Chapter 24
IV.
‘Am I screwed?’
Around the time a month and an extra week had passed, Hermie had an intuition that something was going wrong.
‘No, it’s still fine. He said it could take around two months.’
So, she tried to soothe her anxious heart, telling herself it wasn’t time to panic yet. But calming her mind wasn’t easy either.
‘No, wait. What if I wait two months and that crazy bastard doesn’t show up? What if he runs away in the meantime?’
Because the only thing she could do with the overflowing time was think about the future.
If her survival had been at risk, she probably wouldn’t have had so many thoughts. In a life where eating, sleeping, and safety were all taken care of, the boring hours led Hermie to dwell endlessly on escape.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried to escape. She tried using the wire from inside a toy to open the cage door, gave up after three hours, exhausted herself trying to bend the bars, and collapsed. Escape by her own strength seemed impossible.
As she immersed herself in anxious thoughts, her train of thought increasingly branched toward darker possibilities, until she couldn’t help but suspect the wizard had lied to her.
Her anxiety and restlessness were directed at Froy, her only channel of communication.
“Hermie. I brought apple pie. Do you want some today?”
“I don’t want it.”
“What’s wrong? Is there something else you want to eat?”
“No. Nothing.”
She spent the whole day bored, waiting for him to return, but when he actually came back, she hid in her hideout house and refused to come out. And she acted sulky to get his attention.
“Sleep well, Hermie.”
Then, when he gave up and turned away, she hurriedly came out of the hideout and shouted at him. Today, she was even angry that he gave up too quickly.
“Where are you going?!”
In the end, Froy came back and held out his hand. He was being swayed by the fairy’s whims, but he wasn’t angry.
He felt only guilt, because he had confined Hermie in the cage entirely for his own satisfaction and happiness.
When his large hand entered the cage, Hermie tightly hugged his finger and felt human warmth. Lying down on that finger, her anxious heart calmed considerably.
It was bewildering why she relied on him like this, even though he was the one who wouldn’t let her out of the cage.
Was it because she subconsciously knew her life and future were in his hands? If Froy’s heart turned away, Hermie’s peaceful daily life would end too.
If she kept acting sulky like this, Froy might get tired of the fairy and toss her into a storage room. There, she’d just wait to die, withering away. It was a terrifying thought just to imagine.
Of course, she just hoped the wizard would succeed in his research and come to keep his promise before Froy got tired of her.
‘This can’t go on.’
Hermie, who had buried her face in his finger, snapped out of it. She realized she was acting foolishly, swept up by emotional highs and lows like waves.
Hermie felt cornered. And she knew that the more she felt that way, the more she needed to keep her wits about her.
‘Be smart, Hermie. Be smart!’
Throwing tantrums wouldn’t change the situation. Now was the time to give him a reason to trust.
The trust that it would be okay to open the cage.
Hermie looked up with a pitiful expression. Froy, watching Hermie clinging to his hand, felt his heart clench. It seemed he hadn’t grown tired of her yet, which was a relief.
“I missed you……”
“Hm?”
“I was scared being alone.”
“…….”
“Can’t you always stay by my side?”
Hearing Hermie’s words, Froy bent his knees to meet her eye level.
He looked surprised. He’d thought she was just sulking because the cage was stifling; he’d never dreamed it was this kind of feeling.
As his face came close to the cage, Hermie reached out. Her small hand touched the bridge of his nose.
It was the first time she had touched his face. Hermie looked at his face anew and marveled.
‘Pretty.’
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