〈 Episode 13 〉 Yandere Youngae 13

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"Mana."

Noel boasts, smiling wryly. Mana?

"That...special stuff that wizards use?"

I don't know. But there is a saying among adventurers to be wary of the occasional robe-wearing, staff-carrying, bearded man. And who also said Noel.

"Eli.

I remembered the day we were pickpocketing together, when we were mistaken for a female sorceress...and I recognized her talent and took her to the Ashen Tower.

[Goodbye...]

Thinking I had made a good friend, I left her wistful last words behind and disappeared into the crowd like a good pickpocket...I thought it was cool at the time...and I waved goodbye to Ellie and made sure she watched me disappear...I guess it worked...because they were both young. We were both young, and I thought it was the right thing to do as a pickpocket.

"It's not just for wizards."

Noel picks up the silver sword he's been dragging across the ground and sheathes it. The buckler jingled in time with her action, and I stared at the sword in its fine silver scabbard.

"I don't know about you, but...that's pretty cool."

"Really?"

A strong female swordswoman, I said. By awesome, I meant she was awesome as a female swordswoman. So.

"Wait.

A moment to watch out for. If you look at the staircase in her head... I said she's great, she's great as a female prosecutor, so she's my ideal, so...

"You see?"

She smiles at me, opening her arms like she's about to give me a hot hug.

"Holy shit.

As if that wasn't enough, I'm pulled away by that radical activist, Noelle, and headed straight to the forced wedding.

"Shi, that's amazing, how do you have the strength to do that?"

I ask.

"Hmmm....well?"

That's a great answer. Yes, if you're good at something, you're good at it. It's no different than saying "good" when you're asked how you did it when you fly through the sky or walk across a river.

"Can I do that?"

"Come on."

Noel gripped my wrist lightly. Her face expressionless, as if she wasn't doing it for affection. At times like this, she seemed so...beautiful and wonderful.

"I don't think you can do this."

"What?"

It was a power I hadn't even hoped for in the first place, but hearing her confirmation made me feel like steam was leaking out of my veins.

"Yeah... I guess."

"Because some people can do it, and some people can't."

I wondered if most people would fall into the latter category. To be honest, I had a feeling that I wasn't the only one who didn't have talent.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter if you're not talented, because I'll protect Tir forever."

"Haha..."

Noelle's words still gave me goosebumps. Being with her in the summer made me feel like I was in a room with the heat of the summer.

"Tir."

"Yes."

"You said you wanted to go on an adventure with me."

I'd said that yesterday in my haste to make an excuse. She squirmed, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Yeah."

"So I was thinking, if Tyr and I are going to go on an adventure, we're going to need these..."

She pulled something out of her black pants that I recognized.

"A black case.

It was small, like a ring case, and she held it in her hand.

"Here."

"Ding!

She opens the case and I stare at it, afraid it's an engagement ring.

"Huh?

It was a silver ring with a violet gemstone, and while it was a pair, which might suggest that it was an engagement ring, she felt like she had a feverish energy hovering over her.

"That's weird.

I've always had an eerie feeling about certain objects. I think it's how I survived pickpockets all through adulthood, and it's how I survived pickpockets all through adulthood, but now it was setting off alarm bells when I saw the ring.

"Ba, is that a ring?"

"It's a ring I specially asked my father to give me."

She smiles, and it's that...goofy look again.

"Does it fit?"

"Of course."

She slips the ring on her white, fine finger.

"How does it look?"

The ring finger on her left hand means...romance, love, and marriage.

"..."

"Put it on quickly. Tir."

I hastily slip the ring on from the case, thinking of the look on her face when it goes negative again.

"Huh?!"

An odd sensation runs through my ring finger. A tingling sensation coursed through my ring finger, as if I had been right about not touching it.

"No, Noel...what is this?"

Noel looks puzzled, too. He quickly scans my complexion.

"Tyr! Are you okay? What is it?!"

The two violet rings glowed at each other.

"You shouldn't be this sick, Tir! Tir!"

I blacked out again. I wondered if I had fainted too many times since I had come here.

.

"Ah."

A cupboard so familiar. I seem to remember waking up in her queen-sized bed more than the servants' quarters I was assigned to.

"..."

Noelle didn't wake up first today, and she's sleeping with her arm around my left thigh. In the familiar bra and panties...and slip. Last time it was light blue, today it's a bra and panties embroidered with white roses, and a paler slip.

"...What's going on?"

I slipped on a ring, and a violet glow emanated from it, and I blacked out.

"What the hell...

He stares at the silver ring with the violet gemstone on his finger.

"What is this.

Sometimes when I steal, I find things like this ring that make me feel uncomfortable. I've always sold them to hawkers or thrown them away. The most repulsive-looking ring of them all was on my finger, the one that set off alarm bells in my head, as if it were bad luck and I shouldn't have it.

"Why...won't it come off?

I try to pull it off, hoping it's bad luck, but it's not even a tight fit, and it won't come off my ring finger.

"Are you awake?"

I hear a woman's voice. I turn to face the table.

"Whoa...

