The summer sun shone bright, the light made the snow glow white.
Violet was outside sitting with her friends, she smiled happily, oblivious to what was happening in her home.
**
The summer came a month ago, the icy storms had passed but the cold didn't.
The night when the Winterbeast attacked the village, Garrett saved and killed the monster.
Though even if he saved his family, he paid a significant price.
The horns had pierced the bones and nerves of Garrett's right hand and left leg.
Garrett came home covered in blood, with bandages wrapped around his body.
Maria, the moment she looked at Garrett, the color drained from her face.
The man she loved and thought of as the strongest lay powerless.
The arms she held in the darkest night, in the toughest of times, now had no movement in them.
The legs that walked together carrying her and their daughter now didn't even have warmth.
She dropped to her knees and crawled to Garrett, the tears weren't coming out, her jaws trembled, she touched her husband's face but asked him...
"Garrett, open your eyes... What are you doing? There is nothing in this world that can hurt you, so open your eyes.
Don't do this to me." Maria held her face close to him, she felt his breath slow and cold.
The two guards who brought him here kneeled in front of her and shared the grim news.
"We have given him necessary treatment. Unfortunately, the attack from the monster had severed the bones and nerves, and the rotting flesh on the horns made the injuries marred.
The monster's corrupt miasma has infected the mana circuit and completely destroyed the function of two limbs. The infected mana circuit will also affect his body.
The pain along with aftereffects might be severe. We apologize," the men said.
Maria looked at them in anger. "Why didn't you help him?"
"We are only here to protect Lady Violet, forgive us—"
"Get out—" Maria whispered. They didn't hear it well, they stood there thinking about what she just said...
"Get out!" she cried out.
The men looked at each other and then vanished.
Violet, who was hiding under the cellar, climbed up. There she saw Garrett lying in Maria's arms and Maria wailing in agony. She ran to Garrett and started crying.
She never imagined, even in her worst nightmare, seeing her papa lying lifeless like this.
She held him tightly as if loosening her grip would make her papa go away.
That night both of them cried until the reality sank in. Violet fell into a deep sleep.
"Maria..." A hoarse, muffled voice touched Maria's ear. She slowly looked up and saw Garrett's eyes looking at Violet.
"I blundered, didn't I?" Garrett's eyes had nothing but a hollow gaze.
When Maria heard this, her heart twisted in pain. She hugged him tightly and kissed him.
"No, you protected us... Don't ever regret it, neither will I." Maria promised herself at that moment:
Whatever happens now, she will do everything in her power and beyond to preserve everything Garrett has protected until now.
The morning came, and Garrett lay on his bed, silent.
The chief decided to hold a meeting close to Garrett's home.
Garrett was carried out by two men and sat on a log.
He had woken up, but he had lost the movement in his arms and legs.
The chief and the villagers discussed and talked about the losses:
Seventeen men and eight young men died.
Some were sole providers for their families.
The women who depended on the men decided to form a party and hunt together.
The tradition of "the prey shall belong to the one who hunted it." There were ten women banded together, and then they looked at Maria.
The mother of Hassen, who always kept her child away from Violet's home, stood hesitantly. But every child who grew up in this village learned something from childhood.
The ungrateful are the first to be left to die, and the one who seeks to walk alone has been buried in snow before the hail.
Pay the blood by blood, pay the silver by silver.
"Maria, your husband has made a great sacrifice protecting our village, so we think you can take care of Violet and we'll—"
"No need, I am still able to hunt—" Garrett tried standing up, but one glare from Maria made him sit back down like a child.
"We don't need charity. What Garrett did was to protect me and our daughter. Since Garrett will be recovering from now on, I shall hunt in his stead." Maria's eyes had conviction burning like flames.
"But Maria—" Garrett tried speaking up, but a glare again shut him down.
"But what about Violet?" The villagers looked at her. The people who once averted their eyes, fearing her, now had gratitude and pity.
"She—" Maria was about to speak up with heart, she turned cold, then Violet came out from behind.
"I'll stay home and take care of my wife!" Violet spoke up loudly. Her voice was stern, and her papa and mama, for the first time, heard her so loud.
"But—" Garrett again tried to speak up, but one glare from Violet shut him down again.
That day a new routine was decided. Maria got up and went to hunt. She learned everything important for survival when these two were on a journey against the world.
Meanwhile, Violet took care of her papa. She learned how to cook medicine and concoctions from Maria.
Garrett often used a stick, wandered to the kitchen, and tried cooking.
Whenever Maria came home, she found food. She yelled at him the whole night, but the same thing happened next.
She tried coming home early, but Garrett knew her better than herself.
They all lived hiding the pain behind smiles, comforting each other...
**
The Black Raven leered at the nest from far away.
The night had gone, but the season did not end.
The freezing winds shall blow again...
**
Present day,
Maria stood in the cottage facing Calla.
Calla had a faint smile. She walked to a chair and sat with a deep sigh.
"I'm sorry, dear sister. The moment I got the news, I came back hurriedly. I was worried about Garrett and you.
Forgive me, the capital didn't allow me to come here in the area marked in danger." Calla gazed downward. There was something like pain in her eyes—at least, that's what she tried to show.
"I see. Finally, you remembered you had an ailing daughter that lived in fear or danger until—" Maria put down the meat and looked at Garrett, who was sitting in his room and had a finger on his lips...
Telling Maria to choose her words carefully. One mistake and things would start crumbling, although they weren't aware the strings had already reached their necks.
"Your anger is justified, Maria. I can't refute... but don't worry, this time I'll make sure that she will be cared for well from now on." Calla tapped on the table.
Maria's steps stopped, and she was afraid that her worst fears might come true.
"What do you mean?" Maria glared at Calla. The servitude and gratitude she had until now were replaced by doubt and anger.
"I am thinking of taking Maria to Saint's Canopy!" Calla looked at Maria. Her smile carried thousands of words, and each had a sharpness that stabbed Maria's heart a thousand times.
"No!" Maria stabbed the table, and her dagger went through it. "I didn't raise her until now so you can show up one day and take her away!" Maria walked up to Calla, eyes filled with rage, and the two men who had vanished that day came in front of Calla.
"We warn you, Lady Maria, our duty to protect you ended that day. We are no longer obliged to keep you away from harm!" the man spoke through the mask.
"It's okay. Being an only girl, I've always wanted to argue with someone like my sister. Let it be Maria, who is my sister, so what if our mothers were different?" Calla said.
"What happened, Maria? How does it feel to know that something you've protected until now is about to be stolen?
It feels enraging, right? The thought grates the soul, right?" Calla stood up.
"That's what I felt away from Violet. I left her with you, feeling like this every day.
I lived in fear day and night that one day she'll stop calling me mother!" Calla smacked her hand on the table.
"Maria, when I heard about the danger, I thought about this deeply. I know that the place for Violet is with you.
But that is only when you promise me to protect her. But now, when I look at Garrett, how can you assure me that?" Calla glared at Maria.
For a moment, Maria thought Calla knew about Garrett's plan, but Calla knew how to weave her words so carefully that they struck the strings without making a sound.
"Don't worry, I won't take her. But I am here for you... my sister."