Episode 66 Ghost Estate, A New Beginning For Three People (6)
She knew that Kaiton would only make things difficult for herself if she made any deliberate moves, but she couldn’t just leave after what she had done. Moreover, as the sweat dried up, the chill seemed to get worse, and her body continued to tremble, making her increasingly uncomfortable. She didn’t want to appear scared and easily swayed. In her current state, she couldn’t come up with a convincing excuse like feeling cold.
“…I have something to do for a moment.”
“Hmm… What could be so important that you have to sneak in at night?”
“…”
“I’m curious.”
“I… want my earrings back.”
Kaiten chuckled lazily, as if he’d thought words were a poorly made-up excuse.
“Really…? I know how it sounds, but I really came here to get it back, so give it to me. You don’t need them anymore.”
“How do you think it sounds?”
“You think it’s an excuse. You can think I’m crazy if you want. It doesn’t matter what you think, so please just give them back. Those earrings.”
“It doesn’t matter what I think?”
“…That’s what I told you…”
“If you can guess how I would feel about a woman sneaking into my room ambitiously late at night, wearing sweaty pajamas, I’ll give them back. The earrings.”
“I…!”
“Just a moment.”
Before Muriel could burst out yelling, Kaiton interrupted her by tapping her lips. Muriel gave him a sharp look as if asking what he was doing, but Kaiten playfully chuckled as if he had expected such a reaction.
“Just wait before you speak. I want you to explain the situation you’re in once again. So, think calmly and answer.”
“What?! Who doesn’t know that?!”
“I don’t think you really know. You were the one trying to provoke me with words like ‘What are you going to do if I seduced you?’.”
“….”
That was the answer.
‘If I’m seducing, are you interested?’ she had planned to use that as a counterattack. But if he countered with ‘What If I’m interested?’ She felt frustrated and embarrassed. It felt like she’d become a simple-minded person who easily fell for a bait.
Still, she desperately tried to calm the muscles in my face that seemed ready to twitch with a convulsion and said, “No, it’s not like that,” trying to play it off. But it was no use. Kaiton smirked as if he knew everything.
“It’s not uncommon for a man and a woman in the same room to undress each other when a fire ignites. If you really don’t have such intentions, shouldn’t you be a little more careful?”
“I-…!”
“Again… don’t pour out your anger like that.”
As Kaiten interrupted Muriel again when she was about to burst in anger by tapping her lip, she firmly snatched his finger that touched her lips.
“I’m going to say it again, but if you touch my lips with your finger, I’ll definitely bite it.”
“I don’t mean to give you three chances either.”
He never loses a word.
As Muriel’s anger rose, she grazed her teeth at Kaiton with a burning intensity. Kaiten chuckled and burst into laughter. The appearance was a little surprising, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Smack! He flicked her hand away as if swatting a fly, and his nonchalant attitude made it all the more infuriating.
“I can tell you have the urge to pick a fight with me, but I’m here just to find my earrings because of a reason. Stop provoking me for no reason.”
“You have a beautiful way with words.”
When Kaiton playfully tapped her lips again, Muriel quickly bit down on his finger.
She was going to warn him that she was really going to bite off his finger when he was surprised and pulled it away, but things took a slightly strange turn.
He should feel pain unlike Muriel, but he didn’t seem to have any intention to scream or pull his finger out. Kaiton simply looked at Muriel’s mouth, which was biting his finger, with a strange expression.
A moment passed.
Muriel, sensing something was off, pressed her teeth harder into his skin, but nothing changed.
“Hmm… you’re quite intense, aren’t you?”
What the…!
“Tsk, huff…! Are you crazy…?”
“Didn’t you mean it like that? You suddenly bit my finger.”
“This… This isn’t like that?!”
“There’s no such thing like ‘not like that’ between a man and a woman?”
“Why are you assuming we’re a man and a woman?!”
“Why wouldn’t we be?”
“This is driving me insane. What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?!”
“Well, what’s wrong with me? Is that something a woman who slept with another man and came to my room in the middle of the night to cause trouble should say?”
“Slept with another man…?! When did I…?!”
“….”
Muriel scrambled, thinking about what the hell he was misunderstanding, but then she remembered the image of Ondal she’d seen before running out.
“You’re not talking about Ondal right now, are you? Ondal’s not like that! That’s not the case!!”
“Is your Ondal not a man?”
“It’s not about a relationship between a man and a woman, Ondal…!”
“….Go ahead. I need to know why he’s following you around. You’re so open to talking about everything with each other, and you’re close enough to enter each other’s rooms at night. So, what kind of circumstances would it take for you not to be in ‘that kind of relationship’?”
“…He’s been alone his whole life. He was locked up alone all his life.”
“….”
“So what’s wrong with staying by my side all the time…?”
‘Is it your hobby to go around looking for people like that? Isn’t it pointless if you’re going to leave in the end?’
