Barbaric Spouse, Descry the Night's Lure-Chapter 221: Scene CCXXI

It was an honest compliment and appreciation the wife was conveying to the child’s being.

At times when the sorrow had yet to invade her heart with the painful truth she had learned, Ewelina would at times illusion a day when her own children would be as lovely and pure as the girl resting adorably innocent on her lap is... Picturing a future where they would grow together, as if siblings they were...

Hence, the thought this time... again emerged while the soft hair of the girl was slowly yet carefully caressed... and the void opened viciously empty... for never such illusions would become a reality.

‘... This pain... will it ever fade or diminish...’ — Already feeling a hurtful tremble inside her chest, Ewelina tried not to lose composure. — ‘This child... is not my own... and yet she is the nearest I can feel of what I cannot become...’

“... Master’s wife is shivering within again... it appears cold...” — Suddenly the brakian mainglousse said, lifting her head to look up at Ewelina. — “Does Master’s wife need Nu’s hug?”

“... mn... yes, sweet Nu... I would truly appreciate it.” — Smiling as tears fell, Ewelina took in her arms the small body ready to comfort her broken heart and soul. — “Sniff... blessed thee earth, child...”

“Nu will give many hugs... do not feel sad, Master’s wife...”

“Yes... my dear Nu... I will dismiss this sadness slowly. I am to also make an effort so Nu can lose concern.”

Comforted by the young girl, a long embrace was taken from the child whose head leaned lovingly on her Master, also combing her unique hair... warming the coldness of sadness within Ewelina, preciously and delicate.

‘I am to dismiss it... for this life’s sake...’

*******

Every night she managed to conceive sleep was a nightmare for the lonely wife.

Memories of her long past would emerge as if repeating the times and painful experiences that marked each, being the most tortuous the one of her first time alive... one that was terribly brief and yet the life that pushed her soul into searching an unfairly unreachable wish...

At barren lands, the memories of the woman always started. A humble house made of lousy materials seemingly promt to collapse, and yet in her small body of a young ignorant girl, the now-called Ewelina ran happily even as hunger made her stomach growl, finding the beautiful however also thin woman that was the first mother she met inside a poor home.

— Mama! This child heard of a miraculous lake that appeared near the next village. Perhaps Papa has found food for our house today! — 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

— Oh... the child is attentive to the news... Yet Papa did not go in the direction of the next village today, Lea. —

— ... Papa did not...? Then... will this child not eat today? —

The softness of her mother could only be clear in the hazy smile the long-dead Lea could recall. The round shape of a sibling growing in said mother’s tum was what in her dream Ewelina would so deeply feel sad and hopeful for. And then, the hand of her small self would be lovingly taken by a busy mother, who with difficulty sat on the dirt making her house’s floor so she could talk to her depressed child self.

— Both of this mother’s children will eat even if little bites today, Lea. —

— ... The baby... this child’s sibling shall also have the bite Lea is to have, Mama... —

— It is unapproved by this mother. Both children shall eat. Fear not, Lea... the miraculous lake that appeared, once Papa returns, tell him the news you heard. Tomorrow, it will be the day Papa does travel to the next village if Lea tells her knowledge. —

To the echoing memories, the body of the sleeping wife would grow colder the more were recalled in her dreams. Jumping from one to another, quickly and vividly, disrupting steadily the slumber she had gained.

— Mama is always happy although no motive exists to smile...—

“... gh... mama...”

— Lea does not understand as youth is strong in the child... However, it is yourself and the child I carry that summons this mother’s happiness... —

— Nonsense it appears, mama. —

“... n... hf... no...”

— Wife, children... today’s table will be full. —

— Dear... —

— Papa! —

“Gasp!.....hf... Sigh... It is as painful still...” — Waking up from the deep slumber of dreams, Ewelina exhaled with a trembling voice. Wiping the tear the memories provoked while her lids closed tired of repeating the dream.

It was yet to be bright outside and the night solely had the moon as torch. Laying on the vast mattress, the lonely woman observed the darkness again tonight... thinking on her own about the events she experienced in the shortest life she led yet marked her soul for eternity.

‘I truly could not understand, mama... How blessed the days we lived were even if starvation was eating our bodies’ forces... Only once lost, mama’s words became true in this child’s head...’

Memories of a difficult yet happy life as a poor child could be recalled fondly by the old soul. Days of laughter and painful hunger... when a loving mother would do her best to feed and care for her child and unborn one while a hardworking and also starving father travelled in search of food and money that would aid in keeping his family alive even if a little longer.

— Lea, your mother told myself. There is something you heard. Will the child tell her father? —

‘... I wonder... was it innocence that ended us?... Perhaps... fault lies on myself for telling what an unknown traveller said...’

— Tell your Father, child... —

‘For once... it was at such a time I should have not obeyed you, mama...’

— A miraculous Lake? —

— This child heard the divine and powerful made it appear near the next village. It is believed to be their misericordy upon those living humbly yet honestly, Papa. —

— ... Near the next village, Lea says? —

— ! Yes, Papa. Near the next village this child learned it appeared. —