—–
The moment we opened the door, Elizabeth’s hand got tighter, she was nervous. I didn’t let go of her hand to calm her down. Despite her willingness to help the boy, she was very nervous because she lacked social interactions I suppose.
“Calm down, Elizabeth, leave this to me.” I told her, reassuring her.
“O-Okay… I am counting on you, Blank!” She said.
I let go of her hand after that to get inside the room, she quickly came behind me. The boy was over his bed, but when he saw us it seemed as if he had frozen, he looked like a statue.
“W-Who are you?!” He asked out of the sudden, fearfully moving backwards. It seems that he had never been a noble son, he had completely devolved into a person afraid of everything. Has the trauma been so severe already? Ellergest should had really attempted to help him earlier, that old man is really way too stupid.
“My name is Blank.” I said. “This is Elizabeth.”
“N-Nice to meet you.” Said Elizabeth, giving him a gentle smile.
The boy was surprisingly open despite his fear, quickly stating his name.
“I-I am Erdrich…”
“We know.” I said.
“Erdrich! Why are you not coming out? They told us it has been a whole week since you got here and you haven’t walked away!” Elizabeth said, walking to Erdrich’s said.
She sat down in the bed at his side, as she petted his head.
“Are you afraid?”
“…”
Erdrich tightly hugged his legs, as he didn’t directed his eyes at her.
“I-I am… I don’t know what to do… I don’t know… if I should even be alive…” He cried. “I mean… My mother was a demon, that’s why she got… killed… Aren’t I a demon too? A monster? If I walk out of the room… Won’t I hurt people? I don’t want to hurt people… I don’t want to… make people upset… It was all because of that that my father threw me off the house… My mother was… evil…”
Erdrich was containing his tears, but he quickly broke into a weep, his tears covering his legs as he attempted to cover his face with his hands. Elizabeth instinctively hugged him.
“E-Eh?”
“It’s okay… Y-You’re not a monster!”
“…!”
—–