Hansel’s Enchanted Fairytale: Fill Me Up With Magic! - Chapter 50
I-VI. Liar, Liar
“It’s clear… he’s not human.”
Hansel murmured absentmindedly, her thoughts in a daze as if she’d been struck by a laundry paddle.
The sun hung high in the middle of the sky, shining brilliantly. Hansel sprawled across the bedsheets like a boneless creature, her body completely drained. Every muscle ached, and her lower abdomen and thighs throbbed with a dull soreness. It felt as if she had been stretched beyond capacity, leaving an illusion of emptiness below.
His stamina was biologically impossible. Surely, no human could endure such feats.
“He’s not human, which is probably why he can use magic in such a way.”
Magic typically required incantations and meticulously drawn magic circles. It was just how the system worked. Like turning wheat from the field into bread, one had to know the processes of harvesting, refining, and baking. If mana was the wheat, then the magic circle was the recipe.
But Dante’s magic didn’t follow this principle at all.
‘It’s like picking up wheat and ending up with freshly baked bread!’
Dante’s magic worked just like that.
It was an overwhelming, almost beautiful talent. With abilities that transcendent, it made far more sense to believe he wasn’t human.
Otherwise, no matter how she looked at it, Hansel felt like a grossly unequal counterpart. Compared to Dante, she was no more than a parasite, desperately trying to leech even a drop of his extraordinary gift.
Before running away, she was undeservedly privileged in a noble house beyond her station. Now, she had devolved into a scavenger trying to steal the seed of the Witch of the Gingerbread House.
“……”
During the past few days of being so physically intertwined with Dante, such thoughts had not crossed her mind.
Yet having spent a lifetime feeling like a disgraceful daughter who sullied her family name, Hansel had developed a habit of sinking into melancholy. And lounging in bed until the sun reached its zenith only worsened her downward spiral.
I should go find Dante.
Whether that was good or bad, she didn’t know. But at least when she was with him, these thoughts didn’t plague her.
Hansel began to sit up but hesitated.
Wait. Didn’t I plan to leave once I gained magic? Wasn’t that the reason I slept with Dante in the first place?
“……”
Without Dante, would I go back to living with these thoughts? Just like before?
…Or would things be different if I had magic?
Her head was a mess, her mind splitting into two voices arguing incessantly inside her skull. Each voice mirrored the other, shouting identical arguments back and forth.
“First things first. I need to get up.”
Eat well, sleep well, and you’ll feel better. That’s what Dante had said.
Hansel decided to move first and think later. But the moment she tried to push herself upright—
“Gah!”
She collapsed back onto the bed as if her body were a popped bubble. The moment she moved, her entire body screamed in protest. Every muscle burned, her back throbbed, and her legs refused to cooperate.
“What are you doing?”
“Gah!”
Hansel yelped, startled. She turned to see Dante standing by the window, bathed in sunlight that dusted his figure with a golden shimmer.
His disheveled gray hair and thick eyebrows framed his piercing red eyes, which were fixed intently on her, as if nothing had happened the night before. His expression was as calm as ever.
He wore a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves and an apron. He must have been cooking.
“You sure do sleep a lot.”
Dante glanced briefly out the window at the midday sun.
Meanwhile, Hansel clutched her pounding chest, trying to calm her racing heart. Be calm. Stay calm.
She groaned as she crawled back under the covers, pulling the blanket up to her nose and muttering sulkily.
“I was exhausted yesterday. When you use up a lot of energy, you need to sleep more, you know.”
“But I’m the one who did all the work.”
“…Huh?”
“You just lay there with your legs open.”
“……”
“Your stamina is really weak.”
Hansel clamped her mouth shut, searching for a witty retort. But before she could utter a word, she gave up, deflated.
She itched to test whether she had gained any magical power, making such petty arguments feel pointless. What she needed now was time—alone and plenty of it.
Clutching the edge of the blanket, Hansel sneaked a glance at Dante.
“So, um… about today. I don’t think I’ll have breakfast. Actually, I’ll skip it for now and just eat dinner later. How about that?”
“……?”
Dante raised an eyebrow, his expression suggesting he’d never heard anything so bizarre. Seeing his dissatisfaction, Hansel quickly added,
“It’s like you said—I’m weak. My whole body hurts, and I can barely move. I don’t feel like eating right now. Maybe I’ll just sleep some more. Sleeping a lot helps you recover faster, doesn’t it?”
“Where does it hurt?”
“Um…”
