The Story of Gothic Lady Who Met a Grave Keeper in Another World - Chapter 23

‘Eri is going to stay here, Thorden.”

?Thorden, who had fled to his workroom and was in the process of assembling the dismembered corpse that had been run over by the wagon, turned around in shock when Sciuto unceremoniously stepped into his work area.

He turned to Sciuto and said, “That’s a lie.”

“Why would I go to the trouble of telling such a lie? Good for you, Thorden. She truly believes you will give up your ownership of her and send her out as a free person.”

“Oh, of course she does!?I’m not going to tie her down here.”

“You won’t. You’d be in trouble if you did.”

Me?

“Well, you’re in trouble. That young lady is going to work for me, you know. She sewed that dress herself. I’m having her write down the tools needed to make the dress. One of those dresses will earn you enough for a few years of simple needlework.?If I can make and sell three or so dresses, together with the bounty for information from the previous world, She’ll be well on her way to citizenship.”

?Looking somewhat vaguely at Scuito, who was speaking happily, Thorden repeated, “Citizenship …….”

?It’s not a surprise.

?It’s been that way from the beginning, and Thorden knows it, of course.

?He was just a humble gravedigger who was providing a place for Eri to live until she could buy her citizenship.

?But what is this restless feeling?

“I’m going to borrow the dress Eri is wearing today and show it as a sample to a young lady I know. If she wants something similar, I’ll take her measurements and have Eri make her a dress. Well, to be honest, it would be easier to just pull up to my mansion to do that, but … Eri says it’s more comfortable here.”

Comfortable?

”Because you’re harmless.”

“Harmless…”

?Like an idiot, he repeats Scuito’s words.

?He can’t understand what Sciuto is saying, even though they are using the same language.

?There was no way she could ever feel comfortable with the grave keeper.

?If you ask him if he is harmless or not, of course, he doesn‘t mean any harm – but he doesn’t know if he is harmless to Eri.

?Thorden suddenly brushed his lips.

?The reddish-black, oxidized, fishy smell of the corpse hit his nose because he was doing such a thing with the hand that had been fiddling with the corpse.

?Not caring, Thorden licked the blood off his lips with his tongue and spat it out on the floor with his saliva.

?It tasted bad.

?But if it was Eli’s blood, it would be so pleasing, he would drink it all up.

?Oh, look, here it is.

?This is how he is thinking now.

“…… Scioto.”

“Hmm?”

” Do Gravekeepers … they …”

Do they eat a living person?

?Yes, I almost asked the question, but I stepped back just in time.

?If he asked such a question, Sciuto would surely take Eri away from Thorden.

?Maybe he should let him take her away.

?He couldn’t come up with the words, even though his rational mind was telling him, all kinds of things.

?

“Gravekeeper, they are…… harmless …… or ……?”, he asked, barely.

?Sciuto was a little worried.

?he replies, “I don’t know.”

But Eri believes he is harmless.

 “What’s so bad about being a gravedigger??It’s a necessary job. Apparently, manipulating corpses and being tied to a cemetery is no big deal to her.”

?Shrugging his shoulders, Scuito looked around the blood-soaked workroom.

 “That’s horrifying …… I think you’re horrifying, Thorden. No matter how harmless I know you are, I can’t help but find the grave keepers horrifying.”

“… Yeah.”

“But I can tell you this. If you ever do anything to harm Eti, who believes in you, the gravedigger…”

“Execute me. A gravedigger cannot choose suicide.”, Thorden said.

?Scuito nodded without expression and turned his back to Thorden.

‘In the name of the Librarian, I’ll kill you quickly first, and then I’ll issue the execution order.”

++ +

‘

?After Sciuto left, Thorden continued to dispose of the bodies in the workroom.

?Eri never went near this room, and only when he was here, could he forget his strange appetite.

?He can remember that he is the gravedigger and that he should not go near Eri.

That’s it, and yet.

“Thorden, Thorden.”, he heard a voice calling out for him from behind the door.

?That alone sent a shiver through his body.

?Had she come into his house again without his permission? Why had she come so close to him after he had gone to the trouble of building her a new house?

?Why did she want to stay with this gravedigger?

?There must have been a glorious world out there.

?Scuito would love to talk to her.

?Fear, appetite, nausea, rapture, all at once and he can’t help it.

?I’m going to lose it.

?Thorden looks at his hands.

?They are covered in the blood of corpses.

?If Eri sees him like this…

?If she sees it this…

?Would she hate him this time?

?Thorden opened the door.

?Eri, probably not expecting Thorden to be in the workroom, turned around and stared at him for a moment, standing there silently, covered in blood.

?Wordlessly, she looked alternately at the apple in her hands – Scuito must have left it there – and at Thorden.

?He thought she was going to scream, but Eri quietly put the apple on the table and walked briskly to the kitchen.

?She returned with a w*t cloth in her hand and wiped Thorden’s face with it.

?She then wiped his bloodstained hands and offered the apple again.

?The words were faltering.

?Thorden wondered if Sciuto had taught her that.

?Reaching for the offered apple, Thorden grabbed Eri’s wrist further down the road.

?The apple fell to the floor.

?He doesn‘t know what he wants.

?He just wanted to taste the lips, the tongue, the saliva. Just this once.

?I want to know what it tastes like.