The Bride Of The Sacred Forest God
Chapters 11. The Tears of the Little Fox

Reda started doing everything herself from washing dishes to washing vegetables. She is not allowed to cook because Aragaki can smell her hand so she just soaks her vegetables in salt water.

After that, he started mopping the floor starting from the outside engawa.

The size of Aragaki's residence is almost equivalent to the palace in that era and is very impossible to do alone.

“Reda-sama, Ryuunosuke will help you!”

“No need, Ryuunosuke. If later Aragaki-sama looks up, he will be angry at you.”

“But, Reda-sama is unlikely to work on it alone! Ryuunosuke even mopped the entire floor of this house aided by Nagi-sama and Ginko-sama! Impossible Reda-sama can do it!” Ryuunosuke is increasingly hysterical and wants to cry

The girl simply smiled and stroked the little fox's head.

“Ryuunosuke, consider this my first test to make Aragaki-sama smile. We have to fight, remember?”

“But..”.

“I'll do it myself. After this floor is cleared, I will look for Ryuunosuke yes.”

The little fox could only nod sadly. He decided to go to the kitchen and prepare vegetables for lunch.

From a distance, Nagi and Ginko saw Reda mopping the floor by herself.

“He really did it?”

“It seems that she is completely different from the other village girls. Even after being insulted like that by Nushi-sama, he was still willing to do his duty. This is unbelievable even if seen by my own eyes.” said Ginko in surprise

Nagi pensively recalled the expression on the girl's face while taking her food to throw away this morning.

“Ginko..”.

“Ya?”

“I want to hear your honest opinion about the cuisine of the girl.”

“Taste it?”

“True. I'm sure you also feel that the miso soup he made was delicious, don't you?”

“...” Ginko just shut up while nodding

From behind, two tengu Hakuren and Kuroto saw Nagi and Ginko looking towards the other engawa on the side of the residence.

“Oi, the foxes! What are you guys doing here?” call Kuroto while approaching the two

Hakuren looked at the direction of their eyes and he found the object that the demon foxes saw.

“The girl named Reda is really doing her own job. I'm impressed with him.” Praise Hakuren

“You why see it so?” kuroto asked with a confused face

“I asked Ginko about the cuisine he made this morning.”

“Feel yes. I like the soup of the miso. It was very fresh and there were many new elements that I felt when I drank the soup. Too bad I can't spend.” Hakuran looks very sorry

Hearing that, Nagi started to look strange.

“I think only me and Ginko think so.”

“Of course not. I enjoyed it too. It's just that, we can't do anything if Aragaki-sama hates him. I did not know that the smell of Aragaki-sama is really that strong, until the smell of humans in cooked vegetables can be smelled perfectly.” Hakuren said with an expression full of wonder

Ginko sees the girl coming back and asks the three.

“All of you, are you starting to hope for that girl to be able to bring Nushi-sama back to what it used to be?”

That question was really like the stupid question a Ginko had said. Kuroto was clearly against it.

“Of course not! Want as many humans sent to this place, Aragaki-sama's revenge will not be easily lost!”

“But, Ryuunosuke was small to the point of defending her all-out like that. He even briefly snapped at Nushi-sama for the sake of the girl. Ryuunosuke has never done so long on another ‘bride’ candidate. Couldn't that be another consideration for us?”

“What are you talking about, Ginko? Why do I feel like you're starting to expect him? Don't forget what humans did to all our friends! Because of them, this place has become so quiet that only the five of us continue to be with Aragaki-sama!”

Kuroto started to look emotional. His statement illustrates just how much man took 200 years ago from his master.

Ginko. Outraged by Ginko's words, Kuroto flies off to patrol with Hakuren following behind her.

“I know. But I just thought maybe what you said in the meeting room was right, Nagi.”

“After feeling that soup, I felt a feeling in it. He made it really. And seeing the cuisine he painstakingly made ended up being trash.I'm sure anyone would cry.”.

