Repentance
Table of Contents
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Chapter 68 Chapter 69 Chapter 70 Chapter 71 Chapter 72 Chapter 73 Chapter 74 Chapter 75 Chapter 76 Chapter 77 Chapter 78 Chapter 79 Chapter 80 Chapter 81 Chapter 82 Chapter 83 Chapter 84 Chapter 85 Chapter 86 Chapter 87 Chapter 88 Chapter 89 Chapter 90 Chapter 91 Chapter 92 Chapter 93 Chapter 94 Chapter 95 Chapter 96 Chapter 97 Chapter 98 Chapter 99 Chapter 100 Chapter 101 Chapter 102 Chapter 103 Chapter 104 Chapter 105 Chapter 106 Chapter 107 Chapter 108 Chapter 109 Chapter 110 Chapter 111 Chapter 112 END ???Chapter 47
"Do you need something?"
Turning around, his eyes laid on a young woman in her early twenties. He froze in place upon seeing her standing at the sink, her back casually leaning against the edge of it, while she blankly continued to look at him without much emotion behind her expression whatsoever.
To say that Bruno is stunned would be quite an understatement. He was shocked, speechless, and flustered by the mere sight of her alone, taking a few seconds to recover from shock itself. Then again, how can a normal man react upon meeting someone who came out of nowhere?
She looked ordinary for someone like her, but just like Miria, this person has a strange way of presenting herself to the point that he can't figure out whether or not she is an ordinary person. Regardless of his feelings, he is willing to put his feelings aside after having misjudged the elderly woman for who she is.
Tilting her head curiously, she asked again, "Do you need something?" The young woman asked, raising a brow at him questioningly as he stood frozen in the spot he was currently standing on. Bruno slowly blinks a few times, trying to compose himself from the shock that he is still in.
"O-oh, sorry," stuttering nervously while avoiding eye contact, "I didn't mean to disturb you; I was just looking for something to eat." He explained while rubbing his arm awkwardly, being embarrassed to display himself as a fool in front of a woman he'd never met before, "May I know who you might be?" Bruno asked curiously.
Sighing rudely, she rolled her eyes at this before crossing her arms together. "It's common courtesy for guests in our house to introduce themselves first," she reprimanded lightly, narrowing her eyes at the poet for doing something disrespectful, as this is common knowledge for most people these days. "My name's Alisha, the daughter of Miria," she revealed shortly. "It's a pleasure meeting you."
In an instant, Bruno's curiosity finally peaked upon hearing the maiden's name, "Alisha, that is a beautiful name," complimenting sincerely, which left her indifferent in terms of whether she took it well or not, "Well, it is a pleasure to meet you too," bowing to show some manners, "There is also another reason why he was here in the first place, "your mother didn't return after she told us to wait for her arrival," telling her in a calm voice.
That earned a giggle from her, as if finding something humorous in his explanation of their situation. "It's surprising for one to expect that you haven't realized why she hasn't returned yet," Alisha teased, making him feel more like a fool in his current position. "My mother is always forgetful whenever she does tasks alone," she continued to explain to him about Miria's absentmindedness while tending duties at her age.
"Ah, that explains her absence," finding it reliving in understanding the real reason behind the elder lady's delay of dinner itself, "but I am in need of food as I barely ate anything in nearly a day, so that's why I am here in the first place," admitting his desires openly to the girl without shame or pride in himself whatsoever, "can I have some bread to munch on?"
Taking a moment or two at this request, she caressed her chin with a look of pondering as though deciding whether or not to allow him in this kitchen. "You are welcome to come in and help yourself to anything on that shelf over there," she said, pointing her finger toward the spot behind Bruno.
Relief filled his soul upon hearing those words come out of her mouth. He smiled at her, grateful at the thought of finally eating something good for once. "I thanked you for the hospitality," he said humbly while turning around in search of the delicious treats that he wants to devour dearly. "What else do you have stored here anyway?" Bruno asked in regard to the shelf she pointed at, "Anything interesting I should know about?" He inquired, hoping for more variety.
