The old woman's face, steeped in memories a moment before, suddenly seemed to freeze beneath a layer of frost. Its tenderness twisted instantly into savage resentment.
Her face, withered like a wilted vegetable leaf, grew even more horrifying as its muscles twitched.
"Then..."
She clenched her few broken teeth, her voice hissing through the gaps:
"On that joyous day, I wore the wedding gown I had sewn with my own hands, covered my head with a red bridal veil, and sat at home waiting for him to fetch me."
"Our homes weren't far apart, only two streets away. No matter how slowly the bridal sedan traveled, I knew exactly how long it should take!"
"But... he never came."
The old woman's voice turned shrill and grating, like a rusty blade scraping stone:
"So I waited for him. I sat on that bridal bed, waiting from dawn until dark, from dark until dawn."
"I waited so very, very long... so long that my hair turned white, and my teeth fell out..."
"Even when I became a skeleton, he still hadn't returned..."
She covered her face with both hands in anguish, clawing at her cheeks. As she wept, an icy, sinister sound escaped her, enough to make their hair stand on end:
"Later... only later did I hear it from his family's servants."
"He, the man who promised to grow old with me, secretly shaved his head on the night before our wedding, fled his home, and became a monk!"
"He became a monk... hahahahaha!"
The old woman laughed bitterly, a sound uglier than her weeping:
"Once he left, he found himself peace and freedom."
"But his poor parents were so enraged that they coughed up blood. Before long, both had departed this world!"
"His family laid every last bit of blame