All the sentences Ginko said made Nagi pay attention to the tired poor girl again. Apparently, the two foxes who picked her up first started to pay a little attention to her.

Although it may be just a momentary attention.

**

Inside his room, Aragaki was busy reading the paper scrolls and doing other things. As the leader in Higashi no Mori, a lot of things he did. Like the leader of a country, he also does his duty as a protector of the forest.

Since that breakfast, he had not thought of the poor girl in the slightest. Her pretty face, her sweet smile and everything she did were like insignificant things in her brain.

Aragaki also seemed to have never called her name. All he knew was that the girl was doing the task charged by him.

From the kitchen, Ryuunosuke came to bring snacks in the form of tea and sweet dango as his employer's working friend.

“Aragaki-sama, Ryuunosuke came to bring you a snack.”

“Come in, Ryuunosuke.”

The words were said very kindly. As soon as he saw his little servant enter, Aragaki greeted him with a smile.

“Ryuunosuke, do not want to accompany me chatting as usual?” aragaki asked her little fox

Ryuunosuke was silent at first. He was worried for Reda who was still mopping alone.

“Aragaki-sama, Ryuunosuke can go to the kitchen to prepare lunch for Reda-sama?”

Hearing the girl's name being called, Aragaki firmly said no.

“But, Aragaki-sama.Reda-sama is really good. Ryuunosuke can guarantee it!”

“Ryuunosuke, from now on don't mention that filthy girl's name again in front of me. Never help her, never give anything to her. I will never forgive you if I give her a favor even if it's just a drop of water.”

“Aragaki-sama, it's too cruel!”

“It was not cruel how his ancestors tortured all my servants! I swore to your late mother, Ryoko, to keep you away from humans. I want to know why you continue to obsess over the candidate ‘bride’ who comes from the descendants of the perpetrator of the murder of your mother?”

Now, Aragaki looked angrily at the little fox until it made the little fox's tail tremble.

“Ryuunosuke, listen to me. The wounds in my heart over their treatment of all my servants and friends in the past are already too deep. Don't force me to do the thing I hate the most.”

“Aragaki-sama, but Re–”

“I want to be alone. Ryuunosuke can go now. No need to accompany me to eat this snack, go to prepare lunch later.”

Aragaki cut off Ryuunosuke's sentence asking him to leave. In other words, the little fox was subtly expelled by its master. While saluting the master, Ryuunosuke left.

In the outer engawa, Ryuunosuke walked with a tray in his hand while holding back a cry. She didn't want to cry but she couldn't.

“Ryuunosuke can't imagine Reda-sama having to fight alone for food in the forest later tonight. Ryuunosuke can't imagine Reda-sama having to wear an outfit every day.”

“The candles and matches have not been given to him yet. If you knew it would be like this, Ryuunosuke would have given it this morning. Ryuunosuke cannot go against Aragaki-sama's orders. Hiks...hiks..Reda-sama, forgive me.”.

The little fox cried on his first day fighting alongside the candidate ‘bride’. While walking towards the kitchen, Ryuunosuke saw Reda who wiped the sweat on her forehead and started mopping the floor back up.

The girl did it with a small cloth so she had to bend her body to be able to mop things up.

I can't imagine how tired and painful my back is. His clothes began to get wet from sweat. Plus, the finished floor was mopped by him less than a quarter outside the area.

“Reda-sama can mop this house until night.” thought the fox

It felt so heartbreaking to see the village girl who should have struggled to get the heart of her master, now actually working so hard that she would barely have the opportunity to serve her master well.

Not a strange thing, because from the beginning that was the purpose of Aragaki. Put the poor girl down by doing the heavy thing so she wouldn't meet him.

Ryuunosuke who realized that could not hide his tears any longer. She cried alone outside until her tears washed over the floor.

Hakuren and Kuroto who coincidentally heard the sound of crying, went to see it from the roof of the Aragaki residence. The two tengu could only see the poor little fox crying while looking so sorry.

****