As soon as morning came, Formo, who had humanized, sent off Serdin, who had a luncheon appointment with Harold and the delegation, and ended up eating lunch alone. Right up until leaving Sotes Palace, he clung so much it was worrying someone might see. Formo, who was sitting in front of the table reflecting on the events from a moment ago and quietly looking at the food, began eating at a slow pace.
With Serdin, who had been clinging to him and being bothersome, gone, the surroundings were definitely quiet. It was truly a quietness he’d felt after a long while. However, occasionally a strange emptiness of unknown origin suddenly came and bewildered him. Formo tilted his head at the untimely void and moved his utensils.
Formo, who had been putting fresh vegetables and fruit in his mouth, suddenly stopped. The meaningful story Serdin had told yesterday came to mind. The other effect the Spring of Blessing possessed. Serdin had definitely said the Spring of Blessing had another effect.
“What kind of effect could it have…”
Formo muttered with curious eyes. Just what kind of amazing effect did the Spring of Blessing possess that made transcendent love between same-sex and different species possible? Formo, who had been pondering with a serious face, put down his utensils and got up from his seat.
He strongly felt that if he went to the library full of all kinds of books, he would be able to learn something. Formo roughly wiped his mouth with a napkin and hurried toward the library.
Thus, Formo quickly discovered in the library he’d headed to at a brisk pace a book that detailed the Spring of Blessing. Since the library was so vast, he’d thought it would take quite some time to find a book, but it was unexpected. As if someone had arranged it for him, the book placed in sight had an ominous title.
On the book’s cover, the words <The Greatness of the Spring of Blessing> were written largely. Formo, who stared at the book for a while, soon hugged it and left the library. For reading books, the warm and bright glass greenhouse was perfect. Formo, who headed from the library to the glass greenhouse, sat in a chair placed there and began reading in earnest.
As soon as he turned the page, all kinds of flowery words praising the Spring of Blessing entered his eyes. Since it was burdensome enough for any beast-person viewing it, Formo flipped through several pages with a lukewarm expression.
No matter how much he flipped, there was no content accurately telling him what the Spring of Blessing was. His hand, which had been turning pages for a while, stopped at a page with the subtitle “Effects of the Spring Water.” Formo, who gulped, even narrowed his brow and immersed himself in the book.
“…Wha, what?”
It was an instant before Formo’s mouth, which had been reading sentences haltingly, gaped open. The book contained unbelievable words, and having read them, Formo rubbed his eyes furiously as if to confirm whether his eyes were mistaken.
“Re, reproduction?”
The word “reproduction” was definitely written in the book. To be precise, beast-people who drank the Spring of Blessing twice could conceive regardless of gender. Formo recalled again the conversation he’d had with Serdin yesterday.
‘There’s something Pipi doesn’t know.’
‘…What?’
‘The Spring of Blessing doesn’t only make you humanize.’
‘What does that mean?’
When he asked back with surprised eyes, Serdin definitely answered like this.
‘The beast-people Pipi saw can reproduce. So you don’t need to find it strange, Pipi.’
So Serdin had given an intuitive answer to the extent that he didn’t need to look up books. Formo, who belatedly realized that beast-person society had conditions allowing reproduction regardless of species and gender, closed the book with a dazed face.
Then, wondering if perhaps there might be other effects, he rummaged through the book again, but the result was the same. Formo’s lips pressed shut.
“Pipi-nim, are you here?”
In the midst of bewilderment, when a voice like a savior who would resolve this confusion was heard, Formo’s head whipped around. Kert was approaching from the glass greenhouse entrance, waving his arm.
“Kert!”
Formo smiled brightly and welcomed Kert.
“Huh, hup…! Pipi-nim, are you welcoming me right now? None other than me… For Pipi-nim, who always ignored me, to welcome me. Surely this isn’t a dream, is it?”
Kert, who hadn’t known Formo would welcome him this much, made a fuss. He even pretended to dab at his eyes with his sleeve ends, wiping away tears that hadn’t come. Formo, who quietly watched that ridiculous sight, shook his head slightly.
“H, hmm!”
“You came at a good time. Hurry and sit there.”
Kert, who had at some point approached near Formo, sat in the chair placed across from him. Then he made eye contact with Formo with sparkling eyes.
