Will You Cry for Me If I Die? - Chapter 43

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 43

 

The words saying it was over hadn’t been heard yet.

 

People were clapping, singing, and laughing that they had received blessings.

 

The sound of hands colliding overlapped, and the sound of metal ornaments swaying and clashing pierced through the gaps.

 

The singing rose high then fell low.

 

Laughter started light then stretched long, and those elongated ends intertwined with each other, stretching like strings.

 

I looked down at the dais while being held in Demian’s arms.

 

My eye level kept rising up, then swaying again.

 

My vision brightened for a moment, then tilted dark the next instant.

 

I felt dizzy.

 

My head was still small, so it couldn’t take in much light and sound at once.

 

When there was too much light, the inside of my eyes stung, and when there was too much sound, the inside of my head rang.

 

I tapped Demian’s shoulder.

 

Each time my palm touched, the fabric pressed down softly then returned.

 

“Put me down.”

 

Demian said in a low voice.

 

His voice sounded pressed close by.

 

“Not right now.”

 

“Why?”

 

When I asked, more strength entered Demian’s arms.

 

I felt him holding me up higher.

 

“The Priesthood is watching. Right now all eyes are focused here, so if you go down you’ll stand out more.”

 

I frowned.

 

They’re not just watching!

 

I wrinkled my nose.

 

The smell of the marking water still remained.

 

The smell that had been sprinkled on the pattern.

 

That smell followed like air.

 

Each time I breathed in, it stuck to the inside of my nose very thinly but without breaking off.

 

I twisted my body in Demian’s embrace.

 

Each time my body turned, his arms wrapped more firmly.

 

“I don’t like it. It’s stuffy. If you hold me like this, I can’t see anything.”

 

Demian placed his hand on top of my head.

 

His palm slowly came down and stopped on my hair.

 

A warm hand.

 

That warmth briefly relaxed my heart, making me more irritated.

 

My heart slowed down a little then sped up again.

 

When my heart relaxes, I become weak.

 

I can’t become weak here.

 

I gritted my teeth.

 

My jaw trembled slightly.

 

The High Priest came down below the dais.

 

The hem of his clothes brushed the floor.

 

The sound of fabric dragging was heard very thinly.

 

When he passed by, the smell became stronger.

 

It was a closer smell than before.

 

I said immediately.

 

“That person.”

 

Demian asked in a low voice.

 

His gaze came down toward me.

 

“The High Priest, you mean that person who just came down.”

 

“The smell, the same smell as the water from before is coming out stronger. It’s coming from close by.”

 

When I spoke, Demian’s eyes changed very subtly.

 

Those eyes didn’t smile.

 

Those eyes were winter.

 

They froze cold and didn’t waver.

 

Millayen came down below the dais and briefly exchanged greetings with the Daytime Emperor.

 

The Emperor kept smiling.

 

The corners of his mouth didn’t come down.

 

The Empress also smiled.

 

Her eyes didn’t smile along.

 

Sekiel smiled even bigger.

 

The sound was higher.

 

That laughter tickled inside my ears.

 

It scratched the inside like thin thread.

 

I don’t like tickling.

 

I raised my hand then stopped.

 

If I cover my ears, it’ll be more obvious.

 

I endured it.

 

Enduring is pretending to be an adult.

 

I’m not an adult, but today I have to pretend to be one.

 

The ritual chamber gradually dispersed.

 

People flowed out in one direction.

 

The nobles moved toward the exit.

 

Skirt hems swept the floor, and shoes hit the floor rhythmically.

 

Between them, servants began wiping the floor.

 

Cloth moved quickly.

 

Covering wet spots, pushing, and lifting up again.

 

So no water marks would remain, so no traces would show.

 

Seeing that made my heart urgent.

 

The smell was being erased.

 

It was still there, but it seemed like it would soon disappear.

 

I hit Demian’s arm with my fist.

 

Small, but several times.

 

“Now, we have to go now. If we’re any later, it’ll disappear and we won’t be able to find it.”

 

Demian exhaled quietly.

 

His chest rose once then came down.

 

“What are you trying to do, how far are you planning to go.”

 

I answered.

 

I continued speaking without cutting off my words.

 

“Follow. The smell is connected, and the path that person took remains, so we can follow that.”

 

“What.”

 

He asked again.

 

“The smell, the marking smell, that water smell from before, it’s still there.”

 

Demian paused for a moment.

 

His steps slowed very slightly.

 

He looked down at me.

 

His eyes wavered briefly then fixed again.

