episode 33

Chapter 4. Raydik Territory

The day dawned.

I don’t know how the morning came. I blinked my stiff eyes hardly.

I came into the room last night, turned off the lights, and lay down on the bed thoughtlessly, covering myself with a blanket.

However, tears did not stop. Every time I blinked, the transparent stream of water was constantly pushed out of the eyelids.

It was a strange act. I had cried so much but didn’t know why I was crying.

‘Is my body weak?’

I even thought about this.

‘Some people cry because their body is weak.’

Am I like that…..?

“……Ugh, my head.”

I muttered, sitting on the bed while letting my feet fall on the floor.

My head ached and my eyes felt feverish.

Last night, I tossed and turned for a while and fell asleep as I kept pushing back the tears. At that time, Bessie knocked on the door to check on me, but I pretended to sleep because it was difficult to be caught crying when I couldn’t even tell the reason. Bessie seemed to hang around for a while and then she went back.

“Whoo.”

I had to look in the mirror, but I had a strong premonition of what kind of figure I would be reflecting.

Just as expected.

“Oh, lady!”

Bessie, who came to clear the room to check on me if I woke up, was startled and stopped in the doorway.

“Oh, my God, what’s wrong with your eyes?”

“……is it very bad?”

“Wait. I’ll get some ice right away.”

It is very bad…

I touched my eyelids. It felt feverish and stung a little.

They’re swollen.

Well, it would’ve been weird if I slept like that last night and wasn’t this swollen.

Bessie, who had just returned, gave me a cold cloth bag. I put it gently on my eyelids.

“How did your eyes get so swollen……what happened?”

“I just had a really sad dream.”

Bessie kicked her tongue, that was only the reason came to mind.

“I’ll light you some scent candles before you go to bed today. I heard it’s also helpful for dreams.”

“Thank you.”

“Oh, and.”

Then Bessie took something out of her arms. Only then did I notice that she brought something in, besides an ice bag.

“This one. The Duke asked me to bring this to you, lady.”

“cough, cough.”

“Lady?”

“Oh, no. Dust.”

I covered my mouth with the back of my hand. Trying hard to hide the perplexed expression.

‘Why is this here?’

As soon as I saw the light blue cloth that Bessie was sticking out, I was almost surprised.

I thought I was mistaken, but the shape and colour remained the same when I glanced again.

I pretended to be relaxed as I accepted the enchanted cloth as best I could.

“The enchanted, no, no, but this…Ash told you to bring it to me?”

“Last night, I heard you left it somewhere.”

“I actually came to give it to you right away last night, but you were asleep, so I couldn’t give it to you and just went back,” Bessie added.

I looked down at the cloth with bewildered eyes.

‘I left this behind?’

Where? Near the fountain?

No, I sent Ash to the fountain last night and made an excuse to bring something I left there.

But I’m sure Ari was wearing the enchanted cloth.

‘Why has this emerged as the lost item?’

It occurred to me that I should ask Ari instead.

I need to hear what happened yesterday. I had thought it would have worked out as planned, but the sudden appearance of The Enchanted Cloth displeased me.

I washed up quickly, changed my clothes, and came out into the hallway.

I came out but…..

“Oh, my lady, you’re just in time.”

“… …butler?”

“You’re just in time, I had something to tell you.”

What does the butler want at this timing……?

“Hey, I don’t know what it is, but can we… talk…maybe not now?”

“No.”

The butler’s expression was firm.

At the moment I recalled, the day before, I jumped into the mansion with a thud and jumped up the stairs right in front of the butler’s eyes.

Ah.

“Did this old man come to presbyopia last night?”

“Well……you are getting older now, aren’t you?”

“Lady!”

Eventually, it was after a while that I could visit Ari’s room.

I became a lifeless like green onion kimchi and opened the door with a flickering knock. If he has a talent for nagging, it must be some of the devil’s talent.

“Eonni?”

Ari greeted me in bed rubbing her eyes.

It felt as if she had just woken up while I was subjected to the butler’s no-end nagging.

It was fortunate that I didn’t have to wake Ari up. I checked earlier this morning and asked Dylan.

“Dylan, would you excuse me for a moment?”

“I would do that.”

Soon Dylan left the room, leaving Ari alone. Trying not to stare the fluorescent spider carcass found on the floor on the way closer to Ari – split in two – Ari just clapped her hands and grabbed the enchanted cloth.

“That’s right, Eonni! I think the enchanted cloth is broken!”

“Yesterday… huh?”

“I was supposed to tell you as soon as I woke up. The effect has disappeared.”

“What?”

This is what Ari told me.

Last night, as planned, Ari was quietly waiting in front of the fountain, wrapped in the enchanted cloth.

