Quietly Hiding that I am a Man chapter 157- fake family

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When I was a child, the only reason I went to that nameless river was an elementary school vacation assignment.

The task was to investigate the ecosystem at the river’s end—a demanding homework project.

When I explained why I needed to go, my father reluctantly took a day off work and brought me there.

That day, of all days, turned out to be sweltering.

No matter how far we walked along the river, its end remained out of sight.

Oddly enough, my father didn’t glance at me even once that day; he just walked relentlessly ahead.

Fearing I might lose him, I pushed my aching feet forward to keep up.

“Dad, Dad.”

By the time the sun was setting, he had completely vanished from my sight.

With a swollen face from crying, I wandered, calling out for him.

The despair of losing him and the pain from my blistered feet overwhelmed me.

“Eunsoo!”

Suddenly, my father, who had disappeared from view, appeared behind me for some reason.

He pulled me into a sweaty embrace, and I buried my sticky face against his chest.

In a trembling voice, he whispered something unintelligible into my ear.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

It was only upon hearing his tearful apology that I realized—I hadn’t lost my father.

He had abandoned me.

With that realization, my tears abruptly stopped. Everything felt futile.

My gaze instinctively turned toward the glimmering river, its surface shimmering like scales in the setting sun.

The wind, high and forceful, swept my hair as I stood in a daze, my tear-streaked face numbly tilted toward the water.

The river seemed to whisper to me, its voice cool and mocking:

‘Foolish child, there’s nothing at the end of the river.’

‘Nothing at all.’

“Gasp.”

I woke, drenched in sweat.

I must have fallen into a deep sleep, intending only to close my eyes for a moment.

Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I rose.

After a restless night of shallow sleep, my exhaustion felt unbearable.

Shaking off the remnants of drowsiness, I headed toward the tent.

Langcot, who had been waiting outside, greeted me with familiarity.

“Jeanne.”

“How are the tribespeople doing?”

Skipping pleasantries, I got straight to the point.

Langcot, silent, lifted the tent flap for me.

Inside, I saw patients who had stopped vomiting and purging, their faces serene as they slept.

Langcot, who had been astonished by how quickly the long-suffering villagers recovered—within just half a day—spoke in disbelief.

“How did you manage this? Did you really break the curse on our tribe?”

Of course not. I lacked the divine power to heal so many people.

As I casually flipped through Luke’s herbal medicine manual for confirmation, I answered nonchalantly.

“The answer lies in the river.”

“The river?”

“Yes, the river. This village is located downstream. In contrast, the villages that were massacred by the fae were all upstream. Right now, corpses are floating in the river.”

In the original story, Luke had realized that the sick had one thing in common—they all lived near the river.

Just then, the rabbit brothers returned, having gathered the herbs I had requested.

Langcot, lost in thought, spoke up.

“Now that you mention it, people who drank collected rainwater because they feared the river’s discoloration didn’t get sick. The contaminated water caused the illness.”

“Exactly. Until the corpses are dealt with, everyone must drink rainwater. Boil this herb into tea for the patients. For those in worse condition…”

Following Luke’s methods in the original story, I calmly examined the patients first.

Langcot, who had been cautious around me before, now looked at me with the same trusting eyes as the rabbit brothers.

Uncomfortable under their gazes, I backed away.

Langcot, his tone eager, said:

“I’ll give you food and shelter. Why not stay here? Become my wife and—”

“See? The moment I look away, this happens. Really.”

Jerome, who had returned from somewhere, naturally draped an arm over my shoulder.

Langcot’s face darkened as he glared at Jerome.

After a tense pause, Langcot stormed off, his displeasure evident.

Jerome, chuckling softly, poked my cheek with his finger and murmured.

“Starting tomorrow, I’ll make you wear a sign around your neck that says, ‘I’m a married woman.’”

“How’s the Goron movement?”

“The fake saintess has somehow completely won their trust. But there’s one strange thing.”

“Strange?”

Jerome motioned for me to follow and led me silently away.

I trailed him out of the village and onto a peculiar side path.

For a moment, confusion clouded my thoughts, but then I heard familiar drumbeats.

My eyes widened. Jerome stopped and gestured for me to look.

“Come here.”

Cautiously stepping closer to him, I surveyed the scene.

Before me stood a baobab tree, its leaves yellowed as if the tree were dying.

