Episode 100
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 100
As she slowly brushed the woman’s hair aside, a blood-soaked forehead came into view. Elysia moved the hair away from the deep-looking gash and nodded at Evan.
He set his doctor’s bag down in front of someone’s gravestone and handed her a bottle of disinfectant. As she gently dabbed the wound with a soft cotton ball, tears streamed down Zenia’s face. Elysia spoke in an indifferent tone.
“You’re hurt again.”
“I’m sorry…”
“You’re the one who’s hurt. You have nothing to be sorry for.”
Elysia tossed the bloodied cotton into a container, and Evan naturally took over, examining the wound more closely. His expression hardened.
“Didn’t you injure a similar spot last time?”
“Well…”
“It was that bastard husband of yours, wasn’t it?”
Zenia flinched at Elysia’s sudden, sharp question, her body trembling as she shook her head frantically, her face a mask of terror.
Wordlessly, Elysia lifted the woman’s arm and roughly pushed up her sleeve. She scowled at the sight of the blue-black bruises and let out a cold, empty laugh.
This was the work of someone accustomed to violence. Otherwise, how could he have so skillfully beaten his wife just enough to avoid breaking any bones?
Zenia ducked her head to avoid Elysia’s sharp gaze, listening to Evan’s gentle instructions. The moment he finished, Elysia spoke again, as if she had been waiting for that very moment, and Zenia’s eyes shot open.
“I see your son every morning, but you’ve never once come by. Why is that?”
“How do you know him—?”
“Because he comes to the shrine to pray every morning. He said the murals made him curious about a place called Heaven. You didn’t know?”
“I didn’t know… I don’t really get to… leave the house.”
At the mention of her son, Zenia let her guard down and inadvertently confessed to her husband’s abuse. She quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.
Elysia, looking slightly ridiculous in an oversized coat, wiped her rain-drenched hands on her apron and helped Zenia to her feet.
“Let’s go. Where to?”
“Is there anywhere to go besides home?”
“That’s for you to decide.”
“Don’t say such irresponsible things!”
Overcome with emotion, Zenia let out a sharp, involuntary cry, covering her eyes with one hand as she gave a hollow laugh. Seeing the tears stream through her fingers, Elysia silently wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
At that moment, Elysia felt a gaze on her back and glanced around, but there was nothing to see. She tilted her head. She’d had this feeling of being watched for a while now.
Unaware of Elysia’s heightened senses, the woman wept in her arms for a long time before answering in a tone of complete resignation.
“Home. I’ll go home… It’s that way.”
“And your husband?”
“He went out to get a drink.”
They moved forward, supporting the limping woman, who seemed to have sprained her ankle while running away.
A few minutes later, a neat house came into view, surprisingly well-kept for its remote location. It wasn’t grand, but the materials used were all sturdy and of good quality.
Elysia took it all in at a glance, recalling a rumor she’d heard at the shrine.
‘They said he owns a bit of land in this village.’
In small communities, people could be as warm as their familiar faces, but they could also become astonishingly cold when everyone’s interests were at stake.
Zenia and her son were being shunned because most of the villagers rented that land to farm. They couldn’t afford to get involved.
The inside of the house wasn’t lavish, but it was filled with items far beyond the means of a poor family. Elysia noticed a smear of blood on the edge of a thick book on the dining table and, with a blank expression, shoved it into a basin of water.
After helping Zenia lie down in the bedroom, Elysia tried to ignore the nagging sense of unease that still lingered. The curtains were already drawn, leaving the room dark.
After sending Adrian and Evan out, Elysia’s eyes glinted in the dim light. Her calm voice cut through the silence.
“Did you really want to come back here?”
“There’s nowhere else to go…”
“I told you, that’s for you to decide.”
Zenia let out a sob-like laugh and glared at her, grinding her teeth.
“If you’re just going to be irresponsible, then you should just shut up…!”
“Is this irresponsible? It’s not my life. I think it would be more irresponsible for me to just tell you to run, or where to go.”
Elysia briefly hid her chillingly cold eyes behind her eyelids and pressed a hand to her throbbing forehead.
‘That gaze…’
Ever since the cemetery, a strange sensation had been grating on her nerves. Someone was watching me, and relentlessly at that… And it had continued all the way to this house. It might even be happening now.
Suppressing her unease, Elysia continued.
“You decide.”
“Decide what…?”
“Decide whether you’re going to leave this house or not.”
“That’s not for me to decide!”
“Then who decides?”
Elysia stood and tapped the creaking floorboards with the toe of her shoe, her gaze shifting to the window behind Zenia. There it was again. That feeling of being watched. Distracted by the intuition, she blurted out her true thoughts, unfiltered.
“I’m just offering to help. The decision to run or stay is yours to make.”
“Help? Are you saying you’ll find me a place to stay?”
“Well, I could provide some initial funds. If you’re interested, get in touch.”
Zenia stared at her, her face a picture of confusion. Elysia opened her mouth to say more, but a wave of nausea washed over her, and she covered her mouth.
She was certain now. Someone was watching her. From where? Her eyes scanned the room and landed on the curtained window next to the bed.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Her brow furrowed, Elysia strode to the bed, reached out, and yanked the curtain aside. Swish. Bright sunlight flooded the room.
Elysia flinched and stepped back. Beyond the half-open window, there was nothing but swaying blades of grass and flowers. Am I just being paranoid? She scratched the back of her head and drew the curtains again, blocking out the light.
“Get some rest.”
“My husband will be back soon…”
“I’ll take care of that bastard… No, no. It’s nothing. Just sleep.”
The timid woman flinched at Elysia’s harsh tone and quickly asked.
