Chapter 10: Put on a happy face

Riven began to live with the old woman and her husband after being taken in.

At first, I thought they took in Riven because they felt sorry for her wandering around without a place to go, but later, after hearing them call Riven their dieda (daughter), I changed my mind.

They had completely accepted Riven. Not just her body, but even her heart, they already thought of Riven as their own child.

Frankly speaking, I didn’t know that the old woman would accept Riven to this extent. Who would accept a complete stranger as their own child? Even though she was from an enemy country.

Knowing this fact, Riven came to trust them quite a bit.

A few days after living with the old woman, she said that she couldn’t just stay still, so she voluntarily went out to help with the farm work.

Thanks to that, I was able to meet her every weekend and talk to her. There were also a few things that I had to do less.

The main thing we talked about was the language of Ionia. There were several dialects in Ionia, and each dialect had subtle differences in pronunciation from the common Ionian language, so she asked me about various words.

Of course, she would also ask the old woman, but it seemed that she asked me more often when she was with me, perhaps because she was awkward.

Thinking that I couldn’t stay like this, I decided to invite her to my house. After thinking about it, I thought that in order to resolve this awkward atmosphere, we had to become closer to each other.

Of course, it was also to show off our cute Set. She had never seen Set before because I would put Set to sleep at home before helping with the farm work.

At first, Riven was reluctant to come to my house, but when the old woman told her to go and come back, she reluctantly agreed.

Old woman, what are you really…

As soon as I returned to our house with Riven, I showed her Set. Fortunately, Set wasn’t fully awake, so he was drowsy, so he didn’t react much even though there was a face he was seeing for the first time.

I handed Set to Riven, who was frozen after seeing Set. Then she was flustered, but when I went to make Set’s baby food, she had no choice but to stay in that state.

Set, who is now 4 months old, is said to be at the age where he should stop breastfeeding and start baby food. However, because he is still young, I am feeding him a little bit of plain rice gruel without seasoning.

When I put it on a spoon, cool it down so that it is easy to eat, and put it in Set’s mouth, Set puts it in his mouth, chews it, and then swallows it down his throat.

Riven, who was watching that scene, was looking at Set with a somewhat curious look, so I asked her if she would like to feed him herself.

At first, she refused, saying she was okay, but when I recommended her several more times, she accepted the spoon I handed her with a reluctant expression.

But at the same time, I could see a slight anticipation on her face. She probably hasn’t been with such a young child before.

She carefully put the spoon into Set’s mouth. Set seemed to be eating well, but suddenly he spat out the rice gruel in his mouth. Because of that, rice grains splattered on Riven’s face, and she didn’t seem to understand this situation due to Set’s sudden action.

That look was like a rabbit that was so surprised that it froze, so I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

Riven couldn’t understand this situation for a while, so she had no choice but to stand there as it was.

“How was it?”

When Riven regained her senses and returned to the old woman’s house, I asked her out of the blue.

“What are you talking about?”

“Set. What do you think of him?”

It was a question I wanted to ask her at least once. She made a troubled expression at my words, thought for a moment, and then answered me.

“I just… I thought he was cute.”

“Is that so? That’s a relief~.”

Fortunately, she didn’t seem to feel any negative emotions after seeing Set. That’s right, who would say they hate our cutie Set after seeing him.

Thinking that, I told her the real reason why I brought her to our house this time.

“Then how are you now? What do you think about yourself?”

When I said those words, she looked at me with widened eyes. She probably didn’t understand why I said those words now.

To her, I told her what I had felt after seeing her for the past month.

“You don’t seem to have forgiven yourself yet. Even though the people around you have forgiven you.”

Her face fell when she heard my words. She probably recalled the things she had done on this land in the past.

Whenever she was called daughter by the old woman, a subtle sense of guilt would appear on her face. Comparing her past actions with her present, she seemed to have coldly thought that she didn’t deserve the treatment she was receiving now.

I didn’t want to see her suffering any more, and I didn’t want to see the old woman’s face saddened by seeing her, so I said to her.

“The things you’ve done won’t disappear from this land. But you’re carrying your sins to an excessive degree. There’s a saying like this.

Blind faith harms the mind
Blind loyalty harms life.

Your past was a path given to someone else. So from now on, go on your own path yourself.”

She wouldn’t have known until she came here. How much precious things war takes away. So I had no choice but to say these words to her with a gloomy face.

“Put on a smiling face. Then everything will be alright.”

I said, bringing my hand to her mouth.

Small droplets of water fall on the back of my hand. I hugged her and patted her on the back.

She burst into tears. Was it because of the difficult days of the past? She sobbed in my arms for a while. I kept holding her like that.

When her crying subsided, I told her my story. She was surprised by my past after hearing why I was raising Set alone in this rural area where there were only old women.

Looking at her like that, I smiled. The past of this body was not important to me. The current I was living for Set.

Riven, seeing my smiling face, remembered the story I had told her earlier, and she gave me a smile that was still awkward.

Yeah. You look good with that smiling face. There will be difficult things that will torment you in the future, but I hope you live without forgetting your original self.

Because your broken heart can be fixed again.