“It won’t be okay. But I will still be by your side.”
For a moment Tundra stopped. It felt like someone had hit him in the heart and head with a sledgehammer.
‘What?’
It was strange.
‘Why…’
Tears dripped down from his eyes, but he didn’t know why he was crying. Did he feel comforted? Because it’s a warm word? It wasn’t that concept. It was something beyond memory. For some reason, it was a strangely familiar phrase.
‘Why… Are you doing this?”
Meanwhile, Viola poisoned her heart in her own way. If this was a modern society, she might have treated Tundra more warmly. However, this place was in the world of Bellato’s shadow. It was a good world where kindness became poison.
“Look at the situation straight.”
She did not give hopes to him, to not torture Tundra.
“Your father and sister are dead. I am the one who avenged you on behalf of your enemies, and moreover, I am the one who saved your life. Do you know how to act?”
Come to think of it, that girl was right. It was he who drew the knife first, and it was he who tried to take her hostage. It was over there that she avenged his enemies, and it was also true that he was saved thanks to it.
“How is it? Do you have time to listen to me now?”
Viola slowly explained the situation.
“First of all, I am not originally from the duchy. This is the Duchy of Bellato. I am Viola Bellato, who became the sixth princess a few days ago.”
“…how many days? What (a few days ago? Adoption)?”
Tundra’s eyes were filled with absurdity. From the time he was born, he knew she belonged to this family.
She said she became a princess just a few days ago.
‘You mean you are the youngest princess adopted by Bellato?’
Even Tundra knew about the rumors about Bellato. The owers of the north who rules the Winter Castle. A fearsome ducal family ruled by a thousand-year-old Duke.
He couldn’t believe it. That she was adopted a few days ago.
Viola moved closer to Tundra and raised her hand.
Tundra’s body flinched. The tingling sensation still seemed to linger on his cheeks.
Viola gently loosened the harnesses that bound Tundra’s body and mouth.
“Are you comfortable speaking now?”
“… yes.”
Viola said a lot in a very small voice. She started with the story of being adopted there and talked about being alone, unlike her other siblings.
She elaborated on what she had just said.
“My mother and father abandoned me.”
Arin was abandoned too. So was Viola. Arin grew up in a nursery. And Viola grew up in the ghetto without the fence of her parents.
There was a penetrating sincerity in Viola’s voice.
“Looks like you don’t have a guardian either.”
Having said that, Viola finally freed him harness (magical engineering restraint tool) that was holding Tundra.
Charleuk!
The magical chains wound themselves and disappeared into space.
Dump!
Tundra’s body fell to the ground. He still wore handcuffs around his wrists and ankles, but he was much more comfortable than when he was floating. She reached out her hand to Tundra where Viola had fallen.
“I will help you.”
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why do you want to help me?”
Even if her words echoed in his heart. Why did she want to be by his side?? She didn’t make logical sense.
Suddenly, he wanted to be by her side. But he was confused because he couldn’t figure out why those words comforted him.
“I told you. I was adopted. I don’t have a strong mother’s family, and I don’t have anyone to be by my side. So I need to have my people. And I chose you as my person.”
“Why?”
“Because I like your eyes.”
The truth was she didn’t like them. Kang Joon’s eyes were always warm and lively. It was different from the cold eyes of Tundra. Even though they were similar, they were so different. But she outwardly said otherwise, because this kid wasn’t Kang Joon, he’s Tundra.
Although she didn’t like it. Her words of consolation were offered to a boy who had lost both his father and sister. Just like how Kang Joon did to Arin.
She said the same thing again.
“I will be by your side.”
It’s not logical or rational, but it’s a word that gives strength to someone who has lost everyone. The word Tundra kept ringing in his ears.
“So I wish you great growth as my own.”
Viola held out her hand.
Tundra stared at the hand for a long time before catching it.
* * *
An hour passed.
“Are you a little more organized now?”
“It’s okay.”
Tundra nodded his head. His eyes started to glow. And Viola was a bit curious about him.
‘Indeed… Is he the male lead?’
It’s hard to come to your senses in an hour when you’ve been through such a big deal. Actually, she didn’t expect much. Nevertheless, Tundra showed the spirit of a male lead.
Whatever it was on the inside, on the outside it looked like everything had recovered.
Tundra quickly spun his head. Tundra that would later have the power to surpass Viola in the original novel.