Kaiton wanted to shoot back like that, but he couldn’t. It was because if he did, it felt like everything would come out, including the fact that he had been alone, that Muriel had been the first one to grab his hand and pull him out into the world, and that he had been lonely for a very long time after she left him.
While Kaiton remained silent, Muriel glanced at his finger, which had a red-mark where she’d bitten him. She briefly considered treating him, but she decided against it, because she thought she’d be met with a lot of ridicule if she brought it up.
Hmph. He was a great wizard, so she was sure he’d figure it out on his own.
“Now give me my earrings back.”
“Why should I? I said I would give them back if you got my idea right.”
“I did get it right!”
“Wrong. I didn’t mean for us to be doing anything together, I just wanted to warn you because you seem completely oblivious of the boundaries between men and women.”
“Don’t force it, just give it back!”
“What future did you see?”
!
“Suddenly… What are you talking about?”
“You had a nightmare and ran in here because you were scared, didn’t you? Because you thought you couldn’t stand it unless you did something?”
“W-What… How did you know what I..?”
It was like that before, and even now. Kaiton acted as if he could clearly see Muriel’s thoughts. It was quite a strange feeling, but the one who caused confusion in Muriel’s mind remained calm.
“I knew from the moment you ran in. Ah, you saw a nightmare with a terrible future.”
“Don’t lie… How could you know something like that…?”
“I’ve seen you make that expression before.”
“…”
“Do you remember me?”
Kaiton asked, with such longing and desperation.
Was it also because of the times they’d spent together in the past that he knew her thoughts so well, like he could peer into Muriel’s mind? If their relationship was strong enough to evoke such an expression from Kaiton, then the Muriel of the past must have had a special relationship with him.
“I… I don’t remember the past. I knew you were Kaiton from the moment I first saw you in the palace, but I didn’t know we had any connection.”
“…I see.”
“Actually.. I, I’m not even sure if the person I was back then is the same as who I am now. My memories of that time are so empty…”
“…”
“Back then, did we have a special relationship, Kaiton…?”
“…”
Kaiton didn’t meet Muriel’s gaze. Whenever he felt her eyes on him, he turned his head and avoided her gaze. It was quite… unfamiliar. He always had determined and piercing eyes, as if he was going to dig something out, or he would look at her with a threatening gaze. But he had never lowered his head like this, as if he was afraid to meet Muriel’s gaze with those wounded eyes.
“I’m sorry. I can’t remember. It must have hurt Kaiton, right…?”
“…”
Muriel tried her best to look at Kaiton. Her mouth could speak lies, but her eyes could not, so she hoped her sincerity would come across.
“I’ll get my earrings back later, but… I’ll leave now. I’m sorry for popping in at night so suddenly. Goodnight.”
“…Where are you going?”
“Well…”
Muriel glanced briefly out the window. It still seemed like a long way until dawn. Was there anywhere else she could go tonight?
“Won’t you kick out your friend after all?”
Ah… he was talking about Ondal. Right, that’s how it was. She didn’t want to forcibly wake a sleeping person up and send them away, but she was going to give him a room of his own even if Ondal was afraid of being alone in the future.
Perhaps he read Muriel’s mind, Kaiton let out a short sigh.
“Just stay here.”
“What…?”
“I’m going out. Stay here. Don’t go back.”
“Kaiton…! Where are you going?”
Afraid that Kaiton might really dart out, Muriel quickly grabbed his arm.
It may be an empty room, but she felt like the owner was being driven out because of the guest.
“Don’t hold me.”
“But…”
“If you catch me again, I’ll kiss you.”
When Muriel whacked his arm away, Kaiton smirked and quickly darted out.
In the room where the owner had disappeared, Muriel agonized for a while before simply lying down.
She had already avoided him, so she wondered what the point was in going back to her room again.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
The four were seated around a decent breakfast table.
The kitchen where they cooked and the dining room where they ate were far apart, so they decided to move the table to the kitchen and have their meal there. It was thanks to their shared agreement not to fuss over formalities while eating roughly cooked meat they had hunted without butter, flour, or spices.
Still, the joy of sitting at a proper table, using proper forks and knives, and using an oven instead of a bonfire remained. The tiresome camping had finally come to an end.
“I’m going to visit the plateau today,” Muriel shared her plans for the evening with the group. Unexpectedly, it was Kaiton who reacted first. Muriel didn’t expect him to pay any attention…
“The plateau? Why the plateau?”
“I have some people to find there…”
Caught off guard, Muriel replied dazedly, and Kaiton quickly asked back, as if demanding a proper answer.
“Who are these people?”
“Some exiled black wizards… Why… why do you ask?”
Kaiton gave no answer. Didn’t he ask because the plateau meant something to him? Muriel, thinking it might be because he lived there in his childhood, asked Kaiton.
“Do you want to come with me? To the plateau.”
“No, I don’t. I’m not going with you.”
What’s with him, seriously…
Thanks! Lolol kaiton x muriel moments! Always with the bickering, these two!