Chapter: 358
Time has passed quite a bit since my body ended up like this.
Well, it might not feel like a long time to others, but from my perspective, where I spend my days more leisurely than ever, that’s how it felt.
Anyway, as time went by, I began to adapt to this body and this life.
At first, doing nothing and just sitting still felt a bit tough, but now it feels like I’m getting used to it.
Ari played a significant role in allowing me to spend that boring, perhaps boring, time more smoothly than before.
“Ari, good morning.”
Talking while holding Ari, who has become an egg after exhausting too much energy in the fight with Beatrice, in my arms.
This has been my way of spending time recently.
However, it seemed to look more like I was talking to myself rather than having a conversation, which might appear quite pitiful to others.
Like how the protagonist in that famous movie named a volleyball Wilson while being stranded on a deserted island.
At first, Silvia, seeing me hugging the egg and talking, thought I had completely lost it due to loneliness and burst into tears…
But I think it’s just because they don’t know any better.
Ari is not a lifeless object like a volleyball; she is a living being with her own self.
Specifically, how is she different?
“Ari, are you listening to me?”
-Slight Movement
“Yeah, yeah, you’re listening, right?”
Ari actually responds like this, moving a little when I talk to her.
I’m not sure if she’s reacting to my voice or truly understanding my words, but…
Still, she reacts to my words and holding her gives warmth, so I don’t feel as lonely as I used to without someone by my side.
So nowadays, I hardly ever let go of Ari from my arms.
By the way, that led to a funny incident.
Since I usually lie on my bed covered with a blanket, and with Ari tucked inside, it seems like I’m pregnant from a distance.
So one of the academy kids who came over joked, asking how many months I was along.
You know how pregnant women sometimes let their close friends touch their belly?
So I jokingly said they could touch it through the blanket, and at that very moment, Ari moved, so they laughed, saying she must be a strong and healthy baby.
“She really needs to be born healthy as soon as possible, right?”
I chuckled to Ari and said that.
Even though she isn’t really my child, I’ve received so much help, so I’ve grown quite attached to Ari.
Holding her like this every day is also because I wonder if being kept warm might help her hatch from her egg a little faster.
I want Ari to come out of her egg soon and fly around healthily like before.
As I thought that while stroking Ari, she seemed to shake a bit, wanting to get out.
Amidst stroking Ari and passing time, I felt a subtle change in the flow of air.
I’ve become sensitive to the surroundings since my body changed, so I could tell from the change in air that someone opened my door and walked in.
Well, at this time, it’s pretty much decided who would come.
Sure enough, not long after, I felt a smooth finger touch my palm.
It was Silvia, writing on my palm.
Since she comes to visit every single day, I’ve started to be able to recognize her just by the feel of her fingers.
Soon, I’ll probably be able to tell who it is just by the feeling when she opens the door, right?
As I pondered this, Silvia wrote another message on my palm.
“Yoon Si-woo is here today too.”
“…O-Oh, really?”
Yoon Si-woo came.
Immediately after realizing that, I unknowingly let out a grumpy voice.
Anyone could tell from my reaction that I wasn’t exactly thrilled about Yoon Si-woo’s visit.
I sighed softly inside.
Okay, let’s be honest.
I found it uncomfortable meeting Yoon Si-woo.
It wasn’t like that at first.
After all this happened to me, Yoon Si-woo started coming to visit often.
Not as frequently as Silvia, who comes every day, but he showed up almost every other day.
It was nice that he came often.
I was already lonely and bored, so his visits were good for me.
But the problem lay in the way he treated me.
“I’m sorry.”
That was all he had said during the countless times he came to visit me.
I’d told him repeatedly to say something else, and every time he’d hold my hand, pondering for a while before eventually saying only that.
It drove me crazy.
I understand.
I understand that Yoon Si-woo must feel guilty about what happened to me.
But I keep telling him I’m okay! So why does he keep doing this alone?!
So I finally snapped and told him that if he said “I’m sorry” to me one more time, I’d cut ties with him.
Do you know what Yoon Si-woo did after that?
From that day on, he came to visit but didn’t say a word to me and just left.
Do you now understand why I find Yoon Si-woo uncomfortable?
How can my heart be at ease?
I can only imagine what kind of expression he wears while looking at me each time he visits.
“…So today he’s also just going to sit there and leave without saying anything?”
“Seems like it.”
