・・・・・
In this world, sidewalks and roads weren’t separated.
Perhaps because of that, accidents where people were struck by moving carriages were all too common.
“Please come farther in.”
I nudged Felix back toward the inner side of the road and, without thinking, took the outer side myself.
He immediately looked visibly uncomfortable and voiced his objection.
“Why go to such lengths…”
"Ahem, I told you — I’ll escort you personally."
“...”
“Just relax.”
Felix looked even more uncomfortable, but he obediently followed me as I told him to.
However, every time a carriage whizzed by dangerously close, he flinched and grabbed my shoulder.
It was a striking reaction as if he were enduring some kind of torture.
‘Somehow, it feels like I’m just tormenting him more — is this really okay?’
After a moment of deliberation, I tightly grasped his hand to prevent him from changing positions.
His reaction was so endearing that I wanted to keep watching him.
I wondered if this was how Felix had felt all along when he kept acting so indifferent.
“Have you ever been to a festival?”
“A festival... Only from afar.”
“You’ve never taken part in one yourself?”
“I remember going just once. Rin was with me, after all.”
“Huh? When?”
But I had no memory of that at all, though?
Startled, I asked again, and he replied.
“When we went to rescue the spirit?”
"Ah, Camoli Island."
Could we even call what we experienced back then a festival?
It was more like a nightmare disguised as a festival.
‘Just thinking back to that time is very…’
Back then, I sometimes thought of Larry as a parasite clinging to Felix, sucking his blood.
But in the end, that guy ended up deeply influenced by Felix and left in a heart-wrenching way.
‘I wonder if he's living well.’
I heard from Leraze that he had been resurrected as a devil.
Although he was still a low-ranking one for now, he inherited all of his former power, so it wouldn’t be a stretch for him to become a high-ranking devil — if he embraced it properly.
‘He rambled on, full of nonsense like an annoyingly doting dad, before leaving.’
Still, the fact that Larry hadn’t come to find me all this time made it feel like he had no intention of ever showing up in front of me again.
I was a little hurt that he hadn’t even bothered to let me know he was alive, but I guess he didn’t owe me that much anyway.
Rather, it was probably for the best.
There would surely come a day when Larry could shake it all off without a care.
After all, as a devil, he would live for such a long time that it wouldn’t even compare to a human’s lifespan.
I was lost in thought for a moment, and only after hearing someone call my name, “Rin?” did I open my mouth.
“That doesn’t count as a festival.”
"Is that so?"
“What we saw back then was just a reenactment of the spirit’s memories from thousands of years ago, so it’s quite different from a modern festival.”
I spoke eagerly, driven solely by the determination to find something he would like.
“A festival is where you buy skewers or sweets from street vendors, enjoy games, watch fireworks — things like that. Oh, and come to think of it, at a festival this big, well-known fortune tellers from all over the country gather. Let’s get our fortunes read too — especially about love.”
I wasn’t even sure if they read love fortunes in this world, but well, people’s lives were pretty much the same everywhere, weren’t they?
"Fortune-telling..."
At my words, Felix looked like he understood the concept, but had never tried it himself.
Well, it made sense. I’d heard he’d been exploited and abused by the Ministry of Magic since he was young.
There probably hadn’t been many chances for him to enjoy a festival like this.
I smiled brightly, my eyes sparkling.
"Let’s go. To the festival!"
When I grabbed his hand and pulled him along, Felix, who had blended into that glamorous scene like he was part of it, looked surprised.
It was a classic trope in shoujo comics where the third-generation chaebol male lead ended up preferring cheap convenience store snacks over fancy Michelin-star meals.
Not that it would really happen like that in real life, but hey, it’d still be a fresh experience for him. Just trust me, Felix!
“Have you ever been to a festival, Rin?”
Then, suddenly, Felix asked with a puzzled look.
"With whom?"
...Had I said too much?
It somehow felt like I stepped on a landmine.
"Uh, Chloe?"
"...Ah."
Felix’s eyes narrowed slightly, one brow lifting.
I had seen that look before.
He had the same expression when I gave Claudia a handkerchief to cheer her on during the hunting tournament.
Back then, I hadn’t caught on.
"You’re not jealous, are you?"
"Hmm."
He didn’t deny it.
"Aww, come on — you're the only one for me, Fel."
"For someone who says that, isn’t this our first date?"
I had nothing to say.
After all, nine times out of ten, I was the one who bailed on our plans.
With no excuse to offer, I just fidgeted with my fingers in silent remorse.
Felix let out a short laugh, then tightened his grip on my hand and said:
"That’s why I’m looking forward to today."
・・・・・
"Oh, let’s try this."
I picked up what looked like a dart, intricately carved from wood.
“I’m going to aim for that doll.”
The first thing I chose was a game commonly seen at festivals.
The simple rule was to throw three darts, add up the scores, and pick a prize from the booth based on your total.
“Should I just buy it for you?”
“Nah, that’s not something you can just buy with money.”
“How about I buy the whole stall?”
“…So that’s what you meant.”
Honestly, there was nothing in the world that money couldn’t buy.
Even though that was basically my life motto, just for today, for the sake of letting Felix experience the joy of a festival, I decided to put my convictions aside.
“The harder it is to obtain, the more rewarding it is.”
I spoke shamelessly.
If I could have everything I wanted at every moment, what kind of fun would life be?
But Felix was someone who had once possessed the fragment of a Leraze, who used a bow as his main weapon.
Naturally, every dart he threw hit its mark.
I held a mountain of dolls in my arms, wearing a dazed expression.
