Chapter 58
Alnazir suddenly grabbed her chin as it turned from side to side.
“You’re the one being unreasonable. You haven’t been smiling in front of me these past few days.”
“If there’s nothing to be happy about, of course I won’t smile!”
Especially when someone keeps ruining my mood… Fay muttered the rest under her breath.
“And there’s something I’m curious about, Fay. What did you mean by being attracted to ‘bad-boy faces’?”
“Wait—that was a misunderstanding…!”
“What kind of man were you attracted to?”
His expression was oddly intimidating. Fay bit her lip and darted her eyes around before a thought struck her.
…Is he jealous?
“That has nothing to do with you, Alnazir.”
She snorted dismissively.
“…You were smiling and acting cute just fine until recently. Why the change? Are you tired of me already?”
He looked genuinely serious.
Fay hesitated. Whether or not it was jealousy, one thing was clear, he was bothered. Still, she wanted to be sure.
“That whole ‘not proper’ thing was just an excuse, wasn’t it? You were upset because I was smiling and chatting with everyone except you.”
“Upset?”
He looked at her as if he’d just heard complete nonsense, then corrected her assumption with visible irritation.
“I don’t care who you laugh and joke with. Humans are always making incomprehensible noise anyway. I’ve never had any interest in that.”
“If you don’t care, then why tell me not to smile?”
“I’m telling you not to smile in a way that isn’t like you.”
“Then let me ask you directly. If I don’t smile in front of my friends, and I don’t smile in front of you either, does that fix the problem?”
Alnazir almost answered ‘exactly’, but then hesitated. If Fay didn’t smile in front of him or anyone else… would that really make this strange discomfort go away?
No. He had a feeling that wouldn’t be enough. When he faltered, Fay broke into a crooked grin.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Is smiling not allowed? Didn’t you want me to smile for you?”
“That smile just now was irritating.”
He couldn’t quite explain it, but he could tell she looked eager to tease him. About what, he had no idea.
Even when he frowned and glared, Fay didn’t stop grinning. If anything, she smiled more mischievously and made an outrageous demand.
“If you want to see my real smile, Alnazir, there’s something you have to do for me.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Oh, because I’ve come down with a disease where I can’t smile when I’m angry at you!”
If anger was the reason she couldn’t smile, then obviously he had to make it go away. And if he wanted to do that, he had to grant her request. Confident he wouldn’t refuse, Fay stated it boldly.
“You’re angry at me?”
Alnazir asked in disbelief. He’d never imagined she might be upset with him. As far as he knew, he hadn’t done a single thing to provoke her.
Even last night, he’d simply held her while she slept, warm and peaceful. He’d restrained the desire creeping up from his lower abdomen, stealing only a brief kiss. So why?
“The biggest problem is that you don’t even realize why I’m angry.”
Fay said, closing her eyes and pretending to sigh.
“After talking with the others, I finally understood something. You’re not human.”
“Didn’t you know that already?”
“What I mean is, I shouldn’t have assumed human common sense or human ways of expressing things would apply to you.”
Because he looked exactly like a human, she’d unconsciously deceived herself. Sleeping with him had only made it worse. Part of her had wanted to treat him like an ordinary man.
Only now did she realize that, and regret it.
“If you want me to calm down, there’s something you need to do.”
And if he didn’t want to, he didn’t have to. She let that last part trail off deliberately.
The man’s gaze sharpened as he looked down at her. But in the end, he raised both hands and asked what she wanted him to do.
Even that reluctant concession was enough to ease most of Fay’s anger. Still, she kept up a sulky expression and led him toward the eastern cliff.
There, a mysterious flower bloomed. Its taste was incredibly bitter, but when processed into medicine, it was excellent for restoring magical power.
The problem was that the flower grew inside a massive rock coated in black moss. It was so hard that magic didn’t work on it, and even Merga’s rock golem would shatter its fists trying to break it.
“I want the flower inside that rock.”
Fay said it casually, hiding her true intent. She wanted to test whether he really could serve as proper combat strength.
It didn’t even matter if they failed to get the flower. If he managed to chip even a fragment off the rock, that would be enough.
Even Virelda—who suspected that defeating the North Tower’s guardian doll had been pure luck—would have no choice but to believe in Alnazir’s power then.
Discussion
0 CommentsNo comments yet.