11. Grandma Claire
The old woman's house was not far away, it took about ten minutes to walk there, it was an ordinary village house built of stone and wood. The roof was made of thatch, and a cow was tied at the door. Next to the house, there was a makeshift farm fenced with crooked fences, where many vegetables and plants were grown. At a glance, only cabbages and sweet potatoes could be recognized.
"Come on, come in. My grandson and granddaughter have gone to work in the fields after breakfast, there's no one in the house." The old woman opened the small gate of the fence and led me into the house.
The furnishings in the house were very simple, the only furniture was a set of tables and chairs, with an old oil lamp on the table. The thick wooden pillars had been eroded by the years and looked somewhat dilapidated. Parts of the mottled stone walls had cracked, with several strings of red currants hanging on them. In one corner of the wall lay a long wooden box, with a simple rack for hanging clothes next to it, and nothing else.
Apart from the living room, there were three small rooms in the house, all with their doors tightly closed at the moment.
"Come, child, sit down. Wait for grandma to get you something to eat." The old woman led me to the table, then opened a room door and brought out some black bread and some dried meat.
"There's not much good stuff in the house to entertain you with. This deer meat was hunted by a hunter in the village a few days ago, my grandson cut a lot from him, and it has been salted, eat it."
"……Thank you."
The old woman looked at me with a soft gaze. I was indeed quite hungry, so I didn't stand on ceremony and grabbed a piece of black bread and bit into it.
The bread tasted very bad, sour and somewhat bitter, chewing it in the mouth felt like gnawing on sawdust. But the deer meat was not bad, maybe because I had eaten so many fruits in the forest for so many days, I really missed the taste of salt.
Seeing me eating deliciously, the old woman squinted and smiled.
"Eat slowly. Really, this girl must have been hungry for a few days…… Ah, right, I'll go and milk some cow's milk for you."
After saying that, the old woman walked out tremblingly, holding her waist, and soon brought back a cup of cow's milk and placed it on the table. The deer meat was a bit too salty, and I was just thirsty from eating, so I tilted my head back and "gulped" down a full cup of body-temperature cow's milk, wiped my mouth, and continued to eat, quickly finishing all the food on the table.
I patted my little stomach, feeling no sense of fullness at all.
The old woman brought two more slices of bread and a plate of deer meat, but they were quickly finished by me again.
……Still want to eat.
I smacked my lips, looking at the old woman with an innocent face, full of surprise.
"Poor girl, how many days have you not eaten…… But you can't eat anymore, it will stretch your stomach. I'll go and milk another cup for you, drink it and grandma will take you to clean up." The old woman patted my hair, "Such a pitiful girl."
…………
There was a flowing river to the west of the village. The old woman told me that the women of the village bathed and washed clothes downstream of the river, while the men were upstream, separated by a waterfall in between.
Hmm…… It seems that this is not a world where ladies come first, the men are not gentlemanly at all.
After bathing and returning to the house, the old woman took out a dress made of coarse linen for me to wear.
"This is a dress I just made for my granddaughter, she hasn't worn it yet, it's clean, you wear it."
I was shocked when I heard this and immediately shook my head to refuse.
What a joke, wearing a dress?
"Put it on quickly, I'll wash your cloak later, it's too dirty."
The old woman didn't give me a chance to refuse, she reached out and pulled my cloak down, her thin body was surprisingly strong, and I immediately grabbed the collar to resist.
"No……"
"Be obedient."
After a lot of pushing and shoving, I didn't dare to use too much force for fear of hurting her, and in the end, I couldn't beat her, so I had to wear the dress reluctantly.
The old woman looked at me, clean and refreshed, and nodded in satisfaction.
"You girl, how can you be so pretty. I've lived for over sixty years and I've never seen anyone as beautiful as you, even more so than the lord's daughter."
The old woman plucked a currant from the stone wall, blew on it, and popped it into my mouth. The taste of the currant was sweet and tart, much more delicious than the unknown fruits in the forest.
"Now, can you tell grandma your name?"
"……Silvija."
This was the name that came to mind without any thought. I remembered the whisper in my ear when I was in the dream at the beginning, with the appearance of Xiaoxi, that must be the name this body owned.
"Can grandma call you little Sil?"
I nodded my head.
"Little Sil, where are your parents?"
I really didn't know how to answer this question, so I slowly shook my head.
"……Is that so." The old woman's eyes showed a look of pity, she didn't ask any more, she had her own understanding.
