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Chapter 24
“Festival?”
“Yes. Well, it’s not really a festival, more like a gathering to share a meal and hope we get through this winter without any trouble.”
Juhee didn’t like crowded, complicated places.
Not getting any reaction from her, her grandfather carefully spoke again.
“Why don’t you join this time? You’ve skipped every year.”
“No, I’m okay. I don’t really like crowded places.”
“But aren’t you lonely staying by yourself all the time? You’ve been alone ever since Rowan left.”
Juhee lifted her head and met her grandfather’s eyes.
His gaze was filled only with concern for her.
Because of that, she couldn’t easily refuse like before.
In the end, after hesitating, she gave an ambiguous answer.
“…I’ll go if I feel like it.”
“Alright, I understand. It’s scheduled for a month from now, so don’t forget. I’ll be waiting.”
“Then I’ll see you next time, Grandpa.”
Her grandfather chuckled warmly and saw her off.
Juhee politely bowed and left the herbal medicine shop.
After hearing his words, Mel began chattering beside her.
- Juhee, did you hear? A festival! That sounds fun!
“It’s a small village. They won’t do anything special.”
- Still, festivals are fun! You’re going, right? Right?
Juhee didn’t answer.
If she went, the other villagers probably wouldn’t be happy about it.
Things had improved compared to before, but there were still people who didn’t look at her kindly.
She didn’t have any close friends in the village anyway, and staying home alone seemed better than dealing with that.
- There’ll be lots of delicious food, right? And you can buy winter clothes when we go down to the village!
“When does winter start?”
- It gets cold from September, and real winter starts in October!
“So it starts early.”
- Winter lasts a long time here. About four months!
If winter really lasted four months, she understood why so many people died from the cold.
After buying a few pieces of bread for dinner, Juhee headed home.
The month until the festival passed without much incident.
The only difference was that more people besides the herbal shop grandfather began asking her to attend the festival.
The first was the grocery store lady.
Like any other day, Juhee visited the shop, but the owner, Shelly, kept glancing at her.
It was too obvious to ignore.
Eventually, Juhee spoke without looking at her.
“Do you have something to say to me?”
“Huh? W-well… um…”
Thinking she might be about to tell her not to come anymore, Juhee glanced at her.
When their eyes met, Shelly flinched, but didn’t look away.
Juhee waited calmly.
After fumbling for a long time, Shelly finally spoke when Juhee came up to pay.
“Y-you know the festival next month… right?”
“Yes.”
Juhee nodded calmly.
She assumed Shelly would tell her not to come, so she tried not to care—but what came out was completely different.
“I… I hope you come.”
“……”
“It’s late, but I want to apologize for how I treated you. I was thoughtless.”
Juhee blinked at her without saying anything.
With no change in Juhee’s expression, Shelly’s nervous heartbeat slowly calmed.
“The herbal shop grandfather probably told you, but it’s not really a festival. It’s just villagers gathering to eat and have fun. There’s nothing you need to do…”
But Juhee’s dark eyes were still slightly intimidating, so Shelly lowered her gaze carefully.
Watching her quietly, Juhee spoke.
“Why are you apologizing now?”
“…Pardon?”
It was a genuine question.
She couldn’t understand why they were acting like this now after having shunned her as a witch.
“You had plenty of chances to apologize.”
Juhee tilted her head slightly. Shelly fell silent.
What she said was true.
Before Juhee arrived, Aerin had gone down to the village every day trying to talk to people, but they had all coldly turned her away.
The only one who ever listened was the herbal shop grandfather.
Looking at Shelly, who still couldn’t speak, Juhee continued.
“I won’t accept your apology. Here’s your money.”
Juhee handed her the payment and left the shop without looking back.
Shelly could only stare blankly at her retreating figure.
In the end, Juhee was not Aerin.
So the person who should receive the apology wasn’t her—but Aerin, who no longer existed.
Mel seemed to think Juhee was upset and cautiously landed on her shoulder after fluttering around.
