Cursed Land Chapter 5 Yukako 2

The soul-extraction went well. However, that land and the doll are not good. If you become poisoned by them too, you will follow the same path as the previous couple.

What should I do?

I don't think you need to worry about the well anymore, but the doll has become a medium for something malevolent. I will visit on a convenient day, and we shall perform a ritual burning for the doll.

If we burn the doll, will something like that never happen again?

Yukako said, as if pressing the matter.

If the doll is properly laid to rest, I believe the strange occurrences in that house will cease.

Encouraged by the priest's words, Yukako felt a surge of courage. Even so, if her husband stopped her, it would be over.

What should I tell my husband?

She told the priest that her husband would fly into a rage if the doll were involved.

That is a problem. However, one option is to do it during the day when your husband is not home.

It was true that her husband was at the office during the day, so he could not interfere with the burning of the doll.

I understand. Even if it's impossible right now, I want you to come to the house tomorrow. I am terrified of that house.

I see... I don't know if it will serve as a charm, but I will write a talisman for you.

Hearing that, Yukako's expression brightened, and she thanked the priest.

The priest immediately brought ink and Japanese paper, wrote a talisman, and gave it to Yukako.

Keep this with you at all times.

I understand.

When she held the talisman in both hands, she felt a slight heat. The talisman was warm. She felt a sense of relief, as if the warmth were proportional to its effectiveness.

Thank you very much.

Yukako pressed the talisman to her chest and bowed her head.

It was decided that I would return to the Yachi house for today, and that they would call me later with a schedule. To tell the truth, I didn't want to go home, but I had no choice but to trust the efficacy of the talisman.

The next day, I spent the whole time with the talisman I had received in my pocket, except when I was in the bath. Two days later, the head priest called to inform me that he would visit the Yachi house tomorrow to perform the ritual burning.

Perhaps thanks to the talisman, I was able to sleep without having any nightmares since going to Ryuun-ji Temple.

The next morning, after seeing my husband off, Yukako waited impatiently for the head priest to arrive. However, even when afternoon came, the head priest did not show up. The clock hands ticked away. Thinking that if she waited any longer, her husband would return, Yukako tried calling Ryuun-ji Temple.

The person who answered the phone was a woman with an unfamiliar voice, and she was not the priest's wife.

“Um, this is Ino. I heard the head priest was supposed to visit our house today.”

The voice on the other end of the line grew loud with surprise.

“There was a plan to go there today?”

“Yes, that's right. Is the head priest there?”

Yukako asked, feeling suspicious. Then, the voice on the phone replied in a somber tone.

“High Priest Itsuki passed away in an accident, and we are holding the wake right now.”

Hearing that, Yukako let out an involuntary cry.

“What? The head priest died in an accident?”

“Yes, a car accident. He didn't say where he was going... So he was scheduled to visit the Ino residence.”

Saying she would attend the funeral tomorrow, Yukako hung up the phone. Her knees trembled from the shock. To die on the very day he was to burn the doll... When she fumbled in her pocket and took out the talisman, it was blackened and sooty as if it had been burned.

“How could this be...”

Unable to comprehend what this meant, she just felt sick and threw the talisman away.

The head priest, who had been her last resort, had died, and she had lost her source of support. At that moment of despair, the thought of Ichio crossed her mind, and she gripped the smartphone placed on the low table. She called Ichio, but only the ringing tone echoed, and it didn't even go to voicemail. After a while, the call ended on its own.

A sense of despair enveloped her entire body, and Yukako collapsed from her knees and sobbed. The head priest was killed by the doll. She could only think that. If so, she had been bewitched by this house. Looking at the past records, the firstborn of the Ino family dies in every generation. Yukako placed her hand on her swollen belly and stroked it. The thought that she didn't want this child to be taken away filled her heart. She had removed the soul from the well and buried it, and she had also held a memorial service for the baby's bones found there. What else could there be?

Yukako looked back at the Buddhist altar room behind her. A black shadow was reflected on the frosted glass of the snow-viewing shoji screen. She recoiled involuntarily and let out a scream. The black shadow standing in the hallway was swaying slowly from side to side. At the same time, the sound of water droplets falling reached her ears.

