Chapter 35 [Elvie's Past/Young Couple...]
Elvie's story isn't particularly dramatic; it's just a small microcosm of the drought.
In this precarious disaster, no one knows when they will become a dried-up corpse lying on a dried-up riverbed.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to live.
But what Elvie hated was that her father, in order to survive, had sold her mother, who had toiled for most of her life, to a passing merchant.
To give birth to such a renowned beauty as Elvie, Elvie's mother must have been exceptionally beautiful herself. Even though she had done hard and tiring farm work since childhood, and her hands were covered with frostbite and large and small healed cuts, her face, which was etched with several wrinkles, was still captivating when she smiled.
When helping Elvie's father negotiate with the merchant, he also asked for two extra large bags of potatoes.
Watching her so-called father and brother enjoying the roasted potatoes with gusto, Elvie felt a surge of nausea. She couldn't eat a single bite of the food she had bought by selling her mother.
"Can't eat? Then go hungry!" Elvie's father sneered, then snatched the potato from her hand, peeled it, and put it into his own mouth.
Elvie lowered her eyes, concealing the disgust in them, and began to consider the possibility of escaping this home.
The drought was endless; her father could sell her mother today, and he could sell her tomorrow. Elvie could not just sit idly by and wait for that day to come.
But where can they escape to?
Elvie discreetly observed the refugees passing by the village entrance from time to time. Their hometowns were in far worse condition than Elvie's village, which was why they had no choice but to leave with their families.
Elvie learned from them that most of them came from a more western direction, meaning that going west was absolutely out of the question.
As for the south, the situation there is not much better.
I heard that unrest has broken out in several territories to the south. Since people are going to either starve or die of thirst anyway, they might as well risk their lives to rob noble estates. If they can get a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine, they can see the sun rise tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or even the day after that.
Upon hearing this news, Elvie clutched her shrunken belly, rolled over on the straw, and decided to grit her teeth and head north.
Two days later, seeing the last two potatoes go into her father's and brother's mouths, Elvie knew that her escape should be put on the agenda.
Taking advantage of her father's secret trip to contact a grain merchant, Elvie knocked out her younger brother who was guarding the door with a wooden stick, took the few clothes she had, and strode away from the village.
The wind that whipped her hair and sleeves carried her forward, as if she had wings under her feet. She crossed dry streams and climbed rugged mountains, getting further and further away from the village where she was born and raised. She even crossed the edge of the viscount's territory under the cover of night and arrived at the territory of another lord.
Along the way, when Elvie got hungry, she would pick leaves, wash away the insects and other things with mud, and then stuff them into her mouth. The roots and stems of the plants contained a small amount of sap, which could quench Elvie's thirst.
In short, it was probably a stroke of luck, and Elvie chose the most remote mountain paths to walk all the way to the mountains near White Pine Town, yet she was not caught by anyone.
By this time, Elvie's shoes were worn out, her hair was disheveled and hanging down her back, and she smelled of something that hadn't been washed in a long time.
Therefore, when Elvie saw a clean stream in front of her, even though the water only barely reached her ankles, her eyes lit up.
However, after cautiously observing her surroundings and confirming that there were no dangerous animals nearby, and that she had not heard any human footsteps, she finally felt relieved enough to take off her apron, lie on her side by the stream, scoop up water with her hands, and pour it over herself to wipe away the grime that had accumulated over time.
Now that she had finally found a water source, Elvie decided to stay. After all, she was practically homeless, and she had to be careful not to let anyone discover that she was a refugee who had escaped from another territory. Otherwise, if they tied her up and handed her over to the lord, she would only have the option of becoming a slave.
Elvie would rather starve to death on this mountain than face the prospect of food.
Fortunately, things weren't as bad as Elvie had imagined. She not only found a hidden cave, but also picked bunches of bright yellow fruit.
Aside from making Elvie's face contort with sourness, at least it actually filled her stomach.
At night, Elvie laboriously placed a large, leafy branch across the cave entrance.
This branch was something she had searched for a long time to find; it could block two-thirds of the hole and also keep out any wild animals that might suddenly break in.
Finally, Elvie got the best sleep she'd had after more than a month of traveling.
Several days passed in this way, and Elvie had almost completely adapted to life in the mountains. In the morning, she would move the branches aside and search for wild fruits and grasses to eat, then wrap a bag of stream water in a leaf and return to the cave. In the afternoon, Elvie would search for wild ramie to see if there was any way to make a new dress.
Otherwise, who knows how long she could wear those few old clothes she took with her.
However, even if she found wild ramie, she still had to go through a series of troublesome processes such as soaking and softening it, and peeling it. Fortunately, these were all tasks that Elvie was used to doing at home. At least now she only needed to work for her own survival, instead of being bossed around to serve others.
Elvie felt a long-lost sense of satisfaction.
She wished life could continue peacefully like this.
Therefore, before falling asleep again, Elvie chose to pray to the gods—although Elvie did not believe that the gods the church spoke of truly existed, otherwise how could there be so much suffering in the world, Elvie did not know who else she could pray to besides the gods.
A king? That's too far-fetched, like a big shot you only see in old bedtime stories.
Lord? Give me a break. It's precisely because he collects exorbitant taxes every year that the Elvie family can never save enough money to start a small business.
Father? The one who should have been seen as the authority figure in the family, now, just thinking of his face still makes Elvie want to vomit.
In short, it's best to choose the highest and most supreme deity who has never actually harmed her.
If Elvie could have foreseen what would happen three days from now, she would probably tell herself now, "See, the gods really don't exist, and your prayers didn't work."