“What brings you to welcome me this much? Do you perhaps have something you’re curious about?”
Kert knew better than anyone that there was no way Formo would welcome him unless it was something like that. It was a moment when the self-objectification ability he’d accumulated while working long by Serdin’s side shone.
“Mm-hmm.”
As expected, Formo’s head moved up and down. Kert glanced at the book Formo’s hand was touching and smiled with satisfaction. It seemed Formo had discovered very well the book he’d inserted while gauging Formo’s eye level.
Surely what he would ask about was regarding “reproduction,” right? Befitting someone from Arancha, filled only with wary long-tailed tits, he’d thought he would doubt the contents written in the book.
The cunning Serdin must have sent him with that point in mind too. Kert waited for Formo’s question while showing a smile that could draw out trust to the fullest.
“…Um. You know.”
“Yes, Pipi-nim.”
“Beast-people who drink the Spring of Blessing twice…”
Formo’s lips hesitated and spat out words.
“Ca, can conceive. Regardless of gender… Right?”
“Ah, were you curious whether the effect the Spring of Blessing possesses is real?”
Kert laughed while putting on airs. It was a very natural act as if he hadn’t expected Formo’s question.
“Mm-hmm.”
Formo nodded with a determined face.
“Yes, that’s right. It’s an undeniable fact. In fact, my cousin’s friend’s younger brother’s same-sex friend drank the Spring of Blessing twice and became able to hold life. Ahem.”
“Re, really?”
“I’m a beast-person who doesn’t know how to lie, Pipi-nim. Please believe me.”
Unlike Serdin, who had lied several times, he had no choice but to trust Kert’s words, who only spoke the truth even if he nagged. That meant he had to honestly accept that all the contents written in the book were true.
“Ho, how…”
Though he knew well that he had to adapt to beast-person society and its culture, such a shocking fact wasn’t something that could be easily accepted. Formo looked back and forth between the book and Kert with confused eyes. Reading anxiety from that gaze, Kert cleared his throat and spoke as if driving a wedge.
“Ahem! The Spring of Blessing bestowed by the Water God is great enough to make even impossible things possible.”
“Even so…”
“You must be confused, no matter what. Everything should be learned slowly, but you came to realize it this quickly…”
At Kert’s words, Formo pulled his chin deeply to near his collarbone and bowed his head deeply.
“Moreover, the possibility of developing into a relationship where you and His Highness Serdin exchange affections cannot be ruled out. Ahem.”
“Wha, what?”
Formo glared with piercing eyes at Kert, who had been explaining well but suddenly went off on a tangent. Discovering that threatening gaze, Kert stood up abruptly from his seat and said.
“I, I momentarily forgot I had a schedule! How stupid of me…! Ha, hahaha! Then I’ll take my leave first, Pipi-nim.”
Formo looked with absurd eyes at Kert, who spoke in an awkward tone and then escaped his seat like a shot. When Kert’s figure completely disappeared from the glass greenhouse, Formo let out a sigh with his chin resting on the table. How did he and Serdin come to receive such a bizarre misunderstanding?
Serdin was surely thinking of him as something like a pet, and he too was toward Serdin…
Formo, who was thinking that far, squinted his eyes. Nothing came to mind clearly. Was it because he’d never thought deeply about his relationship with him? If he had to define it, it would be about “housemate.”
“A relationship exchanging affections…? I, it’s ridiculous.”
Wasn’t it impossible for him and Serdin to develop into a relationship where they kissed and expressed love like Chaimb’s Crown Prince and the sparrow he’d witnessed last night? Formo’s round earlobes, who was pouring out absurd feelings inside, were heating up red.
‘If that wretched jaguar and I really became like the two I saw yesterday…’
Just imagining that scene was embarrassing and shameful. More than anything, since reproduction as a prince didn’t mean such a thing, he definitely wouldn’t be able to face his family in Arancha. Formo deliberately recalled the image of a female long-tailed tit with shiny feathers and a beautiful call, and pushed out from his head the imagination he’d just had.
Then the imaginary drawing of him and Serdin tenderly embracing each other and kissing, which had been stickily clinging and not falling off in his head, gradually washed away.
