If she"s the daughter of the G.o.d-believing pope, how could she possibly have evil spirits possessing her? Evil spirits don"t exist."
Evil spirits couldn"t possibly exist, but a chance certainly existed, and it presented itself to me. I wanted to see the pope"s daughter and wife in the first place. The perfect opportunity to see them landed in my lap. I had an easy-entry pa.s.s into the house without doing it in criminal fashion.
I nonchalantly laughed. I walked over to the door with the handkerchief in hand and gently knocked. The coach, who was behind me, screamed as if he had gone mad; but nonetheless, I ignored him. Evil spirits don"t exist; therefore, I wasn"t afraid of some curse.