“Sister Maqi, won't you introduce this sister to me?” Eve asked with a touch of playfulness.
She had heard about Macar carrying Ogre back on his back.
The contact between the two of them was a bit beyond the normal relationship between fellow Friars, wasn't it?
She had also asked the stable boy about Macar—her beloved Brother Macar had actually almost come to blows over this girl.
‘I'd like to see just what kind of spell you've cast on Brother Macar, that even Maqi is protecting you so much.’ Eve's hands, hidden behind her back, tightly clenched the hem of her clothes.
She no longer considered this young girl to be 'harmless' anymore.
“Oh, you mean Sister Gelin... Huh? Where'd she go?”
Maqi turned her head, only to realize that Ogre had hidden behind her at some point.
She spun around before finally catching the slightly evasive girl.
“You two know each other? When did...”
Maqi looked at Ogre's behavior, then at Eve, who seemed a bit off. Connecting the causes and effects...
In an instant, Maqi filled in an entire storybook drama in her mind—she definitely had a talent for this.
‘No way...’ Maqi turned to look at Eve again. How could she not realize what was happening?
Even though her version of the truth might be a bit off, Maqi felt it probably wasn't too far from the mark.
She also hadn't expected that Eve, whom her cousin had personally claimed was like a 'brother' to him, would actually have such feelings.
“Brother Macar introduced us,” Eve said, her smile unchanging.
“Mhm...” Ogre nodded.
‘Honestly... The mess in that town hasn't even been solved, and now there's this emotional drama.’
Ogre really felt these girls were incredibly boring—instead of worrying about why Macar had rushed back, they were busy guessing this and that.
Most importantly, he couldn't even escape, let alone clear his name.
This made Ogre feel like he had shot himself in the foot.
He clearly hadn't even started doing anything yet, so how had he attracted so much trouble?
‘Father was right... This face really is nothing but trouble.’
“Um... Sister Eve, I think you might have some misunderstanding about Gelin.” Maqi's lips twitched.
Ogre had difficulty speaking, and her cousin wasn't here, leaving her to bear the brunt of it.
‘My brother is really unreliable. What on earth is he doing?’ Maqi knew Macar was unreliable, but she hadn't expected him to be this useless.
‘Is even Maqi on her side...’
Maqi's hesitation only deepened Eve's preconceived notions about Ogre.
“Look at you. What misunderstanding could there be? I just want to get to know Miss Gelin a little better,” Eve said with a bright smile.
Three women make a play; in a sense, this was indeed true.
Although Ogre wasn't actually a 'woman,' since the atmosphere was set, the play still had to go on.
A stage play didn't care if a role was cross-dressed.
‘Macar... you might as well just wait for death.’ Ogre sighed softly in his heart—he had already tried his best to prevent Macar from digging his own grave.
But this guy had a head full of nothing but muscle and battle qi. He was even dumber than Serandic used to be; there was simply no helping him.
This caused a trace of guilt to rise within Ogre.
He felt a bit sorry for Macar.
However, Ogre didn't think this matter would have that much of a negative impact on Macar either.
“No... Sister Eve, you've definitely misunderstood. Miss Gelin only arrived in the village yesterday.” Maqi didn't know how to explain for a moment. She felt like the more she tried to clear it up, the messier it got.
After all, regarding trying to set up Ogre with her blockhead brother...
Strictly speaking, she had played a part in it too.
Yet Eve's next words were like a sudden bolt of lightning, nearly shocking Maqi to death.
“It's fine, I don't mind being the second wife—I just want to see how beautiful Miss Gelin truly is.”
Even Maqi, who prided herself on being open-minded and progressive, found Eve's words suffocating.
‘Sister Eve... what on earth did you learn when you went to the city? Are city folks really that wild?’
Naturally, Maqi didn't dare say this out loud—she hadn't reached that level yet.
Instead of answering on Ogre's behalf right away, Maqi took two deep breaths, trying to piece her shattered worldview back together.
“Sister Gelin's face is injured, so... Huh? Brother!” Just as Maqi was trying to think of a reason to brush it off, she suddenly spotted Macar.
