When the Black Moon Rises - Side Story 21
Side Story 21
Sehwa burst into laughter watching his flustered face.
"Alright. Then just buy one. Just one. Got it?"
"One? One is too..."
"Just one. Understand?"
"Ah, alright. Just a moment."
He nodded and approached the stall again. Then, staring at each sock on it with fierce concentration, he began to choose the one he absolutely had to buy. In between, sounds of utter disbelief constantly flowed out.
"Just how big is a baby to wear something like this? How much do you have to squeeze a newborn's foot to get it in here..."
"No, this is a one-year-old's shoe."
"What? It still fits even after a year? The foot is this small? No, you keep saying strange things, but you have to say something believable."
'So that's why he was looking at baby items in the capital too.'
Indeed, when would Baek Giha have had a chance to see a newborn baby?
Since it would be proven once the child was born anyway, Sehwa momentarily tuned out their conversation.
She ate what was in her hand and looked around at the other stalls for a bit.
She shouldn't have. She shouldn't have taken her attention off Baek Giha for even a moment.
By the time she had finished everything in her hand, having amusingly watched the haggling happening here and there, the whole situation was over.
Sehwa froze upon seeing the handful of things in Baek Giha's hands.
"They say children grow so fast and are so active that even if you have many of these socks, you'll use them all."
"It's true. That merchant said so."
He reported it as if it wasn't his fault at all.
"This is all. I'm going to stop buying now."
Sehwa nodded as if she had no choice.
"Just this. Alright?"
After the child was born, they would return to the Mystic Realm, and there too, there were plenty of people fully prepared to be doting protectors of the child.
So, would they even get to wear all these slippers?
'What's bought is bought, so as long as he doesn't buy more, it'll be fine.'
She thought so simply. It would have been nice if it had ended there, but…….
“……You.”
He hid what was in his hand behind his back and forced a smile. Another bundle of luggage, too large to hide, had been added. As if that wasn't enough, he was also holding a crudely made child's rocking horse and wooden toys in both arms.
“When on earth did you………”
Sehwa, alternating her gaze between the luggage filling his arms and Baek Giha's awkwardly smiling face, said in bewilderment.
"Ah, you bought those slippers with the flower embroidery earlier. And that rocking horse…… We don't even know when the child will be born."
Just as Baek Giha had said he spent some time in his beast form a few months after he was born, there were many variables in the birth of children in the Mystic Realm.
The time a fetus spent in its mother's womb varied depending on the amount of spiritual power it possessed, and if, by any chance, it showed the potential to become a Divine Beast from a young age like Baek Giha, it might transform into its beast form and sleep for several years.
"But come see, this isn't a horse. It's a deer."
"A deer?"
The carved animal figure was so crude that it was impossible to tell whether it was a horse or a deer.
'It doesn't even have antlers, and he calls it a deer?'
Did he want to insist that the two handles stuck near its head were antlers?
"Yes. When I said I liked deer, he showed me, saying he had a deer toy."
"It looks like he just carved it in the shape of a horse to sell to you and called it a deer."
"That merchant, surprisingly, has a lot of different embroideries. Look at this. This one has a tiger embroidered on it, and it's even a white tiger. How could I not buy it?"
"This is a white tiger?"
"And this one is even a dragon. There's a turtle too. How could I just pass by something like this? That's why I bought it. It's a special pattern, isn't it?"
"Then you should have just bought one of each. Why two of the same embroidery?"
"Huh? The same? The eye color of these two is different. This dragon's eyes are purple, and this dragon's are blue. We don't know what color eyes the child will be born with, but wouldn't it be nice if there were slippers matching their eye color ready when they're born?"
"They wouldn't even know what color it is."
"And not just the embroidery, the egg shape here is different too."
"Hmm. Alright… Anyway, this is it. You can't buy any more now. Just this far. Got it?"
“……”
"You really understand, right?"
“Yes.”
But the surrounding merchants had already observed Baek Giha's behavior. The merchants, having figured out this new groom's personality, began their subtle soliciting again.
While one merchant called Sehwa over to distract her, another took Baek Giha aside and actively promoted what he had brought.
From saying he would repack the luggage so the new bride wouldn't see, to persuading him that since he had no hands left to carry things, he would give him another cloth as a gift so he could carry it on his back.
Eventually, when Sehwa looked back at Baek Giha, he was already in a sorry state.
Speechless, she just gaped, and the surrounding merchants and women burst into laughter.
"To dress and shoe all that, the bride will have to give birth to a dozen or so children."
"Ah, the bride is so young and the groom so handsome, what's the big deal? They can just have them!"
Sehwa's cheeks flushed red in front of the women and merchants who were chattering about how they could have twenty children.
Seeing her, the surrounding people burst into laughter all at once again.
Feeling too embarrassed to stay there any longer, Sehwa pulled Baek Giha's hand, but even as he was dragged along, he kept glancing back at the stalls he hadn't fully explored, often hesitating.
Finally, after being slapped on the back by Sehwa once more, he asked a villager as if he had just remembered.
