Woof Woof? (2)
Woof Woof? (2)
"Haah..."
Ellia, scrubbing her hands vigorously under cold water, let out a heavy sigh. Frustration welled up inside her.
When she looked up, the face in the mirror was clouded with tangled emotions, like gathering storm clouds—a far cry from her usual bright, smiling face.
"Mmmmm..."
She stared at that complicated reflection and groaned.
A thought crossed her mind, and she pouted. The face in the mirror shifted. The sulkiness spreading across it felt both unfamiliar and oddly familiar.
She'd worn that expression often as a child. It had been a familiar face back then.
Ellia's hometown was what you'd call a peaceful countryside.
The scenery included familiars working the fields instead of machinery, but it was still the life of people working in primary industry.
What's more, her hometown was a rural area not far from a major city, so there was almost no threat from dungeons and monsters.
Thanks to that, Ellia had poured all the energy typical of a young child into turning the whole countryside into her playground.
She'd caused a fair number of minor incidents in the process.
- Aaah! The, the fence...! No! You mustn't go out!
Like the time she broke the fence at a dairy farm and caused a mass escape of cows.
- How did you manage to wreck this lump of iron... No, you broke the spell formula itself?
Or the time she awakened and tampered with mana, breaking a piece of farming machinery.
- Oh, good heavens...
Or when she somehow toppled the thousand-year-old tree that stood tall in the middle of the village...
And so she earned the disgraceful title "Reckless Menace" from the townsfolk, but all the same, those are good memories for Ellia.
But those days didn't last long.
As she grew older, Ellia matured in both body and mind, and attending the academy taught her how wide the world was.
She also grew up, capably fulfilling the role of the eldest sister as her parents had several late-in-life children one after another. Eventually, she settled into her current self.
And yet now here she was, reverting to her childhood self.
The cause, without a doubt, was Lee Ha-yul.
'Hmph... I asked him first...'
There was no denying it—Ellia was currently sulking.
On the morning of the first day of the Birth Festival, while taking in the scent of Lee Ha-yul's hair, hadn't she clearly asked him? She'd said she'd look forward to it.
Lee Ha-yul had clearly agreed, even if he was embarrassed.
"Hee hee..."
And then, right in front of her, not even a day later, someone had cut in line.
Under the fireworks, in a perfectly romantic atmosphere!
On top of that, they'd been drinking all night and hadn't even come out of the room, apparently being fed milk for breakfast and lunch.
Trembling, Ellia dried the moisture from her hands.
"Good grief."
But soon she let out another sigh and relaxed her hands.
The truth was, while she was sulking, Ellia wasn't really angry.
Lee Ha-yul... from the very first meeting, she had felt strangely drawn to this small child, and she'd offered a little help.
After living together, she saw nothing but endearing qualities, and later he'd ultimately saved her precious little brother from disaster.
How could she be truly angry at such a grateful and lovable child? This was nothing more than a sort of petulance.
Even that small sulk had practically melted away in the face of Lee Ha-yul's flustered attempts at acting cute beside her.
It would soon be a stretch to keep pretending to be upset just to enjoy his adorable reactions.
'Hmm...'
There was a small anxiety behind that kind of behavior.
Ellia carried deep affection for Lee Ha-yul.
He was so endlessly cute and lovable, both inside and out, that she wanted to stay by his side forever.
She wanted the two of them to spend their days together in quiet harmony and share affection. There was also a more intimate desire—she wanted to nurse him from her breast someday, as embarrassing as that sounded.
She'd been drawn to him from the start, but now Ellia was certain.
To Ellia, Lee Ha-yul was one of a kind.
She would never find another person like Lee Ha-yul again.
But.
Was Ellia one of a kind to Lee Ha-yul?
That was something Ellia herself couldn't be sure of. In fact, she suspected she wasn't.
This wasn't simply a matter of taking many wives. Polygamy among superhumans wasn't really an issue in the world after the Great Cataclysm.
It was a more fundamental reason than that.
There was no one else like Lee Ha-yul in this world, but there were quite a few people like Ellia.
Blonde hair, yellow eyes, someone kind and gentle to others, with a voluptuous figure...
The world was vast; you couldn't say such people were unfindable. Lee Ha-yul certainly had the means to find them. That was why Ellia was a little anxious, that was all.
'...Truthfully, even that isn't really a problem...'
But in the end, Ellia knew that even these worries were pointless.
Lee Ha-yul kept many things hidden, but his tastes and inclinations were the type to show through fairly transparently.
Especially after they started living together, she'd been able to learn even more about the person called Lee Ha-yul.
Lee Ha-yul could never push away someone who had crossed the boundary he'd drawn, the fence he'd set up around his heart.
Once you were inside, it was effectively over. Even if you lay down and said "do your worst," he couldn't do a thing.
Ellia had long since taken her place in the center of that fence.
Even if—though it would never happen—Ellia were to betray Lee Ha-yul and stab him in the back, Lee Ha-yul might not even be capable of hating her.
So Ellia's anxiety was needless worry.
Having already entered Lee Ha-yul's heart, Ellia couldn't get out even if she wanted to.
Wasn't the possessiveness Lee Ha-yul had shown the other day proof of that?
"Hm hm."
Just thinking about that memory lifted her spirits again. The sticky affection and possessiveness that had seeped from the cloth wrapped tightly around her body—how sweet it had been...
