MBOMEN 123

Chapter 123

“No.”

Eustar said with a smiling face.

“Wear it until we go back today. After all, it’s a date.”

His tone was so soft that it seemed to drip like light cream.

Laila felt as if that pale, gentle, and slightly warm cream was flowing over her lips, eyelids, cheeks, shoulders, and collarbone.

It was an unbearable ticklish sensation, as if someone had brushed a feather against the inside of her palm.

She removed her hand from the headband she had been about to throw off and deliberately changed the subject.

“How are you so good at hitting the target?”

Laila’s eyes seemed to silently demand that he reveal some secret technique. Eustar bit back a smile.

“Well… I guess it works if you keep your eyes open properly.”

“I was keeping my eyes open too.”

Her red eyes blinked, disappearing and reappearing behind her eyelids. Laila absentmindedly stroked the rabbit doll she was holding.

“Maybe I’m only good at keeping my strange eyes open.”

Eustar, noticing her implication, looked closely at her face.

“Don’t say that, Laila. You have no idea how much I rely on you.”

It was true. Laila didn’t feel the need to argue or pretend to be modest—this was an undeniable fact. She recalled the first moment they had met.

—You have eyes different from mine.

That day, with a gentle and sweet voice Laila had never heard before, he whispered—could he have predicted that a day like this would come someday?

What day? A strange voice whispered in Laila’s mind.

A woman born from a devil, who has again united with that devil to give birth to you—and thus the blood of a witch, half human and half demon, now flows within you. A day when that blood desires and craves this man?

Could Eustar have foreseen such a day?

“Stop thinking useless thoughts.”

Laila buried her face for a moment in the rabbit doll she held, shaking her head. A faint scent came from inside it, calming her slightly.

“I’ve always thought these eyes were useless… but…”

She let out a faint sigh, almost inaudible, and glanced at Eustar.

“I’m glad I met Eustar.”

At that moment, Eustar gently took Laila’s hand and led her along a path on the outer side of the avenue. Small trees that didn’t shed their leaves in the cold grew thickly along the path.

“If we go this way, we’ll reach the grand greenhouse.”

He casually passed a sign that read “No Entry”, and Laila, guided by him, held her doll with one arm while he helped her keep the hem of her dress in place with the other.

The sign clinked against the heel of her shoe as they walked.

Laila looked back and said,

“Didn’t it say ‘No Entry’ there?”

“Yes.”

“I feel like I’m doing something bad.”

Eustar chuckled.

“If anyone catches us, just tell them I’m corrupting you.”

“Corrupting a witch? Impressive.”

Perhaps because of the thoughts still swirling in her mind, her voice slipped into sarcasm, but Eustar only smiled as if in a painting, without reprimanding her.

“That’s right, Laila. But you are an innocent witch despite being a witch. So I think I could corrupt you as much as I wanted.”

“Innocent, you say?”

Eustar nodded and gently wrapped his arms around her waist.

“For instance, if I asked what could happen among these secluded bushes, wouldn’t you probably think of a snake hibernating there?”

Laila frowned slightly, thinking it over.

“That’s true. Snakes do spend the winter in such places.”

Eustar’s lips curved as if he found it amusing.

“Exactly, it’s true. Various snakes hibernate in bushes. They particularly like warm and cozy spots.”

His tone sounded strangely cold, or perhaps teasing. It seemed like he was joking or had something else he wanted to say, but Laila never figured out what he meant.

She only pictured a thin snake curled up asleep under the cozy shade of the bushes, with sharp teeth hidden in its mouth.

“That’s the grand greenhouse.”

Once they left the shadowed bushes, Eustar pointed toward the distant sky.

Although the clear sky had begun to grow slightly overcast, the place he pointed to sparkled like the surface of a morning lake.

“It’s beautiful. Is it glass?”

The roof of the grand greenhouse was transparent. Whenever the weak, pale sunlight poured in, they seemed to reflect it back toward the sky with all their might. Light shattered into red, yellow, green, and blue, fleetingly beautiful.