Its withering presence struck me with a heavy sadness, and I murmured softly.

“That’s the World Tree.”

“Yes.”

“It doesn’t look good.”

Tribespeople had gathered before the World Tree to begin a ritual.

A masked woman stepped forward, lifting a lamb’s head as she chanted incomprehensible incantations.

Something about the scene felt disturbingly off, and I frowned. Sensing my unease, Jerome added.

“Remember when Freya tried to summon the divine beast Parak? She planned to sacrifice you and Marchen as offerings.”

“Yes.”

“Summoning a divine beast requires a living sacrifice—a human, an animal like a cow or lamb. Without one, the divine beast won’t respond.”

Exactly.

That was it.

Parak had mistaken me for Maya and answered the ritual.

Divine beasts were notoriously picky and temperamental; they wouldn’t respond to a ritual without a living sacrifice.

But this woman was performing the ceremony with no offering at all.

Jerome smirked faintly.

“Jeanne, what do you think it means to be alive?”

“What? Why such a philosophical question all of a sudden?”

“To be alive means to possess a soul. And people often forget that humans and animals aren’t the only ones with souls.”

Jerome’s unexpected remark unsettled me, and a chilling thought crossed my mind.

“The World Tree.”

“Exactly.”

A cold wind rustled my hair. Jerome’s next words made my blood run cold.

“That woman plans to sacrifice the World Tree to summon Oberon.”

Sacrificing the World Tree?

It was unthinkable.

The idea was as reckless as burning down your house to kill a single flea.

The World Tree, sacred and enigmatic, existed as one per dimension, their roots said to be intricately interconnected.

Legends spoke of people who fell asleep beneath the tree and woke in another world.

The World Tree was steeped in mystery.

To sacrifice such a thing…

“Wait. Didn’t they say she’s already summoned Oberon once? Then why does she need a sacrifice now?”

“I’ve been wondering that too. If she has Goron’s trust, it doesn’t seem like she’s lying, but…”

A piercing scream cut through the air.

As Jerome and I were discussing something with grave expressions, a sharp scream cut through the air.

Turning toward the source of the noise, I saw panicked villagers fleeing in haste.

Their fear stemmed from the sudden appearance of fairies with grotesquely twisted limbs.

Goran, who had been momentarily stunned by the sight, quickly barked out a commanding order.

“Return to the village and protect the elders and children! Immediately!”

Unlike the fleeing villagers, Goran charged forward alone to face the swarm of fairies.

Hundreds of them clung to his body like a swarm of locusts.

Watching this horrifying scene, I couldn’t stand idly by.

Just as I was about to rush to his aid, Jerome blocked my path with his arm.

“I’ll handle this. You follow that woman. I’ll catch up soon.”

He gestured toward a woman walking away.

Strangely, the fairies attacking everyone in sight left her untouched.

With those words, Jerome unsheathed his sword and descended the slope.

The fairies, sensing his presence, hesitated and began to retreat.

‘Right. First, I need to figure out who that woman is.’

I urgently pursued the woman, who had already vanished into the bushes.

If she truly intended to use the World Tree as a sacrifice to summon Oberon, I had to stop her at all costs.

If the World Tree collapsed, a gate connecting dimensions would open, unleashing thousands of monsters.

Such an event wouldn’t only devastate the East but could threaten the entire empire.

Even the thought of it was terrifying.

‘I must stop it, no matter what! The gate must not open!’

I found the woman near a large, beautiful pond.

She was clutching a blood-soaked sheep’s head to her chest and murmuring an incantation in an unknown language.

Suddenly, the tranquil pond began to bubble like magma.

A sense of foreboding enveloped me.

‘She’s summoning Oberon.’

The moment I realized her intent, I grabbed my bow and swiftly nocked an arrow.

The arrow sliced through the air, grazing her cheek, and snapped the string of her mask.

The mask fell to the ground, and I shouted with tense urgency.

“Stop! If you don’t, the next one will pierce your heart…”

As she turned toward me, my fingers on the bowstring trembled involuntarily.

Her expressionless face struck a chord of familiarity deep within me.

My breathing grew labored.

“You… you’re…”

“…”

“Why are you here…?”

Seeing my visible agitation, the woman smiled faintly.

My mind, already a chaotic mess, went blank.

As she gazed at me silently, she slowly opened her lips.

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