Episode 38
It was hard work walking while ignoring the rabbit and fox whispering behind him.
Kyle suppressed the irritation rising to the top of his head and walked forward with his thoughts wrecking havoc.
In fact, everything he said to Brody last night was said in the heat of the moment.
He was mad at himself for being mad at Brody.
Of course, he regretted it right after seeing Brody’s wounded face.
But at that time, he was so caught up in his own pitiful emotional state that he didn’t want to look into Brody’s feelings, so he stubbornly hardened his heart and didn’t explain himself.
He was nervous about it all night.
When he woke up in the morning, he came out of the cave with a slightly softer heart to wake Brody up.
But before he could do that, he saw Shiloh wake Brody up in front of her den.
The moment he saw that sight, his heart, which had softened, hardened again.
It made him feel bitter to see him doing the work he used to do.
The three people, each with anger in their hearts, walked across the plains and finally arrived at the forest.
Brody was thrilled to see the conifers growing in abundance in the forest.
She ran straight to a tree and happily munched on its leaves, while Shiloh grabbed a branch high up beside her and lowered it down for her to eat.
It was a consideration that Kyle had never shown before. Kyle felt uncomfortable seeing Shiloh helping Brody sit down and eat.
Looking at it this way, he thought it made sense that Brody liked Shiloh.
The two of them had not reconciled by the end of the day’s journey, so Brody didn’t come through the wall this time.
Kyle tried hard not to care, but his mind kept churning with discomfort, and he couldn’t sleep all night, finally falling asleep late in the morning.
Previously, whether or not he fought with her, he would sleep soundly in preparation for the next day’s journey, but that didn’t happen that day.
So Kyle woke up after not sleeping for long and was in terrible condition.
When Kyle came out in the morning, he blamed everyone else, muttering that it was all because of that **** rabbit, and he grinded his teeth at the hole where she was sleeping.
But at first glance, Brody seemed to be nowhere to be seen in the cave, and his face hardened.
Kyle walked straight to her den and looked inside.
“!”
The rabbit who would never wake up in the morning until someone woke her up, wasn’t there.
Usually only when the earth gets destroyed and the sky splits in two, will that rabbit crawl out, rubbing her eyes.
Kyle looked out into the forest in confusion.
Could it be that this **** rabbit was hungry and went into the forest to eat?
Yeah, didn’t something similar happen last time?
Kyle took a moment to calm his nerves and decided to go into the forest to find her.
It was quite by chance that he happened to look into Shiloh’s den.
And that coincidence stopped Kyle’s steps.
Kyle froze when he saw that Shiloh’s cave was also empty.
***
Once Brody fell asleep, she didn’t even notice that someone picked her up.
So when she woke up in the morning, she came to her senses feeling different than usual.
Unlike the usual darkness and uncomfortableness of the caves, the surroundings felt dreary and bright.
When Brody opened her eyes to that unfamiliar feeling, she was momentarily taken aback.
She was not in a cave. She was in the middle of a forest.
She instinctively looked around quickly, trying to find Kyle.
Even after their fight, he was the first person she looked for in a moment of crisis.
But the person who caught her eye was not Kyle, but Shiloh. He was searching through something some distance away from her.
Brody thought that what he was looking at was similar to her own bag.
No… it was her bag.
‘Why is Shiloh searching through my bag?’
Brody’s eyes shook in confusion.
From the beginning, there was something suspicious about the fact that it was just the two of them in this forest.
Brody felt uneasy and took a step back without realizing it.
At the same time, the sound of her soles stamping on the snow rang out.
Shiloh, who had been rummaging through her bag, looked up.
Brody and Shiloh’s eyes met as the sound she made echoed in the background.
Shiloh smiled and greeted Brody, who was startled.
“Brody, you are awake?”
Even though he was caught rummaging through someone else’s bag, his composure was calm, making it creepy.
Brody tried to hide her trembling voice in the face of this unknown situation and asked him.
“Hey, where am I? Where’s Kyle?”
“Ah, the wolf is gone.”
“What do you…?”
Brody’s face began to harden at the sight of Shiloh smiling and answering dryly.
This wasn’t the Shiloh she knew. This wasn’t the affectionate, caring fox who had taken care of her.
Shiloh grinned at her as she watched her getting astonished.
“Don’t look at me like that. I took you away from that wolf.”
She wanted to ask why that man was searching through her bag. But her throat was so tense that no sound came out at the moment.
Brody heard Shiloh say that it was him who got her away from Kyle, and she suddenly remembered what he had said yesterday.
‘When we reach the forest, run away with me.’