“Brother Macar?” Hearing this, Eve immediately relaxed her clenched hands behind her back and turned her head.
Indeed, Macar had arrived.
But coming along with him was the Grand Cleric—Grand Friar Fula.
“Greetings, Grand Friar...” Maqi immediately bowed in salutation.
“Greetings, Cleric,” Eve also bowed in turn.
“There is no need for such formality. We are all children of God and should be equal,” Fula replied with a slight smile.
“Maqi, Eve, Grand Friar Fula is here to see Friar Gelin,” Macar said, getting straight to the point on Fula's behalf.
Hearing this, both Eve's and Maqi's eyes narrowed slightly—though they were thinking of completely different things.
‘As expected, he came for me.’ Ogre wasn't surprised at all. It would have been stranger if the cleric didn't come to find him.
After all, he was the first to discover the problem with Roke Town.
It was just that Ogre hadn't expected the people of the Church of Dawn to bypass the step of questioning the hunters and approach him directly.
“Friar Gelin, this way, please.” Fula extended his hand, indicating they should speak in private.
He didn't ask why Ogre had wrapped himself up like this, leaving only his eyes exposed.
“Mhm...”
Ogre nodded and stepped forward, following Fula out of this ragtag drama.
He had no intention of directly explaining either.
“Brother, is Gelin...” Maqi couldn't help but ask with some worry.
“The Grand Cleric is not a bad person, she'll be fine.” These were the words Macar used to comfort himself, and they were just as effective for comforting others.
“But after all, this is...” Maqi didn't utter the word 'deception'.
“It's fine,” Macar shook his head, signaling that this topic was over.
Only then did he turn his head to look at Eve. “Oh? Eve, why did you follow us?”
“I...”
When facing Macar, Eve's previous assertiveness instantly crumbled into nothing. She stammered, unable to even form a proper sentence.
Because she hadn't expected Macar to finish so quickly.
“Alright, Brother, none of that matters now. Why don't you and Sister Eve catch up properly?” Maqi immediately grabbed both of their hands and placed them together.
Macar's words allowed Maqi to let go of her worry.
And then, the girl's active mind quickly and naturally drifted to other matters: ‘A girl like Sister Gelin is out of my brother's league anyway. But if he can pair up with Sister Eve, that would be pretty good too...’
Caught completely off guard, the two of them were actually pulled together by her.
“Maqi, what are you doing?!” Macar was the quickest to react, immediately pulling his hand back.
If Ogre hadn't pointed out Eve's feelings to him, he certainly wouldn't have minded. But Ogre had already told him that Eve liked him.
It would have been strange if Macar didn't react now.
As for Eve, her reaction wasn't as intense. She merely turned her head away, her face flushing considerably redder than before.
“I won't disturb you two then,” Maqi stuck out her tongue, playing innocent.
“Maqi, stop fooling around,” Eve turned back and scolded softly.
Her head remained lowered...
She seemed to faintly realize that she had misunderstood Maqi and Ogre...
“Eve...” Looking at the shy girl before him, Macar finally believed Ogre's assessment.
“Brother Macar...” Eve's thoughts were also in complete disarray.
Courage was something that worked best on the first try. What was more, she wasn't even prepared right now...
“Sigh...” Macar let out a sigh. He was also feeling quite frustrated—he hadn't expected his perfectly peaceful life to suddenly become entangled in such a massive mess.
In the end, he made a decision with a wry smile.
He couldn't drag this out. If it dragged on any longer, things would become a complete mess—and that would also be highly irresponsible toward Miss Gelin.
“Eve, do you like me?”
Maqi / Eve: “Eh? Eh!”
...
Unlike Macar, who took swift, decisive action, the situation Ogre faced was far more serious.
“Is Yatuo... doing well?” After walking for a bit, Fula suddenly turned his head and asked Ogre.
‘Who is that...’
Ogre fell silent for a moment. In the end, he still nodded. After all, he was playing a half-mute anyway... any question was met with a hum.
However, Fula's next sentence made it impossible for Ogre to continue playing mute: “You can actually speak, can't you, Miss Gelin...?”
Rate on N.U.
