Trashes of the Counts' Families || Trash of the Count's Family || OC

3

[Mentions of hanging and suicide]

The story was simple. In Ancient Times, a glutton who worked as a priestess got kicked out because of her gluttony and then died. The big tree in front of them was what grew upon her body. She knew of the Man-Eating Tree, of course. Everyone knew of the Man-Eating Tree, whose name was earned when the people who had hanged themselves on its branch had desiccated overnight. The bodies swaying in the wind, a shell of what they used to be.

Adara left the bread sack with Cale and tried calming the children down. She liked children, they always had a unique outlook on the world that was so innocent. And they served for great entertainment too, an adult had never asked her what her favourite type of lizard was. But she didn't want them to be here when they started. "Hey," she said, crouching to their height. "My friend and I are being very careful," she spoke softly. "We won't die."

They looked anxiously at her, and at Cale behind her. "You will die! Don't do it... You can't," the younger practically pleaded, the older joining with his pleads.

Adara gave them a gentle smile. "Here, how 'bout this? I promise we won't die and I'll give you two some bread. We have a lot of it."

The younger looked up at her with his big eyes. "Y— you promise you won't die?"

She gave him a wide smile. "I promise I won't die. We both will still be here tomorrow, I promise." She turned around to Cale and made an impatient motion with her fingers.

He wordlessly threw her two buns of warm bread, staring at her weirdly.

She picked up the buns and handed them to the two kids. The older quickly grabbed the buns and pulled the other along, dragging him to get away from them. She turned around as she ran down the hill, staring at Adara. "You can't die," she said softly. "And the other one too. You can't die."

Adara only smiled.

She turned to Cale, staring at him expectingly. After a couple seconds of silence, with Cale staring at her, almost stupefied, she spoke up, "Well? What are you waiting for? Stop staring at me and let's feed the gluttonous tree."

Cale's face scrunched up into a frown. "You were being nice. To the children."

She made a face right back at him. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be? They didn't do anything."

He stared at her like he was trying to figure her out. "But all those nobles, and adults you're rude to. Like, Billos, or the bread man from earlier. You were rude to them and they hadn't done anything either."

"Kids are different from adults," she explained impatiently. "If you're rude to them they'll believe it was something they did and it will stick with them for the rest of their life. They also don't exactly know the story of 'Adara the Bitchy Cunt' so it will only increase their beliefs that all adults are trash," she shrugged. "Now, let's stop wasting time and just start feeding the tree."

Cale turned to the tree, a loaf of bread in his hands. He crouched down, staring at the dark hole in front of them, right under the tree. She walked behind him, staring from above. "So, the bread is just going to disappear?"

Cale didn't say anything, only put his hand in. The bread dissipated into the darkness as Cale's breath hitched. He pulled his arm out quickly. Breathing in and out, carefully, he explained, "Sorry, I freaked out thinking my hand would get sucked in as well."

"Well," she muttered. "Better stay further away then." She pulled her sack of bread and crouched down next to him, wanting to see the hole from closer. No matter how hard she squinted she couldn't see anything in the dark pit. "I'll make sure to die without a grudge," she said in a low voice, her eyes never leaving the hole.