Tree in memory (2)
In the end, all that follows is memory.
That may be why humans are obsessed with leaving traces.
If you look at the traces left behind like scars, there will be memories of that day that come to mind.
However, the boy could not recall a single memory containing his mother’s name.
So I guess I keep forgetting it.
“I wish my mom had done something like this too.”
[······.]
A low hill that can only be reached through the mansion.
The family tomb of the Hainal family was enshrined under the tree that the voice said it remembered.
It seemed like a place he shouldn’t be, but the boy had to come.
Because it was a contract.
“······.”
Looking at the rows of white tombstones, the boy thought of his mother.
The woman who protected the young boy alone in the toxic atmosphere of the back alley ended up collapsing.
It was a predestined destruction and the beginning of another tragedy.
Perhaps the saddest tragedy in this world is the reality of having no choice but to pass on the poison that one cannot overcome to one’s children.
The star-bearing boy grew up eating poison that even his mother’s tears could not eliminate.
“It looks like it’s not managed well.”
The white tombstone closest to you.
Among the tombstones here, the one that looked the freshest was full of leaves lying on the ground.
“······.”
For some reason, the boy raised his palm and swept the tombstone away.
Every time attention was paid to the monument, it regained its original form and revealed the forgotten name.
“It’s natural courtesy to greet the landowners.”
[I didn’t say anything.]
Feeling embarrassed, Vlad made up an excuse for what he had just done, but the voice already understood.
There are times when everyone suddenly feels like doing something unfamiliar.
“Then I pray.”
[hmm.]
“Please watch it to your heart’s content. “I came here without even reading the articles.”
[thanks.]
Just as he had done when Liman was praying, Vlad drew his sword and pointed it straight at the tree on the hill.
The gentle spring breeze ruffles the boy’s blond hair.
The white tombstones were looking at the boy’s prayer, but Vlad was just praying in silence.
Although it was an action conscious of the possible gaze of others, Vlad was inwardly repeating, however clumsily, the prayer he had learned from the young deacon.
It was a prayer for someone who came to mind when I looked at this place.
[······.]
Under Vlad’s consideration, the voice was looking at the tree in the memory.
There were things that floated like bubbles.
I think that tree was a little smaller back then.
When was that?
It feels like I came here with someone.
Who was it?
I can’t think of anything.
The voice sounded as if he was trapped in a thick fog.
I was struggling to find the edge of a memory that I felt like I could catch if I just got a little closer.
[······Can I borrow your body for a moment?]
“Just for a little while.”
And instead of regaining his memories, the voice could feel something looking at him through a faint fog.
There was something in front of me.
“then.”
Vlad relaxed his entire body, closed his right eye, and opened his left eye, as he always did.
Immediately, his vision began to fade away, and he began to feel as if he was looking at himself.
[hmm.]
A world seen through someone else’s perspective, not your own.
“······What is that.”
[It seems like he recognizes me.]
There was something visible through there.
A low hill, trees surrounding the tombstones.
Easy profit-
And there was something huge surrounding the tree.
It was a pure white snake with a brilliant color.
[It is a spirit.]
“······.”
Vlad was just trying to maintain his composure as he looked at the white snake as big as a tree.
My lips became dry.
‘I’m seeing so many interesting things these days.’
Vlad swallowed quietly, feeling his heart pounding in a different way than during the Death Worm.
A being called a spirit that was not allowed in his world.
I was seeing it now through the world of voices.
Josef’s intention to show Vlad the wide world might be working best now.
“I think he’s looking at me.”
[I am looking at myself inside you.]
A white snake wrapped around a tree and looking down at Vlad.
The sight, as gigantic as a rooted tree, actually diminished the sense of reality.
“······.”
However, Vlad did not feel any pressure while looking at the snake that gave off a huge presence.
Perhaps that’s what the white snake intended.
“Are you coming down?”
[I don’t think it will bite.]
Slowly climbing down the tree and passing by the tombstones.
Easy profit-
The snake was slowly approaching Vlad.
However, even though Vlad was looking at something unfamiliar and huge, he did not feel threatened at all.
It won’t hurt me.
Because the snake’s bright eyes made it certain.
The round snake’s eyes were like the look of a homeowner welcoming someone they are happy to see.
A white snake is approaching.
Our eyes meet each other.
The tree surrounding the tombstones was shaking its branches.
A warm energy, like spring energy, was flowing down the hill.
It was a wonderful world.
“who are you?”
But at that moment, a voice came from behind me.
“huh?”
Vlad suddenly opened his right eye when he heard someone’s voice calling him.
Easy profit-
So I returned to my own world.
“uh?”
The white snake that had filled his field of vision until just now dispersed like smoke.
With one blink, the world of voices disappeared without a trace.
Vlad, who returned to his own world, felt as if he had dreamed.
“Who are you? “This is a place that only people from the Hainal family should not enter.”
“······.”
Vlad looked back, rubbing his left eye, which was still unfocused.
“hmm.”
[hmm.]
At the edge of my barely focused field of vision, there was a young woman standing.
It was a woman with water-colored hair.
The woman was so beautiful that even Vlad, who had seen gorgeous prostitutes all his life, let out a small exclamation.
“If you don’t answer, I’ll call people.”
“Oh, I am…”
Vlad was gathering his still not fully recovered spirit and thinking of what to say next.
Normally, he would have spouted out excuses like a mountain stream, but right now, Vlad had just seen an incomprehensible sight, so he needed time to organize his thoughts.
