Chapter 307
Chapter 307
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 307
Chapter Title: Puppy, Kitty (2)
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Marronier grunted atop the bookshelf, one flower-petal foot raised high.
"Ugh... Why won't this thing reach...!"
Being short came with plenty of disadvantages in daily life. Even seducing men. Even pulling a single book from a shelf like this—height had its perks.
What if my legs were just a little longer?
As that thought crossed her mind, a shadow fell over her head.
A massive mountain of breasts plopped right onto Marronier's crown.
"......"
Those breasts were like towering peaks.
Marronier felt the same awe here as she had when facing the Louvre Pyramid up close.
"Here."
A single book extended by Sansu-yu.
Marronier accepted it reverently with both hands, eyes drinking it in.
Even though it had been printed ages ago, its condition was pristine.
She dusted off the cover with a pat, wiped away her sweat, and grinned ear to ear.
[Mindset for Creating a Companion.] First Edition.
From the 1800s. A guide to ideal love, dating, and marriage penned by Aleponia, the world's greatest enchantress who bewitched men—Sorbus alnifolia herself.
A printing press fire had wiped out most copies, and Aleponia's change of heart indefinitely postponed further publications, turning it into a legendary tome dreamed of by French women, existing only in myth.
-This book cannot be published. Women would bend men to their whims. This book cannot be read by anyone.
Rumors whispered there were only two copies left in the world, yet Eden had preserved even this one.
"What's the book?"
At Sansu-yu's curiosity, Marronier flashed an awkward smile and stepped back.
"A m-magic book!"
"Oh yeah?"
Magic was magic. The magic of ensnaring men.
Sansu-yu cradled a few volumes in her arms too, hugging them preciously to her chest—two books buried in those peaks.
"What about those...?"
Marronier showed interest, but Sansu-yu offered nothing, her face its usual impassive mask.
Knowing a bit of Korean made reading the titles easy enough.
[Liking. Love. Confession.]
[How to Prepare for a Breakup.]
'A breakup?'
The concepts clashed wildly. For a moment, Marronier wondered if she'd learned Korean wrong. Sansu-yu preparing to break up with someone?
With whom? Lee Siheon? Their bond was special.
No way. I must've misread it.
It happened often enough.
Words had multiple meanings; she'd mixed them up plenty of times.
Marronier swallowed her questions with dry saliva, not prying into the books' contents.
"Well, have a good time."
Sansu-yu caressed her books with an enigmatic expression. Softer than yesterday, but watching her with that faint smile stirred unease somewhere in Marronier's heart.
Sansu-yu's receding back looked slumped.
'For now.'
She had her own worries.
Back in the lab, Marronier opened the massive tome.
The preface greeted her.
-First, you must understand love. Do you love that person?
Marronier pored over every letter, every curve of the font, then clamped her mouth shut.
"...Love."
Her hand drifted unconsciously to her chest.
Her heart raced harder the more she thought of him.
Cheeks flushed red, palms slick with sweat that wouldn't dry, navel heating up.
Mouth parched, worries about that man flooding her mind—she had to help him, no choice.
Marronier skipped the embarrassingly forward early chapters, flipping straight to the end.
[Chapter 12. Just in Case. How to Detach Affection from the One You Love.]
"I don't love that man."
Lately, she'd sensed the gravity of it.
Getting even a little close to him turned her into a purring cat, full of coquettish wiles.
If it were her true feelings, fine—but Lee Siheon said it wasn't.
-You might want to believe you still love them. But sometimes it feels like a lie.
Her emotions were surely love.
The innocent virgin ignorant of love now knew it bone-deep.
Despair of an impossible love had secretly reddened her eyes.
-Does your heart still race when you see them?
'Yes.'
-But if nagging doubts circle you untimely, it's time to reconsider.
Marronier merged with the book, awakening to her feelings.
Her body felt alien. A yearning to weave him into her daily life.
But if those vivid reactions were all lies?
-You must choose. Endure the falsehood that feels true? Or...
Discover the truth.
-Is that person worth loving?
Marronier's gaze fixed on the page. The door opened mid-read as Sephiroth entered, but even her voice didn't reach Marronier.
She wasn't Marronier now. She was Blanche.
A naive sapling entangled in rotten puppy love drowned in agony.
'...I.'
Yesterday's outburst echoed in her head.
Clinging to him, coquettish with all her might, shaking her head cat-like, wiggling her hips and mewling that night. On that table.
Whipped cream soaking the bread crumbs still in her mouth, that sticky, throat-coating artistry from his fresh cream moistening her thighs.
-What if I'm fine like this?
-What do you mean?
-Even brainwashed, living like this is okay?
Those self-spun words were as sweet and seductive as fiction.
Marronier's life wasn't good.
Excessive talent and expectations mismatched to her vessel and temperament. Her name fading vaguely, parents growing stricter.
School friends drifting away, lab researchers turning sycophantic.
p>A world full of ugliness, far from her childhood dreams.
Politics. Conflict.
Proclamations of justice and freedom.
