EP 86
Escaping the cocoon was harder than Muriel had thought. If Kaiton hadn’t come to her rescue, she wondered if she would have been trapped in the cocoon for a long time… or perhaps forever.
In order to get out of the cocoon, she had to kill the dream butterfly, but she didn’t know that the imposter imitating Kaiton was the dream butterfly. Even if she had known, she doubted she could bring herself to kill it.
‘You’re not leaving me alone, are you, Muriel? Hm?’
The imposter held Muriel’s hand trying to stab him, and said that. Although the real Kaiton was right beside her, the imposter’s impersonation was so perfect that it was hardly distinguishable. Muriel eventually weakened and couldn’t stab the imposter, so Kaiton took care of it instead.
Without batting an eye, he stabbed the man who had his face (though it was an illusion).
“Don’t make such a pathetic expression with my face.”
He seemed to feel nothing but contempt for the imposter’s flawless acting, and he didn’t feel any reluctance in stabbing the person who had his own face. In response to Muriel’s complaint that Kaiton should have dealt with it from the beginning, Kaiton shrugged calmly.
“I just gave you a chance to stab me. It was just once, and now that you’ve missed it, there won’t be another.”
Muriel scoffed, saying she never wanted such an opportunity, but Kaiton didn’t seem to be listening too much.
“Were you here too?”
When they came out of the cocoon, Ondal and Fen were waiting.
“…Yes.”
“And the estate?”
“…Seems to be okay.”
Kaiton frowned when he saw Ondal, but instead of picking a quarrel with him, he prioritized assessing the situation in the estate. Despite Ondal’s response, he kept his eyes on the territory, trying to grasp the situation without feeling relieved.
Muriel felt her heart cry again as she looked at that sight. She’d also been worried about the havoc the monsters in the territory might cause and that the situation might’ve gotten worse while Kaiton was with her in the cocoon. But to think Kaiton had the same concerns… she was happy. It felt like proof that he had started to care about this place just like her.
“Go ahead”
Muriel quickly checked Kaiton’s body with her eyes to make sure he was unharmed and pushed him away. Although the dream butterfly said the wounds from the cocoon didn’t have any real-life consequences, she couldn’t fully trust it. Fortunately, she couldn’t see any signs of injury on Kaiton.
She wanted to touch and confirm for herself if any bones were broken in places not visible on the surface… but after hanging onto each other and kissing just now, she couldn’t do that. It just… she didn’t think she should touch him easily.
Kaiton replied, “Yeah, I should,” but seemed unwilling to move. Muriel urged him, fearing that it might be dangerous if he left his post for too long, even though August was probably active. However, Kaiton openly showed his reluctance and stared at Ondal.
“Mure, tell exactly who the person the Dream Butterfly showed you was.”
As Muriel watched the back of Kaiton, who left behind childish words, she let out a sigh of relief, and Ondal asked with concern.
“…Muriel… Are you okay?”
“Yeah, you don’t have to worry. I’m strong.”
“…”
“Ondal…”
Muriel examined Ondal’s expressionless face. His face was much colder and stiffer than usual. It was not just a frown; he seemed to have completely erased his emotions, like a doll.
“Ondal… Are you okay?”
“Right now… the person to worry about… is you, Muriel.”
Muriel was much more worried about the calm Ondal. Because she knew that he could easily shed tears for others, but rarely for himself. He could easily laugh, easily be moved, but he effortlessly concealed his anger and upset. So Muriel could sense that he was currently in a state of great sadness, great anger.
“Why… Ondal… What’s wrong with you?”
“Muriel… you like Kaiton, don’t you?”
“…What?”
“You like Kaiton, so you need him, right? So you… you always want to be by his side.”
While Muriel was bewildered by Ondal’s words, he began to sob sadly. He covered his face and trembled his shoulders like he was in pain.
“Me too… Hng… I did it because I… Muriel, I like you so much… I need you so much… That’s why… Please… Hng… Please forgive me. I’m sorry…”
“Forgive you? What are you saying…? Ah…”
When Ondal suddenly rushed in and embraced her, Muriel bit her tongue and clenched her backside. The taste of blood spread in her mouth. Ondal’s body, which had tremendous strength, was sometimes like a solid stone. There was no way to beat a stone when it hit. She thought about warning him to be careful when touching others with that strength, but it seemed like saying that would be useless right now.
