Savage Forest - Chapter 125.3

Her hand brushed against the distorted corners of his eyes.

Now, even though Tarhan wasn’t shedding tears, his expression looked as if he was crying. His breaths were becoming shallower, and he still seemed to be in pain.

“When you were sleeping next to your mother, curled up at her side or by her feet. She was always watching over you, without even blinking.”

Enya added in a whisper, her voice barely audible.

“It was as if she was trying to protect you while you slept.”

The moment she spoke those words, Tarhan squeezed his eyes shut. It seemed like the weight of her words crashed down on him. He shouted in a frightened voice.

“No… Stop!”

Tarhan crumbled, kneeling before her.

“Please, just stop…”

He pleaded, clutching his chest, panting heavily. It was as if he was asking her not to touch the ruins of his heart any further. He wanted to be left alone, feeling that any attempt to heal his wounds would only bring more pain.

However, Enya didn’t stop. Some stories had to be told until the very end.

“…It was the same that day. The day the thunder roared relentlessly and the rain fell like hail, causing the river to swell. A few days prior, I had hoped to see you, so I snuck in, but you were already gone. Instead, your mother was awake.”

As she spoke, Enya gently stroked the back of Tarhan’s neck, which was buried in her arms, as if he was trying to avoid hearing her words.

She could feel his body trembling uncontrollably.

“It felt like your mother was calling for me that day. Ridiculous, right? But when I approached, it seemed like she was trying to say something, moving her lips. I had always been able to understand my grandfather’s speech. I was confident in my ability to listen closely, so I bowed my head and brought my ear close to her lips.”

Tarhan’s shivering reached Enya.

She had the feeling that he already knew what she was about to say, but it had to come out of her mouth. And he had to hear it directly.

Enya spoke resolutely.

“So, what I’m about to say, you can think of it as something I made up.”

But Tarhan refused. He managed to mumble.

“Stop… You can stop now.”

Yet Enya pressed on.

At that moment, it felt as if she had been running just to share this story. Her voice pierced the dawn air that was beginning to break.

“Your mother told me to take good care of you.”

The reason for living, which he had been avoiding for so long, finally poured out as a brutal truth. As Tarhan’s back slumped, Enya’s fingers settled gently on his trembling spine.

“Your mother specifically said to take care of you.”

Hot liquid streamed down Enya’s cheek. While she brushed her fingers over his entire body, she barely managed to continue speaking.

“She said she loved you. She was grateful, and she was sorry… and she loved you again and again.”

Enya whispered.

“That’s what she said. She loved you more than you love yourself, Tarhan.”

“No, stop…”

Tarhan thrashed.

His body trembled uncontrollably, like reeds swaying in the wind. Enya had never seen anyone so consumed by anguish. Nonetheless, she held on firmly, cupping his face in her hands.

“No, listen to me clearly, Tarhan, so you can survive until the day you can understand the choices she had to make. Even if you don’t understand, you have to live.”

She wanted him to move forward, to temporarily forget her and focus on life, to live even with resentment in his heart.

“Please…”

“And later, much later, when everything is alright, when you have the time, I hope you remember her occasionally.”

“Enya… I…”

“She didn’t abandon you.”

Enya paused for a breath and slowly let it out. She stated firmly.

“You have never been unloved. Not on that rainy day, not when you felt like your mother had abandoned you, not after that…”

When he raised her hand to lift his face, he resisted stubbornly but eventually succumbed to her touch and raised his head. She looked directly into his tear-filled eyes and spoke.

“Your mother loved you.”

They locked eyes.

“I’ll keep saying it. I’ll say it over and over. Throughout your life, I’ll remind you.”

Her voice trembled, but she shouted.

With passion.

As if pulling a man from a pit.

As if wanting to lift him up.

“You taught me to protect what is precious to me.”

The reason she couldn’t help but love him.

“I’ll repeat it as many times as needed. I’ll protect you, body and soul… with everything I have. Even during your hardest, most painful moments, they were times filled with love. You loved me, I loved you, you loved your mother, and she loved you… I’ll tell you this a thousand times.”

It wasn’t meaningless.

Even in that moment of despair, he was loved.

“By your mother, by me, and…”

Enya lifted Tarhan’s hand, his large fingers cradled gently in her small ones. She then placed his hand on her stomach.

His gaze trembled uncontrollably.

“From our child, who will be born soon.”

Tarhan closed his eyes as if he was dazed. When he opened them again, he stared at her with an expression of disbelief.