WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Malfoid

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◈ Fragments of Thorns and a Cradle ◈

Chapter 7

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Content Warning: child abuse; domestic abuse; physical violence; sexual coercion or assault; threats of violence.

Ewin often had nightmares after his sleeping place changed. He had originally slept with Marie in Endymion's bedroom, then spent his days receiving play lessons with his nursemaid in the Lily Room.

Marie changed the trousers her son had wet and watched him with concern. Ewin had been fretful with more heat than usual. Though he had stopped crying, he buried his nose in her breast and pretended to seek milk.

After hesitating, Marie loosened her bodice slightly and let him nurse. Ewin curled up against her like a newborn and burrowed into her embrace.

Claude had begun sleeping separately at an even younger age. He had weaned early and walked early. But Ewin... What made Ewin so anxious?

"My sweet baby. Did you have another scary dream today?"

Ewin nodded around her nipple. Fear showed clearly in his crumpled eyes. Marie parted his bright blond hair and asked carefully.

"Mother has a pouch for holding dreams. Will you tell me? If it is a very scary dream, Mother will put it in the pouch, then sell it to the Dream Fairy for sugar candies. All right?"

Ewin lifted his gaze. His eyes, like Endymion's, looked at her. With his slightly upturned eyes, inherited from his father, he resembled a little cat. Both boys had been born wearing only their father's features, almost disgustingly so.

Marie kissed his forehead and touched his plump cheek. Ewin still nursed, but seemed to think.

"Really?"

He released her breast and asked. His soft pronunciation was adorable. His tongue was still too uncoordinated for clear speech, but he knew more words than expected. Perhaps Endymion's stubborn insistence on heir lessons was effective after all.

"Of course. Mother meets the Dream Fairy every night, and I will certainly tell the Dream Fairy Ewin's dream."

Ewin stared at her. Marie looked into his blue eyes, clear as spring water. They were bright and blue enough to seem breakable, beautiful like jewels.

"...A monster came."

"A monster?"

"Yes. It ate Mama like this, like this. Mama was crying..."

"I see."

Ewin let go of her breast again and held both arms wide. Marie smiled brightly because she found him so lovely. She hugged him tightly and patted his bottom. A dream with a monster. It was like a child. Still, he should not have nightmares so often.

"Me and Brother tried to save Mama, but Mama was naked..."

"What?"

"The monster drank Mama's milk too. I tried to stop it, but the monster hit me like this, then threw me."

Marie went still, as if something inside her had snapped. Ewin trembled with a frightened face. Startled, Marie watched him. He instinctively curled up and took her breast again. She could not press him to say more.

"Marie."

A low voice suddenly called her. Marie lifted her head to look at Endymion. He wore gauntlets, apparently having returned from the training grounds. Marie watched him with a hard expression. Moisture had already gathered at her eyes.

Before a female slave who did not even know to show respect at the sight of her master, Endymion smiled.

Marie had a sharp charm. She would wag her tail like a gentle dog, then suddenly lift the corners of her eyes like a wildcat and tremble. It was so cute.

Even when she nagged him softly and drove him mad, she was lovely. Something was surely wrong with his head.

"Did Vaid not come to take the child?"

"I sent Vaid away."

Vaid was one of Ewin's instructors, closer to a tutor than a nursemaid, though Ewin was too young for anything that could be called lessons.

Vaid was a knight. Training Ewin as a knight required wooden swords, and Marie disliked it whenever Endymion spoke of knightly education.

It seemed time for riding lessons at least, but Marie became hysterical whenever he mentioned doing anything before Ewin was five. Perhaps it was natural. Ewin had nearly been kicked by a horse while approaching to give it feed.

"Why?"

"Ewin wet his trousers."

Endymion looked from Marie to his son. Ordinarily, the boy would have run over crying, "Father!" But now he only hid his nose in his mother's breast, doing something he had not done in a long while.

"When a child wets his trousers, do you put him to your breast?"

"...Ewin is anxious."

"If he is anxious, solve the reason for it. He was weaned long ago. Why are you nursing him as though he is an infant?"