Three days later, you will accidentally catch a cold. Fortunately, for now you will only feel chills and weakness in your limbs, and it will not develop into a high fever. In order to avoid further aggravation of your condition, while you can still walk, you try to find herbs that can treat colds. As a result, you do not have time to avoid a stranger. His name is Wipdo Gholak, the son of a doctor in White Pine Town.
*
It was too hot, and Mela, unusually, didn't have her usual good appetite. In the evening, she only drank a large bowl of tomato soup and ate a few meatballs.
As night deepened and the moon hung high in the sky, the cabin was so quiet you could almost hear a pin drop when a soft rustling sound came from the rocking chair.
Mela carefully turned over.
She clutched her empty stomach and began to regret that she had only eaten so little for dinner.
At this moment, I felt an emptiness in my stomach, which was very unbearable.
Thinking of this, Mela quietly got up, followed the moonlight to the place where food was usually stored, and casually touched it, pulling out a potato covered in mud.
"Fine, let's try another one," Mela tossed the potato back and then pulled out an eggplant.
Mela had no choice but to put the eggplant back in its original place.
He reached in again and unexpectedly pulled out a handful of chili peppers.
Even though Mela quickly let go, the lingering chili smell on her hand still made her choke several times, and tears almost welled up in her eyes.
Having finally stopped coughing, Mela quickly looked in Silas's direction, and sure enough, Silas was fast asleep.
Looking at Lex sleeping in the other corner, his face was equally serene, as if he had sunk into a deep dream.
Mela then turned back and searched through a different bag.
Hopefully, this time she can find something she wants that can be eaten raw.
Behind her, noticing Mela's gaze leave his face, Lex quietly opened his eyes a crack.
Seeing that Mela had searched for a long time without finding anything, Lex closed his eyes again and began to consider whether he should try to give her a hint, such as moving the top sack on her right side, where there were several apples in the wooden box underneath.
Before Lex could figure out how to alert Mela without her noticing that he had already woken up, his nose was suddenly pinched.
Lex suddenly opened his eyes.
He met Mela's smiling face.
“You noticed I was awake just now,” Lex said confidently, though his usually deep and elegant voice sounded muffled because Mela hadn’t moved her hand away.
This made Mela's smile deepen.
Mela chuckled softly twice, then explained her reasoning, "With your hearing, it would be strange if I hadn't woken you up by such a loud noise, would it?"
Mela had already witnessed it; thirteen-year-old Lex could hear a deer leaping through the grass fifty meters away.
Therefore, the moment Mela saw Lex sleeping peacefully, she felt something was wrong.
However, she pretended not to notice that Lex was pretending to be asleep and turned back on her own. In reality, after Lex closed his eyes again, she tiptoed to Lex's side without making a sound.
Seeing that Lex had stopped pretending, Mela let go of his hand and handed him the apple she had been hiding behind her back.
She was also holding an apple and eating it herself.
Lex sat up, took the apple, but only rubbed the skin, showing no intention of eating it.
Mela didn't care about him. If Silas had woken up at that moment, she would have prepared an apple for him too.
Listening to Mela crunching on an apple beside him, Lex strangely felt a sense of relaxation.
"Are you worried that the drought will really come?" Mela suddenly asked.
She was always so perceptive, as if understanding people's hearts was her instinct.
So much so that Lex sometimes wondered whether the things Mela didn't say were well concealed by him or if Mela was deliberately pretending not to know.
“Hmm.” Lex nodded gently.
"Don't worry, there's no use in worrying. After all, even I can't stop things from happening." Mela finished eating the apple, holding the thin stem, letting the remaining core slowly spin in front of her eyes.
It's nothing more than gritting your teeth and facing it head-on.
Lex fell silent.
Mela smiled and said, "Of course, I know you're not worried about the drought affecting our life in the cabin."
If a drought were to truly strike one day, where could one possibly escape its calamity? It would probably be this vast, dark forest. With its abundant food and plentiful water sources, there's no way it could fail to survive.
In contrast, in other parts of the kingdom, large families barely survived under the lord's rule, and if anything unexpected happened, they seemed to have no choice but to pray for the mercy of the powerful figures above them.
But would those nobles, who have always disregarded commoners, really care about their lives?
The deaths of hundreds or thousands of people might not be a big deal to the nobles, since once these lower-class people recover, they will start having an endless stream of children, and their children will continue to provide a life of luxury for the highest-ranking nobles.
That's why Mela said that Lex's worries were useless, because compared to natural disasters, the real cause of the massacres was man-made disaster.
If the nobles were willing to forgo the wine poured out at all-night balls and the food laid out on long tables, it wouldn't be difficult for them to help their people survive a drought.
“You’re right.” Lex had to admit that unless he became king, he could issue his orders with absolute authority. Otherwise, even if he remained in the palace as the esteemed crown prince, he would only be able to watch the tragedy unfold helplessly.
Perhaps, in order to prevent him from appearing in front of the ministers, Elia and Antonio will fight tooth and nail against his ideas.
Now that he's no longer an obstacle, perhaps Elijah will do some genuine good deeds for the common people in order to promote her son.
"Thank you, Mela." Lex gathered his thoughts and couldn't help but turn to thank Mela.
While he was deep in thought, Mela had already fallen asleep on his blanket.
Her face was serene, and the moonlight climbed over her high nose bridge to the side of her face that was turned away from Lex, illuminating her slightly trembling eyelashes.
Like a butterfly breathing.
Lex couldn't help but hold his breath.
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