Take Away My Sickly Beauty [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 27

The heavy downpour of the White Rain Festival was strong enough to knock down broad tree leaves. As soon as Sana stepped out the door, the leaf above her head was battered by the wind and rain until it became unstable, eventually leaving nothing but a single stem in her hand.

Sana simply tossed the stem aside and ran toward the cub. The slippery ground caused her to fall several times, and the searing pain in her legs grew numb under the drenching rain.

By the time Sana managed to drag and carry Keno back into the house, the two of them looked like mud monkeys sopping wet and covered in filth.

Because the torrential rains of the White Rain Festival lasted for so long, the dry firewood Sana had initially prepared was nearly exhausted.

There was no telling how many more rainy days lay ahead. Sana looked at the meager pile of wood in the corner and then at the sickly, delirious cub on the stone bed, her pale lips pressing into a tight line.

After weighing her options for a moment, Sana walked toward the corner anyway.

Firelight illuminated the dim, damp corner of the room as Sana used animal skins dipped in warm water to wipe the grime from Keno’s body. Only after clearing away the mud did she discover, to her horror, that the cub’s body was covered in scars.

Many of the scars were so hideous and terrifying they looked as if they could have torn the cub in half; it was hard to imagine how she had survived.

Sana’s expression darkened, and her concern for the cub deepened. She allowed the boiled water to cool until it was lukewarm, then mixed it with herbs and fed it to Keno.

The storms of the White Rain Festival were fearsome; many orcs died from being caught in the rain. Most of them ended up like this cub unconscious, burning with fever, and sometimes crying out in their delirium that they were cold.

Whenever this happened, the Great Priest would pray for the Beast God’s protection. However, the Beast God did not shield every subject. Some survived, while others grew cold and died in their stupor.

Having done everything she could, Sana slumped by the edge of the stone bed and fell asleep. By nightfall, she was jolted awake by the cub’s shivering.

“Cold…” the tiny cub whimpered, huddled into a ball, her teeth chattering from the chill.

Sana’s face changed instantly.

In this state, a cub could only pray for the Beast God’s mercy. But Sana had been exiled from the tribe and could no longer enter the village to seek the Great Priest.

Sana bit her pale lips until they turned pink. She didn’t want this cub to die, and she couldn’t just stand by and watch.

Fortunately, this was a female cub. Without much hesitation, Sana shed their animal skin skirts, covered them both, and pulled the feverish cub into her embrace.

The Great Priest said that orcs who fell ill and called out for cold after being in the rain were cursed, and that the curse was contagious. Therefore, whenever a cursed orc appeared, everyone would place them in an empty hut, and no one would dare go near.

Once, a male orc warrior had been cursed. His wife could not bear to see him suffer alone in the hut, so she moved in to care for him.

Terribly, his wife was cursed soon after. Both died one after the other, leaving behind a small cub to be raised by the tribal adults.

Thus, Sana should have run far away instead of getting close to this cub.

But living alone was too terrifying not just because of the threat of wild beasts, but because of the suffocating loneliness.

Sana wanted someone to stay with her, even if it was just a cub.

With that thought, Sana tightened her hold on the cub. Her lips, marked with teeth indentations, lightly touched Keno’s forehead as she whispered, “Please, get better quickly.”

Keno was burning with fever. In her dreams, Sana felt as though she were hugging a burning log. The log burned brighter and hotter, making her break into a heavy sweat.

She wanted to run, but she found herself firmly trapped by the “branches” extending from the log, unable to move at all.

In her sleep, Sana groaned from the heat, her thin eyebrows knitting together, adding a touch of fragility to her already sickly face.

This was the scene Keno saw when she opened her eyes. The slender female orc was murmuring uneasily, her bare skin covered in sweat. She seemed to want to escape, but she was locked firmly in place by Keno’s seemingly childish arms.

Worst of all, the lower half of Keno’s face was buried in the other’s chest. Her lips were pressed against a patch of softness, and her nose was filled with the fresh scent of flowers and grass.

Keno—who had officially reached adulthood on the day of the White Rain Festival felt her mind go blank with a sudden “boom.”

This… what was going on!?

She, she-she-she touched this female orc?!

Keno retracted her arms from around Sana in a flash. Panic-stricken, she scrambled out of the bedding, grabbed a random animal skin skirt, and threw it on.

The commotion was so loud it woke Sana from her slumber.

Waking up in a daze, Sana saw the cub she had rescued the day before standing by the bed. The long skirt trailed on the ground, and a pair of large eyes looked at her in panic, blinking with frantic energy.

The damp, cold air hitting Sana’s sweaty skin made her shiver. She had no choice but to pick up the only small animal skin skirt on the bed to cover herself.

Though she didn’t want to frighten the little cub, Sana had to speak up: “You’re wearing the wrong clothes.”

The skirt, which was already large on Sana, fit Keno like a giant sack, enveloping her entire body and leaving only her small head poking out.

The sight made Sana struggle to suppress a smile.

Upon hearing this, Keno’s face flushed bright red. She apologized repeatedly while clumsily pulling off the skirt to return it to Sana.

Compared to Keno’s panic, Sana appeared quite calm and composed. After all, she wouldn’t harbor any improper thoughts toward a cub.

But Keno, who was actually an adult, was weighed down by heavy thoughts.

Sana attributed Keno’s silence and gloom to the lingering effects of the curse.

The most important thing now was to feed the cub.

Many cursed people could not eat, but that only made them weaker. So, Sana took out the dried red goose meat she had been hoarding and intended to cook a hot meat soup for the cub.

The wood in the corner was only enough for this one meal. It was pouring outside, and it was drizzling inside the house. In such a damp environment, being without a fire would be fatal.

But Sana had no other choice. The hot meat soup awakened Keno’s starving stomach. She pressed her hand against her growling belly in embarrassment, as if that would make it quiet down.

While clutching her stomach, Keno stole shy glances at the busy female orc.

The other woman’s frail frame was turned away from her. Keno held up her hand to measure, feeling that this person was even thinner than herself, despite her own history of wandering.

Keno’s mother had died giving birth to her, so her father had always loathed her. As soon as Keno could walk, he threw her out of the house to fend for herself.

In her childhood, Keno survived by eating insects, ants, and wild grass. Because her father was the Chieftain, his attitude dictated the attitude of the entire tribe. The tribesmen allowed wandering orcs to eat the scraps left over after butchering, but Keno was not allowed a single bite.

Keno hadn’t understood at first, but after being beaten several times, she learned the lesson: never touch anything belonging to the tribe.

Even a piece of rotted meat the size of a fingernail discarded by a tribesman was off-limits.

Fortunately, she was resilient and lived to adulthood. However, because she was unable to transform into her beast form, she was ultimately driven out of the tribe entirely.

Yet, the female orc before her was even more fragile so weak that even a single fire-rat could harm her.

Such a weak female could not possibly survive outside the tribe alone.

Keno pursed her lips and clenched her fists, making a firm decision.

The crisp voice of a cub suddenly rang out in the wooden house:

“I will take responsibility for you.”

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