Chapter 55: My Answer Might Not Be Accurate
On the second day’s morning, a ray of sunlight illuminated Eveum’s face. However, the face that usually radiated a gentle smile was now filled with numbness. She spent the night in the treehouse without sleeping. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see the faces and hear the voices of those people—setting fire, using knives to harm her.
The souls of the people she had killed seemed to linger, expressing their hatred towards her.
The hatred made Eveum tremble, a mix of anger and fear.
Eveum sat numbly on a stool, her eyelids drooping. She was hungry, but she had no desire to eat anything. In her absent-mindedness, she often saw hallucinations and memories of her past with her mother in the treehouse. She could hear her childhood laughter and her mother’s gentle voice.
Does her usual speaking voice resemble the gentleness of her mother?
Where did her gentle mother ultimately go? Was her mother betrayed like her?
Is it true, as Lilian said, that the fate of witches is always tragic?
“Would I seem strange now?” Evum murmured to herself.
Blood on her face had already coagulated, but Eveum didn’t bother to wipe it away. She felt like doing nothing at the moment.
Eveum just wanted to quietly stay in the treehouse. She feared leaving would attract dreadful individuals who would again set fire. There wasn’t much left here, and she didn’t want to lose even these remnants. The trees around seemed to sense Eveum’s low spirits, gradually withering as their vibrant colors instantly dulled.
The flow of magic was dry, and she could no longer hear the voices of the plants. However, soon she heard footsteps, prompting her to lift her eyelids with difficulty. Their arrival surprised Eveum. She had initially thought that these people wouldn’t come again.
“What about you all…?” Eveum murmured, but for a moment, she didn’t know what to ask.
“Coming to offer condolences?” Ron pondered for a while, still unsure how to phrase it.
Surely, he couldn’t tell Eveum, “I think your house being burned is quite tragic,” that would be dancing on someone else’s wounds, wouldn’t it?
Ron considered himself emotionally intelligent. He couldn’t do something like that. Maintaining a good impression with a lovely girl was crucial.
“Condolences…?” Eveum smiled as usual, but this time, it lacked some tenderness and carried a hint of helplessness. However, now, this smile was a bit less gentle and helpless.
“Ha…” Ron didn’t know how to comfort others, so he could only offer the snacks made by Suduan to Eveum.
It could only be said that he could see that Eveum was forcing a smile now, and anything said to her wouldn’t be very useful. Ron didn’t consider himself a master at therapy through words, capable of unraveling Eveum’s emotional knots with just a few sentences.
“Here, this is made by Susuan.” Ron placed the bamboo basket within Eveum’s reach and said softly.
Eveum had been staying in Fengniao Town for a few days, so she naturally knew Susuan.
“Sweets?” Eveum opened the bamboo basket, pondering for a moment.
It had been a long time since she received a gift from someone else. The last gift she received was a leaf-made sailboat from her mother. And now, that sailboat had turned into ashes in the previous fire.
When Ron returned, he quietly asked Lilian, “Miss Lilian, what should I do now?”
He believed the knowledgeable Miss Lilian would know how to comfort others in distress.
Lilian shook her head, speaking calmly, “I don’t know either.”
She had encountered witches like this more than once, but she still didn’t understand what to do because their hearts were mostly closed, filled with disappointment towards the surroundings.
She also didn’t know what to say in times of human sorrow. As a dragon, she just found everything sad and detestable. All she could say was that the actions of these refugees had lowered Lilian’s already low opinion of humanity even further.
Eveum heard about what Ron had done and suddenly laughed. She wasn’t sure exactly what about Ron’s words tickled her, but she felt much more at ease.
“But it should be okay, right?” Ron tried to reassure her.
Eveum said, “Thank you for your concern, but you should go back for now. I want to be alone for a while.”
Ron might have said this to prevent her from feeling too guilty. Despite that, she appreciated Ron’s concern, but right now, she just wanted to be alone.
Eveum had a sense of fear, afraid that if she spent one less second here, she would forever lose this treehouse. She feared that her memories would be torn into pieces.
“Okay, we won’t disturb you any longer.” Eveum ushered them out, and Ron, of course, wouldn’t linger.
However, before leaving, Ron handed a handkerchief to Eveum. “Remember to wipe your face.”
A face covered in blood would affect Eveum’s appearance, and Ron wouldn’t allow such a thing ᕕ(◠ڼ◠)ᕗ
Ron had these thoughts initially, but he paused when he noticed Eveum’s vacant expression.
Honestly, he couldn’t fully empathize because he wasn’t a witch. If he described Eveum as “pitiful,” he felt it would be disrespectful.
“Do lift your head when you can,” Ron said. “Being a witch is nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Let’s go. Staying any longer would be too disruptive,” he said to the two behind him.
Moluna seemed to want to speak, but Ron made a gesture of silence.