‘For someone like Felix, I guess life really could feel boring.’
Whether he spent money or not, he could get anything he wanted.
‘So that’s why he made me his hobby.’
I used to feel sorry for him because he didn’t take good care of himself, but seeing it from another perspective, it made sense.
Until now, the only thing Felix couldn’t do well was use his body — but even that, he had gotten good at…
“I’ll keep these safe.”
Felix casually opened a rift in space, tossed the plushies in, and took my hand again.
We were definitely following the classic dating routine, but why did it feel like something was somehow off?
“Enough with the game. Let's just buy some skewers and eat."
After all, wasn't the real delight of a festival the skewers?!
I offered him the street’s signature dish — meat generously coated in spicy seasoning.
Though it must have been unfamiliar to him, he accepted the skewer without suspicion, took a bite, and chewed slowly.
"Is it okay?"
"Yes. It’s delicious."
I got a fairly positive answer, but I narrowed my eyes and carefully studied Felix’s expression.
It was hard to see clearly in the darkness of night, but I definitely noticed a subtle flush on his cheeks.
“Your face is turning red.”
“...I’m a bit sensitive to spicy food, but it’s delicious.”
He then corrected himself.
I quickly took a bite of the skewer in my hand.
It was spicy to me, but it wasn’t spicy at all compared to what I was used to eating in Korea.
‘Are you not good with spicy food?’
I was too shocked to say anything, my face betraying my disbelief.
I didn’t even know the taste preferences of the person I was about to marry.
It wasn’t like I had to know everything, but still, Felix knew everything about me, down to the smallest detail.
“I’m sorry. I…”
“It’s just that I’m not used to it. Most of the food I’ve had so far is lightly seasoned, focusing on bringing out the natural flavours of the ingredients.”
He was basically saying it was only natural that I wouldn’t know.
As if there were no need to apologise at all, Felix naturally comforted me while continuing to chew on his skewer.
“To be honest, I’ve never said this out of respect for the chefs’ hard work, but I think it’s more efficient to eat it raw rather than cook it.”
At first, his rejection of seasoning made him seem like a pampered young master, but in typical Felix fashion, his answer was completely unpretentious.
Cooked or not, all that mattered was that the food went into his mouth and filled his stomach.
‘You really don’t care about taste, do you…’
There was a time when I lived with the sole determination to try every delicious food in the world.
Eating just to survive? That was a mindset I could never understand.
‘Even so, I think I learned a lot of new things about Fel today.’
Felix, who preferred eating raw food for efficiency, also found military rations absolutely dreadful and was sensitive to spicy flavours.
It might not have been a successful date by any means, but at least I learned that much.
I used to think he was some kind of machine who could only say “good,” so this was a huge step forward.
"Stop eating the skewers and give them to me. For the last activity, let’s go get our fortune told.”
In this world, where belief in the existence of God was firm, fortune-telling was treated as nothing more than a petty superstition.
However, since receiving an oracle directly required making large donations to the temple and having high status, the common people enjoyed turning to fortune-telling.
There were endless lines in front of the fortune-tellers’ tents.
It felt more like a chaotic marketplace than anything else.
The street was so crowded that there wasn’t even room to set foot.
‘This wasn’t part of my plan…’
It was a scene that reminded me of a weekend at an amusement park.
The festival I had imagined from reading novels wasn’t anything like this.
This was just unnecessarily realistic.
"Be careful."
Felix said as he gripped my wrist tightly, just before I could get swept away by the crowd.
“Hold on tight.”
Someone bumped into me, and I stumbled, completely losing my balance.
Instinctively, I reached out — and ended up wrapping my arms around his waist.
It was absolutely not on purpose.
“...”
It was then.
With a deafening boom that seemed like it would burst my eardrums, fireworks suddenly erupted and flickered across the night sky.
They must have been created with rather sophisticated illusion magic, as vibrant works of art beautifully adorned the sky in a dazzling array of colours.
“Ah.”
The fireworks marked the grand finale of the Harvest Festival.
Felix fell silent for a moment, gazing down at me.
Brilliant bursts of light rippled across the darkened lake, only to vanish and bloom again.
I saw a sudden flicker in his eyes.
It vanished behind his eyelids in an instant, but there was no mistaking it.
There was clearly an endless desire stirring deep inside him.
My own gaze must have been trembling precariously, like a candle flickering in the wind.
We had only accidentally locked eyes, yet that was enough to spark desire.
Raw. Unfiltered. It reared its head without warning, tearing away reason and asserting itself like it owned the moment.
‘Who cares about the fortune teller…’
Should we book a hotel instead?
Without realising it, I ran my tongue over my lips, overwhelmed by a sudden, misguided impulse.
Neither of us could take our eyes off each other.
Then, suddenly, a commotion broke out in the crowd.
“Oh no, such distinguished guests in a shabby place like this!”
An elderly man wearing clothes covered in distinctive patterns was roughly pushing through the closely gathered crowd as he approached.
He was clearly a fortune teller.
"Agent of the world...!"
And not just any ordinary skilled fortune-teller, it seemed.
I quickly shook my head, widening my eyes in warning as if to silently tell him to keep quiet.
“Ahem. In any case, please come this way.”
The elderly man glanced around cautiously and cleared his throat before leading us into a tent.
Whether it was already famous or just well-known by word of mouth, it was the tent with the longest line among the countless others.
How on earth had that old man seen through us?
After all, Felix and I were both wearing pitch-black hoods.
Then again, with devils and gods popping up left and right, who was I to scoff at superstition?
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