“It’s not glass, it must be a type of crystal. In fact, we got a lot of help from mages to build this greenhouse. The palace gave them some resources they needed to maintain their city.”

“Have you ever been to the mages’ city, Eustar?”

“No.”

He shook his head immediately.

“No one but the recognized mages can enter the city.”

It was rumored that Shierow’s mages had built a secret city for themselves, with thousands of spires, living there while always observing the stars.

The city could neither be seen nor entered by ordinary means, and even approaching it risked being overwhelmed by magic.

Of course, the latter was a myth, but the former was mostly true. Their city had hundreds, if not thousands, of spires. Magic was used to conceal the city’s landscape, and it was true that special permission and procedures were needed to enter.

“When did the mages start living in a city of their own?”

Laila tilted her head, pondering this sudden question.

One of the greenhouse attendants ran toward them, looking furious. From his demeanor, it seemed he had been harassed frequently.

“Your Highness, isn’t it!”

However, he quickly recognized the ring on Eustar’s hand. The attendant bowed deeply and immediately changed to a polite attitude.

“What brings you here?”

“I know it’s not open yet, but I wanted to quietly take a look with Bii. Could you open it for us?”

“Of course, Your Highness. Please, this way. Be careful—the path is uneven.”

They entered the greenhouse under the attendant’s guidance. After opening the door, he reminded them to watch the signs so they wouldn’t get lost, bowed deeply again, and stepped aside.

The interior of the greenhouse was vast, with refreshing air. In summer it might have been hot and humid, but the cold and dry air outside made Laila feel her frozen cheeks thaw.

Countless, nameless trees filled the space densely.

As proof of the mages’ help, there were artificial waterfalls and jewel fish swimming upstream—scales made of amethyst and sapphire.

“Look at this tree, Laila.”

Eustar tilted his head back to look up. Laila also looked at the tree, almost reaching the ceiling, and gasped in astonishment.

“It’s enormous. It must be hundreds of years old. What’s its name?”

Eustar immediately replied,

“Gigelos Tiphris.”

Laila looked at him sharply, asking with her eyes how he knew.

Eustar pointed downward.

“It’s written here. Look.”

Only then did Laila notice a plaque near the tree’s massive roots. Gigelos Tiphris. Below that unfamiliar name, it was engraved: “Great Watchtower.”

“Great Watchtower…”

Laila slowly repeated the words, savoring the resonance. She gazed in awe at the tree, feeling as if it could see not only Shierow, but the entire continent, even the ends of the world.

The two of them walked slowly through the warm interior, observing various plants. Eustar looked down at bushes whose leaves glimmered mysteriously in the dark and said,

“Once the sync issue is resolved, this place will become even more famous. People will come from other countries, not just Shierow, to see this greenhouse.”

His tone betrayed undeniable pride and expectation.

Due to the anomalies caused by the sync issue, Shierow was nearly cut off from neighboring countries.

Officials, including Himiard, did their best to maintain the last trade routes, but even that was uncertain. It was natural for Eustar to take this problem seriously.

But Laila found it hard to agree with him. Even setting aside trade and diplomacy, it was unclear whether the sync problem could ever be solved, and if so, when or how.

As everyone in Shierow knew, the sync had suddenly appeared one day, spreading fear across the kingdom.

Monsters and ghosts roamed, and people rarely went outside at night. Some places even required evacuation when a sync appeared nearby.

“Will the day come when the sync disappears?”

Laila murmured to herself, staring at the pointed leaves.

Eustar said,

“Do you think that day won’t come?”

Laila hesitated before answering.

“I think it will. No, I want to believe it will. But it happened without a cause. We still don’t know why the sync appeared, or where it started. We don’t even know exactly what it is. It’s just… energy. Negative things gathering to form it, and that energy drawing in more negative things. That’s all we know. It’s not surprising or fresh anymore. Like a disaster, it might just exist without reason, right? What if the sync is the same?”