Red Riding Hood - Chapter 32
She had no choice but to say this.
“Give me meat. Lots of it. And plenty of ham, too.”
“You really want to eat like that and end up like me?”
The Pig said this while slicing a large piece of pink meat and putting a whole block of ham into her basket.
Cinq was taken aback.
“This is too much.”
The Pig added freshly boiled sausages to her basket without charging her and said,
“Eat a lot! Fill your stomach and forget all the nasty things I said to you, alright?”
“What nasty things? That I’d get fat like you?”
“Forget that. I mean the grosser jokes… If you don’t remember, even better!”
Cinq furrowed her brows and glared at the Pig.
She couldn’t understand why he was giving her far more meat than her coins were worth and asking her to forget the crude jokes he’d made.
Carrying her now heavy basket, Cinq left the shop.
Outside, she found herself face-to-face with the cow, who was peering into the cart.
Cinq tried to pass him without a word, but the Cow raised his head toward her and said,
“Red Riding Hood, if you want to know what’s going to happen to you, go to the temple.”
Cinq stared at him with a puzzled expression.
The Cow had a human body, wearing a butcher’s apron, but where his head should have been, there was a cow’s head.
Cinq stared at him for a while before squeezing her eyes shut and opening them again.
It had been quite a while since she last drank Vinya’s tea.
Now, even the aftereffects of the tea—headaches and dizziness—had mostly disappeared.
The layers of translucent veils that had clouded her vision were gradually lifting.
Was that why?
The cow…
Didn’t look like a cow.
He looked more like a person wearing a cow’s head.
Cinq gazed at him with a puzzled look.
‘But that’s too strange.’
When she stared at him silently for too long, the Cow raised the large knife in his hand and snapped angrily.
“What are you staring at? Get going if you don’t want trouble!”
Cinq clutched her heavy basket and quickly left the butcher’s shop.
She passed by the fish shop.
When the fish inside saw her red hood, it rushed out.
“Hey, Cinq!”
Cinq ran quickly, trying to avoid him.
The fish shouted loudly,
“Sorry for giving you such a hard time before! You’re kind, so you’ll forgive me, right? I’ll just assume so!”
She clutched her heavy basket tightly and ran until she reached the gray temple.
Cinq set her basket down on the low stone wall and pulled the bell rope.
She then stepped back a few paces and waited for the priest to come out.
Even though everyone was a bit kinder before the New Year, it was all too strange.
The Cow who didn’t scold her for the broken milk bottles, the cabbage who gave her extra, the Pig who loaded her basket with meat and sausages—
Even the mean fish who had apologized to her.
It was as if…
Everyone was trying to win her favor.
Soon, the temple door opened, and a White Goat in a pure white priest’s robe approached her.
“Cinq, welcome. I’ve been expecting you.”
In his hands was a plate with wine and galette.
Standing by the stone wall, Cinq watched the White Goat cautiously and said,
“Priest, will you be angry again today?”
She hadn’t forgotten how the White Goat had once tried to eat her fingers like candy.
Seeing her narrowed eyes, the White Goat burst out laughing.
Standing firmly at the temple’s threshold, he placed the plate of wine and galette on the stone wall where her basket was.
“No. I wouldn’t want to get angry with someone who’s already suffered so much.”
Relieved, Cinq approached the White Goat, who reached out and picked up her basket from the wall to examine its contents.
He looked at the basket filled with various items for a moment and chuckled softly.
“Cinq, why did you buy so much? Do you want to become a little Piglet? The basket looks full—will this even fit?”
Cinq crouched down on the ground, rearranging the sausages in her basket like a nest to make room for the plate.
The White Goat smiled faintly as he placed the plate of galette on top and tucked the bottle of wine among the Brussels sprouts.
“Carrying all this might strain your slender arms… and your legs… and your feet.”
Cinq replied,
“This much is fine. I’m strong.”
The White Goat gazed at her quietly, then knelt on one knee before her.
“Dear Cinq. My sweet little liar, my sinful lamb.”
He reached out his hand.
“But I understand you. I can be the one who understands your sorrow, anger, and despair. Only I can do that. And I will forgive you.”
He touched her cheek with his fingertips as he spoke.
