Belly was curled up like a fetus in the bathtub, trembling. Since I had to undress him to help him shed, I gently coaxed him.
“Let’s take off your clothes. Okay? You have to take them off.”
Hearing my words, Belly moved sluggishly, but it was hard to remove the clothes soaked in cold sweat. In the end, I brought a knife and tore all the clothes. That was faster.
Seeing molted tissue stuck here and there on the clothes, it seemed I needed to resolve this quickly. I quickly brought a bucket to the bathtub and gently poured water.
“Ugh… Uugh…”
Perhaps the warm water was sudden, as Belly continuously let out weak moans. I gently stroked his head and spoke softly.
“It’s okay. It’s water. It’s not too hot, right?”
I adjusted the temperature to be lukewarm, thinking that being too cold or too hot wouldn’t be good for the body.
“Ugh…”
In the eyes that opened thinly to look at me, deep trust and relief were permeated. Feeling like somewhere in my chest was filling up tightly, I bit my lips firmly. It was an unconscious action.
Belly looked at me like that and barely raised his arm to caress my lips.
“You’re… hurt…”
Even though his own body was struggling, the sight of him worrying about me was sweet beyond words. It was as if Belly had grasped my heart in one hand. Otherwise, there was no way it would be pounding like this.
I calmed my uncontrollably beating chest and spoke with a peaceful smile.
“I’m fine.”
Belly, submerged in warm water up to his neck, looked more comfortable than before. I stroked his hair and waited until the molt swelled enough to be visible. After waiting briefly, Belly looked as if he was wrapped in a thin membrane. It was an appearance that highlighted Belly’s inhuman aspects.
“Does it hurt?”
I began to gently peel off the molt. The molt that had swelled in the water became soft and came off easily. Where the molt had fallen away, healthy brown skin was revealed.
“Haaa…”
From that sigh filled with languidness, I could be certain that things were going well.
I gathered more strength and concentrated on peeling Belly’s molt. It was hard to move around and peel the body that was much larger than mine, but perhaps because it had swelled up so much in the water, it was much easier than expected. However, that just meant it was better than expected, not that it wasn’t difficult, so beads of sweat trickled down my forehead.
“…Master… nim…”
His two eyes, flushed with fever, looked hazy, covered by the molt. If I didn’t remove the molt from his eyes, pus would accumulate and he would go blind.
I brought my face close enough for my forehead to touch Belly’s and carefully removed the molt. Because it was a delicate organ, I tensed up thinking it would be serious if I made a mistake.
“Phew…”
When I barely finished removing all the hazy molt, a sigh of relief burst out. Belly blinked for a moment, then looked up at me. For some reason, I gulped at his sensual eye corners dyed reddish.
Somehow, a secretive atmosphere circulated between us. My nape grew hot, I avoided his gaze and gathered the molt in one place to make it easier to clean up, spouting any words.
“Our Belly, it’s refreshing, right? Is there something like a scrub towel in this world? It’s really refreshing if you scrub with a scrub towel. I want to go to a sauna and drink iced coffee. How delici—”
Then, cutting through my nonsense, Belly’s hot hand grabbed my arm. His moist palm clung to my skin as if sticking.
“Master-nim… Belly, Belly is…”
Perhaps shedding the molt helped, as his voice was clearer than before. Not satisfied with that, he suddenly stood up from the bathtub and headed to the bed, pulling me along too. The sound of water droplets falling was as cheerful as piano music.
“Be, Belly-ya? Calm down!”
He pulled me forcefully and sat me on the bed. The strength in his grip was strong, but the touch of sitting me on the bed was extremely gentle. For a moment, his forceful attitude made him seem different from the Belly I knew, but looking now, he was the Belly who always cared for me. My heart that had been stirring with fear settled calmly.
“Belly-ya, what’s wrong? What’s the matter?”
“Master-nim…”
Unlike before, Belly’s voice was tinged with moisture. Flustered by his pitiful voice, I looked up at Belly in front of me.
“Master-nim, Belly… me…”
Belly knelt down. Then, rubbing his forehead on my knees, he caressed my thighs and waist with hot hands. Various emotions clung thickly to that touch, so I closed my mouth. I couldn’t understand what he was feeling.
