Chapter 35
Iris stopped Gremlory from acting rashly. Gremlory shrugged her shoulders and got irritated.
“Why? That’s his wish, isn’t it?”
-
Don’t do that. Try tasting a bit of that man’s darkness. You’re a witch who enjoys feeding off others’ suffering, aren’t you?
“… That darkness doesn’t look like something I want to consume.”
Gremlory tasted the black energy that had spread thickly outside the house. Her chest felt tight, as though tears might spring from her eyes at any moment.
“What is this? It’s not pain, and it’s bitter. I don’t want to eat it.”
-
It’s probably sadness.
“Sadness?”
-
When someone truly precious to you dies… Hmm. For example, how do you think it would feel if someone from the Duke’s family died?
“… I think I’ve felt something like that before.”
The unease she felt when she saw Lenia dead and the obsession she had with trying to bring her back to life. Was that sadness?
‘Is Ian going through the same feelings I had back then?’
If so, then he must be feeling tremendous anger towards the quack doctor who ruined his life. Just like how I felt anger towards the witch who killed Lenia.
Gremlory gathered a crimson energy at her fingertips.
-
What are you doing?
“Giving Ian courage.”
Courage to find the quack doctor and strike him down.
-
Well, that works too.
Iris’s response was surprisingly positive.
Gremlory cast a spell on Ian, filling him with courage. Courage and madness that would make him go to the end of his journey to find and destroy the quack doctor.
Before long, Ian burst through the door, appearing with a determined expression. He immediately headed for the village hall.
Every Saturday, the village holds a regular meeting there. Realizing it was Saturday, Ian seemed almost possessed as he ran toward the hall.
Gremlory silently followed him from behind. She wondered if the quack doctor might be at the village hall, but the result was unexpected.
When Ian entered the hall, he kneeled and begged in front of everyone.
“I’m sorry for my rude behavior until now! Please forgive me!”
The villagers muttered among themselves. Gremlory, who had been watching in secret, was also quite surprised by his unexpected behavior.
“Please help me! My daughter is terribly ill! I need money for medicine, but as you all know, I’m such a fool, I got scammed…!”
“Enough. Stop. We’ll raise the money for the medicine from the village development fund.”
The village chief patted Ian on the back, comforting him. Finally, Ian relaxed, his eyes reddened as he bowed deeply to everyone.
“Thank you. Truly, thank you.”
With enough money in hand, Ian immediately picked up his daughter and ran to the convent.
Gremlory, who had been watching everything unfold, pouted her lower lip.
“What’s this? I didn’t intend for this to happen. I wanted that man to gain courage to find the quack doctor and kill him.”
-
Oh my, that’s what you meant by giving him courage? I thought you were being merciful, helping him gather the courage to ask for help from others. If I knew that’s what you meant, I would’ve stopped you right away.
“Why did Ian make that choice? If it were me, I would’ve gone straight to kill the person who destroyed my family.”
-
But Ian had his daughter to protect. That’s what love is. When you have someone to protect, you end up making the right choice. Murder is far from the right choice.
“… Is that so?”
Gremlory tilted her head. After all, if she had killed someone for her sick daughter in the human world, she wouldn’t have received any good outcomes.
-
Love is strange. It makes people do brave things. Like Kenneth Ortega, who sent you a letter after gathering all his courage.
“Are you talking as if you’ve experienced love?”
-
I have, though it was unrequited.
“Unrequited love? What’s that?”
-
Well, let me tell you about it!
Cheshion was going crazy from the fact that Gremlory hadn’t returned for so long.
“What’s going on? Why isn’t she coming back? It’s already dinner time!”
By lunchtime, she wasn’t worried. She hadn’t thought that Kenneth Ortega could charm Mori with just a single lunch. After all, Mori is quite hard to impress.
But as time passed, she began to feel differently. She couldn’t focus on anything. Her legs trembled uncontrollably, and she kept biting her lips.
