Chapter 36
Was this how Froy felt? Maybe the words of a tiny fairy weren’t heard properly. Because they weren’t the same, maybe he didn’t listen carefully.
“Wake up!”
The violent vibration of the cage being shaken made Hermie lift her head. Her stomach churned and her vision blurred. As her consciousness drifted far away in an instant, Hermie pitched forward.
“Hermie? Hermie!”
Her consciousness faded. Feeling dizzy as she collapsed, Hermie thought:
‘Is it a concussion?’
The situation was utterly hopeless, her mood was bad, and on top of that, her head was in a terrible state. It was one mountain after another.
She was running a fever. Hot breaths, hotter than the midsummer scorching air, came in puffs. Her rising body temperature brought out red rashes, and her brain felt like it was cooking. Her mind drifted in and out, to the point she wondered if she might die.
After suffering from the fever for a long time, day and night alternated each time she regained her senses. And there was always someone by her side.
The way he touched her so carefully made her heart itch, even in her pain.
‘How long has it been since someone took care of me?’
After leaving home, she was always busy scrambling to make a living, often alone whether times were good or she was sick.
Once a year, like a rite of passage, she would fall ill with a fever, and even then, she was always alone. It was lonely and sad, but it was an emotion she had to overcome by herself. Because there was no one by her side to indulge her.
Normally, after suffering for a day or two, she would gather her strength and get up, but maybe because she was under a lot of stress, it felt like she was sick for longer this time.
Hermie’s groaning body floated into the air.
“Sorry, I’m sorry.”
The sorrowful voice persistently knocked on the door of her sleeping heart, making her think she should get up quickly.
It seemed she drew strength from the fact that there was someone who worried about her so much.
***
Hermie had collapsed. The moment he saw her small body sink deep into the pile of stuffing, his heart dropped with a thud.
Only then did Froy realize something was seriously wrong.
At first, he thought she was just throwing a tantrum. He thought she’d hide for half a day, then pop her head out and smile as if nothing happened.
When a day passed, he thought she was really sulking. Even tempting her with delicious food and walks, she showed no sign of coming out of the hiding-hut.
He felt hurt and even a little angry. After all he’d done for her, after all his doting, how could she not even show her face once?
His anxiety and sense of betrayal grew, twisting his heart. He was determined to see just how long she would keep this up.
In the end, Hermie would have to come out with her tail between her legs. It was a fight she couldn’t win anyway.
In the end, he too was just a noble quick to calculate profit and loss. He held all the decision-making power, and all Hermie had was his affection.
It was a world where the one who had more won.
Froy arrogantly believed that once this battle of wills ended, a sensible Hermie would go back to acting adorable. Another day passed in that state.
It was a fight he could only win, yet strangely, he felt like he was losing to Hermie every second.
Defeat piled up layer by layer. Only he seemed angry, anxious, worried, and felt like his blood was drying up.
His entire mind was consumed by that small cage, and nothing else seemed to matter, but was Hermie okay?
He couldn’t even begin to guess what Hermie was doing or thinking inside there.
A sense of unease gnawed at Froy’s mind. What if it wasn’t just a sulk? What if something was wrong?
“Hermie!”
He fished out the hiding-hut using a thin stick. He saw Hermie curled up inside the round, hollowed-out stuffing like a caterpillar.
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