Chapter 4

It was not long after the moon rose in the night sky that Adele brought Sigmund out of the barn.

Looking back, all the lights in the house were off.

After confirming that his uncle, aunt and two cousin sisters were all asleep, Adele left the house.

Since it is the end of summer and chilly at night, I put a small knee blanket to cover Sigmund, milk for snacks, and blueberries in a basket and held Sigmund in my arms while holding a basket.

Sigmund, who is 10 days old but apparently looks like a five-year-old child, had better walking and tireless stamina than children of that age, but his legs were as short as those of that age.

Sigmund, who trudged, could not follow Adele’s steps.

So Adele took Sigmund in her arms and moved her feet to the hill.

If I want to go from home to the hill, I have to walk a little further past the water tree and across the small stream.

Adele smiled as she watched Sigmund whispering in her arms.

Adele was happy to have Sigmund, who smiled with her and went to see the fireflies at night. Ten days spent with Sigmund were as happy as in a dream.

Whenever I woke up in the middle of the night and looked down into my arms, I could see Sigmund buried my face in my chest, and fell asleep.

In the past, I was envious of the dolls that Anna and Mina had.

I once envied a doll made of pretty cloth filled with thick cotton that I wanted to hug and sleep with it, but now I was not envious of anything.

Because there is Sigmund.

Sigmund is therefore a jewel that cannot be exchanged for anything in Adele.

Adele thought Sigmund’s sparkling purple eyes looking at her would be more beautiful than any jewel in the world.

Adele, of course, has never seen a real gem.

Neither did Mrs. Miller, his aunt, have such luxuries.

Perhaps only the ladies of the capital or the wives of the village’s rich family have such real gems.

Adele wasn’t the kind of thing that dared to be greedy.

“We’re here.”

Crossing the stream and walking a little further, a low hill appeared.

Small sloths of twilight flowed down the hill, and large and small trees grew quite dense around it.

There was a lot of fireflies in this small forest that stood on a hill.

Adele, who was scolded and kicked out by her aunt last summer, had come all the way here.

It was a night when the moon didn’t even rise, so I burst into tears because I was afraid to cry alone, when the light of the soft fireflies flying around stopped the tears in Adele’s eyes.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have come this far in the middle of the night.

Ever since then, I’ve come out to see these fireflies.

This was, of course, the first time with Sigmund.

Sigmund has only seen the occasional fireflies flying around the barn.

But around this forest, he can see a star-flowing firefly.

“Adele, Adele.”

In his arms Sigmund sang Adele hard.

“What’s wrong, Sigmund?”

“It’s a star. It’s flying.”

Sigmund raised his hand, glistening in the dark air, pointing to the myriad lights that were flying.

“There are so many stars, Adele.”

“It’s not a star, it’s a firefly.”

“But it’s so little. That’s a lot and a lot of sparkles.”

Sigmund’s eyes glistening as if they had found something curious.

“Would you like to get off and walk alone, Sigmund?”

“Yes. I’ll walk.”

When Sigmund nodded, Adele dropped him in her arms to the grass.

“Star, star!”

As he mumbled around, Sigmund chased the flying fireflies of a starlight.1

Every time something happened, the wings on Sigmund’s back fluttered.

Sigmund’s wings were glossy with the lights.

It grew a little more now than when it first came out of the egg.

But it’s not a very big wing, but the first one, which was the size of a palm, is now about the size of two palms combined.

“It’s a bat if you look at its wings.”

Adele has never seen such wings except for bats.

All the other wings had feathers.

Such wings have never been seen anywhere near here.

A wing that has a transparent membrane on the inside and a glossy black crab on the outside. In addition, it is free to fold and unfold.

‘Where did Sigmund come from?’

Even now, curiosity has not gone away.

‘Is it a fairy?

But it didn’t look like a fairy’s wing.

‘Then the devil?’

The devil in the picture had horns, a long tail, and exactly that kind of wing.

Moreover, the teeth were also so hideous.

‘Not the devil.’

That cute Sigmund can’t be a devil.

And I’ve never heard of the devil being born from an egg.1

In addition, Sigmund has neither horns nor tails.

“Adele! Adele!”

Sigmund rushed over from there.

“It’s a star, Adele! It’s sparkling!”

Light flowed from the gap between the hands of Sigmund, whose hands overlapped.

It was the yellow and warm light of the fire.

“Look at this, Adele.”

When Sigmund ran forward towards her, he opened the palms that overlapped, dozens of beautiful lights flew up from the palms.

“Wow…”

Adele marveled at the magnificent view before her eyes.

“It’s really nice to be able to fly in the sky….”

Sigmund, who was staring at her, smiled broadly as Adele admired the beautiful halftime that flew into the night sky.