Barrage of criticism if not on the side of absolute good. Even slight attitude shifts meant bruises on the shins.
Overcoming a tearful childhood to become a National Tree, only to face filthy realities.
And a nation on the brink of systemic collapse.
Officials cozying up to Flower. Did they think she didn't know?
With the Eiffel Tower at her feet and Notre-Dame shoulder-to-shoulder, her dissatisfaction wasn't greed.
She'd wanted a simple life with a little melody.
That life was already ruined.
Unable to love, bound by magic.
She was a whore.
A whore for France.
All National Trees were.
Kim Suyeon was Korea's. Saku Japan's. Abby Germany's pretty boy.
Just tools for civilian morals and national pride.
Though really, we were ordinary folks with a bit of talent.
'Rather than...'
Living like this, maybe tangling with that man was better.
She'd truly thought so.
To her, Lee Siheon was escape, a special bond.
Not nobility—human. A sordid encounter.
Only with him could she flee her duties.
-Prepare for parting.
So she'd shown it.
If he'd said it once, she'd have relented.
That these were her real feelings.
Sudden lust and affection, but the comfort felt then wasn't fake.
I'm at peace with him.
First time since prepping to become National Tree.
Comfort even singing hadn't brought.
Loving someone who gives that—can't be wrong.
Falling wouldn't be strange.
-Blanche.
-Snap out of it.
Always, that man braked her heart.
'Why now?'
Marronier gritted her teeth.
'When I refused, you hounded me relentlessly.'
After he first pounced. Ignoring her pounding heart, fulfilling National Tree duties.
He'd slipped into that gap.
Made her fall, now crossing lines?
'...Unfair.'
She almost understood those cult-following humans now.
Emotions cornered like this, swaying like reeds at a word.
Then someone tugged her collar.
"Vice Sage!"
Sephiroth, who'd watched her torment.
Blanche hastily schooled her face into a forced smile.
"S-Se-phiroth?"
"Worried?"
White hair swaying as Sephiroth asked.
Childlike appearance, but centuries old. Knowledge vast beyond any lifeform.
"Tell Sephiroth."
No one else could answer her heart.
Marronier swallowed involuntarily.
"...No."
But she refused, judgment made.
This was hers to solve.
Blanche smiled steadily, scratching her cheek, keeping worries to herself.
"Okay?"
"Yes."
Sephiroth puffed her cheeks, disappointed.
"Bwanche will be fine."
Lisping her future. Marronier hoped so.
Blanche chuckled, slowly sorting her feelings.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A slight shift had occurred among the three of us.
Marronier grew a bit colder, and Sansu-yu stopped demanding much from me.
Maybe my words that day hit harder than expected.
Even distant, duties remained.
After this, time to brace for Flower's assault.
[Master~ Master~ I'm your spirit, la la la~♪]
I eyed Tree Footrest buzzing happily around me.
"Must be nice being so carefree."
[Carefree? I'm super busy!]
Eleonore flitted to my shoulder, poking my cheek.
"Oh yeah? Busy with what."
[Thinking of Master~ Dreaming of pets from Master~]
[...Lady Eleonore is taking lessons to lead a nation someday, Master.]
[Lucy. Who told you to butt in?]
Lucy interjected; Eleonore snapped back fiercely.
I tsked, keeping my pace steady.
Tree Footrest had gotten clingier since I sent her to the spirit realm first, leaving Lucy behind.
'Time to hustle now.'
Forest Keeper Selection Tournament was for Heavenly Path and Star's requests.
Heavenly Path's was done.
Stamped my name on many National Trees, bonded closely with some.
Among Koreans, few didn't know me now.
Left: Star's request. Flower prep.
'Hate helping the World Tree, but...'
Broadly, it benefited me.
World Tree still wasn't out to kill me.
Flower was moving to kill or recruit me.
Signs of infighting in Flower.
This raid would reveal much, no doubt.
The Sage was mobilizing too.
Told Sansu-yu and Marronier Flower was coming soon.
Soon gather us three for serious discussion.
Teaching magic meant helping here.
I agreed somewhat with the Sage: couldn't ignore civilian deaths.
'But first, unfinished business.'
I stepped into the church.
Then a green spell shot from afar, embedding overhead.
-Boom!
A lethal tree spell.
Tree Footrest shielded before I could react.
[......]
Silence. The catalpa tree gazed this way.
Sistus's corpse still lay before her.
[Th-that cheeky bitch!]
[Princess, enough.]
I spread mana lightly, halting the birds.
Days weren't enough to subjugate a tree.
Time for that method.
Hand to belt.
Deprived of water and nutrients, the catalpa rasped.
[Without you... I could've saved more humans. Sobs. Lady Sistus...]
"Still on that?"
Hating me in her tone. I gestured; spirits dismissed instantly.
Just us two now.
The hollow still wept sap.
As I reached for it, catalpa flinched, pleading.
[...Please, just let me go now...]
"Gonna have to."
Utterly loathsome, but necessary.
No other way...
Time to cross the line.
I dropped my pants.