"Are you alright?" As soon as I left the room I found Esmeldy standing up while looking at me, I realized that she was also not well, her eyes were red and her voice was a little shaky.
I will not blame her for this, she has known Benjamin for a long time, she may feel guilty that I was unable to do anything to help. She is not to blame, of course, I would not blame her, there is no point in doing that.
"No, I'm not at all well, I could die now, but I can't." Yuukina's image came to mind, I can't leave her alone, and she doesn't even know what happened here.
"I understand." Esmeldy just shut up and sat down, and I sat next to her. I had already cried so much inside that room that I can't even cry anymore, I think my tears have dried up.
I do not know if this can happen, but I am sure that my tears have dried up, at this moment I can only keep silent and suffer silently.
"Listen, I did everything to help, I didn't want that to happen." Just as I thought, she is blaming herself for this, but I know it wasn't her fault.
"You are not to blame for anything, it was my fault that you did not realize that there was something wrong with him, if I had noticed earlier the curse might not have gotten so strong."
Yes, I blamed myself for that, he was already suffering for a few days and I didn't realize any of that, for sure he would be alive now if I had realized, I am a horrible wife, am I not?
"Nobody is to blame for anything, it happened what had to happen, didn't it?" I said as I looked at Esmeldy, the tears that I thought were dry started to come out again.
"Flora." After that, I felt my body being hugged by Esmeldy, it was a warm hug and it helped me a lot at that moment, and of course, I returned his hug.
"Don't worry, he is in a better place now, you will get over it." She was right, I am strong, am I not? I will get over it, I will get over his death.
But the more I thought about it, the more pain I felt in my chest, who was I trying to deceive? I'm just an emotionally weak woman. Even though I am physically strong, I am weak.
The only thing going on in my mind right now, what am I going to tell Yuukina? What will she think when I arrive in the village holding her uncle's body? I don't know how I'm going to do this.
"Esmeldy, how am I going to do this?"
"Do what? Tell me." Esmeldy had a welcoming voice.
"How am I going to tell Yuukina that your uncle is ..."
"Don't worry, just talk to her, Yuukina is a strong girl, she will accept everything." I don't know how she has such confidence in Yuukina, but since she is saying that, I can trust Esmeldy.
But I think this is partly true, Yuukina is a strong girl, maybe she is stronger than me, but I still doubt if she will accept everything easily, it will not be so easy.
"Esmeldy, thank you."
"For what? I couldn't do anything."
"Just because you tried to do something already makes me very happy, and you're here with me."
"I'll stay with you until you regret it, you can cry all you want, I'll be here, okay?"
"Thank you."
###########
"Are you already better?" Lucy, who was still at the side, asked worriedly, but at that moment I was already managing to control myself, I still had that horrible feeling, but I was managing to control myself.
I must also control myself for her, she is younger than me, even if it is only a year, she is still younger, so I cannot make her nervous or worried.
"I'm feeling better, thanks for being concerned," I said as I wiped away the tears left on my face, I know something happened, but it is better to pretend that everything is fine for now.
"Good thing, I didn't know what to do, I almost ran to call someone, I thought you were in pain."
Yes, I was in pain, but it wasn't physical pain, but better to say nothing, I'm sure she doesn't understand any of that.
"No, I was just feeling sad because I'm away from my aunt, that's why." This was partly true, it would be better if she was beside me at that moment.
"I understand, sometimes I get that way when my mom goes somewhere, don't worry, in a little while your aunt is back."
Well, it's already late, I'm sure she won't be back today, I think it's better to sleep now, I believe that tomorrow when I wake up everything, will be back to normal, and the two will surely be here.
"Yes, then, it's time for bed." I smiled at Lucy.
"Aren't you going to wait for your aunt to arrive?"
"No need, it's too late, when we wake up tomorrow she'll be here, okay?"
Since Lucy's mother had allowed her to stay here, we both lay together in my bed, it didn't matter if we slept together, I think it's okay.
I hope that tomorrow everything is back to normal, no, I'm sure it will be, right?
****
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This chapter is potato approved
What is with this "curse" that seemly comes out of nowhere, can linger 'dormant' for a long while without much in the way of obvious symptoms, can suddenly flare up and become deadly... oh, and can - apparently - be contagious? They did discuss the possibility of Benjamin getting cursed again from sleeping near Yuukina, who was cursed.
Think about it: These symptoms sound more like a serious disease than a curse. Is that what this is... some weird type of disease that the elves are unable to diagnose? Or, perhaps it is something toxic in the food or water or radiation poisoning - things that do not detect as disease; poisons that are either hard to identify or something their primitive society fails to understand at all (i.e, radiation)?
Will this be properly explained eventually? What causes these "curses"? Who is cursing their village and why? And why is it targeting the precious family around Flora - both Benjamin and Yuukina?
To be honest: Generally, I strongly dislike the concept of curses in fantasy fiction and I usually hate how it's implemented.
What sort of "benevolent" god creates a world where it's easy to inflict horrible curses on an enemy while making it very difficult or impossible for the inflicted or family to remove the curse, let alone figure out who cursed them or why? Talk about something horrible that is extremely easy to abuse - something that seems designed to give unnecessary power to the wicked to inflict injustice on the innocent! This is something the wicked would seek out, rather than something that exists to bring balance or justice. Such a curse system sounds like the work of a god who's a real a-hole or who hates mortals.
In this story: As a reader, I feel confused because there is no obvious or even not-so-obvious culprit who could be behind these curses. Was it the Earth Dragon that Yuukina fought that cursed her as it died? Or, instead, was it someone in the elf village who hated Flora (the village protector and savior) for some reason?
Could it be a hereditary curse...? No, that's impossible because Yuukina and Benjamin are related by marriage, not by blood.
Was the curse placed by the human noble who had Yuukina's mother (Flora's sister) as a slave? But if that was the case, why wait until several after Yuukina escaped? And was it just coincidence that it triggered right after Yuukina very nearly died?
Regardless, if I was Yuukina, I'd be feeling very bitter at Fate or whatever god was responsible for reincarnating him/her into this situation. Consider: Yuukina was originally a man on Earth. He was reincarnated as an elf in a fantasy world, but as a girl. Worse, he was born as a slave to slave parents, belonging to humans who treat slaves horribly. And now, not only had she been cursed and gone through all sorts of hardships (including being ostracized by most of her village), but she has to contend with the death of her dear uncle and the possibility that the reason he died was because her curse was contagious...
Yeah, I'd be cursing up a storm at whatever Fate or god was responsible for these circumstances. Life on Earth can be hard enough, but this world sounds far harsher. Is this life meant to be karma or punishment for something Yuukina did in a previous life? If I had the choice, I think I'd rather be reincarnated on Earth or to stay in the afterlife or whatever.
Sorry about the rant. But I don't like curses. And while the story is listed in the "Tragedy" genre, I didn't realize that it was going to be like Ancient Greek Tragedy.
I can give you a Spoiler that will not affect the story, yes it is a disease created by a person, and that person is the same as Yuukina found in his "Dream."
He had this disease and curse before, but after Yuukina's contact with that man, his uncle's situation got worse, and this is a choice of that man.
And about the curse affecting all the elves, that doesn't happen, but rather, a specific thing causes this and I will also explain it in the future.
And of course, I will explain everything in the future and I will work on it, don't worry.
I don’t know where you got the idea of the God of this world being ‘benevolent’ from but so far the story has shown the opposite of a benevolent God
In the prologue of the story it is said that this world was created by an evil god who sees living beings as toys and likes to see them suffer.