- Juhee, can I ask why you didn’t accept the apology?
“…Because it belongs to someone else.”
At her words, Mel tilted her head, confused, but said nothing more.
Strangely, every time Juhee went into the village, someone asked her if she would come to the festival.
And every time, she shook her head.
The day before the festival, Juhee visited the village again.
The herbal shop grandfather smiled kindly and said,
“So tomorrow is already the festival. It’ll get colder from tomorrow, so make sure you prepare for winter. Oh, come when the sun sets tomorrow.”
“…Yes, Grandpa. I’ll come if I have time.”
“Good, good.”
For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to clearly say she wouldn’t go to him.
She bowed and left with her money.
The weather was definitely much colder than a month ago.
She thought the forest would be even colder, so she decided to buy winter clothes in advance.
She went to a clothing shop and bought thick dresses and several coats, carefully folding them into her basket.
Since she would probably need to come to the village tomorrow anyway, she thought she could buy anything else then.
But if she had known what would happen that day, she would never have left the forest.
* * *
The next day, Juhee woke up late.
The festival was in the evening anyway, so she planned to pass time gathering firewood in the forest.
Perhaps because of the festival, Mel was unusually excited.
- A festival! This is going to be so fun!
It wasn’t much of a festival, but Mel seemed excited just by the word itself.
She placed a few remaining logs into the stove and lit a fire.
After eating simple bread for breakfast, Juhee put on a thick coat.
When she went outside, a cold wind blew, flipping her hood over her head.
Shivering slightly, she thought for a moment and summoned a fire spirit.
Soon, a small fire giant appeared.
Its entire body was made of flames, but it wasn’t hot to the touch.
Instead, its presence warmed the surrounding air, perfect for a cold day like this.
The spirit climbed onto Juhee’s hand and stretched, yawning.
Thanks to it, she could go into the forest without freezing.
Without it, she would’ve surely caught a cold and been bedridden.
“Thank you, as always.”
When Juhee quietly thanked it, the spirit smiled brightly and rubbed its cheek against her finger.
Feeling something ticklish in her chest, Juhee quickly moved her hand away.
* * *
After the sun had begun to set, Juhee prepared to go to the village.
Dressed warmly, she waited outside for Rue while sniffling.
The winter here felt colder than Korea.
If it was already this cold in September, she might not be able to go down to the village often once winter truly began in October.
She thought she should tell the herbal shop grandfather she might not come down often.
Rue arrived, and Juhee climbed onto his back.
In an instant, they crossed the forest and reached the hill near the village entrance.
Juhee got off slowly.
The wind was strong, making her cheeks red and frozen.
She hurried down into the village.
Since it was the festival, the village entrance was decorated beautifully.
Colorful lights were hung on every house.
As Juhee walked slowly, looking around at the lights, she ran into Shelly, who was carrying a basket and hurrying somewhere.
Shelly’s eyes widened as if she hadn’t expected Juhee to come.
“Glad you made it on time. Come to the town square later, okay?”
“Yes.”
Juhee nodded and headed toward the herbal shop.
The grandfather was already waiting outside as if he had expected her.
“Oh, you’re here? Wait a moment.”
“…Were you waiting for me?”
“Of course I was. Why ask something so obvious?”
He laughed heartily at her question.
Even though she wanted to say something, she held it back.
They chatted a bit about how cold this winter felt, then the grandfather said it was time and led her out.
“There’s a special village wine that warms you up. Try some. It’s sweet and tasty.”
“Yes, Grandpa.”
Mel fluttered excitedly around Juhee, then darted ahead, saying she smelled something delicious.
When they arrived at the central square, people were sitting around a large bonfire.
Juhee thought it looked like a campfire and approached slowly.
People who noticed the grandfather and Juhee exchanged glances and awkwardly made space.
The blazing fire was very warm.
At first, people had looked at Juhee, but one by one they looked away and resumed their conversations.
As she stared blankly into the fire, the grandfather’s voice was heard…
