“Keep your mouth shut. Your speech is very impure.”

Tatanthe felt disgusted.

“The national marriage is already late enough. Before it gets even later, raise the national marriage…!”

“Such stiff things. If you raise the national marriage because the national tax is chaotic, do you think the situation will stabilize after the national marriage?”

Tatanthe tied his sword to his waist. If the mud is too thick here, it’s right to stop the expedition. The forest is sensitive to moisture. Especially when poisonous gases seep out slowly, you shouldn’t underestimate such small changes.

“If there is no such future, what comes after that is meaningless.”

The gaze of Tatanthe extended beyond the temple.

The temple was closed in the past. Neither monsters nor people approached its interior.
“The inside here is avoided by both monsters and animals. Not to mention insects. These vines have only spread on the temple walls. The vines have set up thorns to block access.

The inside was clean, with only settled dust.

Afterward, only the altar priest managed the temple at regular intervals.

“I’m not exactly pleased with this change.”

Tatanthe recalled that day.

‘Here is a tomb. It is a paradise and a graveyard made of flesh and blood, and this is an altar that reveres the spirit of the unknown.’

Such changes are not pleasant.

The more uncertain the future, the less pleasant it becomes.

Arms were wrapped around a delicate waist.

The breath of the sleeping person touched the shoulders. Shalov, who was twisting her waist, stopped moving.

It seemed like he would wake up with sensitive footsteps.

She felt the thick arms. The well-defined contours of strong muscles were clear.

Benjamin had put a ring on her finger while sleeping. His hand entwined her fingers like holding them.

Short hair scattered over the shoulders. Black hair tickled the shoulders. A faint heat rose in the throat.

“Is it hot?”

It seemed like the bonfire was raised in the middle of the night.

It was even hotter with the quilt covering.

Shalov lay on her side, staring beyond the bed.

Darkness lay thick. As the eyes accustomed to the darkness, the vision became clear.

The arms around the waist loosened. She raised her upper body.

It was far, so she sat up and wet her head. Her long hair spread on the bed.

“It’s hot.”

She wiped the sleeping Benjamin’s cheek with the back of her hand.

The skin was a little rough.

If the calluses were like scars, the traces of life were vividly imprinted on his face.

“…Are you tired?”

Recent interactions with the information department seemed busy and tiring.

The eyelashes hidden in short hair were quiet. The cool and sunny atmosphere had fallen asleep.

Then, she averted her gaze.

Shalov went to the bedside table and poured water into a glass. Lukewarm water quenched her throat.

She leaned against the bed and rested on the windowsill. The inside was cut off from the outside.

The window gap was tightly sealed, and this was not a room someone had left behind because they had emptied it.

‘It has been managed continuously.’

Without any expression.

“Was there a reason it was strange?”

“…”

“The room seems to be waiting for someone.”

She who was breathing against the wall dropped the water cup. The fragments broke loudly. She, who had put on slippers, stopped stepping on the arms wrapped around her waist.

“Don’t step on it.”

“Sorry.”

“It was already awake because you were making noise.”

“Oh, I thought you were asleep because you seemed tired.”

“I’ll step on it. Come here.”

He moved Shalov’s waist to the side. Stepping on the quilt, she approached.

“Did your hand slip?”

“I missed it in my sleep.”

“If you’re tired, sleep more.”

“It’s too hot.”

“The bonfire was high.”

“I guess the maids put a lot of effort into it.”

Approaching, he touched Shalov’s waist.

“You have a fever.”

“…It’s hot.”
“That’s true, but feeling the cold wind is another matter.”

Benjamin picked up the fragments.

The transparent fragments sparkled in the darkness under the moonlight. Fragments flew to the opposite wardrobe.

While picking up the fragments, the wardrobe door crack opened.

Trying to push it closed, something caught with a ‘click.’

From there, he found a paper box. An old box hung on the wardrobe door.

“Why?”

Benjamin straightened his waist.

“Be careful with the fragments.”

“The fragments are cleared.”

“…There may be more broken pieces left. The fragments shattered completely. If you step on it, it will scratch as it is.”

Shalov put the old box into the wardrobe and tried to close it, but when her fingertips touched, the lid of the paper box opened.

“Is it a diary?”

“Yes. It looks like a diary.”

Shalov took out the old box and placed it on the bedside table.

“It looks like an heirloom from my mother’s childhood.”

“…”

“It’s not mine. It seems old, but it’s all locked with locks.”

Shalov lifted the diary, and the lock of the old diary broke. The seam of the lock opened, and the first page unfolded lifelessly.

The diary cover looked twisted and crumpled, but the inside was neat.

[Hate it. I don’t want to leave. I want to stay a little longer with my family in my house. I, I don’t know what to do now. Can’t I stay a little longer?] [I chose this marriage. It’s okay. You’re okay. Even if it’s a little rough, it’s inevitable anyway.] [I won’t cry. I’m not weak.]

This seemed like self-brainwashing.

[I want to die. No, it’s not blaming you. Please. Don’t blame yourself. This, this, I was a little scared. I won’t say weak words.]

The feelings of becoming a woman of another family through marriage, leaving her family, were recorded here. It was a deep sadness.

[I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. It’s my fault.] [If the road is difficult, it’s my fault. If you break, that’s also my fault, and if the path you walk is difficult, that’s also my fault. So, blame me.]

To whom is this story told?