IBTMH 07

Chapter 7

After catching my breath, I decided to sleep a little. I gently patted Lulu’s head and stood up, then went into the bedroom. I carefully closed the curtains and crawled under the blanket. The blanket pressed softly over me, and I sank helplessly into the pillow.

Roose stared quietly at the door where Lunar had gone inside. A strange person. He thought it without even knowing what exactly was strange. His mind was still dark and hazy. The only memories he had were from the day he first opened his eyes here until now.

“Are you telling me to clean?”

Lulu came closer and nudged his leg. He stood up awkwardly, but Lulu got annoyed. What am I supposed to do? Roose lifted one leg at a time, but Lulu sighed dramatically and pretended to faint, clearly frustrated.

Then Pinocchio quickly walked over and placed Roose onto the sofa. Only then did Lulu seem satisfied and start moving a broom. Roose, now facing the ceiling, stared at the dim light and thought about the night.

All night, Lunar’s workshop had never gone dark. If someone asked how he knew, it was because he couldn’t take his eyes off it. Not only the light from the workshop itself, but something like stardust spilled from Lunar’s hands.

Those star-like fragments fell all night onto the dolls. The bird doll—no, a vulture-like doll—moved its body according to Lunar’s commands.

Was magic always this beautiful? The magic Roose knew was not like this. It was cold and hungry. It was something harsh. Not like this peaceful house in a quiet village, not like these playful dolls.

“Ugh…”

Roose grabbed his forehead and trembled faintly. Lily came over with small steps and stared at him, then put her hand over her mouth as if telling him to be quiet. Roose blinked in confusion, and seeing that he stayed quiet, Lily seemed pleased and placed a cookie in his hand.

Crumbs fell and Lulu got angry. Lily, in turn, took a hidden plate of cookies to Lunar’s workshop and pointed at Lulu in protest. No one understood what she was saying, but Lunar probably never had a boring moment.

The cookie melted sweet strawberry jam in his mouth. Roose unconsciously licked his lips. It was so good he wanted more. He glanced again toward the workshop.

“Don’t doll magicians… usually not make dolls?”

Roose’s words reached no one. Among the noisy dolls, he once again thought about how well Lunar normally answered him.

“Hey. I wanted to ask…”

Lily suddenly raised her head, walked over, and brought paper and a pen. She wrote big letters. Uh… w…h…a…t…? Roose fell silent, looking at the messy handwriting like a three-year-old’s.

He didn’t realize it before, but the house when Lunar was asleep was too quiet. Lunar was always running around doing something.

The dolls in the cabinet cleaned themselves one by one, sometimes scolded Lily, and occasionally Pinocchio was told to move Roose around.

“Is there any book?”

When he asked Lulu, the most gentle one, Lulu flapped its wings. It was unclear whether that meant yes or no. While Roose hesitated, Lulu suddenly smacked him a couple of times, then flew to the opposite door of the workshop and opened it.

Inside was a small bookshelf. Roose somehow thought it was “small.” There weren’t many books, and the titles were all similar.

“Dolls. About doll magic. Making sock dolls…”

After finishing its task, Lulu left.

Roose stood in the small library and read the titles aloud one by one. Then he picked up a picture book. It showed how to make sock dolls in a cute way.

“…Can this even be followed?”

He fidgeted with his hands and looked at his socks. I don’t think I could make or play with a sock doll. He put the book back and quietly opened the window.

At that moment, a girl was walking past the window.

When she met his eyes, she immediately bowed. Roose panicked and quickly closed the curtain. When he opened it again, she was gone, but loud knocking came from the front door.

Knock, knock!

“I saw someone inside!”

Pinocchio quickly ran and opened the door.

“Oh, Pinocchio. Is Lunar here? In his room? Ah, he’s sleeping. He said it would take two days, but he must’ve overworked himself…”

The girl sighed deeply and looked worriedly at the closed door. Then she made eye contact with Roose.

“Hello. You’re staying here, right? What was your name… Ruz? Rose?”

“…Roose.”

“Oh, right. Nice to meet you. I came to greet you since we’ll be neighbors for a while. I’m Annie.”

Annie smiled brightly and handed a basket of herbs to Pinocchio.

“Give this to Lily. My mother bought herbs. If my kid succeeds at fishing tonight, I’ll bring that too. Of course, since Lunar made it, it’ll definitely succeed! Tell Lunar he can expect a big fish for dinner.”

