CHAPTER 66: find someone else

We followed the road until it was no longer visible for the humans due to the darkness. The horses were exhausted and small bits of foam were dripping from the corner of their mouths.

Yet we came really far today. If we were to continue this pace, we would reach mount Oe maybe in one or two days.

I made a small fire to warm the humans that had spent twenty minutes trying to do it themselves in a way that almost seemed sad.

I would have let them struggle for a longer period of time if not for Oiwa who was trembling all over due to the cold. She didn't deserve to be caught up in the small quarrels that I had with Raiko and Yorimitsu.

Eventually the two men went to bed and I was left to watch over them since I didn't need to sleep as much as much as they do.

I was sitting on the ground and staring at the bright flames that were dancing on a beat that no one could hear.

Soft footsteps approached me from behind. I didn't even need to look up to be able to tell that it was Oiwa. Eventually se stopped to sit down next to me.

She played her soft hand on my shoulder.

"I would really like to thank you for what you did today."

I gave a low grunt. "what do you want to thank me for? Killing two men?"

She moved closer to me. if she were to lean only a little to the left, she would be leaning on me. The small distance between us made me a verry uncomfortable.

She also turned to face the fire and cleared her throat. " you know, I grew up in Yotsuya. My father was a samurai without a master. We barely had enough money to get around due to that. My husband, Tamiya Iemon, wasn't rich either. He was never a good husband. He stole, lied, and scammed people for money. I wanted to leave him so bad. But then my father died. Iemon told me that he was murdered and that he would avenge him if I didn't go through with the divorce."

She paused for a moment, to wipe away a few tears. With a shaking voice she continued .

"How could I have said no? so, I stayed with him. Soon after I gave birth to a son and fell ill. But the doctor only gave me a false medicine that scared my face. After that, my husband met the rich granddaughter of that doctor and left me for her. As it turned out, she had been in love with him for years. To make matters worse, I found out that it actually was Iemon that killed my father. My whole reason for staying with him was based on a lie! Eventually I snapped and killed my husband, his new wife, and the doctor. I lost my child in the prosses."

I glared at her from the corner of my eye. "Why are you telling me this?"

She wiped away the last trace of the tears she just shed from her face. She gave a soft, warm smile and leaned on my shoulder. "I was tricked by everyone. My husband killed my father to stay with me, only to leave me when he was seduced by the granddaughter of the doctor. And I'm sure that the doctor gave me that fake medicine on purpose. In the end, humans are full of betrayal. But you, you are not human. you defended me. you did more for me in mere minutes than what my sad excuse for a husband did in his whole life. Maybe… I'm willing to try again."

I moved a little away from her. I did not like where this was going at all. But in an instant, she overcame the distance I just made between us.

"What do you say. Are you willing to let me try again?"

"No!"

She was shocked by my answer and stared at me in confusion. "Why not?"

I frowned and bared my teeth. This made her back away out of instinct.

"If you want to try again do it with your own species! I have other things on my mind than this."

"W, wat do you mean?"

I could see the sadness and hopelessness in her eyes as she wanted to make sure that I said what she thought I just said. I understood a part of her pain. So, I decided to give her a more complete answer.

"A few months ago, my whole life was turned upside down. Things happened that made me question my verry being. That time I lost just as much, if not more than you! So, I get that you are trying to find comfort in others. But you need to find someone else. You will never heal if you try to avoid humans because not all of them are perfect. You need to find a human that you can trust, one that can teach you that not all of them are bad. And love that one with your whole heart. Nothing will get better if you come to me with things like this!"

"I… understand."

She looked like one bundle of sadness after I rejected her. And I felt verry sorry for her. But to be fair, I was glad that she gave up so easily.

Despite her beauty, she was at least then to fifteen years older than me. the mentioning of that child in her story only highlighted that fact. She of course couldn't know that she was that much older than me. after all, I was not human.

With all of that adding up. A relationship like that wouldn't be healthy for both of us.

"Oiwa, you should go get some sleep. We will reach mount Oe tomorrow or the day after. It will be best for you to be in top condition when we get there."

She didn't respond and walked over to where she would sleep.