Muriel ended up choking Muriel in panic. It was simply because he was hanging on to her and didn’t want to let go, but with the added panic and his great strength, it felt like he was squeezing the life out of her. However, since she couldn’t feel any pain and could only feel a bit suffocated, Muriel gently stroked his back and tried to calm him down instead of taking him off her.
At the same time, she had to soothe her fidgety Fen who was unable to settle down, as if it thought Ondal had attacked Muriel. Although she grew tired from having to take care of these two children all of a sudden, she couldn’t even sigh.
“Sigh, no matter how bad it is, you must say it clearly.”
She thought he had to be told more straightforwardly, but Ondal seemed to get it right anyway. understood properly.
“I… hng… secretly… hng… watched Muriel… hng… from…Sharan’s eyes.. hng… afar. Hng… Even though… I. said…I didn’t see… hng… lied… and… hng… kept… seeing you… every day.”
There were many words that she couldn’t understand due to the sobbing sound, but the word “lie” came through clearly.
“You lied?”
“I, I did… a mistake…”
Perhaps intimidated by Muriel’s stern voice, Ondal flinched and his grip on Muriel’s neck tightened.
“Krrrk… Can you let go, Ondal….”
“Muriel…. Muriel…. Muriel, I…”
“Agh…. If you’re not trying to strangle me, Ondal, please let go….!”
When Muriel spoke like that, Ondal, who had not pretended to hear her soothing tone before, quickly reacted to her annoyed tone. He was startled and stumbled back, ceasing his sobbing and tensing up, and watched Muriel with great nervousness.
“Sigh….”
Muriel let out a sigh as if in pain.
“It’s not like that… I…”
“I know. You didn’t mean to kill me. But still, I almost died… Be gentle. Okay?”
“Sob….”
As Ondal heard Muriel’s tone soften, he began to start sobbing again.
“So… you saw me?” Muriel quickly spoke, interrupting him. Using a stern and annoyed tone seemed to have a better effect at calming Ondal, even though it was a prescription for the problem that had been unintentional.
However, it left a bitter taste. Seeing Ondal with a pale face as if he could collapse at any moment made her feel like she was doing something terrible. Even though Ondal was the one confessing his wrongdoing, somehow she felt like she was the villain.
“Sigh… So, did you see me naked?”
He was startled.
“Ah… no…! Never! I absolutely didn’t see anything…. I swear, I’ve never… done such a thing…. Muriel may not believe me anymore… but it’s true….”
“Until now, you mean.”
As Muriel pointed out sharply, Ondal chewed on his lips and shook his shoulder. Blood formed, but he only sunk in his teeth harder. He was determined to hold back his sobbing. It wasn’t… like she told him not to cry. Muriel’s heart quickly weakened and she wanted to soothe him. However, if he started crying, she wouldn’t be able to listen to the explanation properly, so she decided to toughen up a little more.
“Tell me everything you’ve seen so far. I didn’t know you were watching, so I was defenseless. I need to know if you saw something I didn’t want you to see.”
“Mu…Muriel… sleeping or… lying on the bed… resting on a chair… playing with Fen….”
“…”
“…also talking with people, and resting.”
“That’s enough. I roughly get it.”
It was a good thing that she was lazy.
Muriel, who felt embarrassed for some reason, feigned sternness and asked again in a firm tone.
“Why didn’t you tell me all this time? I know you didn’t keep quiet because you wanted to sneak a peek at me bathing or anything like that. But there must be a reason why you didn’t say it.”
“I was… afraid that Muriel… would dislike me…. I was scared….”
“That doesn’t make sense. It’s absurd to lie because you’re afraid I might dislike you. It doesn’t add up.”
“Sniff… I’m sorry…. I thought… you might feel uncomfortable…at me seeing you… without your knowledge….”
Sigh. A sigh escaped involuntarily.
It was understandable. Kaiton’s aversion must have influenced Ondal’s perception. Seeing Kaiton’s extremely negative reaction to Sharan’s eyes, Ondal seemed to worry that she would react the same way.
But it’s not like he was doing it on purpose. It couldn’t be helped.
Truth be told, Muriel wasn’t that angry. Surprisingly, she wasn’t very bothered or upset that he lied. She simply thought, “Oh, so that’s what it was.” Instead, she felt relieved to have found the reason why Ondal and Kaiton had been acting weird. It seemed like the tension and unease of not knowing the reason had been lifted.
