The Seed Thief

Vol. 2 Chapter 6.4

Lulu kept her eyes closed, counting. When the number grew too large, she would pretend to have made a mistake and start again from the beginning.

Eventually, darkness seeped in beyond her closed eyelids. The cold evening wind wormed its way through her clothes. The stone golem, worried about Lulu’s stillness, paced anxiously nearby.

Finally, she opened her eyes. Above her, the stars twinkled—a familiar sight she had rarely glimpsed since Ervandas had entered her life.

She had counted almost to 100, but Er was nowhere to be seen.

Lulu wiped the tear tracks on her face with the back of her hand. Fresh tears welled up, replacing the old streaks. As she fought to swallow the lump in her throat, she felt a tug on her clothes.

Turning, she found the bone crow, gripping her dress in its beak. Lulu scooped up the crow and held it close. The crow gently nudged her chin with its beak, a gesture that had always comforted her during her lonely, fearful childhood.

Even though the crow offered no warmth, Lulu felt a fleeting sense of comfort, a feeling of emptiness being filled.

Looking up, she noticed the scarecrow, who rarely returned home, silently standing before her. Beside him stood the stone golem.

Lulu smiled weakly at the companions who had been with her for so long. She then went inside, changed into her nightgown, and climbed into bed.

‘30 nights.’

He promised to return before 30 nights had passed. She had to sleep. She had to force herself to wake up because every new day brought her one step closer to his return.

Lulu curled up beneath the covers, pulling them tightly around her. But without Ervandas’s warmth, the night felt unbearably cold, seeping into her very bones despite the layers of blankets.

It’s already winter.

She closed her eyes, feeling the shift in seasons more keenly than ever before.

* * *

Life without Ervandas fell into a predictable rhythm.

She slept in late and went to bed early. Part of it was the exhaustion that seemed to accompany her growing belly, but in truth, she simply couldn’t bear the emptiness of the days.

She would rise at a leisurely hour, prepare a simple meal from the stores Er had meticulously prepared, and then… well, there was nothing to do.

At first, she thought about cleaning and organizing the house as he did. But she had never been one for chores, and he had been so thorough in his cleaning that there was nothing left to do.

‘What should I do?’

Before, even wandering in the forest would have been enjoyable. But now, her heavier body made moving around difficult, and she didn’t feel like going anywhere.

Bored, Lulu spotted the stack of parchment Ervandas had left on the desk, neatly arranged beside a pot of ink and a quill. She picked up the quill and her hand moved, filling the page with 30 circles.

It had been three days since he’d left.

‘He would have been back by now if this were like before.’

Thinking about the past, Lulu drew a face inside one of the circles.

‘What did he look like when we first met?’

She remembered their first encounter in the forest, the way he’d attacked her, believing her to be a threat. Smiling wryly, she sketched his face in the first circle—sharp eyes, a determined frown.