Hansel’s Enchanted Fairytale: Fill Me Up With Magic! - Chapter 84
Hansel’s eyelids tingled.
It felt like her consciousness had been submerged for a long time. Her body was heavy, as if it had been soaked in water and left to dry. Her eyelids felt glued shut, and she groaned softly in frustration.
I want to open my eyes!
A distant, unfamiliar voice broke through the muffled haze in her ears.
“Oh my, I think she’s waking up!”
A woman’s voice. One she didn’t recognize.
Hansel struggled to lift her eyelids, her vision blurry at first. After blinking a few times, the scene around her came into focus.
……
Where am I?
A plain wooden ceiling stretched above her—no stars, no rainbows. It wasn’t the familiar bedroom in Dante’s house. The absence of the softly shimmering translucent curtains confirmed it wasn’t her room in the Arsinoe estate either.
She turned toward the voice and realized where she was.
“A hospital?”
A woman in a headscarf and medical uniform approached Hansel’s bedside.
“Yes, this is a hospital. You had a high fever for over three days. You have no idea how worried we were—your husband was beside himself! He looked like he was going to pass out from the stress.”
Hansel’s mind was still foggy, struggling to piece together the nurse’s words.
“Your heart must be quite weak. Fortunately, there’s no major damage to your body.”
Three days…?
Wait. That’s not the issue. The real issue is…
A flash of realization struck her like lightning.
Hansel’s eyes snapped open as she shot up in bed.
“I’m alive!”
“Oh dear, please don’t—”
“Aaagh!”
Dizziness overtook her, and she collapsed forward, her platinum hair cascading like a curtain over her face.
Gripping her spinning head, Hansel heard the nurse continue to chatter.
“Now that you’re awake, I’ll fetch your guardian. Please wait here.”
Guardian.
If it was her guardian…
Dante.
Hansel’s heart clenched. Memories of what had happened before she lost consciousness tumbled back like a cascade of stones. Even in her weakened state, anxiety prickled at her scalp. Dante must have been so frightened. Of all times, why did this have to happen in his arms?
…But why am I alive?
Her swirling thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Hansel snapped her head up so quickly it made a faint whoosh.
“Dan—!”
“Oh, look who’s fine now. You’ve been faking unconsciousness for three days, haven’t you?”
The werewolf strolled in, hands in his pockets, whistling. A black eyepatch covered his left eye where Dante had gouged it out.
The hope and worry Hansel had felt shattered like a thrown plate.
Her blood pressure spiked as she clenched her teeth to suppress her rising temper.
The werewolf exaggeratedly shrugged his shoulders, mocking her.
“Wow, scary. That glare of yours is no joke.”
“Why are you still alive? Isn’t your life span too long? You’ve lived over 300 years—maybe it’s time to finally die?”
“Hey, seriously, that’s just rude now.”
The werewolf perched lazily on the chair at the foot of the bed, one arm draped casually over the backrest. His insouciant demeanor ignited a burning irritation in Hansel.
She was anxious. Where was Dante, and why did she have to see this obnoxious wolf’s face first thing upon waking? Could it be that Dante had left? That he’d discovered she was an Arsinoe, become enraged, disappointed, or disgusted…
The pessimistic thoughts pierced her like daggers, and Hansel shook her head vigorously to banish them. First, she needed to figure out the situation. Don’t jump to conclusions. Take it slow.
“Where’s Dante? Is he okay? He must’ve been so shocked… Where is he now? Huh?”
The werewolf hummed indifferently, scratching his chin, which only made Hansel narrow her eyes at him. Finally, he gestured toward the door with his chin.
“He’s in the hallway. And not doing well, obviously. You have no idea how I was oh-so-worried about him collapsing.”
Hansel frowned and tilted her head in confusion, prompting a sigh from the werewolf.
“He’s been out there for three days. Came in only once to lay you down.”
“Three days? In the hallway the whole time? He’ll ruin his health like that. He should at least come inside and rest—”
“It’s because he almost killed you.”
The werewolf’s bitter smile twisted at the corners of his lips. Both of them, in one way or another, had been complicit in the chaos that had unfolded.
“What the hell did you do to that guy? What did you do to make him… this way?”
Hansel lowered her head, unable to respond. Even with four mouths, there wouldn’t have been enough words to explain everything she had done.
The werewolf sighed deeply, ruffling his hair as though trying to shake off his frustration.
“I almost thought he was someone else. I never imagined he could get this desperate. If you’d seen him…”
He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. He had witnessed Dante’s expression when Hansel lost consciousness.
It was the look of someone abandoned in the middle of a collapsing world.
Eyes sunken in despair.
