Welcome to the Demon’s Cabin - Chapter 30

“Yeah. I won’t lie to you. Of course, I still miss my parents. I often think of the villagers too… But even if it’s as vivid as if it were yesterday, in the end, it’s a past event.”

She believed it was certainly not something that should cause her emotions to rise to the point where it was this hard to control herself.

“Is it because being with Mr. Idris makes him feel like a villager? Is that why everything feels so vivid? Marina… I don’t really know.”

She stretched her hand out into the water, but she never grasped the solid hand that had been embedded with scales. The same went for the beautiful, longing singing voice. The only sounds spreading under this night sky were the annoying noises of monsters and the occasional sound of grass insects.

“I don’t want to think about complicated things like this either. But what if I’m just living without a thought and get angry like this again? What if I can’t hold back my anger? What if I lose my mind and end up hurting Mr. Idris?”

She wasn’t that lacking in self-control, but there was always a one-in-a-million chance.

“I don’t want that…”

She had grown too accustomed to life with Idris during that time. A daily life with a companion was so addictive that it wasn’t easy to let go.

Although she said the ending was fixed, she didn’t want it right now. She wanted to be together for as long as possible.

“You’d ask if I could just bring someone else if that person dies, wouldn’t you? Marina, Marina… You foolish little sister. Would that even work? There isn’t a human who doesn’t faint at the sight of me. And certainly no human who plays along with me so calmly and tactfully. Besides, you know I can’t leave this mountain.”

It was a promise and a deal with That Person. It was something she could never break.

Irene stared intently at a spot deep in the lake. This dark silence was becoming harder to bear. She felt like a fish out of water, gasping for breath. Agitated by the still-unresponsive ripples, she cried out as if screaming.

“This is all because you’re not here! Because you foolishly got caught and died! Because you didn’t listen to me and went out again saying you’d hunt humans!”

With a face distorted as if she were about to cry, Irene whispered in a small voice.

“If only you hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have been alone…”

Marina wasn’t a human; she was just an unusual Siren. That Person might have turned a blind eye to her finding out things and confiding in Marina.

“I miss you. Marina…”

The name Irene had given her was breathed into the dark night. Grass and soil were crushed within her tightly clenched white hands.

‘I had a being like you, too. Someone who loved me and laughed for me no matter what I did.’

‘Even if she wasn’t human, she was a girl who knew how to think. So, I wasn’t abandoned by everyone… It wasn’t that I had no choice but to be alone.’

Irene gritted her teeth, repeating it to herself. As she spoke to the bone fragments buried beneath the lake, the reason she had been angry at Idris’s words began to become clear. She didn’t want to face it. It was such a filthy feeling.

“Hey, Marina.”

Irene leaned forward as if about to fall into the lake and whispered a small secret.

“If I see you again, I’ll never say anything to you ever again. No matter what you eat or what you do, I won’t get angry. I won’t be sarcastic either. Fine, I won’t even say a word if you eat that man…! You like exactly that kind of person. A handsome, young man. He’s the most handsome man I’ve seen, right after the Crown Prince. You’d be surprised if you saw him too.”

She would have really, really liked him. She would have splashed around excitedly while curving those round, glowing red eyes. She wondered what Idris’s reaction would be if he were caught by her. Since she had never seen Idris completely terrified or horrified, it wasn’t easy to imagine.

“……”

Naturally, no answer came back.

Irene took several deep breaths, finally calming her irregular breathing. A cool, refreshing wind tickled her cheeks. It was a cozy touch, entirely different from the salty sea breeze she used to feel with Marina.

The endless sea and horizon were gone now. All that was before her eyes was a single small lake. A hollow laugh burst from Irene’s lips.

After giving the white flower stopped in front of her a light flick with her finger, she stood up, brushing off her dress.

Irene, who seemed to be turning away to the cabin without lingering, suddenly stopped and looked back. The ripples of the lake were still as calm as could be.

“……Goodbye, Marina.”

Finally, she let out a small sigh and moved her feet toward the distant cabin.

* * *

“Mr. Idris, do we really have to go this far?”

‘There are still so many clothes I haven’t finished making. This isn’t the time for this.’

Irene, who had been kneeling on all fours in the grass carefully inspecting leaves, suddenly whipped her head up.

“There is no choice if we want to save on food.”

Idris replied weakly in a drooping voice as if he were infinitely regretful, and then began to peer intently at the mushrooms growing next to a tree. In the mesh bag placed beside him were some white things and a few berries he had gathered from somewhere.

Indeed. She was currently trapped in a swamp of forced foraging marathons, all because of Idris, who had gone mad with the fear of hunger.