“What do you mean? Take care of him—?”
“Ah, just sleep.”
Elysia, who had been about to chop the woman on the back of the neck in irritation, slowly lowered her hand and instead placed it over her eyes.
She must have been exhausted. Mumbling that it would be a shame to send her off like this and that she should at least dry off before leaving, Zenia fell asleep in an instant. Elysia immediately removed her hand and walked out of the bedroom.
*
Two men, who had been squeezed onto a small chair chatting quietly, turned to look at her.
“What were you talking about for so long?”
“Ma’am!”
“She’s sleeping. Keep your voice down.”
“…Aren’t we leaving?”
At Adrian’s question, Elysia stared intently at the doorway and pointed toward the sound of approaching footsteps.
“We’re not leaving. We’re about to be thrown out.”
“Eek!” Adrian gasped and scrambled to get ready to leave. Instead of preparing to exit, Elysia crossed her arms and waited for their guest.
I’m not leaving without a fight.
“What the hell?”
The door burst open with a bang, revealing a man with a beet-red face, thoroughly drunk. His spiky black hair added to his already intimidating presence.
Hiccuping repeatedly, the man gave Elysia a long, leering look and chuckled, spewing some incomprehensible, harassing words. Then he finally noticed Evan standing beside her and began to scream.
“Zenia, you lewd, filthy bitch! You finally brought a man, hic, a man into my house! I, I, I knew it. Flirting, here and there, wh-hic! Whored yourself out.”
“What a load of bullshit…”
Ignoring Elysia’s snort, the man blindly grabbed a poker that was resting near the entrance and advanced on them.
Just as he was about to swing it at a pale-faced Adrian’s head, Elysia, without a moment’s hesitation, snatched up a chair and hurled it at the man’s forehead with lightning speed. The man lost his balance and fell, screaming as he struggled back to his feet.
In that brief moment, Elysia mouthed “Get out” to Adrian and taunted the man.
“You’re the filthy one. You don’t even know your place.”
“Hic, d-die!”
“Don’t make me laugh. Go on, try it if you think you can.”
Something glinted in the man’s hand. Ah, shit. He had a weapon. She quickly scanned her surroundings. There was no angle to dodge completely. In that case…
Out of habit, she prepared to sacrifice an arm as she grabbed a cast iron pan from the kitchen shelf. But the pain she expected never came. Instead, a familiar warmth enveloped her.
Ah, no way. She turned her head, her face a mask of horror, and saw Evan, his eyes gleaming coldly as he held her, blood dripping from his arm.
“What do you think you’re—?”
“Are you okay?”
Ignoring his own wound, Evan asked, his face hard. Her ears were ringing. Across from them, Zenia’s husband was screaming something.
“Hic! You goddamn cockroaches! Get out of my house!”
“S-Senior, get behind me.”
Pushing Evan back, Elysia dodged the swinging knife and smashed the cast iron pan into the side of the man’s head. With a loud clang, the man collapsed and lay still, knocked unconscious. She could feel her jaw trembling.
She whipped her head around to check Evan’s arm. Through the gash in his white shirt, torn along with his skin, a thin stream of blood trickled down.
The moment she saw it, she snapped.
“You son of a bitch!”
Elysia stomped over and kicked the already unconscious man hard in the stomach. As he let out a choked cough, she pressed her knee into his gut, pinning him down, and swung her fist. Thud, thud… The dull sounds echoed through the house.
The man regained consciousness mid-beating, his eyes filled with terror. In her unfocused, silver-gray eyes, a colossal rage burned. Blood from the man’s mouth stained the floor red.
“Who the hell do you think you are, swinging a knife around? This is self-defense, so don’t resist and take your beating. We have to keep things fair, don’t we?”
“Cough, s-someone, help! Help me!”
Ignoring the man’s cries, Elysia brought her fist down again with a sickening crack. She snarled at the man, who was gasping and whimpering in pain, and clenched her fist once more.
“Shut up. I’m warning you. If you ever hit anyone again, I’ll smash your fucking head in. I’ll break your legs until you’re begging me to kill you, so you better behave. Understand?”
“Hnngh, help, save me—”
“You lay one more hand on your wife, and I’ll come back and tear your limbs off.”
“El, stop.”
Evan rushed over and grabbed her raised fist with his uninjured arm. At his touch, she seemed to come to her senses. She blinked and immediately stood up.
When she saw the blood that had pooled and was now dripping from his fingertips, her face crumpled as if she were about to cry. She raised her hand, then lowered it, again and again. She couldn’t bring herself to touch him. She couldn’t even ask if he was okay.
This is my fault. The single phrase echoed endlessly in her mind, keeping her from even reaching out.
To reassure the panicking Elysia, he began to make excuses no one had asked for.
“It’s not a deep cut. Calm down. It’s okay. He was drunk and just swinging wildly…”
Wordlessly, Elysia tore a strip from her apron and tied it tightly around his arm. Evan could see the guilt in her eyes. Just as he was about to point it out, she spoke again, as if to silence him.
“Get treated. I’ll tell Adrian to come in.”
Elysia picked up the doctor’s bag Evan had brought and strode outside.
Adrian, who had been temporarily banished from the house due to the murderous atmosphere, was about to greet the lone-emerging Elysia with a happy face, but he froze in surprise when she quickly turned her head and roughly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Uh, M-Ma’am…? Are you… coming out alone?”
“I took care of that bastard, so he won’t be causing trouble for a while. Zenia said she’s staying for now. You go in with Senior.”
With those words, Elysia walked away quickly. She wanted to be alone. She felt she had to be. Just as she always had been, getting hurt alone, all to protect others.