It was the hand that I had released when I tried to catch the thief seagull.
Far away… My eyes were fixed on the grilled salt skewer as I forcefully grabbed his hand like I was going to rebuff him, and marched to the store like a general.
Finally, I bought the chicken skewers, and with excitement, I bit into the glossy chicken.
Oh, of course, Suradel did the payment.
“It’s so delicious!”
As I trembled with happiness, Suradel tilted his head with a languid expression like a cat demibeast.
“Is it that delicious?”
I took a step back, wary of Suradel, who had honey dripping from his eyes.
(TL/N: a phrase used to describe one’s eyes looking at someone else’s eyes in a very lovely way.)
No matter how much he coveted my skewer, I had no intention of giving it up.
Or so I thought… Now that I looked at the bottom of the skewer, the meat was quite burnt.
I stared blankly at that spot and held it out to Suradel.
“Eat.”
But maybe it’s because I put out the burnt side too openly?
Suradel stared at the skewer with a face that seemed to be struggling to hold back a smile.
When it looked like he wasn’t even thinking about eating, I urged him on.
“Eat. This is good.”
“How so?”
I rolled my eyes.
“…Good to get sick.”
“Puhaha! It’s such an honor.”
Though, to be honest, I hate acting like a bully.
“Then don’t hesitate.”
Suradel burst into laughter and brought his mouth to the underside of the skewer.
But again, I overlooked it. The fact that this killer whale in front of me was crazy.
I thought he would bite the lowest burnt part of the skewer, but he bit the tip of my finger.
“Yum.”
“What are you…!”
To make matters worse, he even made a sound.
Before I had time to grab hold of his hair and pull it hard, he quickly drew back and flipped his bangs happily.
“Ahahahaha, I think that looks the most delicious.”
“You…!”
I clenched my fist, wondering how to get revenge on him, but Suradel suddenly pointed at a certain place with his index finger.
“Huh? Lia, look over there.”
“Don’t try to get away!”
“Really. Over there, Sir Hanu is being a pushover at the skewer stall we stopped by earlier.”
“…What?”
Even though I knew that there was a high probability that he lied, my head turned by itself.
Hanu, a black bull who played the role of a pushover. I couldn’t stand hearing such words.
Against my belief, Hanu was indeed standing where Suradel pointed.
But no matter how I looked at it, he was just standing there to buy food, and it didn’t look like he was being cheated or bullied.
Right when I was about to turn my head and glare at Suradel…
“I’d like a silver coin’s worth, please.”
“Oh, thanks for the purchase!”
The skewer stall owner held out two skewers to Hanu.
“Looking at your outfit, you must be a knight. Wow, you have a great body, very handsome!”
The corner of Hanu’s mouth went up slightly at the word ‘handsome’.
However, he pretended it was nothing and rummaged through his pouch of money.
“How much is it?”
“It’s two silver coins~!”
“Here it is.”
I couldn’t believe it, but it sure was amazing to see Hanu being scammed in real time.
‘In the first place, you asked for a silver coin’s worth, so why the hell are you asking how much? Oh, Hanu…’
That skewer stall owner…
As expected, he seemed to have an eye for pushovers, probably because he was an expert.
He wasn’t like that with Suradel and I.
I was going to stick my nose into it, but I decided I didn’t have to.
It was because I caught sight of Iprus running up behind Hanu, who was being ripped off, with fire in her eyes.
‘I just hope the owner doesn’t get beaten to death by Iprus.’
‘Is there really a need to fight like a dog…’ No, I didn’t want to see a bullfight, so I left the area with Suradel.
Just like that, I forgot that I was angry with Suradel.
After that, we wandered around the night market.
After walking around for a long time, I moved to the sandy beach with Suradel to digest my full stomach.
A cool breeze blew through the waves and touched my cheeks.
Hair that was disheveled by the wind tickled my ears.
The calming sound of the waves and the softness of the fine sand made me feel like any underlying tension was relieved.
“It was fun today, Su.”
Looking back, it seemed like a lot happened today.
