Chapter 83
Just then, she heard a small voice in the distance. Rosetta thought she must have misheard, for there could be no one else left here.
Strangely, the voice grew closer and closer, and the voice was eerily familiar. The voice was deep and full, low but resolute.
After a moment, there was the sound of someone stopping in front of her. Rosetta slowly raised her head, thinking it couldn’t be possible.
“Rosetta.”
Her vision became blurry. The ferocious downpour of rain was deafening. But the face and voice of the man standing before her was all too clear.
She could see Rashid’s pale, rain-soaked face. His expression was stiff and his body was stained with mud. He was even holding a sword in one hand. Despite the vividness of the image, Rosetta couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“…I must be having a strange vision again.”
She muttered, looking up at his face. She thought she was seeing the same vision she’d had when she’d run away from the monster, but this was much better than what she’d seen then.
Finally, I can see the face I thought I would never see again.
“You, you could never be here….”
The words came out in a sobbing voice.
He covered his face with one hand and dropped the sword he was holding. He shook his head violently, his shoulders trembling slightly. Then he raised his face, his eyes red and bloodshot.
“Why didn’t you listen to me?”
He suddenly shouted. He looked at Rosetta, who was stunned, and his anger flared.
“I told you not to do anything dangerous when I am not around, and if you find yourself in a dangerous situation, avoid it at all costs. But why are you here!”
Those were his words as he washed her feet the day she put her hand into the blazing fire to save the ribbon. I’ll protect you as long as I’m around, but when I’m not, you’re on your own.
Rosetta hesitated. “I think I have time to save Ethel…. I’m the only one with a horse, so I think I’m the only one who can do it….”
“What do you care if she dies or not!”
Rashid grabbed Rosetta by both shoulders. He began to shake her vigorously.
“Aren’t we no better than worms in the eyes of the royalty of Lysa? Why did you bring this on yourself by acting so stupid instead of just leaving, you foolish woman!”
The harsh words stung. Her shoulders ached and tingled from being grabbed. She was scared and saddened that he was genuinely angry.
Did I misjudge him? I still don’t think it was right to do nothing and let Ethel die when there was something I could have done. Regardless of whether it was a better or worse decision, if you have no regrets about what you’ve already done, you’ve done it right.
As her heart sank, Rosetta realized for certain that the man before her was not an illusion, and the pain she felt in her shoulders couldn’t be fake either.
“…Rashid, is this really you?”
His expression completely broke down at the sobbing words. The hands holding his shoulders instantly lost their strength.
“Did you really come this far?”
Rashid, his face contorted in disbelief, dropped to his knees in front of Rosetta. He reached out and stroked her wet cheek.
“Yes, it’s not a vision. I’m here to save you.”
Rosetta shook her head slightly. “But how did you get here with all those monsters….”
“Whatever creatures are here, whether a hundred or a thousand, I would have come because I knew you were here.”
The touch on her cheek was all too real. She could make out the hard calluses on his palm. The realization that he was real brought her back to reality. This man came here knowing that the monsters surrounding her were especially dangerous when it rained.
“…You shouldn’t be here.”
Why is he even here, when he already knows how his father died and what happened to him?
“You said you wouldn’t do something stupid like throw away your life for a woman. You said you wouldn’t end up like him. Then you shouldn’t have come!”
“…I shouldn’t have come,” Rashid mumbled, dazed. It was the first time he looked so distraught.
“I thought I shouldn’t have come, but by the time I realized it, I was already on the horse and running, and none of it really mattered, like the fact that coming here might kill me, or that if I died, the whole tribe would be in great turmoil. I only thought about you, and that’s all I cared about, because I was afraid you might already be dead.”
Then he looked at Rosetta.
“And if I was too late… I wanted to die here, with you.”
Rosetta’s eyes shook violently. Rashid smiled weakly at her.
“Apparently, I’m the one who’s foolish. Foolish, yes, and definitely insane. The fool who risks his life for love and dies for it.”
“Sob….”
Rosetta sobbed. Rashid hugged her hard as she broke down sobbing. He held her face and kissed her. The kiss was a mixture of rain and tears.
“I love you, Rosetta.”
He confessed, their lips still pressed together. The words he’d never thought he’d say in his life.
He couldn’t deny now that he loved this stupid, foolish woman.
“Rosetta, I love you.”
And Rashid knew that he would never regret saying it today.
***
After going to Elder Calante’s mansion, Thelma returned to the castle with him. By now the gate had been completely locked, as Thelma had ordered.
Elder Calante had no time to change out of his wet clothes before he summoned Ethel’s mother.
[Tell me what happened. Why did you go into the Monster Forest?]
Ethel could only clutch her teddy bear and shiver. Ethel’s mother held her and tried to persuade her. If you don’t tell us now, Rigaiana and Riga, who helped us, will be in danger.
[A man….]
Eventually, Ethel opened her mouth.
[A man took me to the forest.]
[Do you remember his face? Did you know him?]
Ethel shook her head. Calante let out a low sigh. There was no hope for a child to remember a face anyway. They wouldn’t be foolish enough to use someone whose face she knew.
[What happened next?]
[He took me to the forest, and he went first, leaving me behind, and Rigaina came and put me on a horse, and we were going along, and an arrow flew by, and she fell off the horse.]
Ethel stammered, but explained as best she could. Calante and Thelma exchanged silent glances. It was clear that someone had tried to kill Rigaina, using the child as bait.
After Ethel and her mother left the room, Calante was deep in thought for a moment. When Thelma rushed to him and told him what had happened, Calante’s reaction was surprisingly calm; he had already prepared himself for something similar to what had happened in the past.
[…Are you sure you won’t send soldiers separately?]
Before coming to the castle, Calante had already decided that he would not send separate troops to rescue the two of them. Just in case, Thelma asked again, but he shook his head firmly.
[I told you, if the troops go into the Monster Forest now, countless sacrifices will be made. If Riga comes back alive, how will you take the blame? That is not what Riga wants.]
Thelma dropped her head in silence. She knew he was right about everything.
[Riga knows more about monsters than anyone. Maybe, yes, maybe he’ll come back alive. No, we have to believe that.]
Rashid has traveled to areas plagued by monsters and exterminated them himself in order to create safe trade routes. That’s how he learned how to deal with them. That way, Calante thought, he could return from the Monster Forest alive.
[We have to assume that Riga will come back alive, and then plan our next move. So Thelma, come to your senses!]
Calante scolded Thelma sharply, realizing that she was still being weak-minded. Thelma bit her lip.
[Yes, tell me anything, I will follow your orders.]
[First, we must find the one who took the child to the forest, and whoever paid for him.]
[The one who paid for him must be the Grand Elder Perce.]
Of that Thelma was certain, it was revenge for crippling his son Krell. If not him, who else would do this?
[I think so too. But I need proof to prove it was him.]
[For that, we must catch him, the one who shot the arrow.]
[But according to the child, he remained in the forest until the very end. I’m sure he’s been eaten by a monster by now.]
Calante arched an eyebrow. Perhaps he made a deal, trading his life for a large sum of money. In that case, a witness would be gone, which would be even more of a headache, Calante thought.
[Given his familiarity with the forest, he might be a monster hunter, and if so, he might be alive.]
Calante looked at Thelma with a questioning gaze.
[A monster hunter? What is that?]