CH 30

The old fisherman stretched out his waist, putting his oar to the shore. It may be hard to row all night, but he was fine without any signs of fatigue, despite his age.

“I think it’s better to get off now. Now that you are here, I should go back too.”

Herace got off the boat precariously balanced. Erzen, who was still in her arms, yawned with his small mouth open and looked at his mother with clear eyes, as if he had slept to his heart’s content. Herace smiled as she made eye contact with her son.

“Thank you. You did a big favour for me, I…….”

Herace, who had her son in her arms, signalled at Anna. At the signal from Herace, Anna took out a small pocket from her arms and held out three gold coins to the fisherman. The old man’s eyes widened when he saw the shiny gold coins but then returned to their size after a while.

“That’s too much.”

The old man picked up a gold coin and waved his hand, but Anna reached forward once more. There was a reason for the generous payment of three gold coins. She said with a determined look.

“As I told you before, you have to keep everything a secret. No matter who asks, you can’t tell them about us, and your wife too. So take this…….”

“Don’t worry about that. I don’t have anyone waiting for me at home to meet nor do I want to meet anyone.”

The old man cut Anna’s words firmly. Anna looked at Herace as she stepped back as if she could not persuade him anymore.

Herace nodded a little. Anna put the rest of the gold coins into her pocket and carefully wrapped them in her arms. They don’t know what will happen in the future, but the more money, the better.

“If you follow that main street, there will be a village. Even if it’s small, it’s in the centre around here, so you can find a carriage there…… It will be convenient in many ways.”

When the discussion was over, the old fisherman pointed his finger to the road far away. Herace followed the old man’s finger along the road and hugged Erzen to thank him again.

“Thank you again…….”

However, the greeting did not continue. It was due to a strange sense of glee that stimulated Herace.

Looking at the deep, murky eyes of the old fisherman and the wrinkled face, she somehow got goosebumps. Herace stepped back unconsciously and hugged her son tightly. Erzen cried out, babbling at the sudden force.

“……Then take care of yourself.”

The old man glanced at Herace and Erzen, and pushed the ground with the oar. The boat slid into the lake in reaction and quickly began to move away.

“Miss, let’s go. We need to move fast.”

Herace, who was staring blankly at the moving boat, finally came to her senses at Anna’s call. She looked once more at the old fisherman who was becoming a dot and turned around.

As Anna said, they need to move fast.

***

The old fisherman stopped rowing and stared at the gold coin in his palm.

“……what should I buy with this much money?”

It was the first gold coin that he had ever held in his life. The cold touch was different from the copper coins that were often touched.

“I should have closed my eyes and received everything. I don’t know what will happen in the future.”

From the time he was born as a poor fisherman, all the money that fell on the poor was always a few coins. The old man fiddled with the gold coin for a long time with his fingers whose fingertips had worn out. With this, he could buy deer meat that people in the house liked. Is that all? With the extra money, he could get a good piece of cloth for himself. And he could also add some to his daughter’s dowry who will marry far away.

The old fisherman rowed vigorously. As the boat disappeared into the fog in the morning, the old man’s figure faded accordingly.

“Please wait. I’m on my way…….”

A formless, contrite voice hovered over the lake. And at the same time, something fell into the water and made a splashing sound.

Splash!

An empty boat rocked on the lake. All that was left on the boat was an old oar and a shiny gold coin.

***

The man swallowed his dry saliva. It was because even if he was such a dullard that goes on for life without any care in the world, he never intended to stand in front of the man whose stare was enough to send shivers down his spine.

“Is there an old fisherman nearby? If so, tell me where he lives.”

His red eyes were bloodshot. The man trembled at the sound of his voice, and barely opened his mouth. But just in time, Ezekiel’s black horse gave a fierce neigh.

“He, he lives around here…… Haah!”

“……it’s frustrating.”

The surprised man fell backwards and couldn’t speak properly. Ezekiel glared at the village man on the floor who couldn’t even speak properly and gestured toward Edgar, who was right behind him. Edgar got off the horse and approached the man.

“You are standing in front of His Excellency the Duke. Speak straight.”

Ezekiel and his party followed the traces of Herace to Lake Aunue. And that was when they heard last night that someone saw an old fisherman carrying two women and a baby on a small boat. They were looking for all the old fishermen near Lake Aunue.

“There are no old fishermen around. But there was an old man, who was called grandfather Bill, but he…….”

“Grandfather Bill?”

Edgar rushed the man with a quick step. Ezekiel’s eyes, who was listening from behind, also became fiercer.

The man couldn’t bear to face Ezekiel who was riding on the horse. Instead, he kept his eyes fixed on the giant horseshoe and the legs that stretched out on it, and continued with difficulty.

