CGBTS Chapter 36

Chapter 36 – Reduced Sentence

Novel Title: あの夏から戻れない (Can’t Go Back to That Summer)

Author：宮緒葵 (Miyao Aoi)

Illustrator：笠井あゆみ (Kasai Ayumi)

Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: 櫛原夏生 (Kushihara Natsuo -MC) & 四辻柊 (Yotsutsuji Shuu -ML)

*Please read at knoxt.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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“I was kept alive by Odamaki-sama’s divine will, and I wish for those two not to be killed. Couldn’t that also be considered Odamaki-sama’s divine will?”

“……”

The village chief had surely received a report from Shuu. That Natsuo had ingested an incomplete amount of the Sacred Flower’s poison and suffered from symptoms caused by its aphrodisiac effects. That his life had never actually been in danger.

But there was no way the truth could be revealed here. The fact that the Sacred Flower also had aphrodisiac effects was confidential information known only to the village chief and a select few others.

“…Ugh… …g,gh…”

“Mm… ngh…”

The pained groans coming from behind him heightened his sense of urgency. Even as he stood there, Etsuko and Kiyoshi were gradually being hoisted higher into the air. Once both of their feet were completely off the floor…

“――You have a point.”

It probably took less than a minute for the village chief to say those words.

But to Natsuo, it had felt like several tens of minutes, even several hours. For the families who had been forced to strangle their own relatives to death with their own hands, and for Etsuko and Kiyoshi, it must have felt even longer.

“As Odamaki-sama’s priest, I cannot disregard the divine will. However, at the same time, the crime of nearly killing someone with the Sacred Flower must be atoned for.”

“…If that’s the case…”

Not only Natsuo, but everyone present swallowed hard.

The village chief swung his arm, making the sleeves of his many-layered yukata flutter. In his hand was an odamaki—a spindle of thread—about one size smaller than those held by the villagers, wound with red thread.

The tip of the odamaki pointed toward the two people who had been sentenced to death.

“By divine will, the death sentence is hereby suspended.”

“Ah… …Ah, aahhh!”

The cry of joy, bursting forth amid tears, came from Etsuko’s family and the men from Kasuya’s family and relatives.

Everyone simultaneously released their grip on the ropes, and Etsuko and Kiyoshi were freed from being suspended in the air, the ropes still wrapped around their necks. The two collapsed heavily onto the straw mat, and their respective families clung to them, weeping.

“Instead, I hereby order Etsuko of the Sawada family to marry Makoto of the Kurabayashi family. As for Kiyoshi of the Kasuya family, he shall perform ten years of forced labor.”

“…!”

When the village chief announced the new judgments one after another, Etsuko, who was being helped up by her mother, twisted her face in disgust.

The forced labor presumably meant that Kiyoshi was to work for the village without compensation. Even in an unchanging village like this one, there was surprisingly plenty of work to be done, such as repairing deteriorating houses, maintaining the satoyama, and exterminating harmful animals. Having to devote himself to such work for ten years, putting his own life aside, was a severe punishment for the young Kiyoshi. Even so, it was far better than having his life taken, so both Kiyoshi and Kasuya shed tears of joy.

…But marriage instead of the death penalty?

What was the village chief thinking? The answer became clear almost immediately. At the village chief’s prompting, Makoto of the Kurabayashi family stepped forward to stand beside Etsuko.

“I gratefully accept the divine will.”

Kurabayashi bowed reverently to the village chief in gratitude. For a person from Odamaki Village, he was unusually fat, and half of his head was already bald. Even at a glance, he looked more than a head taller in age than Etsuko—perhaps even twenty years older. His shiny, lustful-looking features somehow reminded Natsuo of a frog, and he looked nothing whatsoever like Shuu.

“To think someone as pretty as Sawada’s Etsuko would be paired off with Kurabayashi’s stud.”

“Well, it’s better than dying. And if it’s Kurabayashi, he’ll probably get her pregnant every year.”

The women nearby were whispering among themselves. Apparently, the man named Kurabayashi had fathered five children with his late wife and was now looking for another wife.

The village chief had assigned Etsuko to a man whom all the young women had avoided. She had been unable to marry the Shuu she had continued to love, and instead was being forced to marry an older man who already had children. In a sense, this might have been an even more painful punishment for Etsuko than death.

“Village chief… thank you.”

“Thank you…!”

After rejoicing for a while over Etsuko and Kiyoshi’s safe survival, their families knelt before the village chief. Kazuo tilted his lowered head in Natsuo’s direction and gave him a grateful look.

…Th-Thank goodness…!

The tension drained all at once from Natsuo’s tightly wound body. If he had failed, he would have been forced to watch Etsuko and Kiyoshi be strangled to death right before his eyes.

As Natsuo slumped down, the village chief cast him a brief glance.

“If you wish to give thanks, give them to that person. I merely followed the divine will.”

“Ah… …Thank you!”

Etsuko’s parents, Kazuo, and Kasuya along with the male relative all turned toward Natsuo and pressed their heads against the tatami in a full prostration. It was the first time in his life that other people had performed such a deep bow before him, and he was already uncomfortable enough as it was. Now, the heated gazes of the villagers, whose emotions had grown even more intense, left him bewildered.

…What happened to these people? Just a moment ago, they were acting like, “You outsider!”

Overwhelmed by their repeated thanks, Natsuo failed to notice.

That Etsuko, whose hand was being held by Kurabayashi, was staring at him with eyes brimming with murderous intent.

The trial was over, and the villagers returned home. Kiyoshi was also taken home by Kasuya, and apparently he would begin his forced labor first thing tomorrow.

It was decided that Etsuko would be confined in a prison until preparations for her marriage into the Kurabayashi family were complete. The cell she had been held in before the trial was a cramped solitary cell meant to confine criminals, but the place she was moved to this time was a zashikirou, a tatami-floored prison room in an annex of the village chief’s residence. It was locked from the outside, and she was forbidden from going outside or meeting anyone other than her guards.

However, as long as permission was obtained from the village chief, things such as provisions could be brought to her, so compared with the solitary cell, it was probably heaven. Her mother would prepare everything for the marriage, and Etsuko would leave directly from the prison to marry into the Kurabayashi family. A middle-aged female villager told Natsuo as she was leaving that Etsuko would never be able to return to her family home again.

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*Translator’s Note: I’m worried that she is alive. -K

Next update: 2026.11.06

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