Chapter 6: Brief Moment of Rest (1)

“Miss, do you really have to leave?”

“Can’t you stay for just one more week?”

From early in the morning, I comforted the tearful maids and finally finished preparing to leave.

I couldn’t bear to ask my employees for help, so I washed and thoroughly dried my nun’s habit myself, and I didn’t forget to polish the holy symbol hanging around my neck.

“It’s not like we won’t ever see each other again. I’ll come back next time.”

“…Miss.”

The nanny, with tears in her eyes, gently tidied the stray strands of hair peeking out from under the blue hood I had firmly pressed down.

“Licia.”

“Yes, Father.”

Facing me, about to leave for the convent once more, my father struggled to find words. A week was such a short time.

It would have been nice to talk more. No, even if we didn’t talk, just looking at each other would have been enough.

It would have been nice just to stay like that.

I approached my father’s silently watching figure and embraced him.

His large, hesitant hands wrapped around my small back. The embrace was warm and comforting.

“I’ll be back.”

Instead of a farewell, my father patted my head. I boarded the carriage bravely on my own, taking a leisurely look at the ducal estate that I wouldn’t see for a while.

It was a place I had taken a long time to return to, so I couldn’t help but feel sentimental.

Through the carriage window, the ducal estate slowly receded into the distance.

As people began to enter the mansion one by one, the lone figure standing like a tall tree remained vivid in my eyes.

“Father…”

***

The convent I returned to after a week was in utter chaos. The sorrowful cries of a newborn baby echoed throughout the sacred halls.

“Licia, why are you just getting here? Please save me….”
Sarahh, who had arrived a step earlier, was already exhausted, her back bent like that of an elderly woman. She cried out desperately for help, her voice sounding as if she were at death’s door.

She begged in a pleading voice.

“Please, please, take over for me….”

“What happened? Did something happen while we were gone for the week?”

“What could have possibly happened while we were away for a week?”

“Father Daniel, alone… with all the children… sob!”

“Sarahh, please try to explain properly.”

Sarahh, looking utterly defeated, slumped down with her mouth. Around her, children who seemed to be about five or six years old were running around, laughing gleefully.

One boy, who had exhausted Sarahh, pushed against her back and clung to her small frame.

“Giddy-up, giddy-up! Hee-haw!”

Another child, who had approached me, grabbed my nun’s robe with all her might.

“Sister, Sister! Let’s play church service!”

“No, Sister is going to play princess with me!”

“No, she’s going to play church service! Right, Sister?”

In an instant, the children closed in around me, surrounding me completely. Sarahh, seeming to have already given up, weakly mimicked the sound of a horse.

“What on earth is happening here?”

The monastery, once serene, now looked wide with chaos. Like Sarahh, the nuns were groaning as they tended to the children surrounding them. There seemed to be more children than the orphans originally housed at the Archelio Monastery.

“Sarahh, Sarahh! Pull yourself together. Where are the other priests?”

Poor Sarahh, already lost in thought, mimicked the sound of a horse with a child on her back. Her short brown hair was a mess, tangled by the rough hands of the children.

“Sister, play with us!”

Due to the swarm of children like an ant colony, I ended up sitting on the dirt ground. Before I could stop them, the muddy hands of the children who had become covered in mud were pushed forward.

In the children’s chaotic laughter, the moment came when I couldn’t think straight.

“What is this noise now!”

The turbulent monastery was suddenly filled with a heavy silence.

The children, who had been laughing and running around, froze in place, gripped by fear.

It was because Father Edwin, who had just returned from his hometown, was approaching with a stern demeanor.

“Are you alright?”

His firm palm lifted up the mud-covered figure from the ground.

“Sister Alicia, what on earth is happening here?”

“When I arrived at the monastery, it was already in this state. It seems there are more people here now than the monastery originally housed.”

Instead of answering, Father Edwin let out a long sigh. His hand moved towards me. I closed my eyes tightly, as if he might stroke my cheek.

“For now, you should wash up first.”

His hand held a clump of sticky mud. Did he carry this around? It really wasn’t just talk. Sister Sarahh, crawling on the floor, was in a similar state.

Father Edwin sighed heavily and lifted Sister Sarahh, who had become worn out, without a single wrinkle on her clean and tidy habit. His face, as he looked down at his own dirty habit, sharpened like a hungry cat seeking its prey.

“Father Daniel!”

As the monastery called out for Father Daniel to leave, the children cowered in fear and hid behind each other.

Father Edwin shifted his steps, opening each door of the monastery one by one. Before long, he discovered Father Daniel hiding inside the library.

It was truly eerie. In the pitch-black library where not a single ray of light leaked in, Father Edwin emerged like a ghost and grabbed him by the collar, dragging him out.

“I-I’m sorry… Father.”

In just a week, Father Daniel’s face had become haggard. Dark circles hung under his eyes like those of a sickly person, and his cheeks were sunken as if he hadn’t eaten for days.

In contrast, Father Edwin, who had rested deeply for a week and returned, seemed flawless with smooth skin without a single blemish.

