I Pray That You Forget Me - Chapter 65
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
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“Ah…”
Just as I reluctantly lifted my head, I made eye contact with the woman who had now turned towards me.
“Well, look who it is.”
She didn’t seem surprised or in a rush to leave. The woman lacked decency or shame.
‘Brigitta?’
The woman who had spent the night with the Major was Brigitta Zimmermann, who lived below Mrs. Bauer’s. She was the same brazen woman who had tried to seduce Johann and, failing that, had spitefully accused him of liking men.
After that incident, Brigitta had been unusually quiet.
Even in wartime, where infidelities might be more discreetly tolerated, there are lines not to be crossed. Attempting to seduce a married man was over the line, and when rejected, her petty revenge had backfired spectacularly, spreading rumors that ended up tarnishing her reputation throughout the village.
Since then, Brigitta’s reputation had plummeted, and she had become less visible, especially after we moved. I only heard of her recently when the church newsletter mentioned her husband’s obituary.
Brigitta’s husband had died recently, his funeral without a body had been just the other day, hadn’t it? And now, with her husband gone, she had thrown herself into another man’s bed.
Under different circumstances, I might have felt pity for a widow forced to compromise herself to survive. But with Brigitta, I felt no such sympathy.
It wasn’t because we had a personal animosity. It was because Brigitta wasn’t like other women who might have been compelled by necessity to go into the Major’s protection.
Last Sunday, Mrs. Bauer had shared with me what had been happening in the Zimmermann household.
“No matter how unhappy the marriage was….to behave like this after a husband’s death… Lord, have mercy on that poor soul and their children…”
Brigitta’s husband had actually returned home last fall. He hadn’t been honorably discharged from the military due to injuries; he had deserted.
Brigitta’s family had the foresight to hide Mr. Zimmermann at home and even kept it a secret from the villagers.
“Ah, that explains it…”
I had seen Brigitta from a distance a few times last fall.
“She always looked as if she was carrying the world’s displeasure on her shoulders. I just assumed she was always angry because she had so many things to do in autumn.”
“It was her husband being at home that she was unhappy about.”
However, not long after, military command moved into our remote area and, by late autumn, a massive search for deserters upset the entire village.
“I only found out then that he had been at home all this time.”
Somehow, the military found out and stormed Mr. Zimmermann’s house, taking him away. He was sent to the front lines and, within two months, only his dog tags returned home with a notice of his death.
“His family gritted their teeth and said it’s as if they’re dealing with a demon, not Brigitta.”
“But she didn’t kill him.”
Yet, she might have been the cause.
“Surely not… right?”
“Well, she says she didn’t, but who knows? It’s just too convenient how things turned out, making it easy for people to think the wife might have reported the husband. If she didn’t want to be misunderstood, she should have shown a bit of restraint…”
I wondered what Brigitta hadn’t restrained herself from when I heard that news. Amidst the family’s mourning upon receiving the death notice, Brigitta packed her bags and announced her departure, telling them to raise her deceased husband’s daughter.
That day, the quarrel with her late husband’s family was so loud it could be heard as far as Mrs. Bauer’s farm, after which Brigitta promptly returned to her parents’ home in the neighboring village.
“She’s been like a wild horse without a bridle.”
And just when it seemed she might escape to the city of her dreams, the ‘wild horse’ had simply jumped into the bed of a lustful dog.
“It’s been a while, Rize.”
Brigitta, naked and clearly marked by the aftermath of their affair, greeted me as if nothing was amiss. I still had to face her, unable to pretend I hadn’t heard.
“…It’s been a while, Mrs. Zimmermann, ah…”
The moment I addressed her as ‘Mrs. Zimmermann’, Brigitta’s eyes flashed with anger. The Major laughed sardonically, blowing out a puff of cigarette smoke. He thought my error was a deliberate provocation.
But I swear it was an honest mistake. I intended to correct myself immediately, but I didn’t know Brigitta’s maiden name. As I hesitated, Brigitta softened her gaze slightly and corrected me.
“Ratz.”
Ratz. It suits her much better than her former surname.
“Long time no see, Miss Ratz.”
At that, Brigitta twisted her lips into a sneer. I was merely correcting a mistake, but did she think I was submitting to her? It was annoying.
Then Brigitta made a comment that was even more unsettling.
“Are you still Mrs. Renner?”
‘Are you still’—what did she mean by that?
“Can’t even your young, smart husband protect you? It seems even his precious wife can be summoned to another man’s bedroom and he does nothing about it.”
At that moment, my discomfort turned to dread.
My intuition told me she was planning to spread rumors about me and the Major. Even if she made up things that weren’t seen, Johann wouldn’t believe them, but…
‘If Johann finds out that it’s actually true that I’ve been summoned to the Major’s bedroom, it could be disastrous.’
And if Brigitta realizes that Johann doesn’t yet know this fact, it could be even worse. She might rush to tell him, or worse, she might use this information to blackmail me.