When she heard those words she came to her senses, which had been growing hazy as if she was possessed by something.
Immediately afterwards she denied Shiloh’s offer.
Brody didn’t start this mission lightly enough to give up on being Kyle’s guide just because she got a little hurt.
Brody, reminded of her purpose as a guide, told Shiloh that she was grateful but it was okay.
And Shiloh had clearly said at the time that he would respect her wishes.
On one hand, Brody couldn’t help but feel embarrassed by this current behavior. On the other hand, she felt a little grateful, thinking that he was doing this for her own good.
Of course, she still had to say what she had to say.
“Shiloh. I told you I wouldn’t go when you asked me to. So why did you bring me here?”
Her voice was firm. Once again, she felt the need to express her intentions clearly.
But in reply to her words, trying to have a normal conversation, a crazy response came back.
“I’m sorry, Brody. But your opinion doesn’t matter. I brought you here because I wanted to.”
Brody blinked at him.
“What kind of nonsense are you talking about? Even if you’re doing it for my sake, this is kidnapping!”
“For you? Puhahaha!”
Shiloh suddenly burst into laughter. Brody’s brow furrowed as it sounded like a mockery.
‘Isn’t this for me?’
“If not, why did you bring me here?”
In the increasingly strange atmosphere, Brody asked in a shaky voice.
Then, Shiloh’s laughter suddenly stopped.
He opened his mouth with a creepy expression on his face, as if he had never smiled like that before.
“Are you a Clock Rabbit?”
“!”
Brody’s eyes widened.
His face showed that he already knew her true identity.
Her body stiffened at the sight. An emergency sound came from her head, causing her tinnitus.
She should have said no. But it was already too late.
Shiloh laughed, waving the book he had taken from Brody’s bag.
“The legendary Clock Rabbit that turns back time. That’s you.”
Maybe it was at this point that she realized everything.
The reason why Shiloh had been taking care of her all this time.
She thought it was because he liked her, but from the moment the words ‘Clock Rabbit’ came out of his mouth, it was clear that he had only one goal.
That was her ability.
What he said about bringing her here to get her away from Kyle was also bullsh**.
Brody’s heart sank.
How on earth did he know this? She had never told him about it.
But now was not the time for her to be standing leisurely and thinking about such things.
Brody tried to calm her wavering mind.
First of all, it was impossible to escape from here. She was sure she would be caught before long. Moreover, Shiloh was a male and Brody couldn’t overpower him.
But the most important thing was that if you kept her wits together, you could survive even if you entered a tiger’s den…
Brody believed these words and tried to find a way to have a calm conversation with Shiloh.
She crouched down, her body trembling, and glared at him with eyes full of determination that she would never be taken advantage of.
“So what do you want? What do you want to do with the ability to turn back time by just three minutes?”
But cruelly, Shiloh managed to blow up the cover she was trying to hold onto.
“Brody, that’s not all your talents are.”
His face was eerie as he swallowed his laughter. Brody’s forcefully opened eyelids fluttered.
Shiloh not only knew about her identity, but also the fact that Brody, as a clock Rabbit, could turn back time to any point she wanted by using her life force.
And he wanted this ability from Brody.
“Sorry, but I didn’t want to go all the way to Asgard just to turn the time back by just three minutes.”
The reason he wanted to go to Asgar…was to find a Clock Rabbit like Brody.
It was only then that Brody began to recall the moments that had made her suspicious of him, one by one.
‘…A rabbit that lived in Asgard?’
He began to take interest in her after she told him that she was a rabbit from Asgard at the whale’s stomach.
‘The whale has already granted my wish, though I’m not sure yet.’
Even though he couldn’t reach Asgar, where he wanted to go, he reacted mysteriously, saying that the wishing whale had already granted his wish.
After all, his goal from the beginning was Brody’s life.
Brody, realizing all this, raised her head, overcome with a sense of betrayal that was hard to bear.
And Shiloh seemed to notice that she had realized all the facts. He gave her a pitiful expression and approached her with affection.
“Now I know everything.”
Brody glared at him without even taking a step back.
The way he approached her kindly, the kindness with which he found Crowberry for her, and the sweet words of comfort he gave her when she was sad after her fight with Kyle were all lies.
She was so touched by his warm heart… but it was all a lie.
Anger and sadness simultaneously surged through Brody’s mind.
Tears fell from the eyes that glared at Shiloh as if they were going to kill him.
Shiloh, who was approaching her, stopped when he saw the tears.
This chapter and the next 9 chapters are sponsored by Ayisha! Thank you so much for the donation ❤️! You have such cheerful energy, too (灬º‿º灬)♡