"So where on earth is that miraculous rabbit rock?"
"Oh my, this groom's eyes are burning with the desire to steal the entire rabbit rock. I wonder if it's okay to tell him."
While the villager, after a brief laugh, explained the rock's location to Baek Giha, the woman from yesterday approached Sehwa and checked her complexion.
"You seem to be in good condition, but did you sleep well and eat enough? Shall I give you some more fruit?"
When Sehwa shook her head, saying she was fine, the woman picked up something small from the nearby stall and placed it in Sehwa's hand.
In the process, she ignored the merchant's shout that she had to pay again.
"The mother has to be healthy. That's the most important thing. That's how the whole family can be happy, you know?"
Sehwa looked down at the hand where the woman had placed something. It was a small, crudely carved wooden statue of a mother and child embracing each other.
"That's a famous charm for easy childbirth in this region. Take one. I'll buy it for you."
The woman added in a calm voice, as if remembering her lost child.
"The groom treats you so well, how fortunate. So, newlywed, don't worry about anything, don't even think about whether it's a son or a daughter, just take good care of your own body. Whatever child is born, it will be a very pretty and good child."
Sehwa looked at the woman.
From their first meeting when she had shared so much food.
Considering the precarious security during the drought, even if she was happy to see the village's first guest, she couldn't quite understand why she would pour so much sincerity into a stranger.
“I’m just accumulating my own merits, so you can just accept it. That way, won’t my lost child also go to a warm and happy place?”
The woman said, as if reading her mind.
"The lives saved by the celestials, we must live them without waste. If we do that, someday we'll see my child who went first, and the next-door auntie and others who said they'd take their child with them so they wouldn't get lost, crossing the rainbow bridge."
Interrupting the woman's words, the merchant interjected in a loud voice.
"Ah, you have to pay for the rainbow to appear. You're trying to accumulate merit by robbing me of my innocent goods?"
"Am I going to stiff you? I'm giving it to you because you're being cheap! I bought fabric, shoes, and a blanket, and you're so stingy about giving one tiny charm as a bonus."
"No, it's not about being stingy, but you still have to pay-"
Sehwa, watching the woman and the merchant who had started arguing again, lowered her gaze once more.
Staring at the small wooden statue, she held it out to Baek Giha.
"Why are you giving this to me?"
"They say if I have it, the child and I will both be safe."
"So you should have it."
"You have it. The child and I will both be safe thanks to you."
“……”
"You'll protect us, right?"
“……”
"Thanks to you, we'll all be healthy. So you have it."
Baek Giha, who had been looking down at the wooden statue for a moment just as Sehwa had, nodded slightly. He carefully placed it in his bosom and then stroked the part of his clothes where the statue was.
"What is it? It feels like I received the best thing."
Sehwa also replied cheerfully to his voice, which sounded much happier.
"You too? Me too. I'm glad we came here."
"Yes. So I want to give a gift too, what do you think?"
"Great!"
Checking the sky, the clouds were moderate and the sunlight was clear. Perfect weather to call forth a rainbow.
Her pupils narrowed as she stared at the blue sky for a moment. The existing clouds were sufficient, so there was no need to exert much power.
Soon, with a tap, tap sound, something began to pour down.
"Huh? Oh my! What's this sudden rain!"
The startled merchant hastily swept the goods on the stall into his bag.
"What, rain from a clear sky all of a sudden. Oh dear, everything I put out is getting wet. All wet."
The woman who had been constantly attending to Sehwa also exclaimed in surprise and pulled Sehwa's hand.
"Newlywed, a pregnant woman shouldn't get wet, come here quickly. It'll be a big problem if you catch a cold."
When Sehwa shook her head as if it was alright, the woman pulled her hand a little more strongly.
"You shouldn't underestimate a passing shower. It can be dangerous if your body gets cold."
"It's alright."
"Huh?"
"I said it's alright."
The woman stopped at the reply given while pushing her hand away.
Only then did she seem to realize that Sehwa's body hadn't gotten wet at all in this rain.
“I didn’t realize I wasn’t paying attention to you getting wet. I’m sorry.”
Simultaneously with those words, the raindrops pouring onto the ground shot upwards.
"Uh, uh, uh……."
At that strange sight, the merchants who had been busily packing their goods, and those who had been running to the shade of trees to avoid the shower, froze.
Everyone, without even noticing that their clothes and belongings were suddenly bone dry, followed the raindrops soaring into the air with their eyes.
As if submerged in a lake, looking up at the surface. The water droplets that rose like that filled the air above the village like a membrane.
The shower beating against the vast curtain of water and the brilliant sunlight shining through it.
The entire village sparkled with the light scattered by the water membrane.
At that mystical sight, people couldn't even groan, just staring at the sky.
“Your child will go to a good place.”
“……Huh, yes?”
The woman, who had been staring at the mystical water membrane with her mouth agape, lowered her gaze towards where the sound came from.
There, Sehwa, having released her transformation, and an enormous White Tiger with piercing blue eyes, which had appeared at some point, were present.
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