The White Stoat Princess (5 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 6

[Marian!]

Someone called my name desperately. It was the kind of voice that made me sad just by hearing it.

But even though I wanted to answer, my lips wouldn’t move, and I couldn’t open my eyes. My whole body felt as if it were sinking deep into a swamp.

[This isn’t right! I never meant to kill you!]

Holding me tightly, he kept squeezing out a voice filled with anguish, as if coughing up blood.

[What meaning is there in a world where you’re dead and I’m left alone…?]

His trembling voice made my heart feel squeezed as well. Just as I was swept up by his emotions and beginning to feel pain myself,

his voice suddenly changed its tone.

[No. Your heart is still beating, isn’t it?]

Cold, sharp—the kind of voice meant to wound someone.

Still clutching my body tightly, he commanded in a chilling voice.

[Bring her back, Yulnisia.] [This is the timeline separator]

“Kyu!”

I sat up with a scream, and everything around me was dark night. It had been dark even in my dream, and when I opened my eyes, only profound darkness stretched out—so I thrashed my body as if drowning in water.

“Ugh… so cold. It feels like my heart is freezing.”

I closed my eyes and knocked on the door of my heart, trying to summon the fire mana I’d possessed since birth.

But no matter how hard I concentrated, no flame arose from my heart. Only then did I finally realize I’d become a weasel.

“Oh, right. My heart broke down. I overloaded it trying to calm Espen down….”

My heart could no longer produce flames.

“No matter how cold it gets, I just have to endure it….”

Having accepted this reality, I curled up tightly—and the moment I tried to bear it, tears welled up.

“Kyu wu kyu wu.”

This wasn’t just crying because I was cold or pitiful; it felt as if a gaping hole had suddenly opened right in the center of my heart.

It was the emptiness born from losing the flames that had naturally burst forth like breathing ever since I was born.

“What am I supposed to do now? Do I have to live with this emptiness for the rest of my life?”

I felt utterly powerless and useless.

Everything felt hopeless, so I cried. Aside from when I was a baby, this was probably the first time I’d cried so loudly.

“Kyu wu kyu wu!”

The more I cried, the colder my body grew. Just as I twisted my body in frustration,

“Crying?”

A soft, low voice spoke, and a large palm gently covered my head down to my back.

In that instant, a scorching warmth seeped into my dying body, as if breathing life back into me.

“Kyu wu….”

It was a gentle, comforting heat, like applying medicine to a painful wound. Slowly exhaling, I closed my eyes, and more tears rolled down my wet cheeks.

“….”

Since I kept crying, Hadel quietly moved his hand, which had been resting on me, and stroked me down. He said nothing kind, yet it was comfort that touched the heart.

‘Warm.’

Rubbing my face against Hadel’s palm, I suddenly grew furious.

‘I used to be able to conjure flames anytime I wanted!’

It was an instinctive resistance toward someone who still possessed the power I’d lost.

“Kyu wu!”

“Ah!”

My sharp weasel teeth tore through soft flesh in an instant, and blood splattered.

Hadel, who had been lying down, sat up. Moonlight from the window cast his face in pale light. He looked down at his bleeding finger and asked, bewildered,

“…Did you bite me?”

“Kyu!”

Yes! What’re you gonna do about it!

Instead of shrinking back, I snarled fiercely, and Hadel’s expression hardened. He pressed his index finger firmly against my head.

“You.”

“Kyu!”

“…You’re fierce.”

“Kyu kyu kyu!”

Since I kept snarling aggressively, Hadel apparently decided we couldn’t communicate. He sighed and stood up.

‘What? Why? What are you going to do?’

I put my tiny paws on my hips and glared at him fiercely.

He got up from the bed, lit the small reading lamp beside it, and picked up a small bundle sitting on the nightstand beneath the lamp.

Waving it gently like a bell, he said,

“It’s your treat, but I guess I’ll just throw it away.”

Treat?

Treat?!

“Kyu wu wu wu!”

I became extremely excited. My earlier despair vanished completely, and all I could see was that little bundle.

‘Throw away a treat? That’s outrageous! You’ll be cursed if you waste food!’

I waved my tiny front paws and cried out.

“Kyu kyu! Kyu kyu!”

Give it to me quickly! If you’re going to throw it away, throw it straight into my mouth!

As I furiously flapped both front paws with that intention, Hadel nodded and replied in a blunt tone,

“Right, Kyu Kyu is your name.”

“Kyu!”

He thinks that’s my actual name!?

‘Waaah… my name is Marian. Ugh, I feel so tired after moving around so much.’

Suddenly sinking into gloom, I curled up and sat down. Then I cried in a mournful voice.

