Come and Cry at My Funeral - Chapter 74
Thinking it was over, Thea had clenched her eyes shut, biting her teeth.
“Huhp…!”
Freesia too broke out in a cold sweat.
Her mind screamed to flee, but she was paralyzed by overwhelming fear.
She thought she had considered numerous possibilities, but being killed by a monster with just over 200 days left had never crossed her mind.
However, as her heart turned to ice, the monster suddenly… just stood there, staring at her.
‘…What?’
As if there was an invisible line between her and the monster that shouldn’t be crossed, its hesitating posture was oddly peculiar. Then, it abruptly turned and vanished into the darkness behind, as if… it was fleeing from them.
In an instant, the tension from the monster’s presence dissipated, and they collapsed to the ground as if their knees had buckled.
“How did…?”
Monsters fleeing from humans?
Leaving perfectly viable prey untouched right in front of them? But then she snapped back to reality upon hearing a weeping voice beside her.
“Ma, Madam, are we alive? We’re not dead, are we?”
“Thea, huu, you need to let go or I might end up dying…”
Freesia grimaced at the growing soreness in her shoulder caused by Thea’s grip.
Where else would you find a servant clutching their superior as if their life depended on it?
‘Given the urgency of the situation, it’s understandable.’
And soon, the terrifying howls of the monsters ceased.
Once again, the world was filled with the sounds of summer insects, the rustling wind, and the knights’ urgent calls.
“Madam!”
“Madam, where are you!”
Those searching for them were yelling, waving torches. Freesia and Thea both stood up, waving back at them vigorously.
‘Have all the monsters left already?’
Just like the monsters that were meant to suddenly appear this summer, their motives for fleeing right now were unknown.
Wasn’t this a peculiar variable?
But then, Freesia recalled something she had overlooked.
‘Wait. That reminds me, something was odd during the hunt.’
At that time, she was too scared herself, and due to the Imperial Grandson’s death, she hadn’t thought to delve deeper.
Following the Emperor’s wrath, she hadn’t considered it further. However, this incident made Freesia realize anew.
Why did monsters appear in that period, that season?
‘Was it just a coincidence back then?’
Of course, occasionally, ‘safer’ seasons do witness monster appearances. That’s why her previous life had passed it off as ‘a terribly unlucky accident’.
But what about this life?
Monsters appeared early summer in Deneb, and now again, isn’t this an ‘exception’ to the norm?
Then, why are these exceptions occurring?
‘Monsters… created by Adamant, I was taught they were abandoned beings.’
No one knows how they are born, their purpose unknown, not consuming anything yet committing slaughter.
A cleric once said, they are the punishment directly from the gods when the empire falls into corruption.
***
A cool night breeze carried the sweet scent of blood.
Those from the Arcturus party who rashly tried to flee. The wounded knights. And the scent of blood from the monsters they killed, all mixed together.
Canopus savored this familiar aroma, looking down at the party in the moonlight shining through the clouds.
From the darkness of the hill, his gaze was fixed on just one person.
He stroked the coarse fur of the wolf monster that had returned to his side.
“Why didn’t you go closer, child? I told you to go to my sister-in-law.”
With a tone mixed with reproach, the wolf monster whimpered as if asking for forgiveness.
Canopus sighed in frustration at its feeble act.
“Why didn’t you approach? She wasn’t supposed to be scary to you.”
In response to his question, the monster hid its tail between its legs, showing an unexpectedly bizarre reaction. Canopus frowned, puzzled by the response that unexpectedly matched his teasing question.
‘The monster was scared?’
Of not Izar Arcturus himself, but a small woman without any weapon?
“Hmm… But why would you be scared?”
He mused aloud, but the monster only whined, unclear of the source of its fear. It knew only by instinct, not to step closer than the last few steps.
Canopus absentmindedly stroked its fur, lost in thought.
‘I just wanted to check a little before the hunt.’
He wondered if ‘his sister-in-law’ was indeed such a vital figure to be Izar’s weakness.
Thus, as the Arcturus party moved from Deneb to the capital, he waited and released the monster.
Yet, before the hero could even make an appearance, the check was already complete.
This monster refused to approach the tiny sister-in-law, who was still trembling with an inexplicable fear now.
“Ah, maybe.”
Canopus recalled what he had told his confidant. That his life was ruined by Arcturus just as he was?
While that’s true, it’s not the whole story.
‘Maybe I should add a bit to that.’
Just as he was born with this unique power, perhaps his sister-in-law also harbors a divine purpose.
