CH 32

Her very tone of voice, each and every action of hers. It was like that.

She was a person who was unparalleled when it came to confusing him.

Nevertheless, whenever he looked into her blue eyes, he was always so captivated.

“…I don’t like it.”

“Then you must feel very awkward having to cooperate with such a person. I apologize.”

However, despite Alei’s words, Ophelia continued to be calm.

There were two reasons.

First, another person’s disapproval of her was something she was already used to.

And second, Alei’s reaction right then was something Ophelia considered unusual.

It was like… For someone who says he didn’t like Ophelia, Alei was behaving as though he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Usually, if you don’t like someone, you just save your breath and ignore them.

Ophelia could vaguely guess the reason.

“Alei, are you angry that I didn’t tell you the details of my plans?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Is it because I didn’t explain it to you in detail and instead went to Sante for help?”

“I said it wasn’t like that.”

“It’s our first meeting of the day, Alei.”

“Yes. And it’s like this because one person was out this whole time.”

“But you were here in my room when I returned. Don’t you have something to tell me then?”

After she finished organizing her clothes, Ophelia approached Alei—who was acting like he didn’t know how to unknit his furrowed brows.

“But when you left and went out with Sante, you even picked up another man.”

“……”

“Just what the hell am I supposed to think. Everything’s so confusing.”

Ah, so this was a continuation of last night.

Ophelia remembered Alei’s expression when he asked if she trusted Sante and not him.

He had exactly the same face now.

Ophelia understood Alei’s anxiety.

He lost all his memories and was solely relying on Ophelia.

Perhaps Ophelia had given him many more clues in the past few days than he had found by himself in the past five years.

However, Ophelia was neglecting him now, so he might be feeling anxious, thinking that he was used then abandoned.

‘But I don’t trust him enough to tell him right away.’

A subtle balance of trust and distrust.

They were both standing on a tightrope, the two of them.

The problem here was that Ophelia was the only one who could tighten and loosen the rope.

“…I didn’t mean to keep it from you for a long time anyway. Since I received help from you, I’ll tell you about it in return.”

Ophelia lightly passed by Alei and pulled the rope to call a servant by the desk.

Along with the cheerful sound of the bell, her voice rang out.

“Do you remember when I read a book about mermaids?”

“Of course I remember.”

“That man was meant to meet a mermaid. And he’s the man that the youngest mermaid princess loves.”

“The youngest mermaid princess?”

Alei asked back with a strangely distorted expression.

“Why? Do you not believe in the existence of mermaids?”

“That’s not the problem. It’s just…”

A few days ago, in his dream, he saw a mermaid that resembled her so closely. And she asked him if she could walk on land.

He didn’t think that there was no connection between that mermaid and Ophelia.

Days passed just like that and she came up to him with a plan to fool the magic tower, so he forgot about that dream for a while.

“…Just that I’m unfamiliar with that mermaid. Did you go out to meet her?”

“Yes. I had something to ask her.”

“Will she help you enter the tower?”

“No, it’s more of a personal matter. But before talking about it, we should move to another place.”

“Then I’ll listen to it later. I think people are coming, too.”

Alei’s sharp gaze flitted to the door, then headed back to Ophelia.

“But apart from that, Ophelia. I need to tell you one thing because I think you’ve forgotten.”

“What is it?”

“I’m a more convenient means of transportation than Sante.”

…Ophelia couldn’t believe what she heard.

Because accompanying his words, his expression looked like a sharply crushed, broken rock.

“No matter how good a siren is at magic, it’ll still be hard to surpass me.”

The pride of this man, who had lost all his memories, seemed to have been revealed.

And the clenched fist beneath his sleeve seemed to convey this more.

“Ahaha!”

Ophelia burst into laughter. It’s been a while since she laughed out loud.

* * *

Later that night—

“I’m sorry for laughing earlier, Alei.”

“Never mind.”

“You’re quite miserly. Even I can laugh a little bit.”

“I apologize, I’ve only found out.”

Even if he said that, Ophelia was still smiling while Alei frowned.

Alei gave Ophelia another pointed look, then placed two steaming teacups on the table, obviously frustrated.

“Never mind that, so let’s just continue our talk.”

“Alright. How far did we get?”

“That you’ve done something as crazy as swallow the scale of a mermaid, and it led you to this ridiculous state because of that mermaid’s magic.”

“Ah, I remember now. That’s why I thought I could find a solution if I met the youngest mermaid princess.”

Ophelia answered in a simple manner.

Her story was resumed for the third time.

The first part was before Ophelia pulled the rope at her office, so her explanation was cut off after servants of Ladeen Castle came in.

When they moved to another place and continued the second part of it, they were cut off again because of the sound of a stomach growling.

In fact, the story might not have been halted if not for this.

—Come to think of it, I haven’t eaten anything yet. But let’s finish talking.

—You haven’t eaten anything today?

—I’m not hungry.

Today was the day she reunited with Ian, and the day she had to meet with Ariel.

Until this morning, Ophelia didn’t want to eat anything at all. She felt so nauseous.

However, after seeing that man, she felt lighter inside.

It was especially thanks to her successful meeting Ariel.

The monster under the bed, which she saw only through other people’s letters and through other people’s memories, was a normal, lovely individual.

She was a young woman who had yet to truly blossom from her child-like features, but she was lovely enough to have felt that it was more unnatural to not love her.

Ophelia felt neither fear nor dread.

Instead, after she had felt relieved, her stomach seemed to roar and ask to be rewarded for its hard work.

Of course, Ophelia tried to brush it aside, but.

—I won’t let you continue talking until you eat.

Alei was so stubborn that their conversation had to be cut off for the second time.

And so, back to the present, this was the third time they tried to finish the same conversation.

“First of all, Ariel said she couldn’t solve this problem. And Sante said it would be faster if I could just ask you about the details.”

“What a coincidence, then. I was also going to talk to you about it today.”

So this was why he came to look for Ophelia.

“I’ve already seen the mana flowing in your body, but I don’t think it’s a common case. Who knew it would be this kind of absurd case?”

Today was a day full of surprises for Alei.

And it wasn’t the good kind of surprise.

—I swallowed a mermaid’s scale in the past. And to solve it, I needed to meet that mermaid.

She said it as though it was nothing, but the weight of this statement was different for Alei since he knew about magic.

A mermaid’s scale.

It was a magical item that was famous for its rarity, but notorious for its danger.

It was an item that was not just full of mana, but also full of potentially sinister intentions, so there was a considerable risk if it was to be used.

But Alei couldn’t believe that she had swallowed one.

As soon as Alei heard this, he contemplated for a moment, then he asked.

—Ophelia, are you out of your mind? If you swallow such a thing, you’ll…

And he stopped.

Unlike Alei, who was flustered, Ophelia was unphased. And he was reminded of their first meeting.