In the meantime, the villain (Ash) appeared, and it was strange that I wasn’t there with him, but she came to her senses to act the “fateful meeting” that I had prepared anyway.

But as soon as he showed up, Ash, who glanced at Ari, said.

‘Isn’t that my noonim’s?’

“He said so while looking at the enchanted cloth I’m wearing. It was so sudden, and I didn’t know what to say, so I said I was keeping it for a while. And then he said, ‘Give it to me’…..”

So she gave it to him.

Ari could not resist the villain, and Ash went right back with the enchanted cloth as if there was nothing left to do.

I blinked bewilderedly.

“What……”

“No, Eonni, hear me out, I’m sure he was talking to me, and it felt like he doesn’t even have the least amount of personal interest in me? Feels like I’m a mannequin with the enchanted cloth, not a person? Or the grass in the garden, the trees, the rocks, the soil, the background, whatever…..”

The conclusion came after a heated enumeration.

“It didn’t work, the enchanted cloth. The villain didn’t give me any attention at all.”

It was ridiculous. No way. Ari was putting full weight on the enchanted cloth breaking theory.

“Why the hell is it broken? I got close to the fountain, but I didn’t drop the cloth in the water? I didn’t even get it spilt, and I didn’t get it dropped to the ground…eonni?!

Ari was startled so she stopped talking.

Because I slammed my forehead on the reception table nearby.

“Oh, eonni… …are you alright?”

“I’m alright. It’s no big deal.”

Ari looked at me nervously. Ari seemed to think that I did it because I was shocked by the enchanted cloth, but that wasn’t the reason.

Not for that reason.

‘Relief? Why do I feel relief? Crazy.’

As I listened to Ari, I was sighing with great relief a little while ago.

As soon as I recognized it, I was shocked.

‘It’s not relief, it’s despair, it’s frustration.’

Yeah, it’s like it. I think I recognized it wrong for a moment because my head has to be in malfunction.

Since ancient times, the answer to a malfunction is to knock it. My head must be better now that I knocked it once.

I rubbed my tingling forehead and looked at Ari.

“You think the cloth is broken? Wait a minute.”

I took the enchanting cloth out of my arms. I got it from Bessie and wore it right away.

A moment later Ari blinked her eyes with a dazed face, as I lapped the cloth around my neck.

“…uh? It’s not broken, is it?”

The effect of the enchanted cloth was still intact. Ari looked confused. Of course, it was the same for me.

An awkward silence passed, and Ari suddenly opened her mouth.

“Shall we try again?”

“Again?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think it worked yesterday. Wouldn’t it be different to try it again?”

Ari, who said so, made an exaggerated fist to see if she wanted to change the cluttered atmosphere.

“Three times for Koreans! And this time, I’ll say that I got it from eonni so that I wouldn’t lose the enchanted cloth. Honestly, I was really scared when he told me to give it. No, should we just use camouflage tactics? To cover the cloth with another cloth or brush?”

Ari chattered too much. I watched her with a still confused heart and soon voted that the latter would be better.

***

I pondered over it, day after day.

‘Why did I do that?’’

Why did I come back from the garden like that?

And why on earth did I cry?

After thinking over and over again to the point where my brain refused to think any more, I was finally able to come up with a rather plausible conclusion.

First of all, escape from the garden.

‘So… That’s what it is.’

Jealousy

It doesn’t mean anything strange, so please listen to it more. Why is there such a thing?

When a close friend or family suddenly shows interest in someone other than you, you’ll get upset.

‘That’s what happened. That’s why I didn’t feel confident to see Ash lock eyes with Ari!’

It’s absurd, but I think there was a child hiding inside me that I didn’t even know.

Yeah, that’s the stuff. Knowing the cause, now the child is going to be banished. Good-bye.

‘And I cried because….’

That’s…

Because I’m sad.

Yes, I did it because I was sad. What am I sad about? Everything!

Look at my situation. To be honest, there were many things to objectively be sad about. Look!

I’m just turning twenty-one when I died because of a stalker in my previous life. But this time, I’m going to die at 22. Even the one who will kill me in this life is a psychopath, and moreover, that person is my brother.

How can you not cry in a situation like this? How can I not cry? Wouldn’t anyone cry?

‘Of course, they would be crying.’

It’s like that. Done. I’ve got a conclusion.

The reason why I suddenly ran away from the garden and why I cried so hard to the point that my eyes were swollen were all explained.

The problem has been solved, and the confusion that came from this problem has disappeared.

It’s gone, but…

“… …eonni.”

However, much greater confusion remained the same.

“What should I do?”

said Ari with a gloomy face.

“I think I’m screwed.”

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