TLDWAE 65

Chapter 65

He knew that merely running away wasn’t always the answer. But he was terrified of hearing, in her own words, what she had felt after seeing his monstrous form.

She had surely witnessed a sight no human could believe belonged to man. Those usually calm eyes had been filled with shock, and the lips of a woman who always spoke so fluently had frozen stiff. In that instant, he felt as though the entire world had collapsed.

“Just what are you? We’ve only known each other for a few weeks, so why do you make me feel something this dreadful?”

Yes, perhaps Shagal was right—perhaps she was a sorceress. Surely she had cast a spell that made him fall in love with her. Otherwise, how could he explain these overwhelming feelings he hadn’t even known existed inside him?

“If only she really were a sorceress. If she were used to fairies of the forest and monsters alike, then this ugly appearance of mine wouldn’t matter to her.”

Noah reached out a trembling hand and clasped Karia’s. Then, ever so carefully, as if she might shatter at a touch, as if she might vanish like a feather on the wind, he left a tender kiss upon her skin.

For someone who supposedly resented her, he looked desperately earnest.

At that moment, when his foot tingled and he tried to pull his hand away, Karia gripped it tightly.

“—Don’t go.”

Her eyes remained closed. Still lying as though asleep, she only held his hand. Noah froze in shock, realizing she had been awake all along.

“I’ve already had an incredibly hard day.”

“Ah…”

“If you don’t want to, I won’t ask anything. I won’t even open my eyes. Just… stay by my side.”

Her voice was cracked and dry. It was so pitiful that Noah couldn’t bring himself to coldly refuse. He remained rooted where he was, trapped between confusion and hesitation, until Karia calmly continued.

“Don’t worry. You weren’t hideous at all.”

“My lady—”

“From the day I first met you, there hasn’t been a single moment when you weren’t beautiful.”

Her reassurance was quiet but steady. For Karia, what mattered wasn’t his outer appearance. But if his shell was so important to him, she would praise it a hundred, a thousand times over—not just to comfort him, but because he truly was beautiful.

And Noah knew she wasn’t lying. She had a habit of disguising the truth with clever turns of phrase, but she wasn’t someone who told outright falsehoods.

“If it’s just one thing… just one question, may I ask it?”

So Noah gathered courage. His secret wasn’t his alone anymore. He couldn’t tell her everything, but if he wanted to stay by her side, he could risk a little.

At his words, Karia’s eyelids slowly fluttered open. Her long golden lashes trembled like the wings of a butterfly.

She rose from the bed and looked straight at Noah, cloaked in black like a ghost. She stared into his unseen eyes for a long while before asking:

“What exactly is your problem? Is it being discovered as a half-elf? Or is it that you can’t answer the questions I’d ask after seeing your form?”

There was a hint of reproach in her voice. For both of those problems, she could have helped him immediately.

What angered Karia most was his attitude. If he had only told her, she would have acted without hesitation. And if it wasn’t something solvable right away, she would have adjusted to his circumstances.

Karia hated leaving problems unsolved. Ignoring those that could be fixed only stole time from tackling those that couldn’t.

“…”

“Say something.”

When she pressed him, Noah remained silent. His face, hidden beneath his wrappings, revealed nothing of what he felt.

Was even this question too difficult to answer? Karia furrowed her brow, thinking of what else to ask—when Noah finally spoke.

“‘Half-elf’? What is that?”

For an answer he had made her wait a week to hear, it was absurd.

Karia was at a loss for words, trying to gauge his intent. Half-elf? He was asking her what that was? That in itself was strange.

Perhaps he was feigning ignorance. But after showing her his night form and then hiding for a week, pretending now would be pointless. Time was too precious to waste.

She narrowed her eyes, studying his expression, and asked carefully:

“You look human during the day, but turn into an elf at night. As far as I know, only half-elves—born of a human and an elf—do that.”

“‘Elf’? You mean those elves in children’s fairy tales?”

“—And do you know of any others?”

The one more bewildered than she was Noah himself. He knew what happened to him defied normal explanation. Sometimes he even imagined Karia might secretly be a sorceress.

But an elf? Him? Weren’t elves just as imaginary as fairies or giants?

Since childhood, he had been too busy surviving reality to waste time on fantasies. Never once had it crossed his mind that his origins might be tied to a mythical being.

To think the answer he’d sought his whole life turned out to be something so ridiculous. At least if it had been an illness, or even a curse, it would have made sense. But this—this secret that had darkened and burdened his life—was just…

“So whimsical!”

But Karia’s face was serious. She wasn’t someone to joke about such things.

And judging by the slow blink of her large eyes, she was even more surprised that he didn’t know.

“Are you certain?”

“Yes. Didn’t your parents ever say anything to you?”

“No, never.”

Noah shook his head heavily. It seemed he had never once met another elf. Which meant that one of his parents must have hidden their identity and lived among humans, without ever telling their own child.

“But how? Elves have long severed ties with humans. How could a half-elf even exist now?”

Humans no longer hunted elves because they barely even knew they still existed. That meant his parent had either left their kin for some reason—or had been exiled. But elves valued community above all; what reason could there have been to abandon their people for a single human?

“—Now that I think of it, my late mother once told me: if I go to the forest, I’ll find the answer.”

The forest. Surely she meant the one where the elves lived. Had she been silenced for leaving her kin? But still—shouldn’t she at least have told Noah what he was? Then he wouldn’t have grown up thinking himself a monster.

Karia shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to blame a woman she didn’t even know.

“So that’s why Shagal kept going on about the forest.”

“What is in the forest?”

“—Who knows.”

“My lady… how do you know about elves?”

His grip on her hand tightened slightly, as though urging her to answer. She thought it ironic—when she had begged him to wait, he had coldly left, but now he clung to her, unwilling to let go.

Karia glanced between his hand and his hidden face, then let out a faint laugh.

“You hide yourself so carefully, yet want to know my secrets? That’s not fair.”

Suddenly, she yanked his hand toward her. Caught off guard, Noah stumbled and landed beside her. With her free hand, she pulled back his hood. Loose silver hair tumbled free, and his wide eyes revealed a stunningly beautiful face flushed with embarrassment.

“Even more beautiful, up close.”

Half teasing, half sincere, she whispered. Noah’s pale face turned bright red like the moon at dusk. Realizing she was teasing him, he sprang to his feet and backed away.

Karia opened and closed her empty hand a few times, as if missing the warmth she had just lost.

“A-anyway! If what you say is true, then I’m in trouble.”

“Why?”

“If this is my real form, then I can’t stop transforming every night. Which means I’ll have to keep hiding for the rest of my life.”

He covered his face with his palm, dragging it downward in frustration. Knowing the truth gave him some relief, but it was still a heavy burden.

Karia watched him quietly, stroking her chin. If he truly was a half-elf, then yes, he would spend half his days in that form. But…

“If the problem is showing yourself in front of others, there is a solution.”

“What?”

“Think of your mother. She lived among humans without anyone noticing, didn’t she? Did she hide beneath a cloak like you?”

“No. She was… ordinary.”

“Exactly. Elves have the ability to hide their true form.”

Karia called it a “skill,” not “magic.” From her perspective as someone who had studied magic as an academic discipline, the way elves used what they were born with, raw and unrefined, was primitive.