“Then I must be your pet externally.”
Viola nodded her head. Only then would he be recognized as a princess’s toy, and she would not be subject to any checks or surveillance.
“Okay. My dog or my toy.”
She had to. That way, there was a justification for keeping Tundra by her side in Bellato.
Understanding the situation, Tundra continued.
“I attacked you. Can’t we just get over it?”
“That’s right, discipline is needed.”
“Does a dog that bites its owner need to be properly tamed?”
“You are smart.”
Bellato was like that. Dog biting the owner or a toy that aims a knife at its owner, could not being forgiven. Because it was not like Bellato to just forgive.
“Is that Bellato-like?”
“That’s what Bellato is.”
“Something is sad.”
This was the forgiveness Tundra had learned from his father. Forgiveness was the most beautiful and noble thing in the world.
‘Forgiveness is for others, but in the end it is also for me. So forgive your mother.’
However, the forgiveness spoken of in Bellato seemed a little different. He had to take responsibility for something. Even if the parties have forgiven.
“What?”
“Never mind. Anyway, you’re saying you’re going to have to discipline me in a Bellato-like way, right? Does that give you a reason to forgive?”
“Exactly.”
She had to show a Bellato-like appearance. Because all appearances will be reported. She couldn’t just put Tundra under it and run. Viola had to pay the price for biting herself.
Tundra said.
“I have prepared my heart.”
He looked at Viola.
‘But the look on his face when he looks at me…’
Tundra was reading the emotions in Viola’s eyes looking at him: remorse, anger, longing.
‘Why does she look at me so complicated?’
It seemed that many emotions that were difficult to coexist were mixed together.
‘I was told that Viola lost her mother and father.’
That little girl seemed somehow strong. She looked five years old, but her eyes were infinitely serious. Strangely, she looked like an adult.
‘It’s not okay.’
‘I will help you.’
‘I’ll be by your side.’
He knew that those words were words to use him. He knew very well that those words were to put him on her side.
‘It must be a mask.’
Even though he knew that, strangely, his heart was pounding. He felt like he should hold her hand.
‘It’s not okay.’
This one word came like a magic word. He couldn’t figure out why that ordinary word, which was nothing, sounded so special. He continued to feel somehow familiar.
She lifted a stick that was thickened by weaving isilla (kind of wood) wood together. It was a flexible stick. Its name was Isilla Hoechori. Because it bends like a whip, some people called it the Isilla Wood Whip.
“It will hurt a lot.”
“I am determined.”
Complex emotions, which she had never felt before, stirred in her heart.
‘Pretty.’
It wasn’t as pretty as one would normally think. But those bright purple eyes were pretty. Those eyes where he could feel life and compassion at the same time. It’s not that unfamiliar for some reason.
“Have we met before?”, Tundra asked.
“No, it’s not possible.”
Viola almost replied the opposite. However, Tundra was not Kang Joon.
After thinking about something for a long time, Tundra came to his own conclusion and then asked a question.
“Can I interpret that you are so aggressively trying to make your side mean that you will definitely dominate Bellato someday? Otherwise, there is no reason to devote hours of devotion to me as an outsider. You became the adopted daughter of the duchy, and in fact, you don’t need a child like me now.”
That eccentric atmosphere full of ambition and domination. A strange feeling that did not lose warmth.
Viola avoided a direct answer.
Since he was a smart male, he would think for himself.
“When things are sorted out, let’s go to your cabin together.”
“My hut?”
“Your father. They said he was there.”
“…”
“I need to make you comfortable.”
Later, after gaining his free body, Tundra went to his cabin to bury his father. However, his father’s corpse had already been devoured by wild beasts and rotted away. That would leave a bruise in Tundra’s chest.
“I will go with you.”
“…thank you.”
Tundra’s eyes turned red.
‘She’s a strange kid.’
He only knew that girls in the storybooks were pretty. But when he met Viola, she wasn’t like that. That strange atmosphere and aura were pretty. Tundra looked at the cane on Viola’s hand.
‘She’ll hit me with that.’
It would hurt a lot, but he wasn’t afraid.
“Hit all you want.”
“I will.”
She was conscious of Zenon, who might be listening in the room next to them. She tried to think of words suitable for Viola.
“Let’s make you scream nicely.”
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. Thank you very much for reading.
Next post will be released on April, 11.
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