To avoid being caught as a penguin, I was carried into the Weil family’s territory on Suradel’s back.
Bella witnessed the scene where I was atop of Suradel after barely returning to my human form.
I received a magic wand.
Finally, the night market.
‘What’s interesting is that Suradel was present in all the incidents.’
His behavior made me angry at times, but…
“I have no idea how lucky I am to have you by my side.”
Thank you.
Feeling embarrassed even though I said those words myself, I raised my head and gazed at the sky.
Tonight, the bright moon and stars were beautifully embroidered.
‘If I’m lucky, I might even see a shooting star.’
Suradel didn’t say anything for a while, then suddenly, he called my name in a low voice.
“Lia.”
“Mmm.”
He took out a hair accessory from the subspace. I didn’t know when he bought it.
It was a pretty accessory decorated with scarlet coral and pearls.
Before I could ask what this was, he slowly inserted the hairpin into my hair and gazed into my eyes.
“I love you.”
Was I intoxicated by the moonlight reflected in his eyes and the sound of the calm waves?
It was a love confession like any other, but my heart skipped a beat.
The wide smile on his face felt unreal.
The memory of today would likely stay in my head for the rest of my life.
⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆
The next day.
As if what had happened yesterday had been a dream, a new morning began.
I had breakfast with the Weils as usual. Well, except for the family head who was alone in the center.
“I heard you’re going to start practicing animalization and humanization with Suradel?”
“Yes.”
Bella glanced at Suradel and said with a sigh.
“Actually, I wanted to help you, but… He insisted that he would teach you.”
“It wasn’t coercion, it was an agreement.”
‘…He demanded.’
It’s much more comfortable to have Suradel teach me than Bella, who didn’t know my true identity.
However, Bella seemed to have a different idea.
Her face as she looked at me was one of indisputable regret.
“Lia, if you succeed in turning into an animal, be sure to show it to me next time.”
I couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly.
It was harder because her eyes were brimming with affection.
‘You’re looking at me with such gentle eyes, as if looking at a finely crafted stone…’
‘Ugh.’
It seemed like it would be more comfortable to just tell the truth that I wasn’t a killer whale. In the near future.
After breakfast, Suradel suggested that I start practicing right away.
I nodded without any doubt, and held his hand for the teleport.
But what…
When I opened my eyes, all I could see was the endless expanse of the sea.
Since it was an abrupt teleportation to the middle of the sea, I hugged Suradel in surprise.
“Ah! Oh my God! You’re crazy! Saying ‘Let’s go practice’ and suddenly teleporting into the sea?!”
However, unlike me who was in utter shock, Suradel quickly returned my hug and smiled calmly.
He was rather enjoying the situation, like it hadn’t crossed his mind thatI would embrace him.
“Lia. As others say, I’m crazy.”
“Well. And you’re proud of that?!”
I patted his back with enough force to set it on fire.
If I delayed a little longer, I would have hit him with the magic wand I brought.
“Can you quickly move to where my feet can touch the floor?”
“Okay, okay.”
Suradel chuckled as if his back didn’t hurt even a single bit and casted the spell.
Then, in an instant, the seawater beneath my feet froze with a crackling sound, and a small glacier was created.
He lightly set me down on the glacier and glanced around.
“The ice should be about this size, right?”
Aftering barely tapping the ‘ground’ with my feet, I relaxed, letting out a sigh.
If only I could turn into a penguin, I would have shook him off and fallen into the sea.
I stared at Suradel, promising myself a future where I could freely change between my animal and human form.
The moment I turned towards the gaze that seemed to be urging me on, Suradel asked,
“What do you want to learn, Lia? How to deal with mana? Or animalization?”
“Before that, Su…”
“Mhm.”
“If I practice animalization and succeed and I go back to being a penguin, I would have to humanize again. What if I can’t do it like yesterday?”
At my question, Suradel shyly blushed.
“If it doesn’t work, I should help like yesterday, right?”
…It seemed I must remember the sensation of animalizing and humanizing as soon as possible.
Credits goes to ZZZZ for raw providing and Ame for translating.
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