The man looked at the Tower of Babel and saw that there was nothing underneath the clay figurine. He had expected it, but he still had a glimmer of hope in his heart. Maybe the gods would really show up.
Bursts of cold wind blew the man's broad sleeves. The man looked desperately at the aloof "mud figure", holding tightly in his hand the sword gifted by his beloved wife, Yae Sakura, Yae Rin's mother, with blue veins on his forehead.
riot.
The cold wind blew away the man's thoughts, and the hands holding the sword loosened a little. In the end, the man could only sigh heavily. What should come will eventually come back.
With a hunched back, the man descended from the Tower of Babel. Looking at his back from a distance, the man who should have been 30 years old looked much older.
"Father, what is the will of the gods?" Yae Sakura looked a little decadent when she saw her father coming back. Although she had guessed the answer, she still couldn't help but ask.
"The gods have no will." The man seemed to be defeated by something, and walked towards the house. Was he really going to the ending he least wanted to see?
If you can't even protect your own children, it would be a huge failure.
The man sighed heavily. He was not in the mood to give advice on Yae Sakura's swordsmanship today. In fact, he didn't even look at it. He looked at Yae Rin's room with a slightly ashamed look and walked towards the back mountain.
There are two ancestral temples in the back mountain, one ancestral temple dedicated to the Yae family of the past dynasties, and the other ancestral temple dedicated to the guardian shrine maiden of the Yae village in the past dynasties.
The man did not go to the family master's temple to worship first as usual, but walked straight towards the shrine maiden's temple and arrived inside the temple.
The green lamp was burning quietly, and the man seemed to be looking for something through the faint light.
Finally, among the many tablets, I found a slightly newer tablet. This was his first wife, the previous guardian witch.
"sorry, I……"
"I failed to protect our daughter." The man held the tablet and touched it gently with his hands as if caressing his lover's face. Unfortunately, the coolness coming from the tablet still told the man that your first wife had been there ten years ago.
Already far away from the human world.
The man sat slumped on the ground, and waited until the sun in the sky turned from bright to dim, and Yae Sakura's clear shouts made the man recover.
He stood up, placed his wife's coffin on the table, put his hands together, bowed devoutly, and gently wiped the tears on his face with his sleeves, in order not to let his daughter see his fragile expression.
.
This home can no longer withstand strong winds and waves.
"Sakura, stop shouting, I'm here." The man's eyes were full of bloodshot eyes. Even though he had wiped away the tears, he could still see that the man in front of him had just experienced a huge blow. Perhaps not long ago, he had also
I once cried in embarrassment.
"Father, I..." Yae Sakura hesitated, looking at her father's old face, Yae Sakura didn't know how to comfort and persuade him. Her words were too pale and useless in the face of the bloody facts.
"Let's go and eat." The man forced out a smile and took Yae Sakura's little hand and walked towards the dining room.
Yae Rin has already prepared the bowls and chopsticks obediently, and each bowl is filled with snow-white rice. The dishes tonight are particularly rich, including chicken, duck, fish soup, and sashimi.
These are the things that are only eaten during festivals. Tonight's dinner is fully prepared, as if it is prepared to see someone off.
Yae Sakura glanced at Yae Rin, who was still smiling, as if nothing happened yesterday morning and it did not affect her at all.
Yae Sakura sighed softly.
"Maybe, children really don't worry." He sat down at the second seat and his father took the main seat.
"Supreme God of Rice, thank you for your gift, I'm going to start." Yae Sakura clasped her hands together as usual and prayed devoutly, as did Yae Rin.
The only difference is that his father is not there. Yae Sakura raised her eyes and looked at her father. Her father, who usually followed the rules, seemed to have changed a lot today.
"Let's go." The man said softly, lowered his head, picked up a piece of meat with chopsticks and chewed it carefully, without looking at his two daughters, especially Yae Rin.
Hearing her father's words, Yae Sakura nodded, picked up the bowl of rice and started eating. She didn't notice that Yae Rin, who was sitting opposite her, watched her swallow the rice and then breathed a sigh of relief.
After the meal was eaten in a depressing atmosphere, Yae Sakura took the dishes and chopsticks to wash the dishes. Her father raised his eyes and looked at Yae Rin. Yae Rin noticed the eyes of the man next to him and smiled in return.
The man stood up and walked towards his house.
…
late at night,
Boom, boom, boom.
A gentle knock on the door alerted the man sitting in front of the case.
"Come in." It was not clear whether it was Yae Sakura or Yae Rin. The man casually shouted to the door.
"Father." Yae Rin's clear voice sounded in the room.
"Rin, you're here." The man was not surprised at all by Yae Rin's late-night visit.
"Father, I hope you can not wake me up when you sacrifice tomorrow morning. I'm afraid she won't be able to accept it." Yae Rin said softly.
The man's body trembled slightly, and it was obvious that he was scared. He looked at his daughter, didn't she know what the sacrifice would go through?
Why can I say it so casually, as if it has nothing to do with her.
Yae Rin didn't pay attention to what his father was thinking and continued speaking automatically.
"Father, during dinner, I put some medicinal powder in my sister's bowl that can make people sleep more soundly. If there is no external force to wake her up, maybe my sister can sleep until tomorrow afternoon."
"I don't want my sister to see such a terrifying scene. It would be too cruel for her." Yae Rin lowered her head, unable to see her expression, and naturally didn't know what she was thinking. She looked at her daughter's face.
The man was silent for a while.
He walked forward and hugged his daughter tightly, his little daughter: Yae Rin.
"Father, after I am taken away by God, can you give all your love to your sister, including my share?" Yae Rin's childish voice echoed in the man's ears, and the man could no longer feel depressed.
Hold back the tears in your eyes.
The big man cried bitterly while holding a little girl in his arms.
Yae Rin took the sleeve of her pure white linen clothes and wiped the rough slap on her father's face randomly, but she muttered.
"Father is not a samurai, and a man won't shed tears easily." Her charming tone combined with Yae Rin's pouted lips made her look very cute.
It's a pity that Yae Rin's face is pale, which makes her a little less cute and a little more pitiable.
"Yes, yes, dad doesn't cry anymore, he doesn't cry anymore." The man forced a smile.
He has cried more in the past few days than he did in the first half of his life. He still feels a little embarrassed when his daughter mentions it.