He then went to where the shelf was and began scanning through the different types of foods available in this place, finding various things such as salted pork jerky and pickled eggs, along with several bottles containing various kinds of sauces and dressings used to flavor meals during mealtime itself.
Although he was disappointed to learn that they were simply preserved foods that likely remained there for a day or two, While technically he could eat them without much problem, the taste will be blank due to not being freshly cooked at the moment. "This is not what I expected," he confessed sadly, unsatisfied by how plain these selections appear to him.
Hearing his disappointment from the man's voice, she pulled her hand away and inspected her own nails with a bored expression etched on her face, "Sorry that I can't provide you with fresh meat and vegetables," sighing dully before explaining how little to no availability of ingredients around here in terms of freshest quality goods for them to use due to their distance from cities along with a shortage in supplies for transportation.
"We live far away from civilization, and the endless winter makes it hard for us to buy goods unless someone visits us," Alisha began lamenting about her poor circumstances, which caused a slight pity to arise within Bruno's heart. "Nevertheless, we still try our best to scavenge through leftover scraps that we can gather, so at least we have something to live by."
Looking around, he noticed a wooden crate sitting underneath the table where people eat. "What's that?" Pointing his finger at them as he was eager to learn what was contained in them, he said, "Please tell me you got some decent stuff in there!" I'm hopeful of being fed better food than these dried-up editables.
Smirk spread across her face. "Fresh meat we got ourselves from already dead animals lying outside," Alisha replied curtly with an amused tone evident in her voice. "We sometimes spent time getting those corpses that were left behind after wild predators killed them," answering his question plainly while stroking her own chin with interest. "A pretty useful resource that is wasted by others," she commented thoughtfully.
Eyes widening from those words, an idea came to his mind after hearing this: "then we cook something delicious." He smiled happily at finally eating something fresh for once. "It seems there is a lot of work ahead of us, so let's get started," turning to look at her, who seemed perplexed by the statement.
Bruno was now full of excitement at the prospect of preparing a delicious, hearty stew with fresh ingredients. He didn't mind being the chef today, especially if it meant having real food again. The thought of being able to prepare a stew made his own stomach rumble.
As they both set their sights on the wooden box of meat, they wasted no time in removing its contents, which consisted primarily of just skinned torsos of deer. The smell became rather unpleasant after being exposed to open air for so long, making him grimace at the foul stench coming from it. "I see why they put these in wooden crates," he said, holding back gags as he fought to resist throwing up.
The two carried it to a nearby chopping board and placed it on its surface as he smelled his own dirty hands, which were covered with traces of blood left over from the recent kill. "Sorry for being disgusting; my hands stink," he apologized with a frown plastered on his face.
She didn't seem to care or have heard him in the first place, as the young woman has been focused entirely on prepping ingredients for stew. "By the way, I'm Giordano Bruno," he said, introducing himself while wiping off some blood from his palms onto a nearby piece of cloth hanging on the metal rack next to him.
Like before, Alisha wasn't even taking an interest in him at all and simply ignored everything he did or said. Instead, she concentrated on cutting pieces of meat into cubes so they could be fried up into meatballs, which would add extra flavor and texture to the dish.
Grabbing a machete from a drawer near the table's corner, she quickly slashed apart the meat into separate portions. The sound of a blade slicing through flesh echoed through his ears, causing him to wince slightly at how sharp it is, also fearing whether or not she was hurting herself accidentally in the process.
Despite how many times he tried to make small talk with her, she never said anything or paid attention to him at all, creating an awkward atmosphere between them as he wished desperately for their relationship to become more friendly than being so distant and cold like this.
He can understand why she's like this; after all, he was a bit of a jerk to her mother, so it would be fair to be treated differently from the usual people that entered their home. Bruno wanted to apologize to the elder lady; however, he doesn't think now is a good time since it's rather late right now.
