Chapter 97
“Why?”
“It’s my birthday.”
“Is that some kind of rule for birthdays?”
His serious expression nearly made Fay laugh. She held it back and replied with a deliberately aloof tone.
“You said you wanted me to touch you.”
“That’s true, but I want to touch you too.”
“If you behave and endure it for just today, I promise I won’t hate you.”
He didn’t want to accept such a ridiculous bargain. Why was it so unfair that he couldn’t touch her? Like Fay, he had two arms and two legs and even four extra tentacles.
“Fine. Don’t, then.”
Her raised brows clearly said, Go ahead and ignore me and do whatever you want.
Using force to touch her would have been easy. The problem was that he would have to deal with the consequences afterward.
Alnazir frowned and reluctantly accepted her condition.
“Then at least touch me a lot.”
At his sulky tone, Fay snorted softly. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly, rubbing her face against his chest. She nuzzled him until her bangs became messy, then looked up.
His expression still seemed slightly annoyed.
“More.”
Apparently that wasn’t enough. Alnazir urged her impatiently. When Fay simply watched him in silence, he grew restless and lifted his hand, palm facing her, close to his face.
Gulp. Fay heard the dry swallow in his throat and still took her time. It was her small revenge for all the fear he had caused her before.
“Fay.”
“……”
“You said if I behaved, you’d touch me.”
“I did say that.”
“Then hurry—”
“But I’ve decided not to keep that promise.”
“Why?”
“Do I need a reason? I just don’t want to!”
Fay said mischievously, smiling with her eyes.
For a moment Alnazir flinched, realizing he had been tricked. Before his reason could stop him, he wrapped both arms tightly around her so she couldn’t move and bit down on the back of her neck.
He gnawed at it as if punishing her, though it didn’t seem to hurt much. Fay merely snorted.
“You believed me and now I won’t keep my promise—pretty awful, right? Feels like betrayal, doesn’t it?”
“……”
“Imagine how betrayed I must have felt.”
“At the time, I had no choice if I wanted to remain here…”
“Oh no. You absolutely had another option, trusting me and becoming my familiar.”
“……”
“But instead you made me look like a fool. A pitiful fool.”
Alnazir had no answer. He still didn’t like the idea that everything depended on a witch’s whims. Even now, he thought it unfair.
But he had to admit his choice had been foolish. Only now did he realize how absurd it had been to betray Fay’s trust.
“I didn’t intend to make you a fool. In my own way… I was desperate.”
Alnazir released her neck and gently licked the mark he had left behind.
“You think I’ll forgive you just because you act cute now, licking wounds or making cakes?”
“Then tell me what I should do to earn your forgiveness.”
“No.”
Fay refused bluntly. Even when he pulled her closer by the waist, making her body sway, she only snorted again.
“What kind of invoked betrays a witch and still ends up taking the position of her familiar? That’s ridiculous.”
“Whether you deny it or not, I’ve already become your familiar.”
“Well… we’ll see about that.”
“What does that mean?”
“You don’t really think there’s no way to drive you out of this world forever, do you?”
Alnazir’s face hardened instantly.
He had taken comfort in the thought that, whether she liked it or not, there was no way to send him away. But what if that wasn’t true?
A shadow fell across his golden eyes as they widened. Something stirred within the darkening shade—his true form, hidden beneath the shell of a human body, about to emerge.
Whatever remained, perhaps he could simply destroy it all. Raise the sea and drown the land. Tear everything apart.
Alnazir’s thoughts drifted toward the one thing he was best at.
Just as the shell around him began to crack—
Smack.
Fay grabbed his face firmly.
“Great Alnazir, I’m not such a kind witch. I want to see you feel the same despair and sadness I did.”
Fay declared, glaring fiercely. Ironically, Alnazir felt relieved.
If she wanted to see that with her own eyes, it meant she intended to keep him by her side.
“I already had plenty of that while you were rejecting me.”
“No. That’s not nearly enough!”
“Just how much more suffering are you planning to put me through?”
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