The scene appears vividly in my mind. A soaking wet, naked woman stands in the hallway, submerged in a puddle where reeds grow up to her ankles. Her long black hair is drenched, covering her face. Her lower abdomen is torn open, and dark, blackish blood drips into the puddle. Her skin is grayish, devoid of any color.

The room temperature drops suddenly, as if cold air were rising from the tatami mats. The foul stench I smelled when I opened the well lid drifts in from somewhere.

Yukako could only swallow hard and stare at the shadow. She felt that if she looked away or closed her eyes, it would close the distance and be right in front of her.

The clock ticks. She had been staring at the shadow for so long she didn't know how much time had passed. This is my limit. Just as she thought that, the front sliding door opened and she heard her husband's voice. She carelessly turned around and regretted it. Now she couldn't look straight ahead. As she stood frozen, unable to move, the yukimi shoji screen slid open, and her husband was standing there.

What's wrong?

Coming back to her senses, she gives her husband a strained smile.

Welcome home.

Huh? What about dinner tonight?

When she realized it, it was already past 8:00 PM. She hurriedly got up and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Her husband calls out to her gently from behind.

Is it okay to order delivery for a change? What do you want to eat?

Yukako returns to the bright living room and glances at the yukimi shoji screen leading to the hallway. The shadow is gone, and the cold air has returned to the slightly humid air it was before.

Toshimasa, I heard the head priest of Ryun-ji Temple has passed away.

Yukako said in a trembling voice.

What? He seemed fine just the other day, didn't he?

I heard he died in an accident. The wake is today and the funeral is tomorrow.

I don't think I can make it.

I'll go instead.

Then I'll leave it to you. Well then.

As if the priest's death had nothing to do with him, her husband began searching for a restaurant on his smartphone to order delivery.

At the priest's funeral the next day, she tried to pay her final respects, but the small window of the coffin was never opened. She had heard it was an accident, but she caught wind that he had died in a truly horrific state. She felt that the priest had died because he tried to get involved with the doll. If that were the case, she wondered why she hadn't died. Was she being kept alive by something to bear the first child? However, she had no idea how that related to the doll at all.

Finding it difficult to spend time at home, Yukako had been going out into town for the past few days, killing time by hopping between cafes and family restaurants.

While reading books, she would refill her drink from the drink bar many times. She was always nervous, wondering if the staff were looking at her strangely.

After about two hours, she would change shops and order the all-you-can-drink bar there as well. She had no appetite, and like her husband, Yukako was losing weight day by day. It was quite painful not having any friends at a time like this. If Ami hadn't betrayed her, she surely would have called her many times. She realized just how much she had depended on Ami. She had been leaning on her to gain a sense of security. That is why she could not forgive the affair between Ami and her husband even more. She didn't feel much jealousy toward her husband, as there was a part of her that had already given up on him. The feeling of being betrayed by both of them was stronger. She didn't understand why, of all people, Ami had chosen her husband as her affair partner. Ami was beautiful and had an easygoing personality, the complete opposite of Yukako. There was no need for her to go out of her way to have a deep relationship with a man who had a wife. As for her husband, there was no need for him to cheat with his wife's best friend. Thinking about when the affair started brought out a bitter feeling. It must have been three years ago. Her husband's return home gradually became later, and the number of days he didn't come home at all, claiming he was staying overnight at the office, increased. She had just started fertility treatment, and not only was her husband, whom she wanted by her side the most during the most difficult time, absent, but their married life was also half-broken.

It would have been better if she could have just blamed her husband, but seeing his sullen expression made her lose her nerve instantly. She hated herself for being unable to say anything, but she thought she was able to endure it because she loved him.

After going through all that, she finally conceived a child. Despite saying he wanted children, her husband didn't seem very happy about it. He didn't say it out loud, but perhaps he didn't like children very much himself.

That was precisely why she was secretly happy when they moved and he started showing interest in the child. No matter what he thought of her, she just wanted him to love their child.

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