Can You Help Me?
Dorothy was avoiding me. At first, I thought it was a coincidence. Even on the second day, I brushed it off as my imagination. But by the third day, I wasn't stupid enough to miss it. 'She's definitely avoiding me.'
The problem was that I had no idea why. The one who had crawled into my bed without permission, hugged my pillow like it was hers, and then shoved me away and bolted the moment I woke her up—that was Dorothy. And now she was vanishing the second our eyes met on the street.
'So the rumor that eight out of ten mages are mentally unstable is true after all.'
“Dorothy!”
At the end of the alley, a head of black hair whipped around. The moment she heard my voice, Dorothy froze solid. Normally, she would have spun around and snapped, “What do you want, you loudmouth?” But this time was different. Her hazel eyes locked onto me, then immediately darted left and right. She was looking for an escape route.
“Hey.”
When I took one step closer, she took one step back.
“Are you avoiding me?”
“No?”
Her answer came way too fast.
“Like hell it’s no. Yesterday you saw me and ducked behind the bakery.”
“I wasn’t hiding.”
“Then what were you doing?”
“I was checking the condition of the bakery wall.”
“Why would you do that?”
“It’s my duty as a villager.”
“Have you lost your mind?”
Dorothy pressed her lips tightly together. This was the perfect moment for her usual shameless comeback, but strangely, her words faltered. I narrowed my eyes.
“What about the day before yesterday?”
“What about it?”
“You were leaning on the training ground fence, but the second I showed up, you disappeared.”
“That’s because… our family had an urgent ancestral rite that day.”
“Didn’t you say your family’s rite was yesterday too?”
“Today’s the follow-up rite.”
“Since when do ancestral rites have sequels?”
“They do. In my family.”
“Dorothy.”
The moment I said her name, her shoulders twitched ever so slightly. That small reaction caught my attention. The girl who had always been so confident, the one who would shamelessly shove her hand into my pocket and grin like she owned the place, was now acting like someone desperately hiding a secret she couldn’t afford to let anyone discover.
I reached out my hand.
“Hold on. Seriously, why are you—”
“Oh, that’s right!” Dorothy suddenly shouted.
“I left water boiling!”
“What?”
“The water! I left it boiling! If I don’t go back it’ll overflow!”
“You’re outside right now.”
“I used magic to boil it!”
“Then use magic to turn it off!”
“I can’t do that!”
It was complete nonsense. Dorothy yelled that and then grabbed the hem of her skirt, bolting down the alley. Her black hair whipped behind her. Her small figure vanished into the shadows of the alleyway.
I stood there frozen, my outstretched hand still hanging in the air.
“……What the hell is wrong with her?”
It had been like this for days. If Dorothy saw me by the well, she’d run off without even grabbing her water jar. If our eyes met while she was passing my house, she’d sprint down the opposite road. Even if she was leaning against the training ground fence, the moment I got close she’d disappear like she suddenly remembered something urgent.
At first, I was annoyed. That was only natural. She was the one who slept in my bed, hugged my pillow, and then shoved me and ran away even though I hadn’t said a word. And now she was outright avoiding me.
But as time passed, my mind started drifting in a strange direction. When I went to the training ground in the morning, I found myself looking at the fence first. The spot where Dorothy usually stood was empty. The girl who used to rest her chin on the fence, letting her black hair flutter in the wind while watching me with those hazel eyes. Whenever I swung my sword, she’d always toss out a comment.
“Wow, you’re sucking a little less today.”
“Your stance was weird just now.”
“Fall over. Fall over.”
She never once cheered me on. Still, somehow the training ground didn’t feel right without her voice. It was too quiet. So quiet that the sound of my wooden sword slicing through the air felt unnaturally loud.
“Haa……”
My rhythm kept breaking. Instead of hitting the scarecrow’s shoulder, the tip of my sword glanced off its neck. A dull thwack echoed.
“Kyle.”
The Instructor stood with his arms crossed.
“Your blade’s wavering today.”
“It wasn’t wavering.”
“I’ve watched your sword more than you have. It wavered.”
I shut my mouth. The Instructor tapped the misplaced strike mark on the scarecrow with his finger.
“Normally your swings are stupid but precise. Today your mind’s somewhere else.”
“My mind’s not anywhere.”
“That’s for you to know, not me.”
The Instructor let out a small chuckle.
“Is it because Dorothy’s nowhere to be seen?”
“It’s not.”
My answer came too quickly again. Even I could tell it sounded suspicious. The Instructor didn’t press further.
