IPUAVNP Chapter 117

Episode 117

 

Meanwhile, in a village undergoing reconstruction after an attack by the tiger tribe, new construction work was in full swing.

As Kyle walked through the marketplace on his way from the square of Nort Village to the northern village where construction was underway, he thought of Brody.

The mere sight of food was enough to remind him of her, almost like a disease.

Confronted with how often she crossed his mind, Kyle found his thoughts circling back to yesterday’s question.

Could this be love? Could I call it that? 

Yet, at the end of that thought, another question stabbed at his heart.

Do I even have the right to call this love?

Still unsure, he paused in front of the fruit stand he frequented.

Ever since his first visit, the shopkeeper had always brought in new kinds of fruit.

Kyle glanced over the fruits on display, intending to decide what to buy later on his way home. But as he casually raised his head, something beyond the shop window caught his eye.

Amid bottles of fruit wine and herbal liquor lined up on the shelves, a particular bottle stood out.

It had an illustration of a groundhog giving a thumbs-up with a big grin.

They sell this here, too, Kyle thought, furrowing his brow as he recognized the bottle.

It was the same liquor the groundhog had given him on his last day in Avril Village, insisting it was good for his health.

He remembered how he, someone rarely affected by alcohol, had blacked out almost immediately after drinking it.

The unpleasant memory made him shake his head in disgust.

Just then, a fragment of memory flashed through his mind.

‘Your clothes are filthy! Take them off and sleep!’

He saw someone shouting at him as he lay in bed.

A woman in a white dress—the image of her face grew clearer.

It was Brody.

As her face became vivid in his mind, the memory shifted as though the scene had changed.

Now, Brody was lying beside him, looking at him.

‘If I sleep here, you’re going to crawl down to the floor again, aren’t you?’

His vision swayed, as if he had shaken his head. Then a voice said,

‘I want to sleep with you’

The moment he realized it was his own voice, Kyle’s eyes trembled violently.

But the memory, indifferent to his shock, continued playing out.

He heard Brody ask, ‘Do you even know who I am?’ and he responded, ‘My rabbit.’

“Am I out of my mind?”

Kyle cursed aloud.

As the events of that night came rushing back, his face turned crimson from his neck to his ears.

‘I said that? I really said that?’

Even if he had been too drunk to think straight, he couldn’t believe he had said such things to Brody.

What unsettled him even more was knowing that he likely hadn’t said them thoughtlessly.

The emotions behind those words must have been genuine, hidden somewhere in him, only to surface under the influence of alcohol.

Realizing this, Kyle clutched his head in frustration.

He’d done something so outrageous and then claimed he didn’t remember the next day. Brody must have been utterly dumbfounded.

As he reached that thought, his face stiffened.

Come to think of it, Brody hadn’t seemed dumbfounded at all. In fact, she’d acted as if nothing had happened.

He also recalled how she had lied to him—pretending she hadn’t regained her human form, pretending nothing significant had happened that night.

Normally, Brody would have teased him mercilessly, accusing him of having seduced her the night before.

Could she have been pretending nothing happened because she didn’t want to burden me?

That was one possibility.

“…”

But even as Kyle tried to think positively, an unsettling feeling lingered in his chest.

If she’s pretending nothing happened, could it mean she wants to erase that night from her memory?

This unease stemmed from a fear Kyle had harbored for some time: the possibility that Brody might have changed.

Every meaningful interaction seemed to magnify that fear.

He couldn’t help but think of Zelda, who had once passionately loved him but eventually abandoned him.

What if Brody’s feelings for him burned brightly like a flame but could extinguish just as suddenly?

‘Maybe my actions that night made her uncomfortable. If she felt burdened, it could mean she doesn’t want those kinds of emotions from me anymore. In other words, her feelings for me might have faded.’

Lost in these thoughts, Kyle clenched his teeth.

The irony of his situation struck him—here he was, unable to even confirm his love for Brody, yet consumed by anxiety over the thought of losing her.

 

***

 

Meanwhile, the servants whispered among themselves as they observed Brody, who had been sitting alone in front of the garden pond for over an hour.

“Why does Miss Brody seem so down today?”

“Until Sir Kyle left this morning, she seemed so lively.”

Unbeknownst to the servants, Brody’s mood had already hit rock bottom long before.

She sat with a vacant expression, staring at the ornamental fish swimming in the artificial pond.