 

“You are four years old.”

 

That phrase again.

 

My face hardened.

 

My lips pressed into a straight line.

 

“Four-year-olds can do it. It’s not that I can’t. I can smell, I can distinguish, I can follow.”

 

I said.

 

My breathing came in short bursts.

 

“My nose works. I can do it. We need to go before we lose the trail.”

 

Demian smiled very slightly.

 

The smile disappeared quickly.

 

The corners of his mouth turned down, and his face hardened again.

 

He lowered my body a little.

 

His arms slowly came down, and my view lowered with them.

 

My toes touched the floor.

 

Cold stone touched my soles.

 

I stood up straight immediately.

 

My body balanced itself.

 

The floor was cold.

 

Thin coldness rose from my toes.

 

Still, standing was better.

 

When I stand, I can breathe better.

 

When I stand, my body feels like my own.

 

Demian’s arms moved away a little, and the air felt wider.

 

Theodor came running from the side.

 

Footsteps approached urgently.

 

“Rumel!”

 

He tried to grab my hand.

 

His hand came quickly toward me.

 

I didn’t pull my hand away.

 

If someone holds my hand, it hurts less when I fall.

 

The feeling of being held was reassuring.

 

I spoke to Theodor.

 

I moved my mouth small.

 

“Quiet, if you make noise we’ll be caught. They’re watching from behind.”

 

Theodor pursed his lips and nodded.

 

His mouth rounded then flattened.

 

That kid looks funny when he tries to be quiet.

 

His eyes get bigger for no reason, and you can see him holding his breath.

 

I almost laughed but held it back.

 

My lips lifted slightly then came back down.

 

We slowly moved following behind the people.

 

We matched our steps and slowed our pace.

 

We walked matching the interval of the person ahead’s swaying cloak.

 

The High Priest didn’t go toward the exit.

 

He veered slightly away from the flow.

 

He turned between the columns.

 

He slipped away to where sight couldn’t reach.

 

Behind the columns was a small door.

 

It was a similar color to the wall.

 

No one looked at that door.

 

Their gazes just passed over it.

 

To ordinary people’s eyes, it looked like a wall, not a door.

 

It looked like connected stone.

 

I saw it.

 

Only there was the air different.

 

There was a door crack.

 

There was a very thinly split line.

 

The metal smell of the handle was different.

 

It didn’t mix with the stone smell.

 

I tugged on Demian’s sleeve.

 

The fabric wrapped around my hand.

 

“There, behind the column, it looks like a wall but it’s a door. The smell comes from there too.”

 

Demian confirmed only with his eyes.

 

His gaze moved briefly then returned.

 

He didn’t open his mouth.

 

If he spoke, they might hear.

 

I gripped Theodor’s hand tightly once more.

 

Strength went into my fingers.

 

Theodor watched my expression and breathed quietly.

 

He tried to reduce his breathing sounds.

 

We moved as if hiding behind the column.

 

We lowered our bodies and pressed close to the wall.

 

My height made it easy to hide.

 

I was almost completely covered by the column’s shadow.

 

But being short also made it hard to see.

 

My view was sometimes blocked.

 

I stood on my tiptoes.

 

I lifted my heels.

 

My ankles hurt.

 

They stretched thinly.

 

But I did it anyway.

 

I could see a little higher.

 

The door opened.

 

Almost no sound came out.

 

The High Priest went inside.

 

His hem was sucked inward.

 

Two Priests followed behind him.

 

Their steps were synchronized.

 

Before the door closed, a water smell rushed out from inside.

 

But thick.

 

Marking water.

 

I definitely felt that smell.

 

It was thicker than before.

 

I said to myself.

 

Firmly.

 

‘That’s the place.’

 

I only thought it in my head.

 

If I say it out loud, I’ll sound like a baby.

 

I am a baby, but I hate that.

 

The door closed.

 

The gap completely disappeared.

 

No one stood in front of the door.

 

There was no one guarding it.

 

That was even more suspicious.

 

Important doors are usually guarded.

 

They post guards visibly.

 

Not guarding it means they’re trying to hide it.

 

Making it invisible.

 

Demian placed his hand on top of my head.

 

His hand came down quietly.

 

That hand pointed in a direction.

 

No, it blocked me.

 

It prevented me from going forward.

 

“You can’t go. Once you enter that place, it becomes difficult to get out.”

 

He said in a low voice.

 

I immediately asked.

 

I lifted my head and met his eyes.

 

“Why? If we don’t go now, the smell will disappear and the traces will be gone!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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