Chapter 266
Chapter 266
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 266
Chapter Title: Seduce the Tree (7)
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-Blanche needs to know love!
The Healing World Tree had kept entrusting Marronier with the importance of love right up until the end.
Living without ever loving someone was no different from a sin. She had scolded her multiple times, telling her to bring back someone she liked.
‘Love.’
What was love?
Foolishly enough, she had almost no memories of ever loving anyone. She hadn’t had the opportunity, nor had she ever thought about it.
‘What does love taste like?’
Marronier peered into the empty can after downing the grape-flavored Witch’s brew beside the bench.
Was love something sweet yet tingling like this?
Or perhaps bitter, like the charred crust of slightly burnt toast.
Not every tender romance movie had a happy ending. There were surely tragedies among them too. If that was the case, it might be better not to love anyone at all.
She should have tried it at least once to know what love really was.
Love wasn’t something forced—it came naturally, didn’t it?
Being suddenly told to bring someone she liked would only leave her flustered.
“Ugh.”
Love. Yes, love.
If she had someone to love, she wanted to try it.
Just what made it so wonderful? She wanted to experience it for herself.
Marronier had dreams once too.
Like a fairy tale heroine, wearing a wedding dress, being rescued by a handsome knight, and living happily ever after with him in sweet harmony.
It was a dream every French girl harbored at some point.
Every night, hugging her teddy bear. Peeking out the window every minute, wondering when her knight would come, staying up past one but falling asleep before she could. Those were her childhood memories.
-Mother.
-Yes?
-When is the knight coming?
-Hee hee, Blanche is so impatient. That eager for your knight?
-I want to meet him before I become an adult!
Her very own knight.
Marronier was so timid that she believed in Santa and knights until she was a full seventeen.
It was a secret she never told anyone.
If it ever got out, she might lose all attachment to this life.
“Haa...”
A deep sigh escaped her lips.
“What’s wrong?”
Lee Si-heon spoke up from the bench next to hers.
Marronier glanced once at Si-heon’s mask.
‘...A prince on a white horse.’
This guy wasn’t it.
Not a prince on a white horse, but a lewd demon astride a lustful steed.
He was worlds away from the image she dreamed of, someone she could never like.
And for good reason...
Not content with taking her purity, he had treated her like a plaything all day long.
Even if she did love him, it could never be pure love.
It would surely be nothing but eros devoid of any ego.
Si-heon’s mask. The face beneath it.
The scent. The touch. The rough texture of his skin.
-Thump.
Marronier rubbed her burning cheeks with both hands.
-Whoosh.
A flush rose to her face.
“Ugh.”
...Again.
Her heart was racing again.
Every time she saw that man’s face, her body...
The shock was so intense that even a mere touch made her breath ragged and her heart pound.
Her cheeks burned too. Meeting him once was enough to keep her tossing and turning all night.
“...Hey.”
“What.”
But.
That made her all the more curious.
Did this man know love? If so, what did he think of it?
He was the type who saw women not as people to love, but as holes, so she doubted he knew love at all.
Still, he was the one she’d talked to the most recently and grown closest to. She trusted he’d give an honest answer.
“What... is love?”
Marronier’s sudden question.
The blush on her cheeks created an ambiguous atmosphere.
Si-heon’s face stiffened like stone. What nonsense was this girl spouting all of a sudden? It was time to think seriously.
“...What’s that out of nowhere?”
“Argh, seriously! There’s a reason. Just answer. What is it?”
It was a scene straight out of some old movie with a scripted feel.
The cheesy vibe of 80s or 90s SNS sentiment. But it needed the right mood to pull off words like that.
“We’re talking about Flower, so why does love come up?”
“......It just popped into my head.”
“What about Flower?”
“No suspects. Done.”
Nothing more to say to that.
Si-heon tilted his head and fell into deep thought for a long moment.
“Got a crush or something?”
“No.”
What is love? Having Marronier suddenly dump her dilemma on him left Si-heon thoroughly flustered.
But he couldn’t just not answer.
Digging through his memories, he surprisingly found he had a benchmark of his own.
“I can’t put it exactly into words, but if you’d be willing to die for them, doesn’t that qualify as love?”
A worldview shaped starting from Lee Se-young and Azalea, among others.
Marronier nodded slightly at Si-heon’s answer.
It was a decent benchmark in its own way.
Someone you’d die for in their place.
But wouldn’t that mean the national tree had to die for France, turning it into a demand for unconditional love?
When she voiced that to Si-heon, he shook his head in rejection.
“Nah, it’s not quite that vibe.”
“What do you mean?”
“Hard to explain...”
Si-heon scratched the back of his neck. That gesture too... No, stop.
Marronier stared blankly at Si-heon’s face and laughed in disbelief.
“...So you’ve thought about it that way too?”
“Of course I have.”
How many girlfriends did he have?
“You’ve never had that kind of experience?”
At Si-heon’s counterquestion, Marronier clamped her mouth shut and glared at him.
“...You know from back then.”
She’d had zero experience.
“Ah.”
A virgin taken in an instant without any love. Si-heon felt a solemn weight in his chest and bowed his head deeply.
They couldn’t pretend it never happened—it lingered as a bodily memory for both of them.
The memories were hazy, but their bodies knew.
Who her owner was, and who her body yearned for. Marronier still couldn’t bring herself to touch Si-heon.
One accidental brush might spark a disaster like last time.
-......
Perhaps because the topic had circled back to the past, a heavy silence settled between them.
“...I don’t know what to do.”
“Seriously, what’s wrong?”
“It’s a trial. A trial... Bring a loved one and stay together for a long time. I don’t have anyone like that.”
Marronier propped her elbows on her thighs and rested her chin on her hands.
