I Will Die for You, My Darling! - Chapter 65

Schedule: Mon and Fri

Chapter 65

Everywhere she walked, eyes followed. From the streets, from behind crumbling walls, from beyond the windows of buildings. These were the same gazes she’d felt decades ago as the daughter of the witch, Seia. Fear, wariness, and a touch of envy swirled within those watching eyes. Her dress, painstakingly laundered in clean water until it shone, her pale yet flawless skin, the subtle hint of a smile in her eyes—Arietta flaunted it all as she walked the streets of Downstream, just as she had in the past.

Beneath her feet, the ground squelched, and half-forgotten sounds reached her ears: the thud of blows, the harsh whispers of threats and pleas. She didn’t flinch or recoil in surprise. These sounds were no different from the lullabies of her childhood. Or rather, she thought, they were likely the prenatal sounds I heard while still in the womb.

Downstream was a stagnant place, unchanging. Neither improving nor declining, it was a city perpetually stuck in a mire of its own making. In a land where mere survival was a struggle, progress was a distant dream, an impossibility.

Arietta shielded her eyes and looked towards the Sky City, a hazy silhouette beyond the clouds. I wonder if it’s changed, she mused. I wonder if it’s different from how it was before Mother came down to the surface. It was the place she was meant to return to when she turned sixteen, old enough to endure the long journey. What kind of journey did Mother have in mind? she wondered. Surely, the passage from the surface to the sky must have been long and arduous. The Sky City represented the only world unknown to her. A sudden, poignant thought gripped her: she wanted to see it, just once, before she died.

She took a deep breath, and her throat prickled. Downstream’s air is laced with poison, she reminded herself. The ground felt softer underfoot than when she first emerged from the glass dome. The rapidly encroaching effects of the toxins made her sigh. Inside, it had been impossible to gauge how quickly the poison would take hold. Everyone reacted differently. Those with a natural resistance to Downstream’s toxins could endure for days without purification remedies. But the vulnerable collapsed after only a few hours of unprotected exposure. Arietta, unfortunately, belonged to the latter group. She always had.

“I need to hurry,” she murmured, weaving through the alleyways. Nothing obstructed her path. The streets were as familiar as the back of her hand, and the people, though watchful, offered no harm. Only their gazes reached her. It was odd. While understandable near the glass dome, it was unlikely that someone as vulnerable as her would remain unmolested this far out. Even if her clean clothes and healthy skin triggered a primal unease, the people of Downstream weren’t known for their intelligence or foresight. Their instinct was to seize any food or supplies within reach. Arietta smiled faintly, remembering how Seia used to struggle to “educate” their neighbors.

As she walked, unimpeded, towards the old house she and Seia had shared, a realization dawned on her. The Black Hound’s dogs are following me. They were watching her, waiting. Does Isaac think I’ll go back? she wondered. If she turned back towards the glass dome mansion, they would escort her. She could easily imagine the scene that would unfold. She would be led to the main house, to the drawing-room where Isaac would be lounging on a single couch, swirling a drink in his hand.

She would tell him she had returned. He would then raise his golden eyes, filled with scorn and disdain. “Did you enjoy your outing?” he would ask. And she would have to reply that it was agonizing, just to satisfy him.