93. Three Questions and Answers (1)
93. Three Questions and Answers (1)
[Episode 93] - Three Questions (1)
For the first time since coming here, I felt like I had seen real magic. I had definitely stepped out onto the terrace connected to my bedroom, but the terrace that was supposed to be there had vanished into thin air, and a night sea had suddenly appeared.
If I looked back, it was still my bedroom, but in front of me stretched a night sea I had never seen before. As I shook my head vigorously and looked back and forth between the sea and my room, Snow White stared at me as if asking what I was doing.
"What's so fascinating? It's not like this is your first time seeing magic like this, is it?"
...It is my first time.
The only magic I could use was basic stuff like the Mirror CCTV through Ainsel, or turning magic power into candy. It was hard to use in the first place, and I didn't use it much because it exhausted me.
As I was blankly watching the night sea, I heard the laughter of young children coming from a cabin in the distance. It was less like laughter and more like the sound of young children arguing and fighting, but it was a harmonious sound.
Could that be the hut of the dwarf 'Brownie'? It was my first time seeing it in person, but it wasn't much different from the illustrations in the game, so I could easily recognize it. How many dwarves were in that hut right now?
As I kept glancing at the hut, Snow White glared at me as if she didn't like it. Snow White, tapping her fingers on the table, made it very clear that she was displeased.
Could it be that she was glaring at me because she was worried I might do something to those dwarves? Feeling like I was being unnecessarily suspected, I quickly sat in the seat facing Snow White and put on the most harmless smile I could muster.
As I looked at Snow White with a gentle smile that seemed to say, 'I won't do the things you're thinking of,' Snow White let out a deep sigh, narrowed her eyes, and tapped the table.
"Actually, I've been thinking a lot since I returned to the hut yesterday."
"...?"
"Like, wouldn't it be best not to get involved with you like this?"
"......"
"...I really thought so. I thought I'd just avoid you because I didn't want to get involved with you like this."
Does she hate talking to me that much? Snow White, saying that, was looking at me with a frown, her expression clearly showing she detested it. I didn't know what to say, so I just moved my lips—
"After hearing the stories about you from Titania, my thoughts changed a little."
"Titania...? What did she say...?"
When I asked, Snow White looked at me with a smirk.
"Well? What do you think she said?"
Come to think of it, last night in the ballroom lounge, Titania had muttered with displeasure that she hadn't told me everything yet. Could it be that what she hadn't finished telling me was about me?
"Well, it wasn't a valuable story, but it was an interesting one. The stories Titania told me about you were truly a spectacle. Actions and words that the 'Vivian' I know would never do or say. Listening to those stories, I had a thought."
A short silence fell. Snow White let out a silent sigh, rested her chin on her hand, and looked up at me, rolling her eyes. She stared into my eyes with an expression that suggested she still wasn't convinced.
"Are you really, truly the 'Vivian' I know?"
"......"
...I had to tell her no.
That I wasn't the Vivian she knew. To clear up the misunderstanding Snow White had about me, I had to say, 'I am not the Vivian you know.' But would it end with just this?
If I said no, would Snow White just brush it off, saying, 'Oh, I see. You're not the Vivian I know? I misunderstood. Sorry about everything so far'? No, no matter how much I thought about it, that didn't seem likely.
Because Snow White genuinely loathed and hated 'Vivian'.
From our first meeting when I was disguised as Princess Fiona, Snow White didn't even try to judge what kind of person I was properly. She just drove me into being 'Vivian' from the start, fully convinced.
And it was the same during the hunting competition. Whenever Snow White saw me, she couldn't control the boiling rage in her heart and would crumble on her own. To my eyes, it looked like her feelings toward Vivian were paralyzing her reason.
In other words, the Snow White I had seen so far loathed, hated, and despised Vivian to the point where she couldn't make rational judgments whenever she saw her. To the point where I felt it was a miracle we were even talking like this now.
Could I end this misunderstanding with just one sentence, 'I am not Vivian,' to a Snow White like that? Was the emotion in Snow White's heart something that could be ended with just a word like this?
'...Absolutely not.'
Then what on earth was I supposed to do? Was there really a way to untangle this knotted mess of a misunderstanding while also soothing Snow White's pent-up heart? And could I really help Snow White?
'What on earth should I do...'
As I rubbed my arm in frustration, my whole body felt sticky for some reason. Was it the salt from the sea breeze sticking to my skin? Or was it because of this situation where I couldn't see a solution?
As I hung my head with a bitter expression, Snow White tapped her fingers on the table, telling me to look at her. When I lifted my head to look, Snow White calmly continued.
"...Then, before we talk, there's something I need to tell you."
"...What is it?"