Though she looked like she wasn’t thinking about anything, her mind was a chaotic mess.

She kept recalling the moment that morning when her eyes met Zelda’s as she greeted Kyle.

‘He looked so at ease…’

Seeing the change in Kyle’s demeanor only solidified her suspicion that something must have happened between him and Zelda.

‘What could it have been?’

The only explanation Brody could think of was that Kyle had reaffirmed his love for Zelda.

After brooding for a while, Brody finally lifted her head and let out a deep, weary sigh.

“…I’m so tired.”

It was a sight uncharacteristic of the usually lively rabbit. Even Brody herself was taken aback.

It was absurd that she felt this defeated over the fact that Kyle didn’t like her.

She couldn’t believe she was sulking like a tragic heroine, waiting for some declaration of love.

‘Why are you acting like this, Brody?’ she scolded herself.

‘Why are you sitting here like someone who’s been stood up? You don’t even like Kyle, do you? Or have you actually been consumed by the role of loving him?’

“No way. That’s impossible.”

Brody answered her own question with a bitter laugh, as if the idea was absurd.

The thought made her feel even more cynical. She now scoffed openly, her face twisted into a sardonic expression.

‘He’s the guy who loved Zelda so passionately. No, he still loves her, doesn’t he? Why would I ever like someone like that? He’s the kind of man who risked everything for his grand love. After witnessing that, how could I possibly fall for someone who treated me like trash and tried to use me?’

Caught up in her own dramatic monologue, Brody suddenly stood up, her fists clenched in frustration.

But the burst of anger only lasted a moment.

Reality quickly set in, and she slumped back down by the pond, feeling utterly drained.

Staring at her reflection in the clear water, she sighed in self-reproach.

She looked ridiculous—like a teenage girl pretending not to like someone she clearly did, desperately trying to convince herself otherwise by listing his flaws.

Disgusted by her own antics, she splashed the water with her hand, breaking the reflection.

It made her uncomfortable, as if the pond were showing her true feelings.

‘I don’t like Kyle. I never will. Liking him would only end in heartbreak.’

Though she resolved herself to this thought, she couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.

Back when she was pretending to like him, she hadn’t cared about getting hurt.

Now, she was so afraid of being hurt that she was vowing not to like him at all.

The more she dug into her own feelings, the clearer the unwelcome truth became.

Brody rubbed her face with her hands and shook her head.

‘Enough of this pointless thinking. I should focus on how to steer Kyle’s heart away from Zelda.’

But there was no way she could tackle that problem in her current state of mind.

Even that morning, pretending everything was fine in front of Kyle had been unbearable.

The thought that he might still see her as someone to use and discard had made her so miserable that she’d found herself searching his eyes for any hint of his true feelings.

The memory of that humiliation made her throat tighten with emotion.

“I just want to quit everything and go home,” she muttered.

The words slipped out like a joke, but as soon as she said them, a wave of longing swept over her, making her eyes well up.

She thought of the May family, who had loved her without ulterior motives, and she felt tears threatening to spill.

She wanted to finish everything quickly and return home.

She wanted to forget all this as if it had been a bad dream and live peacefully with her family.

Now that she thought about it, she’d never really considered life after saving Kyle.

Once her goal was accomplished, it was obvious she would have to leave. She would return to her home in Asgar.

But the thought of making that long journey back made her head spin.

If it were just a long distance, she could handle it. But remembering the countless dangers she’d faced traveling south to Knohen made her shudder.

Of course, much of that peril had been because of a certain someone’s insistence on taking ‘the fastest route.’ Thinking of the hardships she’d endured, Brody clicked her tongue in irritation.

This time, she vowed, she would take the safest and most comfortable route back, no matter how long it took.

Traveling alone meant she had no choice but to be cautious.

Oddly enough, planning her journey home lifted her spirits a bit. It felt better than wallowing in negativity.

Just as she steadied herself and stood up, an idea popped into her head.

“Oh?”

She suddenly remembered an unexpected and much easier way to get home.

“The Magic Gate!”

The Magic Gate—a portal that could take anyone anywhere they wished. Truly magical.

There was one in the valley of Roden, which Kyle Roden himself had used to cross into Asgar.

The thought thrilled her so much that she shouted out loud, only to quickly cover her mouth.

But the joy was hard to contain. She had just found a way to avoid the grueling journey back.

And then, out of nowhere—

“The Magic Gate?”