‘Could it be that she’s really interested in him? Is she not coming home this late because of him?’
When evening passed, Cheshion was boiling with frustration. What were they doing that they weren’t coming home this late?
Gremlory came back at 8 PM. Even though it wasn’t that late, Cheshion couldn’t help but get irritated.
“Mori, what are you doing coming back this late? I’ve been worried!”
“No one has the ability to kill me. Why worry?”
“I’m not worried about assassins…!”
Cheshion couldn’t say that she was worried about her being swept up by someone with a shady agenda.
“I heard there’s a flu going around…”
“I don’t catch colds.”
“Right, right. You came from the northern snowfields, so it makes sense you wouldn’t catch a cold.”
Gremlory brushed past Cheshion’s nonsense, but Cheshion quickly blocked her path.
“What is it?”
“Do you have time tomorrow?”
“No, I’m busy.”
I have to explore love with Iris tomorrow. We’re going to properly find out what unrequited love is…
-
Sigh… brother…
Iris sighed dramatically, shaking her head. Cheshion calmly adjusted his expression.
“Well, I was hoping you’d make time. I need help inspecting the territory.”
“Inspecting the territory?”
“Like I said, there’s a flu going around, so I need to check how widespread it is. Since you’re immune to it, you’d be perfect for the inspection.”
Cheshion found a perfect excuse and thought to himself that he was a genius. Gremlory agreed right away. After all, tomorrow’s schedule was just going to be walking around the territory, observing people who are in love. It was basically an inspection.
There were many things she wanted to ask Cheshion about today’s events, and tomorrow, while inspecting, she could chat casually. She didn’t feel like talking about it right now, though. Tomorrow was fine.
But Cheshion wouldn’t move out of the way.
“What is it? Move. I need to go lie down and be lazy.”
“Wait, I have something to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Did you have fun today?”
Gremlory raised an eyebrow. Why was he asking such a question all of a sudden? What did he think I had done today?
Could it be that my wandering around the territory had become a rumor? That might make sense, since I had been everywhere.
“I had fun.”
“!”
“Why the surprised look?”
“Yeah, yeah. If you had fun, then that’s fine.”
Cheshion slowly walked away, clearing the path for her.
“What’s up with him?”
When Gremlory got to her room, she lay down on the bed without much thought and drifted to sleep.
The next day, Gremlory reflected on everything she had seen while wandering the territory.
The daughter of a family that had obediently entered a political marriage found happiness only after committing an affair. Meanwhile, the father, who had fallen to the ground in despair, had asked for help, willing to endure shame to save his daughter.
To Gremlory, love was about “changing a person.” Even someone who was perfectly fine would end up being pushed in unpredictable directions.
On the other hand, love was also very simple and everyday. Laughing together, eating together, having meaningless conversations. Gremlory felt a bit envious of that kind of love.
Some of that kind of love, which she envied, seemed to be the love she already had. The Duke’s family always talked to her, laughed with her, brought her news, and provided meals.
Maybe it was the love she had received from them, but Gremlory began to feel like she was changing.
‘I think I’ve changed a lot. I wasn’t this thoughtful before.’
“Mori, what are you thinking about?”
At a café in the city, Cheshion approached Gremlory, who was lost in thought.
“Love.”
“…!”
Cheshion nearly fainted. Mori, who was usually so emotionless, was talking about love. Was her date with Kenneth Ortega that satisfying? Was she now agonizing over love?
“… What did you two do yesterday?”
“Us two? We just walked around, looking at people.”
Gremlory thought ‘us two’ referred to Iris and herself, since she had mentioned Iris before.
“S-Sightseeing… Haha! Yeah, people-watching is fun.”
“Cheshion.”
“Ah!”
“Have you ever been in love?”
Cheshion nearly fainted.
“Are you asking for love advice?”
“Well, in a way, yes.”
Today, Cheshion’s face, which was unusually made up, turned a shade of brown.