“Bill, grandfather Bill died a while ago. He followed after his wife, who killed herself after they lost their daughter. I remembered it properly because it was a rare and bizarre accident.”

****

Bill was a fisherman on Lake Aunue. He lived alone for more than 30 years and netted every day on a boat.

‘What do you mean marriage at this age?… I’m just gonna live like this.’

He was a comfortable person who wanted to be alone. Having lived alone with his grandfather and been alone since he was about ten years old, he did not pay attention to women. But didn’t they say that everyone in the world has a partner that God has chosen?

‘Hey! Hey! Wake up!’

One late spring, a foreign woman was caught in Bill’s net, who was fishing as usual. Perhaps because she drank a lot of water, the woman’s stomach was swollen compared to her body, and her face was as blue as the lake. Nevertheless, the woman was as beautiful as the legendary Siren.

Bill took care of the woman, giving up fishing for a while. The villagers shook their heads when they heard that he picked up a foreign woman and took care of her.

‘She has a face that even young people would be dying to marry her.’

‘There are already a few young men who have a crush on her.’

It was worth saying that the foreign woman was beautiful no matter who looked at her. Besides, she was a young woman in her prime. Who knew what kind of strange story someone spread, but everyone thought she didn’t suit an old man like Bill. Everyone thought that if the woman regained her health, she would leave Bill or go to another man.

However, the foreign woman did not leave Bill even after she recovered. She helped Bill with the net and took care of the house for him, who went fishing. After living together for years, the woman naturally became Bill’s wife.

‘You did a good job.’

‘…this, her name will be Erna.’

Thanks to his young wife, Bill had a daughter by the end of the year. Erna was a very pretty child whose beauty resembled her mother.

‘There’s no way that child looks like Bill. How can the old Bill have such a baby?’

‘Erna says she’s a pushover. I heard it from someone that.….’

However, was the appearance of her mother’s beautiful appearance the problem? When the child was seven years old, there was a secret rumour in the neighbourhood. It was a rumour that Erna was not Bill’s child.

Bill became angry when he first heard the rumour. However, the rumours swelled day by day, and at some point, he didn’t believe his wife anymore, and slowly went crazy with suspicion. Bill was furious when he found his wife talking to the man next door.

‘Where are you going! Damn it!’

Clink!

Doubts raised doubts and abusive language turned into violence. From some point on, Bill no longer cared who Erna’s biological father was. The old fisherman was only afraid that a man superior to him would steal his beautiful and young wife.

Bill often hit his fine wife with a callous hand. The bright and beautiful woman suddenly became a poor woman living with bruises. Every day, something broke, someone screamed, and the sound of a child crying came out from the cosy lake hut.

‘Oh, my God, Erna. Are you okay? Bill, your father was crazy today again?’

‘Yes, but I’m fine today, ma’am.’

Violence gradually decreased as the child grew and the woman did not leave the house. However, the fence around the cabin became stronger by the day. The woman, who sometimes showed her face to her neighbour, had become a person who was difficult to see even by her neighbour.

Still, the three were in the fence of a ‘happy’ family. Bill was satisfied that she gave up fighting, although it was a close relationship made by restraint. And as Erna grew up before he knew it, she promised to marry a young man she had in mind and go far away from her abusive father.

‘Mom, he’s not like father. If I can find a place with him to live, I’ll call mom. Mom can come and live with me, not with my father. All right?’

Erna, who became a woman from a child, often smiled unlike when she was young. She was beautiful and bright like her mother before she married Bill.

Bill didn’t like her daughter being happy. No, in fact, he was enraged by what his daughter whispered to her mother.

‘She has collected something that’s not even worthy to be a family. That cheeky girl..….’

Having his eyes turned red in anger, he gave himself a justification, saying he wouldn’t be a man if he couldn’t stop his daughter from running away, nor would he make a man miserable like him. So, one day, when he was drunk, he called the young man who would marry his daughter and shared his doubts with him.

‘Erna, she’s not my daughter.’

‘……what?’

‘You are wondering why I’m still living with her dirty mother?’

‘Well, that’s…….’

‘That’s what you will be like if you marry her. Are you confident that she will be with you forever? That girl had a couple of guys before she met you. Just like her mother. She went outside to meet men every day.’

‘…….’

‘Think carefully. Or you’ll be unhappy like me. You will have to live with a dirty woman forever. You’ll doubt it and hate it. But you won’t be able to let her go. Why? Because I love her, as you love Erna.’

‘…….’

‘Will you live a life like me? Are you confident?’

Bill scorned his daughter for going out so often. And even said that she had several men before she met the young man. He said she was like her mother, who liked to meet with different men everyday.