“…Sigh, fine. Then I guess I’ll just talk with you today, Silvia.”
Thinking it would be just as I expected today, I sighed deeply and decided to chat with Silvia instead.
But it was while I was chatting with Silvia that it happened.
Suddenly, Silvia’s finger, which had been writing on my hand, fell limp.
I sensed that something unusual was happening.
The vibrations coming through the mansion’s floor were strong, thumping as if someone inside was rushing outside.
“What’s going on?”
Feeling anxious, I asked.
Someone came close and began hurriedly writing on my hand.
The finger writing on my hand wasn’t Silvia’s.
It was slightly thicker and rougher than Silvia’s fingers.
But it felt just as familiar.
It had to be.
It belonged to the guy who had repeatedly apologized to me enough to be boring.
The finger told me,
“Nothing’s wrong. You stay here quietly.”
With that statement, I felt the presence around me leaving the room.
And it didn’t take long for me to realize that those words were lies.
“This is…!!”
From far away, I felt the miasma.
A tremendous amount of it, sending chills all over my body.
The door opened.
As usual, Scarlet was lying on the bed.
Noticing the door had opened, Scarlet turned her head.
Yoon Si-woo chewed on his lips at the sight of her gray eyes, which could no longer capture the light.
No matter how much time had passed, seeing Scarlet pained his heart.
This pain probably wouldn’t get any better, no matter how much time passes.
Just like her body, which would remain like that for the rest of her life.
“…Are you just going to come and go without saying anything?”
Today, Silvia asked Yoon Si-woo, who silently gazed at Scarlet with a tormented expression.
To that question, Yoon Si-woo remained silent.
It was practically a confirmation.
Silvia sighed, expressing her frustration, and muttered.
“I understand how you feel, but doing that only brings pain to both of you…”
Yoon Si-woo knew.
Scarlet was kind-hearted.
She hoped that he wouldn’t feel guilt over her anymore.
Yet at the same time, Yoon Si-woo understood.
Scarlet, who seemed stronger than anyone else.
After her body changed like this, she couldn’t endure just one night of loneliness and shed tears.
Scarlet thought only Silvia had seen her cry.
But that wasn’t true.
In fact, Yoon Si-woo was next to Silvia that day.
He had witnessed Scarlet, who was sobbing for Silvia.
The side of her that appeared strong while trying to accept her condition and live brightly, yet was infinitely weak.
She always said she was fine, but deep down, she wasn’t okay.
Yeah, there was no way she could be fine.
How could a person be okay with a body like that?
Yoon Si-woo knew that, which is why he also realized how kind-hearted Scarlet was and how much she cared for him.
Because of that, Yoon Si-woo’s insides crumbled even more.
He knew Scarlet hated hearing “I’m sorry.”
But even if Scarlet didn’t want that, Yoon Si-woo couldn’t just erase the image of her tears from his mind and ignore it.
Even if he wanted to tell her something enjoyable instead of “I’m sorry,” every time her tears would come to mind, preventing him from thinking of happy stories.
In the end, the only words that came out were “I’m sorry.”
Even that had been forbidden later on.
“……”
Yoon Si-woo knew Scarlet felt uncomfortable with him being like this.
Yoon Si-woo also felt pain and anguish each time he came to see her.
Then, he could just stop coming to see her. But he couldn’t do that.
The reason this situation was painful was that they couldn’t simply detach from each other.
It was at that moment when Yoon Si-woo was gazing at Scarlet with a pained expression today.
“What’s that!!”
“Ugh!”
Suddenly, the mansion was in chaos.
The reason was simple.
It was broad daylight, and suddenly everything outside turned dark.
“It’s getting dark outside. What’s happening…?”
Feeling uneasy, Silvia, who was talking to Scarlet, walked over to the window and peered outside, her expression hardened.
Then Yoon Si-woo, who followed Silvia’s gaze out the window, recalled what the witch had said to them not long ago.
“Today, I won’t let you do anything. Just today.”
“You will know soon enough.”
“…Was this what she meant then?”
Yoon Si-woo muttered and turned his head.
“What’s going on?”
Turning around, he found Scarlet looking confused.
Yoon Si-woo took Scarlet’s hand and wrote something on it.
“Nothing is wrong. You stay still.”
“…This time, I’ll handle this myself.”
After saying that, Yoon Si-woo left the mansion and moved forward.
Toward that massive black orb, blocking the sun in the sky.
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