I Can’t Run Away From the Girl Who Saved Me

37 – Corpse Pickup (4)

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When it comes to goose dishes, the first thing that comes to mind is foie gras, but I’ve never dealt with such high-class ingredients, and Mr. Sylvia took all the organs while preparing in the first place.

Left overnight, the intestines had already begun to rot, so I couldn’t eat them anyway.

However, the goose was also famous for its lean meat, which tasted good.

The fat and plump flesh was not only appetizing, but thanks to the oil that flowed out, the outside could be cooked to a crisp.

I felt saliva forming in my mouth while making it for the first time in a while.

I took a wooden plate from the cupboard and carefully placed the grilled meat on it, then put a couple of sage leaves on it, and poured a little sauce made from wild berries, garlic and honey.

The scent of sage and the scent of savory oil mixed gently, creating an appetizing smell.

Of course, I couldn’t keep up with my father’s skill, but it felt quite rewarding just to be able to imitate this much with materials I didn’t have.

“Sylvia, it’s done.”

“Well, the smell already made me very hungry halfway through.”

“Yes, today I can say that it is a bit of my own work.”

“Okay, let’s eat. It was hard to wait.”

Sylvia smiled and sat down at the table.

I put the plate in front of her and mine and sat down.

Scared to sit down, she immediately picked up a fork and ate a piece of meat.

It looks like it was really hard to wait.

Well, I didn’t even eat dinner yesterday, and since I skipped breakfast this morning, I was just hungry.

Silvia put her hand on her cheek with a happy smile as she chewed the meat in her mouth.

I wonder if there is a clearer expression of opinion than this, but I just asked once.

“how is it?”

“…”

Sylvia, who had been mumbling silently, suddenly got up from her seat and went out of the cabin.

I was taken aback by her sudden action, wondering what was wrong, but she quickly opened the cabin door and returned.

In her hand was a bottle of cheap wine.

It was cheap, but it was a precious drink that was rare in this forest.

“Sorry, it’s just too wasteful to just eat it.”

“No, I love it.”

“Do you like wine?”

Sylvia asked as she walked to the cupboard.

Come to think of it, today was the first time I drank with her.

At the farewell party we had before I saw her face, she drank only me to hide her face.

Considering that the alcohol she brought out at that time was a little better than this, it was a really special day.

It also meant that she regretted breaking up with me, and it also meant that she was so happy to meet someone.

I, too, had no choice but to remain here in the midst of so much misfortune, but I was happy to be with her.

No matter how much the alcohol he drank back then was better, why is it that he waited longer to drink with Sylvia?

I replied with a big smile.

“i like you.”

“…”

Sylvia, who was walking towards the cupboard, stood tall when she heard my answer.

Then, very slowly, I looked back.

Her red eyes twinkled at me.

“Miss Sylvia?”

“… Come to think of it. There are no wine glasses in our house.”

Silvia-san slowly turned around and sat down at the table to look at me.

Dinner with her has been repeated so many times that it is difficult to count already.

My eyes were already accustomed to the dim light of candlelight.

Maybe that’s why

I could recognize Sylvia-san’s cheeks already flushed red.

That’s before I even drank.

She pulled out the cork with only her thumb and forefinger, then leaned on her chin with one hand and looked straight at me with open eyes and said,

For some reason, a color ran across her face.

“I’ll take turns drinking. Are you fine?”

Before hearing my answer, Mr. Sylvia put her lips to the wine bottle and took a sip.

The wine seemed to be more than half full, so she looked straight at me without raising her head, then slowly closed her eyes and removed the wine bottle from her lips.

A small amount of red liquid formed between the bottle and the lips, then dripped onto the table.

A moist tongue between her lips quickly scooped up the liquid on the tip of her lower lip and brought it into her mouth.

“Whoa…”

Sylvia exhaled through her nose and slowly opened her eyes.