“······.”
And that appearance naturally made Vlad look like a boy who was not familiar with the world.
The stunning hair color, likable face, and unintentional but innocent-looking behavior were gradually softening the light-colored haired woman’s guard.
“······I came to pray.”
“pray?”
“I ended up here while looking for a quiet place to pray. I’m sorry.”
Seeing the woman still looking at him with suspicion, Vlad quickly searched his chest and took out his identity card.
“And I am not a suspicious person. “I am the squire of Knight Xayar.”
“Hmm.”
The woman took the identification card handed to her by Vlad and examined it closely.
A church identity card that appears to have no traces of manipulation.
It looked like it had been newly made, but the elaborately engraved church emblem was clearly the appearance of a properly issued identification card.
And the back of the identity card that I turned without thinking.
‘huh?’
The woman was able to find a special trace there.
‘The guarantor of your identity is…Priest Andrew?’
The name written on the back of the identification card was Andrea, a priest widely known in the area.
A priest so renowned that he visits places of suffering instead of worldly honor, to the point where he refuses to be appointed bishop.
And the boy he vouched for.
The water-colored haired woman looked at Vlad in confusion.
In a way, this identity card was more precious than the blood of a nobleman.
“······great. “He is not a suspicious person.”
“ah. thank you.”
Vlad carefully placed the identity card the woman returned to him.
The way he treated precious things with respect further highlighted the boy’s seemingly innocent side.
“I’m sorry.”
Vlad thought.
It would certainly be rude to act now, standing next to the graves of nobles.
Therefore, if this woman here opened her mouth by mistake, Josef might get in trouble.
If you ask me why I did that, it wouldn’t be right to answer.
“Can I help?”
“yes?”
“Aren’t you the maid here? “Isn’t she here to tend to the graveside?”
So Vlad decided to silence this woman.
By doing small favors.
Alicia’s eyes widened at Vlad’s words.
It was a shock.
It was also the first time in my life.
‘dare!’
To her, the daughter of a noble family and now the head of the family, what Vlad was doing now was clearly rude and even admirable.
However, there was a good reason why the quick-witted Vlad acted the way he did now.
No, on the contrary, I was so perceptive that I ended up making the same mistake I just made.
Alicia was now wearing ordinary clothes that only maids would wear.
In addition, he was holding buckets and tools for cleaning the tombstone in both hands.
In fact, as Vlad said, he came here with the intention of taking care of his parents’ tombstone.
It was also the only time Alicia, who had no one to rely on, could find peace of mind.
Therefore, it was an outfit that was bound to be misunderstood by anyone who saw it.
“Actually, I cleaned it up a bit in advance. “Because the leaves are piled up.”
“······You cleaned it up?”
Alicia had no choice but to calm down her anger for a moment when Vlad said that he had removed some of her parents’ tombstones.
Why would someone with no connection remove someone else’s parents’ tombstone?
“I think it’s polite to say hello to the land owners.”
“ah······.”
Alicia nodded without realizing it while listening to Vlad.
First of all, the aura the boy gave off was quite believable, and the presence of the identity card he had added to his trust.
Moreover, I don’t know why, but the hill felt so warm today.
Alicia had mistakenly thought that the soothing feeling was coming from the boy.
“I will help you.”
“huh?”
Alicia looked blankly at Vlad, who took his bucket and went up to the tombstone.
A blond boy who seems to have worked a lot and uses skillful hands to tear up weeds and clean gravestones.
Alicia couldn’t stop laughing as she looked at his exaggerated gestures, as if they were trying to express that he was working hard.
“So, please, can we just quietly move on from today’s incident? “If Lord Xayar finds out what happened today, I will be beaten.”
“······I saw you wiping.”
Vlad frowned inwardly as he saw Alicia turning her head.
‘Pretty things don’t always go away easily.’
Vlad had lived with gorgeous prostitutes and had seen the famous beauty named Madame Marcella every day, so even though Alicia was right next to him, he was not impressed.
I just didn’t want Josef and Zayar to know about today’s events, so I just cleaned the gravestones diligently.
The methods used in the back alleys could no longer be used.
At least during the day when the sun rises.
“I won’t tell you.”
“Thank you so much.”
Unlike Vlad, who was grumbling inside, Alicia looked at Vlad with a very fresh feeling.
A person who does not show any favor or affection toward oneself.
Even the shocking incident just now where I was mistaken for a maid.
For Alicia, a person named Vlad was the type of person she had never seen before.
“······.”
Alicia’s expression relaxed as she watched the back of the unfamiliar boy cleaning his parents’ tombstone without saying a word.
On the hill she climbed to find rest, Alicia was able to release the anxiety that had built up for the first time in a long time.
The boy’s blonde hair was shining faintly, reflecting the slowly fading twilight light.
It was a nice color.
※※※※
Vlad, who was going down the hill with Alicia as the twilight was setting, felt as if someone was calling him and turned around.
“······?”
However, there were only neatly cleaned gravestones and a tree that looked like it had always been there.
If Vlad had looked at that place through the world of voices rather than his own, he would have seen a slightly different scene.
Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
As if invisible memories still exist in my heart.
Easy profit-
A white snake wrapped around a tree.
And the sparkling fireflies approaching the snake, lighting up the gradually darkening hill.
In someone’s world today, small stars were shining not in the night sky but on a low hill.