“I wish I could fly. Freely and freely.”

“Adele, do you like flying?”

“Look, I can fly, Adele.”

Adele looked at Sigmund when he said he could fly.

The cheek of Sigmund, who had clenched his hands, swelled up.

“Aha ha ha.”

Adele laughed as she looked at the tight-cheeked Sigmund as he was putting all his strength on his body.

The Sigmund’s roundly inflated cheeks as if he had bitten an egg, flapped his back wings, giving strength to the white flesh to turn red.

The black wings, which seemed to be a combination of two palms, fluttered, but they did not fly that easily.

How can they fly when their wings are so small?

Nevertheless, Adele was a bit sad about Sigmund, who was trying to fly.

“You don’t have to fly, Sigmund.”

“No. I can fly. I’ve flown before.”

Maybe I practiced when I was alone in the barn.

“Ugh, Ugh, Ugh.”

Adele lifted Sigmund’s waist up, feeling sorry for Sigmund, who struggled stubbornly with his wings.

“Come on, I’ll raise you high. Then you don’t have to fly, do you?”

“I can fly. Adele pabo.”

(Pabo sounds cute and so I didn’t change. FYI, Pabo means idiot, stupid, dumb, fool but I guess everyone know already.)1

Even in Adele’s arms, Sigmund fluttered his wings, but in the end he couldn’t fly.

Because Adele didn’t let go with her arms tightly.

“I can fly.”

“Yes, a little bigger. The wings need to grow a little more. Then you can fly as much as you want.”

“I can fly now.”

Sigmund swelled his cheeks as if he had been grumpy.

“Adele is a pabo.”

Adele kissed the grumpy cheek.2

“If you fly well later, take me with you.”2

“Of course. I’m only going to fly with Adele.”

You want to fly with me?

The tone was a little strange, but Adele just let it go.

“It’ll grow fast. So it’s gonna be bigger than Adele.”

“How much?”

“This much.”

Sigmund spread his arms and drew a huge circle on his other side.

It was less than half the size of Adele’s open arms.

“It’ll be big enough to reach the sky.”

“Then you can’t sleep in my bed?”

“I don’t like that.”

Sigmund was surprised to hear that he couldn’t sleep in her bed.

Because sleeping in Adele’s bed felt the best.

“You can’t do that, so I’ll only grow as big as Adele.”

“I don’t care if you’re a little taller than me.”

When will they grow up to the point where they can meet eye level?

At that time, I’m sure the wings of the back will be bigger.

Then maybe you can really fly in the sky then.

Adele closed her eyes and imagined it.

Sigmund, a little bigger than himself, holds her hand and flies in the night sky, flapping his back’s wings.

The imaginary Sigmund was very beautiful.

Still shining purple eyes, white, transparent flesh, dark hair resembling chestnuts and if you call me Adele with those red lips…

“Adele.”

“Huh?”

At the sound of Sigmund, Adele awoke from her imagination and opened her eyes.

“Adele is so pretty.”

Adele blushed at what the little child said.

I can’t be pretty.

Because I work in the sun all day long, my face is full of freckles and my skin is rough and messy. It’s not like Anna and Mina’s combed hair.

There’s no way that I’m pretty.

“You’re the prettiest in the world.”

“That’s because you haven’t seen real pretty people yet. There are so many pretty people in the world.”

“No. Adele is the prettiest. I’m going to marry Adele later.”11

“Pam…”

Adele stopped laughing.

Does this little kid even know what marriage means?

Where the hell did he learn the word marriage?

Adele never taught this child the word marriage.2

And the same is true of Adele, who is still 16 years old, who doesn’t know much about marriage.

So it was very interesting for Adele to say that Sigmund, who is younger than her, would marry her.

“You don’t know what marriage is.”

“I know.”

“What is it?”

“To live with someone you like. Forever.”

Is marriage like that?

It’s not wrong but it’s not completely right, so let’s say it’s right.

“I like Adele, so I’m only going to live with Adele.”

“Yes. If the mind doesn’t change later on.”

How long will this pure heart last?

Won’t innocence disappear as the child grows up?

“I like Adele best,”3

With a whisper, hugging Sigmund tightly in her arms, Adele replied, ‘Me too.’

“Me too, Sigmund. I like you best.”3

So far, Adele has never met someone who likes her so much.

If my parents had been alive, they would have liked me this much.

A little Sigmund who likes her the most.

Adele also doesn’t want to let go of Sigmund’s little hand that says he won’t break up with him and will continue to live with him.

Now I don’t want to be alone again.

I hate it because I am so lonely and sad alone.

So I want to be with Sigmund for a long time.

Without letting go of this hand.Of course I know it won’t be easy, but I want to do my best to hold onto this hand.

If only, ever.