“Hello?” I raised my hand. “I’ve just arrived here after a long journey.”

I wanted to ask where here was, but I had a feeling such a question might not be well received. It turned out that my current method didn’t fare any better. The woman left her spot and grabbed the younger maid by the shoulders before giving me a stern look.

“Come on, dear. Get inside.” She declared, straightening the girl’s bonnet.

“I know him.” The girl protested.

“I’m sure you do. Go!” The old woman declared in a no-nonsense voice.

The girl looked at me, a hint of stubbornness in her eyes, but then she turned and ran back indoors. Once the door shut, the old lady put her hands on her hips and glared at me. I didn’t know a lot of old ladies in my life. Even in Chalm, most of the women I knew were younger.

“Um… my name is…”

“I know who you are.” The woman cut me off. “And I know why you’re here. However, you’re wasting your time. You should just leave.”

“Why I’m here…” I repeated uncertainly, not sure what to make of the situation in front of me.

“You want to see her.” The old lady declared. “You want to see the woman at the end. However, it’s too late for all of that.”

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I started to feel slightly irritated. I had been through all kinds of dungeons, but this one was leaving me the most flummoxed.

“Look, this is just some curse. If you have something to show me, stop wasting my time.” I growled.

The woman didn’t seem intimidated despite the fact that I towered over her. Instead, she raised an eyebrow, looking me up and down with an appraising look.

“Well, well… I guess you’ve got a bit of gut in you.”

A door slammed shut, and then a man walked out from behind the mansion. I immediately recognized him. This was the brother hunter from before. A woman had come out with him, older still.

“Please… don’t do this.” The woman was saying.

“I’m not going to follow what you want.” He declared angrily.

“You need to…”

“No! I don’t.” He responded, cutting her off. “I have someone I care about.”

“If you leave… they’ll punish us,” she said.

“Mother, you should have had the guts to leave a long time ago.” He responded.

“It’s the only way for us to survive.”

“No, it’s the only way for you to survive. Our family is gone. Stop trying to preserve something that doesn’t need to stay alive.”

“Using the time that the master and mistress have gone running off… nothing good will come of this.” The old maid next to me made a noise.

A door slammed, causing the pair to look back at the mansion. The young maid girl had come out. She was looking anxiously at the mother and the brother. The brother’s expression darkened even more.

“Please…” The mother tried one last time, tears running down her cheeks.

“I won’t…” He responded. “I’m gone.”

He turned away and began to run, heading off into the impassible forest. The mother stared aimlessly at the forest, looking lost. The girl walked up to her mother.

“B-brother… he’s coming back, isn’t he?”

“Of course, he loves you.” The mother spoke, but her words had no weight to them.

She didn’t seem to be paying attention to her daughter, or she would have realized that her daughter understood this, and such callously spoken words only hurt her more.