Chapter Sixty-Six: When it Rains I
1364 Words
*Two days before*
“Lord, address me as your lord. If not that, I would rather, Countess.”
I instructed the older woman who was packing up her equipment from my room or whatever portion that could be considered as such.
“Understood, I shall address you by your title.”
The woman sat on the stool next to her belongings then took a deep breath.
“Well?”
“Yes, Countess, you are with child.”
My belly sank, and absolute silence filled my mind, so much so that the words flowing from me felt automated.
“How far along?”
“About five to six weeks.”
“Five to si-. Five to six weeks?”
The older woman nodded.
“I used…I used ‘Happy times’, you know? The famous birth control candy? So why, why is this uh-?”
‘This isn’t a good time! This isn’t a good time! This isn’t a good time! This isn’t a good time!’’
“I- d- Madame, I don’t-.”
She cleared her throat and gave her words a second chance.
“Do you know that you are not of the human race?”
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t know how they do the tests in central, but we have a strong connection to the earth here. The earth tells us things. The earth tells me that you are not human but a woodland nymph. Except for the cloths, the common birth controls are designed for humans.”
A weak chuckle escaped me.
“The earth tells you this?”
“Countess, my words may sound like those of a mental person, but I have been watching over this town since I was twelve. I have only met one other being like you, so you may feel the need to distrust me. However, I have vast knowledge about your species from the stories my mother’s mother used to tell me.”
“She often addressed your kind as ‘beings from the world’ or ‘mother nature's incarnate’. When beings like you move, the world moves with you. When you weep, it weeps; when you are joyful, it feels the same. I was aware of your presence from the moment you set foot in this land.”
‘When I weep, it weeps?’
My mind flashed to the moment my head was buried in my hands in the palace maze the night I heard Étienne’s confession to Regina.
The moment, my head was forced on the guillotine and not a drop of rain spilt from the sky, no absurdity that could indicate the presence of the gods or mother nature.
Nothing.
Not one thing justifying, defending or correcting the undeserved end I received, nought but absolute suffocating silence that followed the bright summer sky.
No one should lose their lives on such a bright day.
But perhaps I was the i***t for relying on gods that would grant Étienne the power to recount the past.
‘Hah…really…’
“What purpose are your words to fulfil?”
I interpreted her ramage of praise.
“I only wish to clarify that I swear my fealty to you.”
“Wrong f*****g time.”
I pushed myself off the dresser then ran a hand to my hair.
“What is its gender? Did the earth at least tell you that?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
The wind rustled the returning leaves of the tree heavily outside my window.
It is common for plants to respond to my mana; it makes plants bloom even in the dead of winter. For such a reason, the gloomy and dead plants of the external courtyard were slowly returning to life.
However, my mana is still stabilizing within me because of the rapid reduction I underwent in the punishment.
“They have said that I should not tell you.”
A laugh escaped my lips.
But the sting in my chest revealed its genuineness.
“Fine, don’t tell me. Instead, tell me how to get rid of it.”
“What!”
“You see, I have no intention of raising a child. I believe such fragile creatures crave what I, myself, am deprived of, so I don’t want it. Tell me how to get rid of it.”
The woman was quiet for too long a moment.
“Did I stutter?”
“But a child is a blessing, more so one with your likeness?”
“So it’s a girl?”
“A child is deemed a blessing, a sign of stability-,”
“And while that’s fine, rather I commend you for your perspective. Bravo! Woman from Clay whose name escapes me at the moment-,”
“You never asked my name.”
“I would have forgotten it anyway. Now, will the conventional ways for humans work with me? Or do you need to perform a ritual?”
“Countess, it goes against every moral fibre in my being! I cannot let you go through with such a devastating act!”
“You cannot let me? Pray tell, how you intend to stop me?”
“I will not stop you physically, but I will not aid you either!”
*
*
The dummy before me split open in a single strike, but the move was again too flashy. There was too much energy wasted from a single attack!
Beads of sweat dripped readily from the heat on my face. The warm wind was doing nothing to either cool or calm me.
‘There should be another way to achieve such results?’
‘Perhaps a hike to the mountains for an excursion.’
‘Or an attack against the Theocracy.’
‘Hah! My mood keeps growing worse and worse.’
“A towel.”
Breca, who has been oddly silent the past two days, said.
“Thanks, maybe an ice water would have been better, but I keep settling these days, and why stop now!”
She rolled her eyes at my sarcasm, but that did not stop me from pressing the dry white absorbent cloth to my face then neck.
“Whose is it?”
The question slid from Breca’s lips with no context.
“Again with this?”
I rolled my eyes then threw the old wooden sword I used to the stands.
“Hey! Don’t throw the-, Oh! Countess.”
Tara bowed as soon as her gaze landed on me.
“As you were.”
“Thank you.”
She was doing well handling the slave militia with minimal bullying cases from the Imperial troop, but then again, it could just be the head decomposing outside the castle walls that scared them straight.
I took the Empress’s advice and had Leon act as their temporary captain.
The discrimination was still potent, but that battle cannot be won with an endearing speech, but rather respect built by mutual trust.
“I want to lead an expedition soon, perhaps to the mountains-.”
“Do you think you should do that in your state?”
“Is it my strength you doubt or-?”
“I want you not to shut me out. Perhaps then I will have little reason to doubt you. Your state, your thoughts-”
‘Urg…’
“Tara, inform the rest. I will decide the date after the majority of the repairs are finished. That is all.”
Without another word to both, I turned to the door of the abandoned armoury, crossed the fields and rushed to the castle…only Breca followed me.
“Is there more you wish to discuss?”
“Do you want to…”
“To what? Finish your sentences, Breca. I am not a mind reader.”
“Will you use the child to end you-?”
I turned harshly to her.
“I said to finish your sentence, not get careless with the topics you wish to discuss publicly.”
Her gaze turned to the workers around us, mandating various projects around what would soon be the front garden.
“Do you have no regard for their lives?”
The nearby workers grabbed their tools and began to scatter on hearing this.
- Writer
