<Chapter 12>
#2. A Hamster in the Snake’s Den (2)
“Attack? That’s a strange way to put it. It’s not like I hurt him.”
“You keep rushing at him, so of course Melty-ssi gets startled. And he’s already so frightened…”
Calix’s discontent welled up at Angel’s words, accompanied by clicking of his tongue. He had plenty to say about that. What kind of employee was so hard to see face-to-face that the employer had to seek them out personally? Moreover, the moment their eyes met, he would instantly flee. The threat of eating him was merely a joke, and despite countless explanations, Melty wouldn’t believe him at all.
“I just patted his head a bit.”
He hadn’t even bullied him that much. When Melty was with other people, he laughed well and chattered away, but with Calix, he would run away the moment they made eye contact. At first, Calix had grabbed him to prevent his escape, but once caught, Melty’s fluttering brown hair looked incredibly soft. Having already felt it before, Calix knew his hair was downy, and he couldn’t help but reach for it repeatedly.
“As his employer, why don’t you have a word with him?”
“He was burning with fever just from crying a bit. If something worse happens, are you going to take responsibility?”
Angel quickly shook his head at Calix’s sharp remark. Recalling how chaotic the mansion had become when Melty fell ill after crying that day, Angel let out an awkward laugh.
While Calix had great faith in his gift, this was the first time he had shown so much concern for someone. Contrary to Angel’s expectation that Calix would use his position to pressure Melty since they had already signed a contract, his current attitude expressed extreme displeasure at such a thought.
‘He’s not a child who bullies someone he likes…’
Reviewing Calix’s behavior in front of Melty, that was the first thing that came to mind. In front of Melty, he would play mischievous pranks and tease him, randomly touching his hair and acting playful, yet his behavior behind the scenes was completely opposite. Calix wasn’t normally the type to be so considerate and generous, but with Melty, he was showing exceptionally many unusual sides.
But thinking differently, there was no way Calix could have romantic feelings. It would be more convincing if the world were about to end. Angel vigorously shook his head to rid himself of such useless thoughts and hurriedly spoke as something occurred to him.
“Th-Then, how about this?”
Calix nodded slightly at Angel, whose eyes were sparkling brightly, as if to say, “Go ahead, let’s hear it.” With Angel’s nod, Angel confidently puffed out his chest and proudly said:
“When you go down to the village this time, take Melty-ssi with you. If you eat delicious food together and talk while going back and forth, wouldn’t things get much better than now?”
Angel made a fuss, claiming that even after thinking about it again, there was no more perfect method than this. Calix stared at him intently and pressed his thumb and index finger against his eyes, feeling the fatigue washing over him.
“How am I supposed to go to the village with someone who runs away just at the sound of my voice?”
“Well, that’s where persuasion comes in.”
“And who’s going to do that persuading?”
Angel gave an awkward smile at Calix’s sharply pointed question. When he had first thought of it, it hadn’t seemed that difficult, but once “Calix” was added to the list of people who would tour the village with Melty, it became an extremely challenging mission. Rolling his eyes and gauging the situation, Angel pointed at Calix with an exaggerated gesture and a wink.
Calix put the gold coin he had been holding into his pocket, clearly realizing this was an idea that had completely failed to consider Melty’s avoidance of him. Angel despaired as the silhouette of the gold coin disappeared before his eyes. Although Calix had never given him an insufficient amount, Angel’s desperate reaction over a single gold coin made Calix shake his head.
“My, my gold coin…!”
Without avoiding Angel’s resentful gaze that seemed to say ‘how could you do this to me,’ Calix rubbed his furrowed brow and said:
“This advice is so terrible it couldn’t even be used as fertilizer.”
“No, no, why? What better advice could there be?”
Angel felt wronged. There might be some difficulties in implementing it, but there was no better method than this. Going down to the village required transportation like a carriage or horse, which meant the time spent together would be quite long.
“He said he’s never properly explored the village even once in his life. How happy would he be if you took him? But what’s the use in telling you the method? You can’t pick up on any of it.”
Angel’s shoulders drooped as he blurted out words without restraint, saddened by the loss of his gold coin before his eyes. Calix frowned at the sight of Angel pretending to cry with sniffles, but stopped his departing steps at the words that stuck in his ear.
“Did he say that? That he’s never properly explored the village?”
“Yes. It seems he was quite sickly when he was young… That’s why he keeps asking Jenny the housekeeper and the maids about the village.”
Not just them, but Angel too had been cornered by Melty to tell him stories about the village. Melty had listened attentively with his big, sparkling eyes. Despite the commonplace stories, his curiosity had been insatiable.
“Really? What kind of things does he mainly ask about?”
“Well, just… things like night markets, restaurants, and clothing stores. He said he’s never been to a clothing store before, so he’s always worn ready-made clothes.”
“Ah… Since they’re a nomadic people, I suppose they couldn’t call someone to make custom clothes.”
Generally, people preferred custom-made clothes when purchasing clothing. Nothing was as comfortable as clothes prepared to fit one’s body and characteristics. Most people who couldn’t go to stores directly would usually call someone to their home, but the situation made sense if the other party was from the hamster clan. They were a nomadic people who didn’t stay in one place, and since their home location would change frequently, they couldn’t possibly call someone over.