“Must I always return to find trouble in my absence? Huh?”

“I-I didn’t mean to…”

Trembling, Father Daniel clutched Edwin’s sleeve and tearfully explained the reason for the trouble. It all started when Father Edwin unexpectedly sent some of the orphans housed in the central temple to the Archelio Monastery.

“So, Father Daniel, where were you and what were you doing during this time?”

“I tried to refuse until the end. But it wasn’t a choice, just a unilateral notification.”

“…”

Father Edwin’s gaze turned cold at Daniel’s choked voice.

It seemed like he could grab Daniel’s collar any moment and reveal something harsh.

Bracing himself mentally, he lowered his eyes tightly.

Contrary to expectations, there was no piercing scream from Father Daniel as if torn apart. Summoning courage, he cautiously raised his eyelids.

Father Edwin, seemingly plagued by a severe headache, was just rubbing his temples.

“…Aren’t you angry?”

“Stop talking nonsense and get up to help organize the monastery. How many are there?” Father Edwin asked sternly, grasping his temples.

“There are 42, and among them, two are refugees from another country, making communication nearly impossible.”

It was more than double the number of orphans originally accommodated. Combined with the adult refugees who were unable to fend for themselves, the total was nearing a hundred.

“Where did you house so many children for a week?”

“The library was the warmest place available, so we housed them there.”

“First, we need to clear out the warehouse and create proper shelters for them.”

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t think of anything that Father Daniel intentionally causing trouble at the central temple while he was away.

If we just pushed through, Father Marco, who had difficulty moving, and the newly recruited priest, Father Daniel, would naturally end up embracing the orphans.

“Send them back to the central temple or to another monastery until then, and we will take responsibility for the children.”

Father Edwin straightened his chin and spoke with a resolute voice. As his voice settled, hope began to emerge in the once troubled monastery.

Indeed, my eyes didn’t deceive me. Despite his cold first impression, he is more compassionate than I initially thought.

I hurriedly washed my whole body to lend a hand as soon as possible. As the mud was washed away, my hidden fair skin was revealed. I dressed in a nun’s habit with a wet head of hair and wrapped an apron around it.

Guided by the nuns, I headed towards the food storage. Perhaps due to the increased number of mouths to feed, the warehouse that was packed with food just a week ago was now completely empty.

“…What should we do now?”

Should I rush to the market to shop, even at this late hour? Isn’t it too late?

“Is there any problem?”

Father Edwin stopped in front of the dining hall as he walked through the monastery corridor.

“Father, we’re running low on supplies.”

“Is it to the point where we can’t even prepare dinner tonight? It’s too late to go shopping. A thin soup would suffice as long as it can fill the quantity”

A thin soup, a recipe learned from the nuns at the Ophelia Monastery, seemed worth a try.

“I think we can manage that,”

“I’ll appreciate it. In return, I’ll take care of the children”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

Father Edwin taking care of the children was beyond imagination. There was concern that he might inadvertently upset them and make them cry.

“It seems I have a knack for looking after children.”

“Really?”

“Oddly enough, the children seem to calm down when they’re around me.”

“That’s… um…”

It was impossible to speak up and admit that the children weren’t being well cared for but were rather intimidated into silence. Still, at this moment, trusting him seemed like the only option.

Decidedly, he made up his mind.

“Sarahh, could you pass me the pepper?”

I chopped up what little vegetables remained. Adding whole peppercorns and salt, I fried them before adding cold water and letting it simmer for a long time, resulting in a deep flavor with minimal residue.

“Licia, how does it taste? Do you think this will be okay?”

“Well, it’s not bad. This should do.”

Sweating as I cooked, Father Edwin heard the children singing hymns together. A faint smile spread across her face. As he had said, he seemed to have a talent for looking after children.

After a tumultuous journey, dinner was finally over, and one by one, the children fell asleep with full bellies.

Father Daniel had scrubbed the warehouse until it shone brightly, but it was still too damp and dark for the children to sleep comfortably, so once again, they ended up spending the night in the library.

“Huh? Then what did I do for five hours?”

Daniel held out his fingers, affected by eczema from scrubbing and wiping all day.

Normally, Father Edwin might have said something, but today, he comforted Daniel, patting his back.

Father Edwin had spent those five hours exhausted from singing hymns, barely able to speak properly.

“…I’m exhausted.”

After barely finishing the towering pile of dishes, I sat down next to him in the dining hall.

The week-long respite felt like a dream.

The harsh reality of the chaotic monastery life returned. My hands and feet ached, and my shoulders felt tense.

“Still, I’m grateful we made it through the day unscathed. Tomorrow, we’ll contact another monastery…”

As the tension eased, drowsiness gradually washed over me. My head nodded intermittently, as if it might crash onto the table at any moment.

“…There’s no other choice.”

As dusk settled in my mind, Father Edwin offered his shoulder. Leaning against his solid, quiet shoulder, I quickly drifted into a peaceful sleep.