episode_0040

1.

The sun is slowly setting.

It’s amazing how the blue sky turns into a sunset color, even though time has changed.

We arrived at the cabin looking out at the gorgeously blazing sunset.

“Ugh… I guess I should rest a bit starting today…”

When you stretch out and relieve the fatigue after work.

Kai said as he passed by.

“Good work. Haaam… I’m a little sleepy, so I’ll stop here…”

“Already? If I go to sleep now, won’t I not be able to sleep at night?”

“Wake me up in an hour… I can’t stand it anymore…”

Kai, who had started working early in the morning today, threw himself on the bed with a tired face.

I’m not sleepy because I took an early nap in the morning…

‘I’m bored.’

Kai fell asleep in the cabin and I was left alone.

I wandered around the cabin looking for things to do.

I stirred the still-living embers of the campfire and rekindled it.

-Tap, tap…

Someone appears to be taking a bite of grilled trout next to the blazing fire.

‘right.’

At the time, I was so flustered that I didn’t know how to handle it and just went to work.

“…So that’s what it means.”

The red fox tribe is so weird, it’s freaking weird.

Why is a fish blushing and embarrassed like that?

But it’s absurd that something like this plays such an important role as a symbol and part of the romance of newlyweds.

“…”

His expression crumpled with the sudden surge of unpleasant emotions.

I feel ashamed of myself for feeling such shallow emotions when I see that.

I didn’t think much of it because I’ve caught and eaten trout that were left on the ground before.

But today, of all days, I feel bad that I cooked and fed Taina’s game myself.

It felt like I was putting another woman’s wedding ring on Kai’s head.

Then, the trout I was holding in my hand looked disgusting.

-Whew!

All that was left was firewood.

A delicious grilled trout eventually burns brightly with just one log.

When I was bored and wanted to watch a fire.

“Hello, I am.”

A girl with eyes and hair that resemble the sunset that fills the sky.

Taina approached the cabin, timid.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Wait a minute.”

I surprised myself as I entered the cabin.

Treating someone with a cold attitude as if you were back in the old days,

Because I realized it’s been so long.

I woke Kai up, mocking myself for my attitude that seemed to know the reason.

“Ugh… What the… It’s already been an hour, Yuli…?”

“No. Taina came to find me.”

“…That’s right. I promised to return the clothes.”

Kai got up with a start, shaking off his heavy body and strode out the door.

And then he turned to Taina, who was standing there awkwardly.

“Yeah. The Academy isn’t late…?”

“Yes, yes. Thanks to you.”

“Oh my… Okay… It was worth helping…”

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the sight of him still struggling to sleep.

Then, when I nudged him with my elbow to remind him to be polite, he straightened up, perhaps embarrassed.

“Well, I have something to ask you.”

“Okay. Come inside. I’ll bring out some tea.”

“It’s not that grand. I’ll just stand here and talk.”

Taina shows her intention to refuse with an urgent air.

Unlike me who was suspicious, Kai stood there and continued the conversation without paying any attention.

“Can I return the uniforms to you tomorrow after I finish washing them?”

“Huh? Why?”

“I, I am a member of the red fox tribe……”

“Oh, okay.”

“Yeah, that could be possible.”

Taina said, writhing and writhing her body as if in trouble.

But Kai and I could tell.

This is the meaning implied in that answer, which may seem odd.

What will come next is…

‘I smell a lot of sweat and my body odor can be unpleasant to some people, so I’m embarrassed, so I’ll wash it myself and return it to you…’

Is this it?

They say that the red fox tribe has a strong, unique smell.

There were more than one or two instances where Altina avoided Kai, saying he smelled like her.

As they were thinking about that, Taina and the others didn’t realize that they were doing slightly different calculations.

“You know a lot about the Red Fox Tribe, don’t you?”

“Uh, huh? Suddenly?”

“This braided hair and decoration… It’s a traditional style of the Red Fox Tribe, but how did you know? You did it yourself.”

Taina turned her body, showed her back, and continued asking questions with a sharp expression, revealing her braided hair.

Oh, that braid.

I didn’t notice it because I was so focused on Kai shedding tears by the river, but it seemed familiar.

“Huh, huh? What? Wait a minute… Huh? Where did you go… Huh? Huh? ”

But instead of answering, Kai groped around on my body, desperately searching for something.

“…Huh?”

When I responded to her question with a strange behavior that did not answer her question, Taina tilted her head in confusion.

“Is that mine?”