It may not have been her intention, but her eyes, which were wide open for no reason, were very alluring.

Two red rubies twinkled under her slightly lowered eyelids, looking straight at me.

I quickly looked away.

It seems that I was staring too hard without even realizing it.

The way she bit the mouth of the small bottle with her lips was somehow so bewitching and so pretty that my face burned without realizing it.

Sylvia held out the bottle to me with a faint smile on her face.

“Because I like snacks, I think alcohol tastes better for no reason, to the extent that I didn’t even think it was cheap.”

“ah…”

“Drink. hurry.”

I picked up the bottle as if bewitched by Sylvia-san’s urging.

The mouth of the wine bottle sparkles in the reflection of the orange candle.

As cheap wine, this container was not very good quality.

A thick, rough texture full of impurities.

Even though it was a glass bottle that was infinitely close to a defective product, for some reason the part of the mouth where her lips touched was beautifully lit by the warm light of the gently swaying candle.

I slowly brought the wine bottle to my mouth.

I heard a slap once, and a sweet liquid rushed in, moistening my lips.

It is definitely a cheap wine.

There was no scent other than grapes and alcohol, and it was overly sweet due to low quality grapes and various additives to deceive the low quality.

But it was better that way.

To be honest, as she said, it wasn’t that I couldn’t feel that it was cheap alcohol, but rather, this cheap sweetness left a pleasant feeling in my mouth.

Maybe it’s not just the wine.

Her…

Suddenly, a sense of shame and embarrassment for unknown reasons surged up, and I couldn’t bear to look at Mr. Sylvia’s face, so I closed my eyes and drank.

“Kuhh…”

I didn’t really mean it, but the exclamation unique to drinking parties flowed from my mouth.

I was a little surprised that it was so much more satisfying than I expected.

I stared blankly at the bottle and smiled slightly.

I wonder if there is a clearer expression of opinion than this, but she just asked me once.

“how is it?”

“…”

Sylvia smiled and waited for an answer.

When I slightly opened my eyes, she was looking at me with both hands supporting her chin.

I quietly handed her a bottle of wine and murmured softly.

“It’s better than I thought.”

“yes?”

Sylvia’s lips moved.

It was a face that wanted to react more.

I knew she wanted more than just an appreciation for the taste of alcohol.

I couldn’t help but look at that expression full of mischievous smiles.

Of course, I also had a lot of words that popped into my head.

“…Kuhm.”

However, I quietly picked up the goose meat and ate it with my head down.

I didn’t have the courage to say things like ‘It tastes better drinking with Sylvia’ or ‘Sylvia’s lips…’.

“…”

Silvia-san was staring at me.

Even when I lower my head, I can feel her fiery red gaze.

I rolled my eyeballs trying hard to avoid that hot stare.

After a while, Mr. Sylvia snorted lightly and drank from the bottle.

“joy,”

“…Eat quickly, the meat is cold.”

Sylvia slowly ran her lips around the mouth of the bottle and put it down.

The atmosphere in the cabin greatly fluctuated with each of her small movements.

Somehow, I also feel strange.

Could it be that the wine has been stored incorrectly and has aged too much?

I’m not a weak drinker, but after one bite, my face heats up so much that it couldn’t be hotter.

Something, I got a strong feeling that I shouldn’t drink more here and now.

It was the atmosphere, the mood, and the drunkenness that seemed like something dangerous would happen if something went wrong.

In fact, the most dangerous thing was my heart, which secretly expected that dangerous thing and wanted to be drawn into it.

I spoke to Silvia-san, who was quietly wiping her lips with her sleeve.

“Sylvia.”

“huh? why?”

I decided to change the subject immediately.

I finally had something to tell her.

＊

“…So that’s what I mean. Did you see where Layla and I were lying down in the wagon?”

I told her what I was thinking at Layla’s grave.

It was Sylvia who found Laila’s body and buried it.

