Hansel’s Enchanted Fairytale: Fill Me Up With Magic! - Chapter 80
“I don’t like the werewolf at all. Back then, I stupidly got involved with that wretch because he said he’d tell me about you—who you are, how you’ve lived, and everything else. I couldn’t refuse the offer because I wanted to know you. I know it sounds like an excuse, but… I truly wanted to understand you, Dante.”
It felt awkward.
Hansel wasn’t used to being honest. She had never laid bare her thoughts or experiences so openly before.
Slowly, she began to recount what the werewolf had told her about Dante. Even recalling the events filled her with horror and sorrow, her voice trembling as she spoke.
“Is what I heard about you true?”
She wanted to hear Dante’s story directly from him, without assumptions or secondhand interpretations. She wanted to know him—not the eerie portrait in the hallway or cryptic clues about his past, but Dante, the man.
Dante gave a small nod.
“Yeah.”
His gaze grew pained, as though recalling forgotten memories. He lightly furrowed his brow and pressed his temples as if trying to ease an oncoming headache.
Though his reaction seemed indifferent, Hansel understood it was an expression of immense pain. Her heart ached for him.
Hansel dropped her head as she spoke.
“It hurt me… hearing about the terrible things you went through. It made me sad.”
“Why?”
Hansel lifted her head to meet Dante’s gaze.
“Why are you sad? I’m the one who suffered.”
“Because…”
She cupped his handsome face in her hands and whispered softly. Her heart raced, the simple act of speaking making her nervous.
“Because I like you.”
Hansel admitted it to herself. She wasn’t sure if it started as physical attraction, fear, or something else, but…
She liked this man in front of her. No matter how much she tried to avoid the feeling, it was undeniable and simple—a stark, unmistakable truth.
“Even after I left you, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I…”
Dante’s eyelids quivered faintly, his crimson eyes wandering as if lost. Hansel gently brushed her fingers over his brow and murmured,
“I like you, Dante. I’ve never liked anyone in my life before. You’re my first and my last.”
Dante’s broad chest heaved as he let out a deep, heavy sigh. Hansel smiled bashfully as she met his gaze.
“So now, I won’t leave you alone again. I’ll stay.”
Dante slumped forward, leaning his forehead against her small shoulder. His deep voice came out as a quiet murmur.
“You’re strange.”
He repeated the phrase a few times, as if trying to find the right words to describe his feelings but failing.
“Does that mean you’re happy I like you?”
“…Yeah.”
Still resting his forehead on her shoulder, Dante nodded.
It was as if she had given him the answer he didn’t even know he was searching for, as if she already understood him.
She was like a glimmering fairy, appearing to rescue him from an eternity of loneliness.
Dante liked her too. He wanted all her feelings, all her thoughts, to be directed solely at him.
But if she liked him, did that mean she felt the same? That she wanted him as much as he wanted her?
His chest felt like it was about to burst.
If only they were the last two beings left in the universe. If everything else disappeared, leaving just the two of them. If she had no one and nothing to see, hear, or feel except him.
Dante kept his forehead against her shoulder and closed his eyes tightly.
It was overwhelming. It was agony. Because…
“I want to call your name.”
It was a forbidden desire. Something he shouldn’t wish for, couldn’t achieve, and must never attempt. It was his curse and his taboo. He knew that better than anyone.
But his heart wouldn’t stop yearning.
Hansel’s slender fingers slid through his hair, stroking him gently like a musician caressing their instrument. The soft touch was both soothing and bittersweet.
“……”
Her lashes quivered at his pained whisper. His trembling breaths tugged at her heartstrings.
“I’m sorry.”
Her sudden apology made Dante blink slowly.
“For what?”
“For… liking you.”
For liking someone she shouldn’t. For daring to love him despite how unworthy she believed herself to be.
Unable to voice the rest of her thoughts, Hansel buried herself in Dante’s embrace.
chocolattes
the anticipation is killing me aaaa but im so happy she finally admitted she likes him 🥹🩷