Chapter 170: What She Must Do
"Forsaken?" Cathlyn asked with her eyebrows raised. "It was just a few human years. And forsaken is a strong word. Is that how you felt?"
"Yes, that’s how I felt, Cathlyn..." Alexandra let out a sigh. "I was broken and shattered to pieces in just those few human years."
"I am so sorry, Arimelda..." Cathlyn held her hand. "Mother and I were forbidden to check on you. I tried to be closer to you and stayed perching on the tree, but you were hidden from me. And when you never called for me or my help, I thought you were doing fine. Maximus thought you were doing fine too and... Oh, it must seem like an excuse. But I am truly sorry."
"Don’t apologize, Cathlyn. It was not your fault," Alexandra couldn’t bear to see the guilt in her sister’s eyes. "You said you were forbidden to meet me? So... our Father too?" she asked.
"Yes, It was a punishment mandated to us, our family in its entirety because we let our father act recklessly against you, pushing you to change the course of the humans. And it might seem as cruel to say it, but I think all the pain and sufferings you went through... It was your punishment for terrorizing the humans and causing harm to animals by turning them into monsters with your resentment."
Alexandra gulped. It was hard for her to accept. She was the one who went through all the suffering. Were the sufferings she caused warranted that much suffering for her? Was it fair?
But then she saw this from a different perspective. The sufferings she bore were unbearable for her probably because she was a human. In this life, she has turned human. And that’s what made all her pain more unbearable.
Humans are fragile. More fragile than she thought. And in that case, the punishment she got was fair.
For three centuries, the monsters she set loose, terrorized, hurt, and destroyed the livelihood of many. How many families lost their breadwinners to those monsters? How many soldiers gave their lives in their duty to fight the monsters? How did their families suffer after their death?
Thinking this way, she could see that the punishment she got was fair. The entity that was overlooking them all is fair in the judgment. And she didn’t want to complain.
And her father was tied to helping her too. Maybe that was his punishment. To watch her suffer and yet be unable to do anything to stop her suffering. That must have hacked his heart.
Alexandra knelt and bowed her head to thank whoever meted this merciful punishment on her. Although that entity was just punishing her, he was merciful too. Because if he was giving the same suffering she caused, she would have suffered for three centuries, not a few years.