“Kyu wu….”

“Crying again?”

Seeing me cry weakly, Hadel frowned. He had been teasingly shaking the treat, but now he came closer and sat down beside me. Pressing my head firmly with his palm again, he muttered,

“Do weasels normally cry this often?”

He wasn’t even petting me—why did he keep pressing down with his palm like that?

‘But… strangely enough, it is comforting.’

Like the calm feeling of being covered with a heavy blanket, it gave me an odd sense of stability. I rubbed my cheek against Hadel’s palm, which now somehow felt warmly familiar.

A small sigh fell onto the top of my head. Instinctively, I sneakily glanced up.

‘Is he really not going to give it to me? Is he seriously going to throw it away just because I bit him?’

Hadel placed the white bundle he’d been holding right in front of me.

“Since I already brought it, go ahead and eat.”

Kyaaa!

I hastily tore into the bundle. My fingers weren’t fully developed, so I couldn’t open it skillfully—but perhaps my desperation helped, because I quickly uncovered round, delicious treats.

Tears of joy welled up.

‘Treats! The first treats I’ve had in five years.’

It wasn’t that luxuries like sweets never entered the battlefield—they were closely tied to troop morale, after all.

‘But the supply was always extremely limited.’

If I’d asked, they would’ve given them to me—but then the soldiers wouldn’t have gotten any.

So I couldn’t eat them. I’d told myself I could eat as much as I wanted once the war ended and I returned to the palace.

‘But life truly is unpredictable.’

The war had ended, yet I couldn’t go home—and here I was, holding treats in a place I’d never expected.

‘Wow, now that I’m small, the treats look enormous.’

It felt like I was a child in a fairy tale, nibbling on a gigantic gingerbread house. After staring at the treat with a racing heart for a moment, I slowly brought my little snout close to it.

Crunch.

A crisp sound, different from bread, filled my ears, and a rich, sweet flavor enveloped my tongue. My eyes widened in amazement.

‘So this is the taste of sugar!’

It tickled the tongue, left a slightly cloying feeling in the mouth, and though I knew it well enough to find it tiresome, my hand kept reaching for more anyway!

‘Truly… a heavenly taste!’

My appreciation ended there. I buried my head and began devouring the treat without a second thought.

Delicious! So delicious!

‘How could I have forgotten this taste?’

Strangely enough, only now—with my mouth stuffed full of sweets—did I truly believe the war was over.

As I ate mindlessly, a large finger brushed past the corner of my eye. Hadel clicked his tongue.

“You’re crying again while eating.”

You try eating something for the first time in five years and see if your eyes don’t water.

“Kyu kyu kyu kyu kyu.”

I answered that the treat was just too delicious—though, since my mouth was still full, my cries came out strange.

Hadel sat beside me.

“Also, I’ve never seen you this talkative before.”

His finger poked my plump belly. It annoyed me, but I decided to coolly ignore it.

‘So delicious!’

Even when I choked and coughed occasionally, I didn’t stop eating. When about half the bag was gone,

Hadel pressed my side—already bulging so much it looked like a sausage—with his finger.

“Your belly’s sticking out again.”

“Kyu!”

Don’t pinch me! Pinch me again, and I’ll bite you this time.

I stopped eating mid-bite, bared my teeth, and growled. Hadel crossed his arms and furrowed his brow.

“Are you getting used to me now?”

Did you really think you could casually touch a lady’s side and get away with it?

I snorted in disbelief, and Hadel’s frown deepened. His index finger tapped my tail lightly.

“You must be used to me—if you crawled all the way into my bed….”

“Kyu?”

Crawled into your bed?

When did I do that? Feeling wronged, I puffed out my cheeks. Hadel pointed to the floor beneath the bed. The reading lamp didn’t illuminate that area well, so without his pointing, I wouldn’t have noticed the small cushion there.

“That’s your bed.”

“Kyu?”

“And this is mine.”

“Kyu!?”

So I crawled all the way from there to here?

‘Sleepwalking?’

Since I couldn’t remember at all, I just chewed the treat in my cheek. Hadel lowered his eyes and murmured with a desolate expression,

“Everyone who’s stayed close to me so far has been badly hurt. Don’t come near me.”

“Kyu?”

Look, I get that this is serious for you—

‘Are you going through puberty?’

You’re the first person who’s ever told me not to get close.

‘Frankly, I’m not scared of you at all.’

I glanced back and forth between the treat and Hadel. Honestly, I was still a bit hungrier for the treat.

‘But… why do you look so pitiful?’

Hadel seemed calm, yet somehow I saw sadness in him. So I put down the treat and clung to his hand.

‘Consider this my apology for biting you.’