“If it’s not, it’s not. Just pick up your sword again.”
I gritted my teeth and gripped the wooden sword. The calluses on my palm scraped painfully. I put more strength into my swings than usual. After a few more strikes, my wrist started throbbing. It always happened when I trained too long. It was nothing serious—just a bit of swelling, some heat, and stiffness when I rotated my wrist at night.
As I was leaving the training ground, a few girls were gathered by the roadside. I tried to walk past without thinking much of it. That’s when I caught a quiet whisper.
“Dorothy hasn’t been around lately.”
“Do you think it’s okay to talk to Kyle when he’s alone?”
“Are you crazy? If Dorothy finds out, you’re done for.”
“But it looks like those two fought recently, doesn’t it?”
I almost stopped walking. There was no reason for me to get involved. But the words strangely stuck in my ears. If Dorothy finds out, you’re done for.
'Dorothy isn’t the village watch captain or anything.'
At that moment, I thought I saw a flash of black hair at the entrance of the alley across the street. I turned my head. There was no one there. But for some reason, I had the feeling that if it was Dorothy, she would have been hiding right there. If she was going to avoid me, she should do it properly. Why linger nearby and make me notice?
I slipped my hand into my pocket. My fingertips brushed against a soft piece of cloth. It was Dorothy’s hair ribbon—the one she’d left on my bed that day. I didn’t know why I was still carrying it. It felt weird to throw it away, but whenever I tried to return it, Dorothy ran off.
I fiddled with the ribbon between my fingers before pushing it deep into my pocket again.
“Just wait until I catch her.”
I’d ask her properly why she was avoiding me. That’s what I thought.
+++
However, the next day when I spotted Dorothy at the edge of the village square, I couldn’t bring myself to get angry right away.
She was standing alone beside the well with a large water jar beside her. Her black hair was tied back halfway like always, but her hazel eyes looked somehow vacant. Because she was a little shorter than average, the water jar looked even bigger. She was always bright and cheerful in front of other people. The kind of girl who, when the aunties said, “Dorothy, you look pretty today too,” would reply with a sly grin, “Right? I am pretty, aren’t I?” The kind who gave even sharper comebacks when the village kids teased her. The kind who kicked me the second she saw me.
But right now, she was strangely quiet.
I approached her slowly.
“Dorothy.”
Her head snapped up. The moment she saw me, her face hardened. 'She’s going to run again.'
This time, I grabbed her wrist first. Not hard enough to hurt, but firmly enough that she couldn’t pull away.
“Hey. Seriously.”
Dorothy looked down at my hand. A small spark of mana flickered from where I held her wrist. With a faint crackle, a weak flame bloomed at my fingertips before vanishing. I frowned.
“Are you okay?”
“Let go.”
“No. You keep running away.”
“I said let go.”
“Why are you avoiding me?”
Dorothy bit her lip. The expression on her face was strange. It looked like she was angry, but it also looked like she was about to cry. For a second, I almost loosened my grip. Dorothy didn’t miss the chance. She quickly yanked her wrist free.
“I’m busy.”
“Another ancestral rite?”
“This time I’m actually busy.”
“With what?”
“Breathing.”
“Are you kidding me?”
Dorothy didn’t answer. She lifted the water jar. It looked quite heavy for her small frame. I instinctively reached out.
“Let me carry that—”
“I don’t need it.”
She cut me off sharply. I stopped my hand. Dorothy wouldn’t even look at me.
“I can do it by myself.”
She hugged the jar to her chest, turned around, and walked away quickly. I was left standing alone by the well.
“What the hell is going on, seriously.”
At this point, I had no idea.
+++
Dorothy had thought that if she stayed away from Kyle, the dreams would disappear. She believed that if she couldn’t see him, the anxiety would lessen. That if she didn’t touch him, didn’t hear his voice, didn’t enter the room that still carried his scent, those horrible scenes would at least blur a little. But it wasn’t like that at all.
The more she avoided Kyle, the clearer the dreams became.
The woman whose name she still didn’t know was always standing right beside Kyle in the dreams. In a vast lecture hall, sunlight poured through tall windows as noble students laughed around them. An adult Kyle stood among them. The black uniform suited him perfectly. He was taller, his shoulders broader, and his gaze reached much farther than it did now.
The silver-haired noblewoman approached him so naturally it was as if that spot had always belonged to her. She placed her hand on Kyle’s arm, and Kyle didn’t push her away.
'It’s just a stupid dream.'