“Now that I think about it, the clothes he’s wearing now did look a bit big.”
Recalling the well-folded sleeves and trouser hems, Calix raised the corners of his mouth in a grin. Angel unconsciously took a step back, feeling that smile was somehow dangerous. To prevent Angel from fleeing further, Calix firmly gripped his shoulder and pulled out the gold coin he had tucked away, flicking it with his finger. The gold coin, drawing a round arc, fell toward Angel. As if he had never been sulking, Angel quickly reached out his hand to catch the gold coin, his face blooming brightly. Looking down at him, Calix whispered in a low voice:
“Angel. There’s something you need to do for me.”
***
*Sniff.*
Melty, who twitched his nose upward, obediently sprawled his upper body on the dining table. The sound of cooks suppressing their laughter occasionally spread through the room at the sight of his dejected appearance.
“Why are you feeling so down?”
“…My head is complicated…”
“Oh my. That’s serious. Would you like some chocolate cake?”
With a kind voice, a slice of cake was offered right in front of Melty’s nose. The sweet smell of the cake soaked in chocolate made Melty’s nose move automatically. His mouth already felt sweet even though he hadn’t eaten it yet.
Shifting his upper body with a small movement, Melty carefully accepted the fork extended toward him with both hands. The chef gave him a bright smile as he hesitated to eat right away, looking cautious. Reassured by that warm smile, Melty moved his fork.
The cake bread, moist with chocolate, and the thick chocolate covering it went straight into Melty’s mouth. A fluffy smile appeared on Melty’s face at the sweetness spreading in his mouth.
“Thank you.”
The chef just smiled brightly in response to Melty’s belated polite greeting. Melty, who had somehow already begun sucking through the straw in the milk placed in front of him, took out the paper he had put in his pants pocket.
On the crumpled paper, food names were written in different handwritings. Melty was still continuing the test that had started with his bet with Calix. And the result of countless repeated tests indicated just one thing.
‘Is it really possible that the gift the Beast God gave me isn’t this…?’
Not remembering what gift he had received was entirely his own fault. But he had never thought that he might have mistaken it for a different gift.
‘But everyone who received food was happy with it.’
Melty, with a sulky expression and his lower lip jutting out, repeatedly stabbed the innocent chocolate cake with his fork.
“If it doesn’t suit your taste, I could offer something else…”
“Ah, no! It’s so delicious I was savoring it!”
Startled by the cautiously offered words, Melty hastily replied and demonstratively scooped a large piece of cake into his mouth. Only then did the chef show a relieved expression, smiling broadly at him before leaving a kind message that “he could make anything Melty wanted anytime, so there was no need to save it,” and then headed back to the kitchen. Melty, who had been blankly watching his retreating figure, resumed eating the cake.
Delicious food, kind people, a soft bed, a warm interior, a quiet bathroom, and even a generous salary. This place was absolutely perfect. However, the one and only complaint was that the master was ‘Calix Kuse Padrian.’ Recalling the current situation where one drawback overcame numerous advantages, Melty’s lower lip protruded forward again.
‘If it weren’t for that, it would be truly perfect.’
Melty’s body trembled as he recalled Calix’s appearance. Just this morning, he had been happily going out for a walk when he ended up being chased by him. Calix always popped up unexpectedly, startling people. If his gift from the Beast God wasn’t about knowing ‘what food the other person wants to eat,’ there would be no need to be wary of his own face appearing whenever he used it on Calix. But the dreams he’d been having continuously since coming here were too unsettling to dismiss so easily.
The dreams always featured a similar repertoire. While he was swallowing hard, looking at the deliciously glistening fruit hanging from a tree, a small, cute snake would rub its cheek against his big toe, acting cute. And then the snake, which had climbed up his body while he was focused on picking the fruit, would suddenly become a large one. When he was flustered, unable to move as his entire body was tightly coiled by the snake, the snake would look directly at him and open its mouth wide.
“…It’s not like it’s hinting that I’m destined to be eaten…”
Muttering that anyone would see it as being eaten, Melty moved his protruding lips and stuffed his mouth full of the sweet cake. Despite there being so many snake clan members in the mansion, whenever he faced Calix, he was reminded of that snake from his dream. Perhaps because of this, while he was comfortable with everyone else in the mansion, Calix alone felt particularly uncomfortable.
“Oh! Found you, Melty-ssi.”
Melty turned his head to the side at the cheerful and light mention of his name. Seeing Angel at the entrance raising his hand and waving it vigorously from side to side, Melty put down his guard and nodded slightly.
“Hello, Angel-ssi.”
“Ah, I wandered around for a while because I didn’t know where you were.”
With an easy-going smile, Angel approached and sat down next to Melty. The momentary puzzlement at why he chose to sit right beside him, out of all the many available seats, passed quickly.
“I didn’t want to say this, but…”
“Yes?”
“We did sign a contract, after all. But it doesn’t seem like you’re in a position to do the work specified in the contract right now, and we can’t let you rest without assigning any duties indefinitely, so…”
Contract.
At that word, Melty unconsciously gulped down what was in his mouth without even chewing it properly. His Adam’s apple bulged noticeably as he swallowed the large piece of cake.
