"Mom... Where are we going?..."
"Far away from it all, dear."
Mallow couldn't stop crying in mom's arms as she held mine, leading me through the forest thicket.
It was eerie. She just told me that she wants to go and grabbed both me and Mallow. Her expression was...
Unreadable.
I almost wanted to pull out, but I didn't want mom to get angry at me, so I followed.
Death of Sylvie, it affected mom greatly. After that she was like a husk, pretty much unmoving. That angered our father and he would force her to move and act, beating in sense to her. I tried to just lock myself in the room, I didn't want to confront anything happening outside of it.
But then Mallow was born. I had to be there for them. When I first saw my little sister, I was scared. She looked so small and fragile, and my sister would always berate me for how clumsy I am. Yet, when I reached out to her, I felt... Happy.
She was my little sister. It was my chance to be the best brother there could ever be. I could give her lots of love, lots of sweets, lots of toys... It was the first time I felt genuine hope for the better future...
But it was a foolish hope.
"Isn't it a beautiful view?..."
"Y-Yeah?..."
"Ha... It's nice to have peace and quiet after all those years. I wonder where did it all go wrong..."
"?..."
"All I wanted was love. I wanted to be loved. After I gave birth to Sylvie, I thought I would be a happy mother... But it wasn't the case.
The demon appeared.
He was using me.
He was using her.
And he will use you.
Everything made sense now. I was merely a tool, a bargaining chip.
I felt trapped now. I thought that he would snap out of it. To realise that it was a mistake to have made a deal with the demon. Because in spite of everything... I still loved him... I think... Maybe I was THAT desperate for it.
I feel so awful for what happened to her. I'm awful. Why did I drag her into this. Why. It was stupid. Stupid. She hates me. She resents me. I killed her. I am a killer. She died because of me. It's awful. I was stupid. I shouldn't have blamed her. I shouldn't have blamed her for everything. She was innocent. It wasn't her fault. The only person I can blame is myself.
The scars are not enough to repent for my sins."
She then turned towards me. With Mallow still crying in her arms.
"You're lucky to be born a man. He won't touch you. He won't touch you at all. And even if he does, a man can't give birth to more spawns. A man can't be hysteric. So in the end, only you remained."
"M-Mom...?"
"Gahaha... Of course it was logical to prioritise your happiness over hers, because we were goners. You will live longer than us, happier than us, prosperous than us. Obviously..."
"M-Mom?!..."
"I'm pregnant once again. That demon... It impregnated me once again. Only Sylvie... Only Sylvie was human... Perhaps I should've done it way earlier.
... I'm a terrible person... A very terrible person...
And if there's an afterlife...
I hope she tortures me for all eternity."
"MOM!!!"
It was too late.
She fell off a cliff. With Mallow in her arms.
I was a coward. I knew something was terribly wrong, yet remained silent. I should've done something. Anything.
I then looked down.
I shouldn't have done that.
I saw it.
I saw the corpse, laying limp on the ground, holding a baby, leaking blood.
I immediately backed off, but that image was now forever ingrained into my mind. I just lied here paralyzed, unable to move, unable to speak.
It would've been logical for me to join her, perhaps that was the reason she brought me here in the first place. But I couldn't. I was afraid to die. Seeing that cliff made me nauseous. So I just stared at the sky, hoping it was all a nightmare.
I was found by the patrols later and they retrieved the corpse.
And so I was truly left alone.
Now things went from bad to worse as now I became the only punching bag for my father.
And that marked the day I saw the culprit behind our misery.
"If you dress them just right, even the boys can become girls, no?"
Now it all made sense. Everything made sense. Now I knew why Sylvie held such extreme resentment in her heart.
"But now, if you even dare to tell ANYONE about me... I will turn you into my personal slave. Your sister did that mistake, and I was more merciful back then. I won't be as merciful now."
Now I need to be just like her. I must get out of here. The only person I can trust is myself.
There's no hope for me now.