On the other hand, he believes that he sort of deserves it, as Bruno wasn't acting like a gentleman would when speaking with old ladies. Someone like him should have learned manners when interacting with others during first impressions. "I messed up again, didn't I?" He uttered quietly under breath.
She then spoke after a prolonged period of silence between one another, "Yes, you have." Alisha didn't waste any time in telling him bluntly, "Not to mention you acted very disrespectfully towards her without realizing it at all." The young woman berated sternly with furrowed eyebrows as she continued her cutting.
Bruno was surprised to hear that. "Wait, how did you know that?" Wondering how exactly she can know about his encounter with Miria without even being there when it happened, "wasn't it at least half an hour ago?" Looking at her back in an anticipating display.
Not daring to turn around and face him, she nonetheless answered his troubling question. "Mom told me," she said without much thought behind it. "She told me about everything regarding you and your friends," the young woman told in a matter-of-fact manner while keeping an eye on her own blade closely, "including your suspicious nature that led to asking her unnecessary questions despite not doing anything wrong," hurting his ego by saying it outright to his face.
He swallowed hard, not sure if he wanted to continue this conversation anymore, but his curiosity and regret altogether were winning him over at this very moment. "Sorry?" I was trying to apologize for being harsh towards the old lady earlier.
It is not that he was intending to be rude to anyone; Bruno was only cautious of strangers around him unless they actually proved themselves to be trustworthy. Saving his life counts as trust because those people cared enough to do so for unknown reasons.
As he stood there silently watching her cut chunks of meat into manageable pieces so they could be put into a boiling pot, the poet was too deep in thinking of his actions as he lowered his head to look at his own opened palms, wondering to himself if every action and word could affect people around him in one way or another.
Bruno found that anything he does can have a lasting effect on others, depending on the circumstances or intentions themselves. In particular, what he said earlier left the older lady feeling upset about herself because of what he told her specifically.
Surely, the woman wasn't mad at him but rather saddened by it instead, as she tried not to show it. On the other hand, perhaps the poor old lady was hiding from them because of his hurtful words. Either way, he just believes this is all just a misunderstanding of things.
It was only natural for Bruno to distrust others in general, and seeing a woman appear in the middle of nowhere is a very logical conclusion to arrive at in regards to being cautious around them. But after Nye proved them otherwise, he is willing to take away that distrust as long as they aren't bad people.
His thoughts were suddenly cut short when he felt the presence of Alisha standing just in front of him as he looked up to see her annoyed look. She wore leather gloves as a way to reduce the heat of hurting her hands completely while holding a smoking pot of brownish stew.
The smell it gave off is surprisingly good, unlike its appearance. Bruno was rather impressed by how nice it smelled, despite being a little bit unappetizing to his taste buds. However, his attention was clearly on the food and not her in particular.
"Its done, thanks to you," she said blandly before pushing it forward almost close to his face, forcing him to take a step back instinctively away from the steam puffing out its container. "Now go fetch some bowls for the both of us," her command echoed through the air along with the strong aroma that has wafted around the entire kitchen.
"Yes, ma'am." Complying her demand instantly with a sigh, he went to the nearby shelves after having lost himself in focusing entirely on the meal itself. As the man reached for a pair of wooden bowls, he turned around to see her waiting patiently for his return while setting the tableware needed for consuming supper on top of a sturdy counter.
Placing them down, Bruno sat himself on a stool across the table in anticipation of enjoying food. Watching as she scoops out its content into each bowl carefully without spilling any out accidentally or purposely onto wooden surfaces themselves, he couldn't help but be happy upon seeing what awaits before him.
There was silence between them before Alisha finally broke it by saying something to him.
"Why are you here?" She questioned it as she stirred its contents with a ladle, stirring the stew slowly before tasting it by licking a small portion on the spoon that came out of the liquid itself. Her eyes narrowed, but she kept silent for a few seconds. "Is there any reason for three men to take advantage of an old woman's generosity like yourselves?" Harshly pressing on as she raised her brow at Bruno curiously.
"It's a long story..."
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