The sound of wind in my mouth. A long cigarette and a paper candle hanging from its end. I followed the red glow of the smoke and the cigarette with my eyes and saw a woman in a black dress with a wide-brimmed top hat looking at me.

"Who...are you?"

"Night, and a hat. And a woman, so who do you think it is?"

A vague question. In my experience, I had never met such a group of people. I thought for a moment, and then remembered the fairy tale characterization.

"A witch...?"

"Yes."

She flashed me a bright smile and slowly extinguished her cigarette before turning toward me.

"I almost died when your master threatened me."

"What?"

She flicks the ring on my ring finger with her index finger.

"I heard you fainted with this, and you were in such a hurry to get out of town that you didn't even organize the spells you were working on."

She was scowling at me. I wondered if she was taking out her anger on me, since she had no one else to talk to.

"Ah...ah! I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave now!"

"Um?"

"Noel gets upset if I even make eye contact with another woman, so...for my sake..."

"Oh, you two are playing cute?"

It wasn't so much jealousy as cute.

"A servant who's loyal to his master. Quite a charming child, huh?"

"...Not a child."

Eighteen years old, the legal age of majority. But being called a child made him feel angry.

"Are you angry?"

"No, just leave now."

I didn't have the heart to tell him that I was in trouble if he didn't.

"This isn't your room, is it?"

Obviously this was Noel's room, so...he should be the one to celebrate, not me, who was now sleeping soundly.

"No, but I'm sure Mr. Noel would like it."

"Really?"

She flipped back the blonde hair that peeked out from under her giant witch's hat. Slowly, she presses my nose with the glove that covers it up to her elbow.

"What are you doing?"

"Saying quietly that I'm going to wake your master."

She whispers, as if we're sharing a private nighttime confession. Her dress, with its plunging V-line and elongated cleavage, was too much for me to bear.

"..."

"Bonnie, you've got a bright mind and a cute face...but I don't know if you're inexperienced yet, but you do some pretty cute things."

"What?"

"Hands."

She suddenly grabs my index and middle fingers.

"Hands like this are the kind of calluses that people who touch the tiniest inconspicuous dagger get."

Slowly, she traces her fingers over my palm.

"You don't hurt people...no...you don't mean to, but you feel guilty?"

"...How..."

Looking at Noelle, I remembered how I had mistaken her for a witch. The enchanting woman in front of me...I realized that I had committed murder.

"Are you a thief?"

"Suck!"

I gasped, my eyes widening, as if I were witnessing an incredible magic trick.

"A thief...you've given a thief quite a gift, haven't you?"

Her words were spoken in an incomprehensible, joking tone.

"I made that ring...I didn't mean to, but it would have made a good gift."

"A good gift?"

"You'll have to ask the owner for the details."

She smiles and walks away.

"Ah, dear. Do you know the name of that ring?"

I shook my head slowly. As if she knew I would, she smiled and walked toward the window.

"The name of the ring is 'Endless Companionship', you'll have to ask the owner about that."

"...Now what!"

I scramble out of bed to stop her as she walks away from the window. Noel is still holding my left thigh, but I have to stop the witch from jumping off the mansion's roof.

"Charrrrr!

The witch instantly turns to sand, scattering in the wind. She disappears into the distance like the wind.

"Huh?"

I stare at the ridiculous spectacle, then look behind me.

"What's wrong?"

Noelle's interrogative face. I stiffened...and slowly closed the window.

"I'm cold."

What a lame excuse.

.

"Are you okay? Are you sick?"

Noel woke up in the middle of the night and put his hand to my forehead in concern. I realized I had collapsed and had a fever.

"I wonder if we should tell her about the witch.

Apparently, the witch had done something to heal me in Noelle's room, but I didn't have the courage to tell her that the witch had gone, because that would be proof that I had talked to the other woman she hated the most.

"It's okay now. Noelle."

"I was...worried...about what was happening."

Noelle sobs slightly into his chest.

"Oh, God."

The frequency of her hugs seems to be increasing. She tries to find an excuse to hug you.

"I have so many questions..."

I wanted to ask her about the witch's unintentional gift to me, about the ring, about its power... but when she asks me why I want to know, I'm forced to remain silent like a dumbfounded mute because the answer is that I've been talking to the witch.

"Then..."

I didn't get much of an answer, but there was a way to find out.

"There was a house in the slums...that was said to have a witch in it."

Rumors abounded, but...no, a strange house that the slum dwellers, who valued their lives above all else, avoided because it was said to be inhabited by a witch. You come to the conclusion that you need to go there.

"In order to do that..."

Getting away from her now was the priority. I had to escape somehow, find out what this ring was, why she'd given it to me, and if it had some strange effect, how I could take it off.

"Should I take my time and ask Noelle?"

The other option was to try to convince her to reveal the ring's effects, and to find out about this pesky 'unintended gift' thing.

'A gift from a witch...'

I couldn't help but have a preconceived notion of witches in the first place... a gift from her... a double-edged sword, as they say, and all I could do now was pat Noel on the back without showing it.

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