<Chapter 10>
#1. This Contract Is Somehow Wrong (10)
“Th-That! Hic! I, I… hic, swear… hic.”
Melty’s body jerked with each hiccup, suggesting they hadn’t subsided yet. Inside Calix, two emotions collided—the desire to tease him more, and concern for the pitiful sight of him hiccupping while anxiously watching for Calix’s reaction. After a moment’s deliberation, Calix lightly ran his tongue over his upper lip and handed Melty the tea from the desk.
“First, we should stop those hiccups before we can have a proper conversation.”
Melty accepted the cup with both hands and briefly said “Thank you” while still keeping an eye on him. Yet he seemed suspicious, discreetly bringing his nose to the teacup and sniffing it. After checking Calix’s expression once more, he squeezed his eyes shut and gulped it all down at once.
Gulp. The liquid went down his throat. Calix gently patted Melty’s back to help him regain his composure. Though he had thoroughly enjoyed teasing him for each adorable reaction, his mind was focused elsewhere.
There couldn’t be any issue with the gift bestowed by the Beast God. This meant Melty’s gift was completely different from what he had understood it to be. Based on Jenny’s reaction, he seemed to be on the verge of understanding something.
Furrowing his brows, Calix used his gift to observe Melty. The aura surrounding him was undeniably a vivid yellow. Based on his past experiences, his gift had never been wrong. In other words, it meant that Melty Crosel was someone who would be extremely helpful to him. Yet from what he had observed of Melty so far, he couldn’t tell how exactly he would be helpful.
Watching him in action, he wasn’t particularly fast or strong for someone from the hamster clan. Considering he had signed the contract without much thought, he didn’t seem to be exceptionally intelligent or manipulative either.
‘So I thought the most likely possibility was his “gift”… but I have no idea how useful an unidentified gift of unknown nature could be.’
After eating the food Melty had given her, Jenny’s demeanor had definitely changed. Calix believed that testing things himself was far more reliable than trusting someone else’s ambiguous experience. The problem, however, was that what Melty had thought of after contact with him wasn’t “food” but rather “him” specifically.
“I suppose I’ll have to taste it myself to know.”
At those casually dropped words and the sound of Calix smacking his lips, Melty’s face turned pale. With an expression that anyone could see was filled with fear, Melty looked up at him.
“A-Are you really going to eat me? You swore to the Beast God that you wouldn’t eat me…!”
His pitiful cry, full of indignation, pulled Calix out of his thoughts. Amused by the desperate outcry, Calix chuckled and raised his right hand slightly as he spoke.
“I, Calix Kuse Padrian, hereby revoke my oath to the Beast God.”
Unlike Calix’s confident declaration, Melty’s mouth fell open at the unexpected action. Concerned that his jaw might keep dropping indefinitely, Calix moved his hand to close Melty’s mouth.
“Done. There, all settled now?”
“S-Settled? How can you cancel an oath to the Beast God as easily as eating a cookie…!”
“Hmm? Would you like me to put you in my mouth in one bite?”
“N-No!! Th-The test we did… was only once! Angel-ssi! Where is Angel-ssi?”
“He’s not here. I sent him on an errand because something came up.”
Melty’s head, which had been frantically looking left and right for Angel, froze. Calix enjoyed watching his trembling body and tapped his hair lightly with a finger.
“Since it’s an ability bestowed by the Beast God, a gift can’t be wrong. But your gift has already been wrong once, hasn’t it? Is there really any need to try twice? I would have won anyway.”
“H-How would you know without trying? You shouldn’t live so pessimistically.”
Calix burst into laughter as Melty vehemently shook his head in denial. It was painfully obvious that he was desperately wracking his brain. As Calix silently stared at him, amused by his frantic search for an escape route, Melty began twisting his body vigorously, perhaps interpreting the gaze in his own way.
Even so, breaking free from Calix’s firm grip was no easy task. As Melty struggled with grunts, trying to remove Calix’s hands from his waist, he heard a rustling sound from his waistband and looked down. He discovered his pockets were stuffed with snacks. Fumbling, Melty pulled out a well-wrapped cookie from his pocket and held it right up to Calix’s face.
“I-I’ll give you this.”
“Pfft. I thought you said you wouldn’t share with the bad snake?”
Melty’s pockets were still bulging with snacks. Yet what he pulled out was just one cookie. Despite acting like he would never share anything, the reluctance to part with even one cookie was evident. Peeking his head out from behind the cookie he held up, Melty cautiously gauged Calix’s reaction again.
