Chapter 141: My Guardian Deity (7) (2/2)
“…”
It was then. A different breathing sound suddenly reached his ears and made him look behind. The small shoulders and the long strands of hair covering her shoulders were shivering restlessly.
BY was sobbing.
“What are you doing.”
“Be quiet. You’re seriously annoying… Do you think, you’re like, my guardian deity or something?”
With a voice drenched in sorrow, BY cried under her breath.
“If we’re nothing special… Why would you try so hard to bring me back. Why.”
“…”
“Why did you bleed so much… what’s with that arrow on your knee? What’s with the hole on your chest and why aren’t you saying anything? If you came here after all that effort, why would you hide it and pretend like it’s nothing. Even I would be in pain so why are you…”
BY retched her words out in sorrow.
“You’re nothing special to me… so why are you trying so hard to save me…”
Then, she began picking up the fragments of the broken soup from the ground and pushed them into her mouth.
They were covered in dirt and were dirty but BY ignored that and pushed them into her mouth, again and again. Endlessly.
“Sorry…”
She tearily mumbled.
If he had consoled her back then,
Would the fourth iteration have gone differently?
“I think I’m the problem… I don’t know why I’m like this. Sorry… I’m just so scared of someone hating me…”
Like a broken dam, she endlessly poured out tears. Despite wiping them with both her hands, her teardrops did not stop.
She shoved so many soup fragments that she had to cough and clear her throat in between, but she continued nonetheless while crying.
“It’s just, because I’m so, so weak… I’m sorry… I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”
Until the end, he didn’t say anything.
“Ah. I’m so creepy… Why is it so…”
BY, who had been pushing those cold fragments into her mouth for a long time, once again covered her face and sobbed.
“So damn tasty… I must be crazy. For real…”
Back then, he didn’t have the wisdom of hugging a crying child.
***
“It’s strange…”
Kaeul blankly opened her mouth after having the soup for some time.
“What is.”
“I was thinking ‘there’s no way’ when I first ate this, you know?”
“Yeah.”
“But it’s so strange the more I eat it. This is extremely similar to the one mother used to make for me.”
“Is it.”
“Yes. I love it… How did you make this? To say it’s a coincidence, it’s so so similar…”
With a vacant gaze, she continued bringing the soup into her mouth for a long time.
He stood there without leaving the room, and watched her eat. Kaeul, who usually had large bites, was currently having small amounts of soup at an extremely slow rate.
And suddenly, she opened her mouth as a slightly sunken voice left her mouth.
“Ahjussi.”
“Why.”
“Before, by mistake I… No, I mean, I made a mistake.”
“…”
“Sorry. I will go tomorrow and sincerely apologise to them.”
“Right.”
“I almost killed… someone… Sorry.”
“I know.”
“He, he suddenly came closer and I was super surprised so unconsciously I…… But whatever I say, it’s nothing but an excuse…”
“…”
Sorrow appeared on her face.
“My hands still shiver whenever I think back to what happened…”
“…”
“Our gold race is really close to humans… Maybe that’s also why…”
“…”
“But I really wanted to protect Chirpy. He was like, frightened and was shivering. How can I send him away. Can you do it, ahjussi?”
“…”
“I couldn’t do it… No, actually, I don’t know. Everything is just, my fault…”
Tears were formed beneath her golden eyes.
“I’m this child’s guardian, aren’t I. I’m his guardian deity…”
In Askalifa, gold dragons were worshipped as guardian deities of their respective countries.
“Even if he makes a mistake, a guardian deity shouldn’t make any mistakes right… How can a guardian deity make mistakes…”
He crouched down next to the child sitting on the chair. From below the child, he gazed up at her and opened his mouth.
“You did well.”
“I did well? I almost made a really big mistake…”
“It’s alright. You can make mistakes but you protected the baby chicken.”
“I almost killed a person though…?”
“Yeah. But you didn’t. You just have to be more careful from now on.”
If he had more wisdom on how to treat other people in the fourth iteration, he wouldn’t have made any mistakes. Kaeul’s concerns shared a percentage of the doubt Yu Jitae used to have in the past.
Back then, no-one gave advice to Yu Jitae.
And he ended up repeating those mistakes.
“It’s okay to make mistakes.”
“Yes…”
“I’ll help you.”
“…”
While crying, Kaeul shoved the soup into her mouth. But due to her tears, she was unable to eat properly and was spilling half the soup.
He took several napkins out and handed them over to the child. Kaeul received those napkins and wiped her mouth.
“Thank you…”
She once again became teary-eyed.
“Maybe ahjussi, is my guardian deity…”
***
Kaeul blankly laid down next to the baby chicken. Without leaving her room, he sat down on the bed next to her.
Seemingly in a better mood after crying, she was just blankly staring at the baby chicken. Yu Jitae watched her, before placing his hand over her hair.
Following a strange urge to do so, he patted the child’s head. Following the lines from her forehead, his hand caressed over the gold strands of hair.
While he was awkwardly moving his hand, Kaeul opened her mouth.
“Nnn~ How did you know I liked having my hair caressed? It feels good.”
Without a response, he continued with what he was doing for a long period of time. At some point in time, her eyes slowly came to a close as she mumbled right before going to sleep.
“By the way ahjussi. It feels slightly weird, you know…?”
Feeling his touch, Kaeul mumbled without even thinking.
“It feels like my mum…”