She had told herself that countless times. 'Why would a beautiful noble lady like her fall for an idiot like him?'
But then another thought immediately followed. Kyle wasn’t an idiot. He might be dense, blunt with his words, and terrible at keeping things organized, but when he held a sword, it was different. Dorothy knew that.
She knew how the village girls looked at him. How many of them held their breath when Kyle swung his wooden sword at the training ground. How their faces flushed when he casually wiped the sweat from the back of his neck. Kyle probably didn’t notice. But Dorothy saw everything. She remembered everything.
Who stared at him the longest. Who hesitated before trying to speak to him. Who flirted with him like they were in heat. All of it.
Dorothy stood in front of the mirror. The villagers always said she was pretty. Cute. That her smile was radiant. She knew those words weren’t lies. But the capital would be different. The Royal Academy would be filled with noble ladies. Tall, elegant women with skin as white as snow, girls who had been taught how to walk properly from birth. Women who had learned real magic, not just floating a small spark, drying wet training clothes, or cooling a wrist.
People who could use true magic.
Dorothy spread her fingers. A small light gathered at her fingertips, then trembled. It shook unsteadily before vanishing. She clenched her teeth.
“It’s so unstable.”
The words she had heard as a child came back to her. Dorothy balled her hand into a fist. Then suddenly, she remembered the feeling of Kyle grabbing her wrist by the well. His hot hand. The callused palm hardened from training. The moment that hand reached for her, Dorothy had been afraid again.
Because she liked it too much. Because she was terrified that the moment he touched her, all her resolve would crumble. So she had run.
But running was painful too. The paths without Kyle felt too empty. The training ground fence without him felt too far away. Lunch without him tasted like nothing.
In the end, Dorothy decided to go find Kyle. Avoiding him any longer felt even stranger. More than anything, she wanted to see his face. If she could see that indifferent expression, trade insults like nothing had happened, maybe the dreams would start to feel a little ridiculous.
She stood in front of the mirror and retied her hair. She brushed her black hair neatly and fixed her ribbon. A little more carefully than usual. Not so much that it looked like she was trying too hard. Even that irritated her.
'Why am I even worrying about this?'
Still, she checked three times to make sure the ribbon wasn’t crooked. She was just about to head outside.
“Dorothy.”
A gentle voice called her name. Dorothy turned around. Luna was standing there. The girl with the faint freckles who always smiled so carefully. Luna was holding a small cloth pouch in her hands. A sweet scent wafted from inside. Cookies.
The moment Dorothy smelled it, her chest tightened for no reason.
“What?”
Her voice came out a little sharper than she intended. Luna smiled as if testing the waters.
“Can I talk to you for a second?”
“I’m kind of busy right now.”
“It’ll only take a moment.”
Dorothy knew she should refuse. She had to go see Kyle. But Luna’s face was strangely flushed. A face that was cautious, excited, and afraid all at once. Dorothy recognized that expression. She wished she didn’t.
“What is it?”
Luna clutched the cloth pouch tightly with both hands.
“Dorothy, you’re really close with Kyle, right?”
Dorothy’s heart sank with a heavy thud. But her face smiled. It was something she had done for a long time—smiling cutely and cheerfully in front of others. Lifting the corners of her mouth even when her insides were twisting.
“We are close. Why?”
Luna lowered her gaze. Her cheeks grew even redder.
“The truth is… I’ve liked Kyle for a long time.”
For a moment, the whole world went silent. The sounds of the street, the wind, even the distant cries of the street vendors—all of it faded away. Dorothy watched Luna’s mouth move. But the words only reached her ears a beat too late.
Kyle. Liked him. For a long time.
In Dorothy’s mind, the silver-haired noblewoman flashed into view. A cold banquet hall. A white corridor. A hand resting on Kyle’s arm. And now, the pouch of cookies in Luna’s hands. It wasn’t the silver-haired noblewoman. It wasn’t a noble from the capital. The person who might take Kyle away was already inside the village. Right in front of her. With that kind, gentle face.
“……Really?”
Dorothy tried to smile. The corners of her mouth wouldn’t lift properly. Luna didn’t seem to notice and continued carefully.
“Yeah. But Kyle doesn’t seem to notice things like that.”
“He is pretty dense.”
Dorothy’s own voice sounded foreign to her. Was it too bright? Too light? Her insides were sinking to the bottom.
“So… I was wondering……”
Luna swallowed once. Her small hands gripped the cookie pouch even tighter.
“Could you help me confess to him?”