"Honestly, what I can tell you is very limited. It's not that I can't say it, but there are some things I don't want to say. Besides, I don't have much time, so I want to keep our talk short. So..."
Snow White rummaged for something under the table, pulled out a spool of red thread, and looked at me. As I stared at it blankly, wondering what on earth it was, Snow White frowned, asking if I really didn't know.
"...Why don't you know this? It's a pastime for witches, and a simple spell. Three Questions."
"Three Questions?"
"...Yes, Three Questions. We tie ourselves together with this thread, and literally ask and answer three times. You can't lie, and you only have one chance to refuse. In other words, you must answer truthfully twice. Simple, right?"
"What if I lie...?"
"The enchanted red thread will cut off the part it's tied to."
"What?!"
A pastime for witches, she said?! Is that what a spell is?! What kind of pastime is that cruel?! As I jumped up from my chair in shock, Snow White smirked, asking if I was a child to believe that.
"You believe that? You're not a child..."
"You, you...!"
"Anyway, if you lie, the red thread will snap, letting the other person know you lied. And if the red thread snaps, the Three Questions end right there. If you lie and the red thread snaps, I'll kick you out of here immediately."
"What if you lie and it snaps?"
"That won't happen, so rest assured."
So, the red thread meant it was a lie detector.
A Q&A with three questions and one veto. Honestly, it was a shame the number of questions was so small, but considering the merit that even Snow White couldn't lie, it seemed like a pretty decent pastime.
Should I say I was relieved because at least it didn't look like Snow White had any intention of deceiving me in this conversation? I nodded and held out one hand to Snow White. Come to think of it, where do I tie the red thread?
I tentatively held out my pinky just in case, but—
"What are you doing, you pervert?"
"Huh?"
"Are you doing this perverted thing because you don't know? Do you really not know what it means to tie a red thread to each other's pinkies, that you held yours out to me?"
"I, I obviously know that much. It's just that I..."
"Then why hold out your pinky? Do you want to form a bond with me? Does it mean you want to be connected to me by the red thread of fate? I'm not sorry at all, but I'll firmly refuse. So, fold it back immediately before I cut that pinky off."
"It's not like that... Isn't it just basic to tie the red thread to the pinky?"
"Where did you get such a basic idea...! Haa... Really, I can't understand you."
I had no choice but to slowly fold my pinky at Snow White's harsh condemnation. I had done it as a joke, but Snow White frowned deeply as if my actions were truly disgusting.
'Wow, she really loathes me... I was just trying to lighten the mood...'
Far from lightening it, I had made the atmosphere even sharper.
As I let out a deep sigh, I noticed the red thread already tied around my wrist. When I looked up at Snow White, a red thread was tied to her wrist as well, connecting us.
Perhaps uncomfortable with the red thread tied to her wrist, Snow White flicked her wrist and looked at it irritably. Maybe it wasn't that it was uncomfortable, but that she just hated being connected to me so much.
"Then, you go first with the first question."
"Uh, uh? Me first...?"
"? You said you had something to tell me, right? So go ahead."
...If I said now that I hadn't thought about what to ask, would Snow White get angry? Or would she try to kill me? Or maybe both. But isn't that how conversation works in the first place?
Who thinks of questions to ask before having a conversation? True conversation is something that slowly unfolds as you talk to each other. I had never done something like this 'Three Questions' thing, so I was really in a bind.
'Even if you tell me to ask something all of a sudden...'
What should I ask first? Why she turned Aurora into a Leanan Sidhe? Or should I ask how she crossed over from another world, as Ainsel deduced? Or why she loathes me so much, what the real Vivian did to her?
What on earth should I ask first...!
As I was agonizing and worrying like that—
"3."
"?! W-what are you doing right now?!"
Snow White let out a deep sigh, held up three fingers, and started counting down, folding them one by one. She's a witch, there's a witch here. How can she do something as cruel as counting down in front of someone who's thinking?
"2."
"Uh, uh...! So...! That is...!"
"1."
"So...!"
In the end, because my thoughts weren't organized, a stupid question popped out. No, if someone starts counting down and rushing you while you're trying to organize your thoughts, anyone would end up asking the wrong thing.
So this is absolutely not my fault.
"H-how old are you...?"
"......"
Today, for the first time...
I was able to know what expression Titania makes when she truly 'loathes' someone. Because Snow White and Titania's faces were identical. Surely, if Titania made a look of loathing, she would definitely make that expression.
Is that why? Looking at me with an expression of pure 'loathing' on Titania's face, my heart ached and I felt like I was going to cry. As I couldn't do this or that, Snow White let out a deep sigh and answered me.
"...If you don't intend to do this properly, won't you go back?"
"C-can't you give me a chance to ask again...?"
*