I still vividly remember the horrible feeling of Leila slipping from my arms amidst the impact of the wagon as it rattled and rolled down the slope.

But no matter how far my sister had been thrown, she would have landed near the scene of the accident.

Sylvia answered by pushing the end of the bottle with her finger.

“Yes, I know.”

“Then… can you take me there?”

“…what?”

I nodded.

The carriage accident that started it all.

If I saw the place where Layla died, I would surely collapse and weep, so I wanted to visit it alone.

But unfortunately, there were some problems with me going there alone.

First of all, I couldn’t remember where it was.

That would be the case, first of all, it was in the middle of the night in the woods, where you couldn’t see an inch ahead.

Moreover, at that time, my whole body was twisted and I was dying, and I used up every last handful of mental strength and every last drop of physical strength to walk toward the light with a body that was nothing short of a rag.

Naturally, he had no energy to pay attention to or remember the surrounding terrain.

Second, it was a burden.

Maybe the wagon had something more useful than just grave goods for Layla.

Of course, it was impossible for there to be something special in the wagon, as it was an urgent escape, but in this forest where the touch of civilization was cut off, even one such refined item was rare.

It was a pity that there was not even a broken lamp on the way to this cabin right now.

A small, elaborately crafted box, a whip and a water bottle used by a coachman.

At least, if it was fine, I wanted to even take off the wheels.

And, of course, there was no way I could have brought those things on my own.

“…you can go, but Ash… are you really going to be all right?”

Sylvia-san asked.

I knew very well what she was worried about.

It can’t be pleasant to see the place where my sister died.

Even now, when I recall the memory of that day, a chill and sharp goose bumps popped up all over my body.

The sense of death that the body remembers first, not the head.

And when I thought of death, there was another sensation that immediately came to my mind.

A rough breath coming towards me in the dark.

Teeth and nails longer than the palm of my hand and harder than my shinbone.

The goosebumps of anger and greed echoing from the stomach.

The last reason I can’t go into the woods alone,

it was horror

“hahahaha… It’s scary…”

“… Ash, it’s still dangerous to let you into the forest.”

Thanks to her training, even though I was able to cast magic quickly, I still froze as soon as I entered the forest.

Like that first training day when I burned down the rabbit hole, I would lose control of my magic and burst out.

Of course, it may be seen that it is better than the encounter with the bear, which really did nothing and waited for death.

Pouring out magic meant that I had to struggle anyway.

However, the magic that couldn’t target the opponent was literally just a struggle.

No, in fact, you may not even be able to do that.

If I were to actually face a bear again, I would probably be more likely to do nothing but tremble just like I did then.

Until then, I used to go into the woods without fear, but now, except for the cemetery and the riverside, I couldn’t dare to go alone in this ruined village.

Still, I was the weakest being in this forest.

And I was well aware of that fact.

but,

“still… “

“Sorry, Ash…”

“still! I really want to do everything that I can do for Lila right now… no, I have to! Now… I can’t even bury them with my parents…”

“ah…”

“This ugly oppa… is all he can do for you… that’s all there is to him now…”

“…”

“And, if Sylvia-san goes with us… I think we can do it.”

The story is different if this is the only thing I can do for my kind and pitiful little sister who has never had an expensive toy or clothes in her short life and has never whined about it.

Besides, if the strongest person in the forest was by my side.

“hmm…”

Sylvia sighed lightly and pondered.

I don’t know what she was thinking, but somehow it didn’t look like she would be rejected.

Now that I’m going to live here forever, there’s no way she’ll ignore my desire to give more attention to my poor little sister’s last place.

She, who wanted to be part of my family, couldn’t turn away from doing things for Lila, my family.

Sylvia took her hand off the bottle and tapped the table.

And after a while, he slowly opened his mouth.

“Yeah, it’s about time to ‘pick up the corpse’.”

Vicious words came out of Sylvia-san’s mouth.

“A corpse… pick it up?”

.