She let out a long sigh, and Si-heon, who had been watching her, added,
“Then just bring me.”
“......Huh?”
He said it like it was no big deal. Marronier’s eyes went wide.
“W-what?”
“Just bluff your way through. Pretend we’re dating for a day, right?”
Say we’re lovers. What could they do about it?
Sticking together for a day wasn’t hard.
Si-heon had already crossed certain lines when it came to women.
“...W-what? D-date for a day?”
Marronier’s face flushed bright red.
So, like a contract relationship?
Was that what he was suggesting?
Even after crossing that line last time, this was...
...Isn’t the pace a bit too fast?
“You helped me this time, so I’ll help with your trial.”
For a reason like that?
“We’re fate-bound partners, aren’t we?”
It was tagged with the Flower search, but strangely, the latter half didn’t register in Marronier’s ears.
-Thump, thump.
Her heart ached. Her head spun.
“...O-okay.”
Marronier nodded, stammering. Her ears burned so hot she cupped them.
Maybe she should start preparing now.
Her toes wiggled inside her shoes.
It was ridiculous that she was even thinking this.
Really, me...
No, not like that.
With a guy like this?
“Oh, but let’s do it in about three days.”
“...Why!”
“Huh?”
“N-no, why?”
Flustered by Marronier’s somewhat rough reaction, Si-heon composed his expression again.
“Got the second trial coming up soon—no-show.”
Marronier had one, but Si-heon was in the middle of his second trial too.
The ongoing favor campaign.
He’d first captured her appetite with fertilizer, water, and massages. The second targeted her body.
In other words, he had imprinted his presence deep within the tree named Merry.
“After that, I’ll have some free time. Let’s go then.”
His dating sim was rapidly approaching its finale.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ [...Refreshing.]
“Feels good, right?”
[Yeah. For a human, you’re pretty decent.]
Merry stretched her branches out long with evident pleasure as she received the massage.
It looked just like a human doing a full-body stretch.
The massage sessions had gradually increased day by day, to the point where she now demanded he come four or five times a day.
Once in the morning. Twice at lunch. Twice in the evening. Once at dawn.
She never considered his schedule at all, simply summoning him on a whim whenever she felt like it.
-...Mr. Si-heon?
-Yes.
-Lady Merry is calling.
Even if he was asleep, he had to bolt upright and make himself presentable.
He had to become a superhuman in her presence.
Maintaining peak condition no matter when she called.
To keep her from noticing he was overexerting himself, he always wore a friendly smile, careful not to let her catch on.
“Does the water taste good today?”
[Yeah~ If only all humans were like you.]
High praise.
[Tend to my leaves a bit.]
The more she came to rely on him, the greater the void his absence would create.
[...My roots are a little itchy. My throat feels dry too.]
With utmost sincerity. If he kept at it, the moment would come eventually.
[Fertilizer? Si-heon~ Si-heon!]
The opportunity was approaching.
-Swish.
A pure white magic seal drifted down from between her branches. The moment he saw it, a smile tugged at his lips.
“Uh... Lady Merry, what’s this?”
Merry glanced at the seal casually and smiled.
She no longer showed any hint of disdain toward him, but it was already too late.
If she’d been like that from the start, he might have gone about it the normal way.
[Oh, that? It’s nothing. A trial pass seal.]
“...So there is such a thing.”
[Yeah, your friend. That Im Jong-hyun guy passed.]
Over a week had passed before he encountered that seal.
Up until then, to win her favor, he had handled everything from her tastes and massages to nutritional supplements and root care.
He was even better at it than her assigned caretaker, so she called for him whenever she had a chance.
Yes, now was the time.
The perfect state to express how hurt he was.
“...I-is that so.”
In a shocked voice. His words trembled at the end.
He acted to the hilt, projecting waves of anxiety and futility so overwhelming that anyone would think something was seriously wrong if left alone.
[Yeah~ If you do well, who knows? Maybe you’ll get one too?]
Merry still hadn’t grasped the gravity of the situation.
If that obliviousness was a talent, it was a talent.
Mask off, face pale as a ghost, hands shaking.
Acting like he’d just suffered a profound humiliation.
Still, he didn’t stop the work at hand.
He just did it half-heartedly, sloppily wrapping up.
[...Hm?]
By then, Merry started to sense something.
[What’s wrong? Why are your hands so sloppy?]
“...It’s nothing.”
[What, mad that I passed your friend?]
That was it.
He’d hoped she’d catch on.
Sure enough, the irritated Merry responded incredulously, her tone shattering all the goodwill he’d built up.
[Ha, ridiculous. Hurt over something like that? That’s just how it is for inferiors?]
“......”
Silence.
This time, he didn’t even respond.
[Hey.]
No eye contact.
[Hey!]
Merry’s voice grew louder.
[Crazy, huh? Hey.]
[You’re hilarious. You and him aren’t even the same race. He’s chosen, you’re not. Ha, really. I thought there was at least one decent human. What bullshit. Turns out you’re just another retard. You hear me?!]
Timing it perfectly, he nodded.
Just then, as her branches shook with vigor, perhaps thinking his anger had somewhat subsided.
“...I don’t think I can satisfy you, Lady Merry.”
In a deflated voice.
[...Huh? What?]
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to make you happy as much as possible...”
[Hey, what—]
“...Sorry. It was just needless inferiority complex.”
Even so, he didn’t abandon his duties.
He cleared away the water bucket, slung the empty fertilizer bag on his back, and left the room.
Merry was left stunned, unable to say a word.
That was enough.
‘The rest of the time... free now.’
The rest was up to her—she’d start panicking on her own.
You don’t know value until it’s gone.
This was sufficient education for an clueless young lady.