Endymion spoke as if chewing each cutting word. Marie closed her lips, and tears fell. The sight of her trembling and hugging the child made his mood utterly foul.

He watched Marie begin to weep freely through cold eyes. Holding the child, she cried as sorrowfully as a wife struck by her husband.

"What have you done to deserve crying? When your husband comes, you should smile sweetly and act cute. Are you going to cling to a child who wet himself and make a scene in the middle of the day?"

"It is because of you, my lord! It is all, all your fault!"

"What did I do?"

Endymion strode over on long legs and grabbed Marie's chin roughly. Marie struck his hand away and stepped back. She was truly angry. Her eyes burned red.

Endymion stepped back and looked down at his wife.

"I asked what I did."

Marie turned her head and breathed hard. He frowned.

"Do you want to be hit in front of the child?"

"Y-you... I will die! If you hit me in front of the baby, I will die..."

Endymion snatched Ewin away. Marie could not even stop him. It happened too quickly. She could only watch her son be thrown away from her.

As he always did, Endymion tossed his son onto the bed, caught Marie's wrist, and shoved her down. Ewin immediately burst into tears. Marie reached toward him in alarm.

"I am sorry. I am sorry, my lord..."

"Say it again."

Holding her wrist, he seized Marie by the hair and turned her head. She trembled and sobbed. My lord, I am sorry. I am sorry. Helpless words poured endlessly from Marie's lips.

Endymion glared at her with cold eyes, then looked at his son crying as though he would break apart.

"That is the problem, isn't it?"

"No. No, my lord. Please... The child did nothing wrong. He did nothing. Please, not the baby..."

Marie cried. She clung to Endymion's feet and wept desperately, then seemed to make up her mind and began removing her dress. Endymion glared at her with twisted eyes. Wearing only a negligee, she clung to him at his feet.

"P-please send the child away..."

Marie joined her hands and begged through tears. Her trembling, half-lost expression was like one he had seen not long ago. Endymion crouched down and lifted the chin of the pitifully crying woman. Marie flinched at his touch.

"Please. Let me care for your son. I am afraid something will happen to him."

Marie whispered desperately. Endymion, who seemed unable to hear his son's cries as he watched only his female slave, finally picked up the boy who lay kicking and crying on the bed. Ewin, having wet himself, cried even harder in Endymion's arms.

Marie swiftly took her son back and began to soothe him.

"Shh, my baby..."

As she patted his round back, Marie struggled not to cry and soothed her son through half-choked sobs. Pale-faced, she pressed her lips to his hair.

[Non-graphic summary of sexual material involving a child observer: Endymion continued to threaten and coerce Marie while Ewin was nearby. Marie begged him to send the child away and submitted in an attempt to protect him.]

"Ewin is watching!"

"So what?"

"He remembers everything. He does!"

Marie cried, gathering her breasts beneath the loose negligee. Endymion watched her in silence. Was that why she had kept her legs tightly shut even after stripping naked?

He left the child on the bed, rang for a servant, then seized Marie's wrist and forced her to the floor.

[Non-graphic summary of sexual material involving a child observer: Endymion sexually assaulted Marie despite her repeated pleas to remove Ewin from the room. Marie feared that Ewin had witnessed and remembered prior violence and abuse.]

[Non-graphic summary of sexual material involving a child observer: Ewin remembered witnessing his father's sexual violence against his mother.]

Marie seized the hand reaching for her breast and pleaded.

"Please."

Endymion did not fear his children's eyes. He feared no one's eyes. He could adore his little sons endlessly, but when Marie upset him, he became merciless and used the children as hostages.

Marie could not understand that cruelty. How could someone who looked upon his two young sons so tenderly change in an instant?

When Marie defied him, Endymion dragged in children who knew nothing. Each time, Marie felt that his love was hollow.

It was an empty shell that existed only in shape. Perhaps it was natural for a man whose feelings had dried away until there seemed to have been nothing there from the start.

Still, love for one's child... Was not a father's love irresistible? Stronger and more enduring than desire between a man and woman? Was it not as boundless and burning as maternal love?

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