Ellia found herself gently stroking the pendant hanging around her neck.
It was a beautiful pendant Lee Ha-yul had crafted himself and given her as a gift. It wasn't just an ornament either—it was a tremendous magic tool packed full of all manner of complex spells.
It was filled with magic far too difficult for Ellia to interpret, but the moment her mana was injected, the security unlocked, making the spells much easier to read.
And then, when she felt the protective magic packed into the pendant beyond all reasonable limits as if to say he would never let her be hurt, the depth of the impulse she'd felt...
'Ah.'
A soft exclamation escaped Ellia. As she recalled that happy memory, even the last faint traces of her sulkiness melted away completely.
She couldn't even pretend anymore now. With a small sense of regret, Ellia stepped outside.
'Well, I was planning to stop soon anyway.'
She'd thoroughly enjoyed the adorable sight of Lee Ha-yul anxiously watching her reactions while trying his best to act cute.
She'd already gotten more than her fill of enjoyment, so she was satisfied.
'Shall I pick up some more snacks? It's almost dinner, but...'
Lee Ha-yul would be waiting in the park with Adela.
Ellia wrapped up some snacks to nibble on at a nearby stall.
She'd hesitated for a moment, but aren't children supposed to eat until they're full? They can lose the weight later once they've grown up...
With the packaged snacks in one hand, she headed to the park humming a tune.
'How should I say it?'
Truthfully, I wasn't really angry. I was just being a little petulant. I'm fine now. But the promise still stands, so I'll be looking forward to it? I brought some snacks, so let's share. Oh, we could just eat dinner a little late...
If she said something like that, the anxious Lee Ha-yul would smile brightly and come burrowing into her arms. She'd embrace him fondly and pop a snack into his mouth.
Ellia, who considered herself a certified Lee Ha-yul scholar, made this prediction.
"?"
But when she arrived at the park, Ellia went rigid, stiff as a stone, contrary to her plan.
[Ah, uuuum... I, I don't think this is right for real...]
Lee Ha-yul, looking uneasy at her reaction, glanced back. Adela was sitting on the bench behind him.
At his expression that seemed to ask if this was for real, Adela nodded solemnly and pointed at Ellia's dazed face.
Ellia's eyes trembled. For a moment the background turned hazy white, and her vision narrowed until she could see only Lee Ha-yul.
He was anxious. So far it matched her prediction.
But on top of that, his face was flushed bright red, and he was squirming with embarrassment.
- Twitch twitch
In her wavering sight, she could see two ears that couldn't stay still, twitching ceaselessly.
Fluffy, pure-white fur that drew the eye... ears much like a dog's.
Under Ellia's gaze, the ears flinched and then gently flattened, as if gauging her reaction. It looked exactly like the response of a real, living creature.
[Uhm...]
Lee Ha-yul briefly covered the ears on his head with his hands, then, under Ellia's blatant stare, quietly lowered them.
Then, with the utmost care, he tapped the Confession Necklace.
[Woo, woof...?]
The necklace clicked and mimicked the sound of a dog.
The Confession Necklace, showing some evolution, transmitted both the intent to act cute and the feelings of utterly pointless embarrassment.
'Sh, shit...'
I really don't think this was it.
Lee Ha-yul instantly regretted it.
No matter how many times he thought about it, this was not right for real...
"......"
Ellia's silence amplified that regret twofold. He'd chosen wrong. He shouldn't have listened to Adela's advice...
[Did I do well?]
Meanwhile, Adela, who had hopped off the bench, tapped the snack bundle in Ellia's hand and asked.
Ellia, who had been rigidly staring blankly at Lee Ha-yul, nodded with effort and gently stroked Adela's head.
"...Yes, you did really well. Shall we head back now?"
[Yeah.]
The exchange happened abruptly. Ellia handed the snack bundle to Adela.
[Ah, I'll... Urk... I'll carry it...]
Writhing in shame, Lee Ha-yul reflexively reached a hand toward the snack bundle Adela was holding.
He felt bad about burdening a child with it, so he'd thought to just hold onto it or toss it into his subspace.
- Grip...
[Hrk?]
But Ellia's hand shot out first and seized the nape of Lee Ha-yul's neck.
It felt like a jolt of electricity ran through him, and his body went limp.
Gently, Ellia lifted the strengthless Lee Ha-yul, who was about to collapse to the ground, and wrapped him tightly in her arms.
Right before her eyes, the pure-white ears twitched. The sound from earlier echoed in her eardrums. Ellia swallowed hard.
"Let's go back quickly."
[Yeah.]
At Ellia's urging, Adela pulled a piece of candy from the snack bundle, popped it into her mouth, and nodded.
Ellia hurried her steps.
* * *
[Player Correction System: Measurement]
▶Mental State
｢Embarrassment｣
｢Shame｣
｢Humiliation｣
▶Titles
｢Dog｣
...
[Player Correction System: Pioneering Progress]
[Sub-quest ｢Acting Spoiled Mastery｣ achieved]
[Sub-quest ｢Woof?｣ achieved]
[Points accumulating]
...
[The Tower Master of Harmonization waves their hands frantically]
[So^ our %# kid! Too cut^#!]
...
[The Tower Master of Harmonization opens their mouth with difficulty]
[Hnnnngg^%$@... Po, %oints...]