“Please… accept Hekkarkel.”
Hek… karkel? After falling into this world within the novel, I heard various names. There were Western-style names and Eastern-style names. But there was no name form as unique as Hekkarkel that I just heard.
No, more than that, Hekkarkel…? Could it be…? But why?
[His true name was more precious than anything else.
Even if it was given by the master who now held his soul as collateral, the name Belly was an extremely unpleasant derogatory term to him as a beastman. Every time he was called Belly by other humans excluding his master, anger seeped up from deep within his heart.
However, even if it meant being called by a derogatory term, he had no intention of revealing his true name. Because there was nothing more terrible than just anyone speaking his true name. That would be more terrible than death.]
Such a precious thing to me? What am I that he would?
Belly was kneeling before me and pleading. What am I? What am I, someone like me? My insides churned turbidly. Negative emotions coiled and wriggled. I inadvertently clamped my mouth shut. Otherwise, it felt like a scream would burst out.
“Master-nim…?”
I remained completely frozen, staring straight ahead without even being able to look at Belly. Unable to do anything about my body hardening like a stone, I barely held onto emotions that seemed ready to burst out at any moment.
Belly, who had turned pale, urgently groped my upper body with his hands and pressed his body close. It was an act like a snake climbing up a tree. His face brought close to mine had a composition similar to when I helped him shed his molt.
But the urgent and heated atmosphere from just before disappeared, and a cold atmosphere filled all around.
“Master-nim, I, Hekkarkel…”
The more I heard his name, the more rigidly my lips hardened.
Belly’s face watching my change became unbearably sorrowful. Even though I wanted to comfort him, I couldn’t react at all. Because I was pouring all my energy into pressing down and enduring the boiling words below my throat.
My limbs began to tingle with all the strength tensed in them. It was as if someone had tied up my body tightly.
“Master-nim…”
Like a snake binding limbs, Belly’s long arms wrapped around my body. The heat emanating from his entire body was like a fire burning life force as a wick. But that fire was rapidly cooling. It must be thanks to shedding the molt.
Returning to his usual cool body temperature meant regaining health, so it could be called a good situation. Normally, I would have said something with relief, but now I was frozen as if I’d become a pillar of salt and couldn’t open my mouth.
“Belly… did wrong.”
In the end, his—no, Belly’s—face as he swallowed his real name and uttered the name I had given him was devastating. His face soaked not with sweat but with tears was pitiful.
He rubbed his face against my cheek as if begging for mercy. It was an appearance without sexual connotation, like a young beast acting cute. Seeing that appearance, my body melted away like a lie.
“Ah… nya… Belly-ya, your body, is your body okay?”
I asked Belly, trying hard to forget the name I couldn’t utter to the end. At my stammering question, Belly smiled with an extremely relieved face and answered.
“Yes, yes. Belly is fine. Thanks to Master-nim… thanks to Master-nim helping me.”
My body that had been stiffly frozen like a corpse relaxed gently at his cool body temperature. Normally, that low temperature would have made my body stiffen even more, but to me, his low body temperature was familiar enough to rather give me a sense of relief.
When I opened my mouth, Belly hugged me tightly with a relieved expression and continued whispering.
“It’s okay…”
Though those words had no weight and were hollow, they gave me great peace.
Being held in that cold embrace for a long while, listening to whispers, my consciousness slowly submerged into darkness. Today was truly a tiring day. I did all sorts of physical labor to help Belly, so it was natural to feel drowsy. Belly’s body had also improved, so it should be okay to rest now…
“Master-nim, are you sleepy?”
“…Yeah.”
“Belly will be by your side. Please sleep.”
Patting my chest, Belly murmured affectionately.
Held in Belly’s embrace, falling into gentle darkness, I inadvertently groped at the emotions from earlier. The turbidity that had disturbed my insides. That unpleasant feeling as if something was poking inside was painfully beyond words.
But within that disgusting emotion like everything was mixed together, there was definitely exhilaration. An emotion I couldn’t dare show. Just the fact that I felt joy made me feel like an utterly pathetic person.
I hid that emotion inside and fell into sleep. I looked exactly like a rat with its tail on fire.