“Yes. You combed my hair and braided it yourself in the morning, and then finished it off with this ribbon.”

“You combed your hair and braided it yourself? I didn’t just comb it, did I?”

for a moment.

“Kai, did you comb his hair?”

why?

Why?

I asked Kai in a whisper, but it seemed like he didn’t hear me.

“…….Give it back.”

Because I reached out to Taina coldly.

At first, the tired look was nowhere to be seen, and now a dark, hardened expression came into view.

Taina also seemed surprised by me and stiffly pulled the ribbon out of my hair and handed it to Kai.

“…..Yes. Of course.”

“I’m sorry. I was a little sensitive because it was a precious item. And, yes. I know.”

Kai, who had put the ribbon inside his product, finally answered with a relaxed face.

“I heard that it is a tradition that originated from the image of the red fox man in the beginning playing with a butterfly in the river, fields, and mountains. A friend of the red fox man told me.”

“………Huh?”

Taina frowned questioningly.

“Why…so that?”

“It’s a little different from the story I know.”

From the beginning, I didn’t care whether it was Kai’s story or Taina’s story.

I was just upset that someone was invading my comb, which was mine in the first place.

But the story Taina told me was much more shocking than I expected.

“That’s something you do at weddings…”

suddenly?

The word wedding came out of nowhere.

I found myself nervous at the appearance of words full of love.

But what was confusing was that Kai also expressed his doubts about whether it was the same.

“What……..?”

“Butterflies have long symbolized the soul, right? And the hair of the red fox clan symbolizes fate. It means that fate is intertwined and the soul of the person who braids the hair ends up finishing my life… So it is called a token of love and a communion of souls…”

Even as I explain it with my own mouth, I lower my head in embarrassment.

There’s no need to be embarrassed about saying things like trout or anything.

It is a situation where the vows that would be made at a wedding are made without any thought.

“I realized it around the end of school. My friend barely told me because I can’t see the back of my head…”

“I had no idea it meant that…”

I wonder if he was shocked by the fact that it was an act with a heavier meaning than he had thought.

Kai covered my mouth with a serious expression.

“But you braided it so precisely that I thought you had dark intentions.”

“That’s not it.”

What Taina was trying to say was, why on earth would someone who knew everything about fox tradition braid my hair?

When I woke up from a deep sleep, it seemed like someone I wasn’t close to had put a wedding ring on me.

“Anyway, I didn’t mean it like that at all. I just braided my hair out of habit without realizing it.”

“Yes, I guess he was mistaken. If so, that’s fortunate.”

“…Is that so.”

After the confrontation with Taina, which was more noisy than expected.

Taina turned and appeared to leave the cabin, but asked one last question.

“…What is your relationship with Srenya?”

When we heard that question, Kai and I both froze.

A cold thought came to me, why is that name coming up out of nowhere?

When I was at a loss and couldn’t come up with an answer, Kai answered refreshingly.

“Friend.”

That’s not wrong, but it doesn’t perfectly explain their relationship either.

But Kai’s expression had a strange persuasive quality to it, so Taina left as if she had accepted it.

no.

Taina looked at Kai’s expression, wondering if he was deep in thought and thinking about something that wasn’t quite right.

“Yulli.”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to skip dinner and go to bed early tonight. I’m a little tired.”

“Yeah.”

If it were a normal day, I would have been struggling for 30 minutes.

Eating dinner alone is rare for us and should not happen.

But Kai’s empty, sunken eyes.

Because the deep emotions revealed in the expressionless face were conveyed to me as well.

I answered obediently and covered Kai with the blanket.

…

“…sigh…”

The sound of air escaping is repeated.

A sign that Kai is definitely asleep.

Without missing that brief moment, he took out the ivory comb from Kai’s arms.

As carefully as stealing.

“…”

Different from my silver hair.

The orange fur is tangled and bizarre.

I try to suppress my rising anger and pent-up emotions and just pick at the orange fur with my fingers.

I know how creepy and gloomy this is.

I know that all these actions were meaningless.

But the small wounds get on my nerves even more, stinging and urging me on.

“This is mine…it’s my right…”

After picking out all the orange hair with one hand, I headed outside.

I threw my hair into the still smoldering fire.

A thrill of low-level pleasure flows through you, and paradoxically, a sense of relief also comes.

Only then did Yuli feel at ease and she was able to spend a comfortable night lying down next to Kai.

I hope Kai has comfortable dreams.

Yuli also fell into a dream.