Chapter 7 Part 1

 

That was it. The characters that looked like mere scribbles to others were Irina’s own ‘language.’ It was a ‘language’ no different from the code with mysterious rules Irina had created in her childhood.

She couldn’t understand why it was written here.

Clearly, Irina had never been to this place. But could that not be the case? Had she already been here when she was a child, which she didn’t remember?

“…Rumpel, Rumpel. I think I’ve been here before. I don’t remember… but I think I have. Otherwise, there’s no way the word ‘Irina’ would be written here.”

Irina tried to deduce why her own language was written on the rock. She looked at the rock once more.

‘Irina,’ ‘Irina,’ ‘Irina’… The same words were written over and over again.

“Did I… really write this…?”

She actually had doubts. It was strange that only ‘Irina’ was written repeatedly and there there were no other words for her to have written.

“Why would I have done that…?”

Of course, there’s nothing more foolish than trying to understand one’s younger self, but even so, she couldn’t help but be puzzled. She gazed at the rock with her name written on it with quiet eyes.

“Anyway… it’s fascinating. I don’t remember, but … it’s amazing that I’ve been here.”

“It can happen.”

Irina nodded at Rumpel’s agreement. She was so amazed, but she was surprised that he, who had brought her here, didn’t think anything was wrong.

Was it because he was the type who didn’t dwell on such trivial things?

Instead of asking, Irina simply tilted her head quietly. Whether Rumpel knew Irina’s thoughts or not, he took her hand and pulled her to the lakeside.

“Surely… you’re not thinking of throwing me in?”

“Of course not. It’s much deeper here than it looks. I don’t play such dangerous pranks.”

Only after hearing his reply did Irina relax her doubtful expression and approach him. Rumpel laid out a handkerchief on the lakeshore.

“Please sit down.”

“Thank you.”

At his kind consideration, Irina carefully sat down with her hips on the handkerchief that he had laid out for her. Rumpel also sat next to Irina.

Sitting next to him gave her a strange feeling. It felt like she was on a date with him.

Until now, whenever she met Rumpel, she was in a hurry to have a physical relationship. That was only natural. Because she had to give birth to a child.

For that, sex was essential. Nothing else mattered.

Irina didn’t like that. She felt a pang of sadness that she was bound to him by a contract, and everything else was secondary.

She felt like Rumpel was only focused on her giving birth to a child, and that he would surely leave her once the child was born.

Actually, that was the right relationship. She had nothing to do with Rumpel other than being bound by an absurd contract.

In fact, at that time, it was important to make gold right away to protect her family and clan, so she agreed to give him a child, but she had no idea what to do once the child was born. She couldn’t even imagine giving the child she had carried in her womb for ten months to someone else.

Anxiety piled on anxiety. Irina looked at the lake with a somewhat gloomy face.

The lake, reflecting the sparkling sunlight, was very beautiful, but its depth that could not be determined resembled Rumpel. A beautiful man, but she couldn’t know how much was hidden inside him.

“Why are you sighing?”

“…Me?”

“Yes. You just sighed ‘haah.’”

“Ah…”

Irina realized that she had sighed without realizing it and smiled awkwardly out of embarrassment.

Then, Rumpel silently stared at Irina. As his golden eyes gazed straight at her, Irina felt herself shrink back for no reason, even though she had not committed any sin.

“What is Lady Irina thinking about so much these days?”

“No, I’m not thinking …”

“You’re not good at lying. You’ll have to be a little more meticulous if you want to deceive me.”

“…..”

Rumpel quickly saw through Irina’s lie. Since she had ended up deceiving him in some way, Irina couldn’t say anything out of guilt and avoided his gaze.

“It’s okay to lie, and it’s okay to try to deceive me. There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Because Rumpel said first that there was no need to apologize, Irina felt even more sorry. In the end, she apologized in a mumbled, almost inaudible voice.

“It’s alright. I can pretend I don’t know. But don’t make it too obvious. I don’t have that much patience.”

It was like a warning.

Irina nodded, but she didn’t know what to say. She should say that she wouldn’t do it again in the future, but she wasn’t confident enough to do so. In the end, she would end up lying again.

So, Irina swallowed the words she wanted to say along with dry saliva down her throat.

“…..”

“…..”

An awkward silence hung between the two. Irina glanced at Rumpel, sensing the uncomfortable atmosphere. Then, she met Rumpel’s eyes.

He looked at Irina and smiled lazily. As if trying to soothe Irina’s heart. Fortunately, the power of his smile was amazing.

Irina felt her tense body relax a little.

“Uh, huh?! Ugh!”

Then, Irina, who had casually looked at the lake, couldn’t believe her eyes at the unfolding scene. The lake water was shooting upwards like a fountain.

It didn’t just shoot straight up; the streams of water seemed to draw curves and spread out like branches of a tree.

“What is it? Uh, how… Ah.”

While muttering to herself at the amazing sight, Irina soon found Rumpel smiling gently at her and realized that Rumpel had cast magic on the lake.

“You can do things like this?”

“Of course. I can do even more. Do you want to see?”

“Yes!”

As soon as Irina answered, Rumpel stretched out his right hand forward. Then, as if a bird’s song was heard from somewhere, a small gray bird flew in and landed on Rumpel’s hand.

“Oh, how pretty.”

Even to Irina, who didn’t know much about birds, the small bird looked very cute. The bird chirped pleasantly and hopped on Rumpel’s hand.

It reminded her of the magic shows she had gone to with her parents when she was young. Of course, those were tricks with techniques, but Rumpel now was clearly performing magic.

The sight was so amazing and astonishing that it felt unreal. One thing was certain: Rumpel’s magic had refreshed Irina’s gloomy mood.

“Do you want to touch it?”

“C-Can I?”

“Of course.”

Rumpel extended his hand with the bird towards Irina.

Irina reached out her trembling hand and gently touched the bird’s head with her fingertip. Then, the bird tilted its head and looked at Irina. Not forgetting to chirp lovingly.

“Shall I call other animal friends?”

“Hahaha, animal friends?”

Irina burst into laughter because she found it cute that Rumpel called animals ‘animal friends.’ At that, Rumpel widened his eyes and then folded them into a smile.

“One must have this level of showmanship.”

“It’s great, isn’t it? I like it!”

Irina responded to Rumpel’s sly reaction with equal enthusiasm. Then, Rumpel, as if satisfied, curled up the corners of his lips and whistled looking towards the forest.

Soon, a pair of cute rabbits, a beautiful deer with a long neck, and even a fox cub with an adorable fluffy tail appeared.

“Oh my God! This is really amazing!”

Irina exclaimed in admiration and carefully reached out her hand to the animals that approached her.

The rabbits hopped onto Irina’s lap, and the deer licked Irina’s hand with its long tongue. The fox cub made ‘squeak squeak’ sounds and circled around Irina and Rumpel.

Every moment felt like a fairy tale. Irina was unable to believe the scene before her, but she was also ecstatic.

A bright smile never left her face. Thanks to his magic, Irina became happy like a child who knew nothing of the worries of the world.

Irina had been so distressed that she didn’t even remember that she was a person who could smile like this. But at this moment, she was simply happy.