So they were herbs. Pinocchio nodded and took the bundle. Annie lightly bowed to Roose and left under the sunlight.

Watching that light, Roose thought again of last night’s Lunar.

Magic like starlight, dolls born under that glow. Warm, fairytale-like magic.

The more he thought about that warmth, the colder something became in his fingertips.

Coldness flowed through him. Roose pressed his hand over his wound.

A faint heat and pain mixed with the cold. When the temperature of his hand and the wound became similar, he lowered his hand.

Pinocchio tapped his shoulder as if signaling him.

“What…”

Pinocchio pointed at Roose’s wound, made a poking motion, then spread both hands wide like a threat before lowering them again.

I can’t understand this. Roose missed Lunar deeply.

Pinocchio kept repeating the same motions. Roose swallowed a sigh.

“You mean you’ll burst the wound?”

Shake shake.

“Then you’ll blow me up?”

Shake shake.

Roose narrowed his eyes and watched Pinocchio flail around. Then a thought finally came to him.

“…Are you worried?”

Pinocchio froze.

Was it not worry? Roose watched as Pinocchio grumbled and walked away. Was it embarrassment? Then maybe it really was worry.

The faint pain in his wound now felt cooler, and less painful than before.

Ah, I was only going to sleep a little. Lily was standing in front of me, nagging that I shouldn’t sleep all day.

I fixed my hair and went out with Lily tucked under my arm. It was already evening. What if I can’t sleep at night?

“Did you wake up?”

At Roose’s voice, I nodded lightly. He pointed toward the kitchen.

“Your friend brought fish earlier.”

Fish?

I put Lily down and she ran into the kitchen. I followed her and found two fish.

‘Who gave this?’

〈Annie did.〉

At Pinocchio’s words, I looked at the fish and the neatly placed herbs beside it and said to Lily:

‘Can you bake bread in the morning? With lots of fruit jam inside.’

Lily nodded.

I should bring some tomorrow morning. I patted Lily and left the kitchen with Pinocchio. Don’t hang around when cooking.

“Is dinner fish?”

I nodded.

Then I noticed the study door was slightly open. That room only had books about dolls and doll magic. My mother had bought each one, and I used to sit next to her and read them.

[Should I buy more books?]

Roose blinked, looked at the study, then at me, and whispered:

“…Yes. They’re mostly just books about making dolls…”

[Do you want to try making dolls?]

I smiled slightly as I asked.

Roose shook his head firmly.

“No. I refuse. But… I saw something about sock dolls… did you ever make one?”

[Yes, as practice.]

I sat down at the table. Roose, who had been standing awkwardly, slowly came over and sat in his usual seat.

I wrote.

[Doll magicians each have different specialties. I specialize in cloth dolls. To find it, you have to try many materials. I found mine quickly.]

“What was your first doll?”

[Lily.]

Lily. Roose read it.

So my first doll was a cloth doll, and since it suited me, I trained with cloth dolls.

“Then… how did you make Pinocchio?”

After a moment of thought, Roose asked.

I wrote.

[My uncle told me to try making it.]

Uncle.

Roose read it again.

I changed the topic and asked what book he wanted.

[Is there any book you want?]

“…I don’t know. I don’t even know what books are here… I’m just bored.”

What a silly question.

I spun the pen and wrote again.

[I’ll bring books of different types. Read them and tell me which ones you like.]

“Thank you.”

[You can also walk around the village sometimes. Just when the weather is nice.]

“I haven’t seen bad weather since I woke up, so it should be fine.”

Roose muttered.

[Pinocchio accompaniment is required.]

“…Your dolls are too rough.”

At that, Pinocchio shook his head.

〈If they don’t listen, what can I do? Sometimes force is necessary, Lunar. If that human keeps running around and tearing open his wounds, I have no choice.〉

[He says your wound will burst.]

“….”

Roose muttered while eating pumpkin soup Lily brought.

“So that was worry after all.”

“?”

Before I could ask what he meant, Lily brought grilled fish.

I finished my soup and pushed the bowl aside. Roose had already finished his.

The fish was rich with herb flavor.

I cut a big piece and chewed, thinking about bread for Annie.

‘It’s really good. I should tell her to bake cheese bread too.’

Lily overheard and got upset.

〈I’m the one baking it.〉

‘Then try making more kinds. I’ll pat your head.’

〈You think head pats will fix it?〉

〈If you pat me once now, I’ll do it.〉

I smiled slightly and patted the back of Lily’s head.