Welcome to the Demon’s Cabin - Chapter 29

At Irene’s suggestive smile, Idris let out a low groan, but without any notable change in expression, he rubbed the back of his neck as if slightly embarrassed. After averting his gaze into the air for a moment as if feigning ignorance, he sat up straight and began to speak.

“It is a long story… but to summarize, it is thanks to being away from my mother.”

“Your mother?”

“She is someone who never knows where she might bounce off to, so she created many impressive incidents in my life. When those accidents and incidents disappeared, my daily life became relatively peaceful.”

“I see. Um, may I ask what kind of things happened? Suddenly, I am curious too.”

Irene laughed, resting her chin on her interlaced fingers. Her gaze, now closer to Idris, scanned him persistently and busily.

The trembling of his eyes, the change in skin color, the change in heart rate.

There was still none.

“What comes to mind now… is when she was completely fooled by some swindler’s words and tore down the entire house to redo it with a bizarre interior. Claiming that having a certain amount of old furniture and bugs was actually better for one’s health, or something like that.”

“Pardon? Is that a common superstition in the Empire?”

“How could it be? Anyway, during those few months, I think I saw all the cockroaches I will ever see in my life. It was a truly rare experience.”

“Ahaha… You went through a lot, Mr. Idris. Your mother must have been a person full of playfulness. It must have been fun to be with her.”

Since it was someone else’s precious mother, Irene carefully packaged the incident. The more she heard, the more it felt like he had grown up on the verge of neglect, but to suddenly insult someone else’s mother was a bit…

Idris nodded at those words.

“Certainly, there was never a dull moment when we were together.”

“……”

The moment she heard his casual response, Irene’s smile deepened.

‘It is a strange thing.’

Summarizing everything she had heard so far, she was just a messy, insincere mother, yet in his eyes as he spoke of her, she could see annoyance or bother at most, but no resentment or hatred.

She could not understand. Was it because they were family after all, even if he spoke poorly of her? Why?

Someone lived her whole life as a good daughter and was turned away just because her eye color changed. Someone else gave a citizen of the Empire a name like ‘Idris’ and was still loved like that by her son. It was truly strange.

It’s not fair. It is unfair. Unbearably so.

Her emotions felt as if they were about to fluctuate as they rode a rapid current. Strength surged into the fingers she had been peacefully interlacing. Her right thumb pushed hard against the opposite index finger as if to snap it backward. Only after the first joint of her index finger had bent nearly at a right angle did Irene release her grip, straightening her posture and leaning against the backrest.

Only after taking a few deep breaths so as not to be noticed did Irene regain her composure and put on a bright smile again. Idris looked slightly puzzled, but in his typical fashion, he did not say much.

Her desire to distinguish his truths from his lies had completely vanished.

‘I do not want to hear this story anymore.’

Irene scolded Idris, saying she really had to sleep now and that the book was confiscated. Her slender hand picking up the large dictionary was straight and clean, without a single scratch. She left the room as if fleeing and threw herself onto the bed in the attic.

* * *

Irene’s round face popped out from the gap of the door she had newly decorated with purple accents.

After confirming that Idris was asleep in the dark room, breathing evenly, she closed the door silently. Turning away without lingering, she passed the ladder leading to her attic and headed for the front door.

Wearing her cherished white leather boots with pretty gold trimmings, Irene stepped outside. A cool night wind blew, fluttering her black skirt and honey-colored hair. It was a temperature where Idris would likely have ranted, “This is beyond just being cold.”

Slow footsteps echoed through the dark forest path. The steady sound suddenly began to quicken, soon turning into the sound of running.

Bursting out from under the roof of dark leaves and branches with all her might, Irene stopped in her tracks as if by magic. On the lake painted black, stars twinkled like dots, a beautiful Milky Way, and a large moon were embroidered. With weak steps, she trudged to the front of the lake.

Collapsing in front of the lake, she reached out her empty left hand and dipped her fingertips into the water. The cool water wrapped around her warm skin.

“…I’m here.”

Soon, shaking the moisture off her hand, she threw the three or four flowers she had been clutching in her right hand onto the lake. The white flowers floated on the lake, creating small ripples.

“It’s been a little while, hasn’t it? Hey, Marina. Listen… today, no, it is dawn now, so was it yesterday? Anyway, do you know what happened tonight?”

In the night lake, so clear that nothing could be seen, only Irene’s red eyes were reflected.

“The person I told you about before? Mr. Idris. I had a truly trivial conversation with him today, but suddenly I felt like I was going crazy with anger.”

Irene continued her lament, full of grievance.

“Since you’re a fool, you probably would have laughed and said it was jealousy, right? But, but Marina. Don’t you think it’s strange? The time for me to feel piercingly jealous after hearing just some story about a harmonious family has already passed.”

A single flower, drifting slowly on the water’s surface, was pushed toward Irene and bumped against the shore. Seeing that the flower had drifted all the way to the edge, Irene spoke softly.