People with black hair and eyes are rare… The girl in front of her definitely doesn't come from an ordinary civilian family. Daughters born in civilian families have too many hardships in life, they can't raise such a face and skin. Her granddaughter is only eighteen years old, just of age, but her skin has become rough and yellowish from being exposed to the sun and wind every day.
Although the girl came in wearing only a tattered cloak, the cloak was clearly not ordinary, the quality was so good that even the small nobles she had seen couldn't afford it.
Probably some great noble family had experienced some unimaginable disaster, leaving only this poor girl to escape. But she didn't intend to dig deeper into such matters, the girl was already having a hard time, why uncover someone's scars? To the old woman, this was not important.
"Do you have any place you want to go?"
I shook my head again.
"Well, how about you stay with grandma for now?"
Hearing the old woman's words, I tilted my head and thought.
The old woman seemed nice, and since I didn't know where to go and had no money on me, it might be better to settle down here for the time being and make plans after getting a clearer picture of this world.
"……Okay."
The old woman's face showed joy, and her wrinkled face crinkled up.
"My name is Claire, Claire Franche. You can just call me Grandma Claire."
I nodded to show I understood.
"Claire… Grandma, do I need… to do… anything?"
Hearing my halting words, Grandma Claire couldn't help but chuckle, "Silly child, how old are you, what can I ask you to do? I just like you, as long as you don't dislike staying here. Although there's not much good food or clothes here, I won't let you go hungry, just settle down here for now."
Her words were simple but sincere.
Having been in the business world for three years, accustomed to a world of deceit, I knew all too well that to get something, one must first give something, and I had long taken it as a life principle. Since meeting Grandma Claire, her pure kindness had left me somewhat at a loss, and I felt an urgent need to do something for her.
"I… can… clean."
After saying that, I looked around for a cloth or broom to start cleaning.
"Silly child…" Grandma Claire pulled me back into her embrace, her eyes full of tenderness, "Poor child, you must have been frightened, you can't even speak properly… I don't know what hardships you've faced…"
Her voice became choked up towards the end, and her eyes reddened slightly. She was a sentimental old woman.
To be honest, I wasn't used to this. As a 26-year-old man, it had been a long time since I had been held like this, and I felt a bit embarrassed.
Feeling her bony body against mine, I didn't pull away, just letting her hold me.
No, it's not as bad as you think.
I wanted to tell her that, but the words just wouldn't come out.
…………
As dusk approached, the twilight, like a candle about to be snuffed out, performed its last duty of the day.
For this small village, without the bright lights of a modern city, the night was very dangerous, and everyone would rush home before the sun set.
"Grandma, we're back!"
A sudden voice broke the silence, the old wooden door creaked open, and as I was wiping the table, I turned my head curiously at the sound. A young man and woman, covered in mud, walked in one after the other.
"I'm starving! Is there anything to eat… Huh, who are you?"
The brown-haired girl who entered first spotted me and looked surprised.
"What's going on, do we have a guest?"
The boy following her asked, shaking the mud off his shoes as he entered.
"You two… hello."
I greeted them somewhat shyly.
"Ah, you're back!" Grandma Claire emerged from the kitchen, apron tied around her waist, "Tired, aren't you? Rest a bit, dinner will be ready soon… Barry! You've got mud everywhere! Go clean it off before you come back in!"
"Grandma, why don't you tell Aria? She's got more mud on her than I do!"
The boy complained, feeling unfairly singled out.
"Both of you, clean off that mud before you come back in! You'll clean up the house later!"
"It's okay… I'll… clean up." I quickly dropped the cloth I was holding and ran to the kitchen to grab a broom.
"Grandma, who is she?" Aria, the girl, asked with curiosity.
"Silvija… come here, don't worry about the broom for now, let me introduce you."
"This is my granddaughter, Aria," Grandma Claire said, pointing to the girl, then she pointed to the boy, "And this mischievous fellow is my grandson, Barry."
"You two, this little cutie is Silvija, just call her Sil for short. From now on, she's your little sister."
"Eh??? Little sister?"
The siblings were suddenly filled with curiosity.
"That's right, now clean off the mud and come sit down, I'll explain more later. Sil, you stop cleaning too, go sit down, dinner's almost ready."
"Okay."
Soon, a simple and homely meal was laid out on the table, and Grandma Claire lit the oil lamp on the table, brightening the dim room. It was only then that the siblings could see my face clearly, and their reactions were quite different.
"Ah! So cute!!!" Aria stared at me as if she had seen some rare creature, her eyes shining with excitement that made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
Barry's face turned a shade of red in the bright light, looking every bit the shy young boy.
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