So this was the reason why Kaiton was so persistently interfering with her bathing and changing clothes… It was amusing and adorable. At that time, she was furious because she couldn’t understand it at all, but now that she thought about how Kaiton was so nervous and concerned about Ondal, it even brought her joy. For him to be so childishly jealous.. It felt foolish, yet her heart fluttered strangely.
“It’s all right.”
Muriel gently brushed through Ondal’s long hair as he sobbed. There were fallen leaves and bits of moss tangled within the long strands, and he really looked like Fen, so it made Muriel smile.
“I’m telling you it is. You had a hard time lying, right? That’s why you’ve been acting strangely lately.”
“Mu… sniffs… sniffs….”
Perhaps it was because Muriel’s tone had softened with the chilly breeze, but Ondal began to cry softly again, as if his sorrow had resurfaced. Muriel found it both amusing and cute how Ondal never missed a chance to find a corner to sob in, and wondered if it wasn’t actually a bit clever. Muriel patted him as he hung on her shoulder and whispered softly.
“If you’re wondering why it’s okay… it’s because you confessed it yourself, and apologized. Well… I mean… it doesn’t make the fact that you lied go away… and apologizing doesn’t automatically mean forgiveness, but that’s just how I feel. I’m not too angry.”
Muriel knew well that she wasn’t usually such a generous person. If it had been someone else, even seeking forgiveness would have been reprehensible. She would have punished them at all costs, what on earth made them think they could come to her like this? She might have retaliated so viciously that such remarks would have been made. However, she didn’t want to do that to Ondal.
“Maybe this is Ondal’s true power. I think it’s because it’s you. Because of you… I’m not angry… it’s not as unpleasant. Really. But that doesn’t mean you can freely lie to me from now on.”
To think that she was being so soft to Ondal. For generations, people in the kingdom were loyal to the one who bore the name Sharan… anyways, she thought she might be swayed by Ondal’s ability.
“…You forgive me? I… I’m useless… I can’t even be of help… I told Muriel a dirty lie… are you still going to let me stay by your side?”
“If forgiveness is what you want, then you have it as much as you’d like.”
“Muriel… I really like you!! I really… really like you…!”
“…Hold on.”
Ondal was so overwhelmed by emotions that he jumped at her again, and Muriel put up her hand to block Ondal who was about to hug her, to block him.
“Don’t suddenly rush in like that. If I bite my tongue because of your strength, I won’t be able to speak for a while.”
Since Kaiton was currently using magic, she wasn’t going to use her pacio.
“…I want to hug you.”
“That too… let’s think about that. It was okay all this time because we were friends, but you… said you like me.”
In addition, thanks to Kaiton, she’d just become aware of the intimate physical contact between a man and a woman. Unable to say anything further, Muriel firmly raised her hand as if to say, “No.” Ondal, with his trembling lips, couldn’t help but be at a loss at Muriel’s clear gesture of ‘No.’ He didn’t know what to do.
“Is it because I like Muriel that I can’t hug you? Then… I’ll try to not like Muriel… No… sigh… No, I can’t not like Muriel… That seems difficult… Then, from now on… I can’t hug Muriel? Because I can’t help but like Muriel?”
“I… I like Kaiton.”
It was a fact she’d followed the dream butterfly to confirm.
“Should I… should I try to like Kaiton too? Would that be okay?”
“No… it’s not that kind of like. I… like Kaiton, so… it means I can’t like you in that way. I like you, but as a friend.”
Muriel was rejecting him, but Ondal’s cheeks turned red with joy.
“…Do you like me, Muriel?”
“…As a friend…!”
“But still… but still… you said you like me.”
Muriel’s heart grew heavy. Ondal had been acting as if he had never considered the possibility of Muriel liking him from the beginning. When you like someone, it’s only natural to hope that they will like you back in the same way. The fact that Ondal didn’t even hope for that made Muriel’s heart break.
“I’m satisfied with Muriel… just liking me even a little bit… That’s enough for me. As a friend, I mean…”
“Mhm…”
“Muriel… Can I… can I hold your hand?”
“Come here. Even friends can hug, probably.”
Awww Ondal poor baby haha
Muriel’s children are a handful
And the love triangle ended without getting messy
Thanks for update😍