Free Web NovelChapter 26: Burning the Memories (2)
Maeve turned her head and saw Cerus running toward them excitedly while holding something in his hands. Axan was walking behind him with his usual stoic expression, though he looked slightly annoyed by Cerus’ loud voice.
"I found something you should throw into the fire too!" Cerus declared proudly as he stopped in front of Ikarus.
Maeve blinked curiously and lowered her gaze toward the object in Cerus’ hands.
It was a small wooden carving. The carving looked a little rough and uneven, almost as if it had been made by someone with no real carving skills at all. But despite that, Maeve could still recognize what it was supposed to be.
It was a tiny figure of the three brothers standing together.
"I made this when we were younger," Cerus explained happily. "Well... mostly me. Axan helped fix it because mine looked ugly."
"It looked terrible," Axan corrected calmly.
Cerus ignored him completely before grinning at Ikarus again. "Since we’re welcoming your future child, shouldn’t you throw something precious too?" freewebnoveℓ.com
For the first time that night, Ikarus looked slightly stunned into silence.
His golden eyes lowered toward the old wooden carving in Cerus’ hands. Even though it looked simple, it was obvious the item had been kept carefully for many years.
"This one?" Ikarus asked quietly, still sounding unsure. "Are you certain about this?"
"Well, brother, the fact that you’re hesitating this much already proves how precious it is to you," Cerus said with a wide grin. "Throw it into the fire."
Ikarus slowly accepted the wooden carving from Cerus. Since there were three small figures carved into it, it clearly represented the three of them.
Maeve honestly felt touched when she realized they had kept something like that all this time. Most siblings probably would not even remember the toys they used to play with as children, yet the three of them had treasured this carving for years.
"You’re right," Ikarus murmured softly. "This is the right thing for me to throw into the fire."
Even though hesitation was still visible on his face, he finally tossed the wooden carving into the flames.
The moment it landed in the fire, the flames suddenly roared upward, rising so high that they almost seemed to touch the sky itself. And it made Maeve’s eyes widened in shock and awe.
"Our leaders have burned their precious item!" someone shouted excitedly nearby.
"Oh, Sky Mother, we can finally witness this fire again!"
Some of them started crying again because after such a long time, they were finally going to welcome a new life into their tribe.
On the other side, Maeve lowered her head and looked at her own belly, which still looked flat. Honestly, she still felt like all of these things were just a dream sometimes.
After all, she had never thought about having children, considering how bad the economy was in her world.
But now that capitalism had vanished, she still wondered whether her child would truly be alright after she gave birth to them in this barren land.
[Host, the baby’s placenta will definitely bring a significant change to this place, especially because it means the other people of the Azuryn Tribe will finally be able to give birth to newborns as well.]
[So, cheer up, Host!]
Pinky flew around Maeve excitedly, its tiny wings flapping nonstop. Meanwhile, Maeve could only let out a tired sigh because that little puffball was way too positive all the time.
But maybe... she really did not need to worry so much about the future.
After all, her life had never gone the way she planned anyway. So for now, maybe it was better to focus on the things right in front of her first.
"Wife!" Cerus shouted excitedly as he ran over while carrying several thick slabs of meat in his arms. "It’s time to roast the meat! Do you want to try the head one? It tastes really good!"
Maeve froze the moment her eyes landed on the pile of Cindermaw heads inside the wooden box because they looked exactly like giant centipede heads.
"T-The meat is enough," Maeve answered hesitantly.
Cerus looked like he still wanted to convince her to try the Cindermaw heads, but after remembering that pregnant women often had strange food preferences, he decided not to push her too much.
"Alright then," he replied disappointedly. "You can try it another time."
Maeve almost hissed internally because she truly did not want to eat those heads at all, but Cerus looked so excited that she felt a little bad for rejecting him completely.
"Y-Yeah... maybe next time."
After that, they started roasting the meat together, holding a small feast to celebrate the new life that would join them sooner or later.
Maeve, however, barely ate anything because she still could not stop thinking about the fact that the meat came from a Cindermaw.
Fortunately, everyone assumed she was eating very little because of her pregnancy, so no one forced her to eat more.
Honestly, that was ridiculous because Maeve was never the type of person with a small appetite, and she doubted pregnancy would suddenly change that!
At least, that was what she thought.
But once her pregnancy reached one week, her body finally began showing strong reactions, and Pinky definitely was not helping.
[Host! Host! You haven’t walked under the sun for too long! That’s why your body is getting weaker!]
Maeve pushed the annoying puffball aside and decided to ignore it.
How was she supposed to walk around under the sun when she barely had any energy left?
Every time she ate something, she threw up. Every time she smelled meat, she also threw up. No matter what her mates brought her, she still threw up!
In the end, she could only manage one or two bites, and even then, it was only because she forced herself to swallow them. Otherwise, she probably would have starved.
"Wife," Ikarus called softly while knocking on the door before opening it without waiting for an answer. "I brought something new today."
