The corner of Arsene’s mouth twitched at my question.
The subtle expression on his pale face under the moonlight revealed how uncomfortable my question made him feel.
I was so desperate for an answer that I wanted to grab him by the scruff of the neck, but I waited patiently.
“I just met him.”
“Where?”
“Tahata.”
“……Ah.”
Arsene’s answer reminded me of Theodore, who returned from Tahata.
I recalled how Theodore, with a touch of pride, lightly flicked my cheek and told me that he had seen a man with black hair at Tahata lake.
He said he thought it was Gilbert or Aiden, but he disappeared like a mirage after taking his eyes off for a while.
Aiden, who had heard the story with us, teasingly laughed, suggesting that Theodore had mistaken his own reflection in the water. It turned out that it was Arsene.
Though Theodore didn’t seem to realize it, I sent silent consolation to him who suddenly became a narcissist.
“I want to meet him, too.”
I again expressed my will to Arsene. He turned away from me and stared out the window at the full moon.
The moon felt huge and close tonight.
Somehow, I felt like the moon was listening in on our conversation, and Arsene was asking it for its opinion on what he should do. If he was the son of a god, wouldn’t that be…… possible?
“Actually, he said he’d like to meet you too, that he has something he’d like to talk to you about.”
“Then…!”
Impatient to hear the answer, I grabbed Arsene’s wrist, wanting to rush to meet him. He looked at my hand around his wrist and at my face then laughed.
“Is that all you got?”
I felt my pride crumble. How am I going to build this back up?
Obviously, with our size difference, it was a given that the force I was exerting would not much against Arsene’s strenght.
I knew that too. I would have just gotten a little angry if he’d said it in a teasing tone, but hearing him say it so seriously made me feel like a helpless mouse in front of a cat.
I remembered Hestia, who had told me she struggled to gain muscle.
Even though Hestia’s body is a little feminine, she has not lost to most men with her strength.
The other day, she grabbed Lucas’ wrist to subdue him when he was teasing me. He turned bright red and screamed ‘I surrender’.
Should I learn how to build muscle from Hestia, too? I let go of Arsene’s wrist, which I’d been holding grimly.
“Sorry, I was just flustered because you were weaker than I thought.”
“……I’m not that weak.”
Arsene’s eyes remained sunken despite my blunt retort. He stretched out his arms and put his hands on my shoulders.
He muttered, “You’ve got small shoulders,” as if he had just noticed.
It’s better to say this in a teasing tone. Sounding so serious and pleading made my shoulders feel even narrower.
“Mary, I don’t think you should meet the God of Death.”
I don’t know what he talked about with the God of Death earlier, that made Arsene think like this.
That I was too small and frail to face the God of Death.
I smiled awkwardly. I realized why Arsene had been so concerned about my strength and size when I said I wanted to meet the God of Death.
I’d probably look like a mouse in front of a cat when facing the God of Death.
“I’ll take care of it. I’m sorry, but let’s go back to the village for now. Stay hidden there until I can resolve this.”
“Until when?”
“I can’t answer exactly…….”
“……I think we’ll be able to get the laminaicho soon.”
Lucas was stunned when I asked if he could get Laminaicho.
That’s because Dr. Brown was recently planning to dilute laminaicho and commercialize it as a treatment while visiting the castle for my father’s treatment.
I was mortified when I heard the plan, because even to an untrained ear, it smelled like money.
But my father willingly allowed me to use laminaicho.
‘It’s something to be used.’
Long ago, when I had asked for a laminaicho to save Demimore’s mother’s life, he had graciously given it to me. And when I got sick from an insect bite, which in those days would have healed in a day or two.
My father, who had lost his memory of me, but still gave me something precious…….
“I hate the god of death, too.”
I remembered my father’s face as he was suffering from a headache.
Dr. Brown had told me this morning that his headache was because he was fighting to get his memories back.
Actually, now I don’t think he needs to get his memory back, because he still cares about me enough as it is.
I would rather him drink the laminaicho and get rid of his headache. But Dr. Brown said with a smile.
‘Drinking laminaicho will definitely cure his headache, but it won’t be easy to find his memories of the lady. Clearing the head means that such struggles are eliminated. The Grand Duke is trying to get through it all. It’s always fiercest before it gets better. You know that, young lady.
Dr. Brown tried to sound hopeful to me, but he couldn’t hide the worry in his eyes, in his voice, in his expression and in his hand gestures.
Now my father was getting weak. By the time I get ready, it might be too late. Suddenly, fear gripped me.
“I think I need to meet him. Sorry, I know I’m too weak. I won’t deny it. I’ll prepare thoroughly. I will learn how to improve my strength and use Laminaicho to deal with the god of death. Everything else is irrelevant, but I can’t stop thinking about him. I heard he cursed our family……. I want to hear the story from him.”
I can do it. I can take care of this God of Death thing.
I wish I could convince Arsene with confidence. But all I could do now was write a bunch of blank checks.
I have nothing but desperation, and I can only appeal to my emotions. I could only hope it would reach him.
“And how long can I avoid him? Of course, if I stayed in the village, I’d be safe, but I don’t want to. It doesn’t feel like living or hiding like that. No, I can understand the person who created that village’s feelings too. I wonder if they would have the same thing if they had a choice.”
“…….”
“But I don’t want to live alone anymore. I want to live happily with my family……. I want to protect them.”
Arsene’s eyes narrowed at my ramblings.
“Did you take the stone?”
“The stone?”
“The one I gave you.”
I made a dumbfounded sound and pulled out the stone I’d tucked into my pajama pocket.
It was the stone engraved with magic Arsene had given me before I returned to the Grand Duchy.
Bonita said something to me about why I put on the pocket of my pajamas, but I obsessively thought I should carry it.
I wonder what kind of emotions she had when she engraved this.
“Let’s go.”
“…where?”
“You said you wanted to meet the god of death.”
“R, right now?”
“If you have it, the God of Death won’t be able to get close to you, and yes, you won’t be able to avoid him forever, so you’ll have to meet him and decide what to do next.”
Arsene swept his hair roughly.
I wasn’t sure why he was suddenly making this judgment, so I was confused.
“But if I disappear again, my family will worry…….”
“We’ll be back soon, by the time it gets bright.”
As Arsene muttered the words, I felt our bodies float. It was a feeling I felt a few times with Arsene.
However, despite experiencing it multiple times, the feeling never became familiar. I held my breath tightly.
Arsene had taken me to a lake in Tahata. The place where Theodore had met Arsene. And where I’d last encountered the God of Death.
“………You brought her here.”
The God of Death looked back and forth between me and Arsene in surprise. He didn’t think Arsene would actually bring me.
I hid behind Arsene and glared at him. It was a familiar face because I saw it a few times, but I didn’t feel attached at all.
For some reason, he didn’t like the fact that I was stuck behind Arsene, so he reached out his hand to me. I stepped back unintentionally.
But before I could react, his outstretched hand bounced away.
“You’ve set up a barrier.”
The man looked displeased. I was relieved inwardly. It was a confirmation that he could not touch me carelessly.
It was the first time I had met him of my own volition. I looked up at the moon, which felt huge tonight. I thought it was going to be a very long night.