“I-I’ll give you chocolate too.”
Rummaging through his pocket, a beautifully wrapped piece of chocolate popped out. Seeing the cookie and chocolate presented before him, Calix had to hold back laughter that threatened to burst out once more.
“Isn’t that a rather cheap price for your life?”
“…We haven’t done Angel-ssi’s test yet….”
Now Melty’s voice had begun to tremble finely. When Calix exaggeratedly ran his tongue over his lips and made a lip-smacking sound, Melty’s shoulders hunched even further.
If the formula ‘gift = food the other person wants to eat’ was incorrect, then he should know that Calix had no real intention of eating him. Yet Melty seemed completely unaware of this, as if the thought hadn’t crossed his mind at all. Assuming it might be due to fear, Calix sighed and rested his chin on top of Melty’s head.
After flinching in shock, Melty soon held his breath. Calix pressed his chin firmly against Melty’s head and took a deep breath, inhaling the nutty, fragrant scent that touched his nose. A pleasant aroma wafted from Melty, different from mere appetite. The warm sensation transmitted through their contact made him feel naturally languid. As Calix thought about how nice it would be to hold him close and take a good nap, he heard a voice shouting in his ear like a scream.
“I-I taste terrible!”
“Who’s tried it?”
While Calix himself had no actual intention of cooking and eating him, Melty was busy devising an escape plan with his small head. If one listened carefully, one might almost hear the sound of that tiny head turning over ideas. At Calix’s question, Melty lost his words again and maintained a quiet silence.
Thanks to his silence, Calix was able to organize his thoughts, though he found the current situation somewhat dissatisfying. When he thought about it, from their first meeting until now, he had never once harmed Melty. Although he had played some pranks, it didn’t feel good to be the only one discriminated against.
Expressing the mischief accumulated deep in his heart, he pressed his chin more firmly on Melty’s head. Taking this as an unspoken signal, Melty covered his head with both hands and let out a loud cry.
“I-I’m poisonous! You’ll die if you eat me!”
At his outburst, Calix finally lifted his head. Melty looked up at his departing face with an expression full of anticipation. Seeing the relief in those moist eyes, a surge of mischief rose to Calix’s face. He looked directly at Melty who was staring at him and smiled more brightly than ever before.
“Really? That’s fortunate. My blessing is ‘immunity.’ Particularly complete immunity to poison—perhaps I received this blessing for this very moment.”
At his cheerful voice, tears welled up in Melty’s eyes. There was nowhere left to run. Even if he tried his hardest to escape from his embrace, the difference in physique, stamina, and strength was too great. With a light and refreshing comment of “Then, I’ll enjoy my meal,” Calix opened his mouth wide. Unable to watch anymore, Melty covered his eyes with both hands and bowed his head deeply.
To prevent him from falling while struggling, Calix held him close. Whatever effect Melty’s gift had, it had worked fine on Jenny, who was from the snake clan like himself. Irritated that he couldn’t directly experience what kind of effect it had, he decided to “eat” Melty once, just as Melty had feared. Of course, since the Beast God wouldn’t have actually instructed him to eat human flesh, he only intended to have a taste. His decision was also mixed with dissatisfaction toward Melty, who had shown fear only toward him since their first meeting.
Suddenly, Melty’s ears came into Calix’s view. A mischievous smile spread across his face at the sight of those cute ears that had captured his attention from the beginning. As he rubbed the round ears with his chin, he felt their downy softness. Firmly holding the trembling body, he lightly bit the tip of an ear. Since he barely applied any pressure with his teeth, it was more accurate to say he gently pressed rather than bit it. After chewing a few times and feeling nothing, Calix obediently removed his mouth.
It was then that he noticed how quiet Melty had been in his arms. Leaning his upper body back slightly to check Melty’s face, Calix carefully pulled away the hands covering his eyes. Only then did he discover that Melty was silently shedding the tears that had been welling up in his large eyes. At the sight of drooping shoulders and tears falling from those big eyes, Calix’s mind went completely blank.
“Why are you crying?”
Holding him more firmly, Calix stroked his back with one hand while busily wiping away the tears on his face with the other. Under that gaze full of resentment, Calix, for the first time in his life, understood what it felt like to have a guilty conscience.
“I just nibbled a little… Did it hurt?”
“……”
*Sniff.*
Though he could have added some words, Melty kept his mouth firmly shut. Despite clearly not saying anything, his silent gaze conveyed many messages. Cold sweat ran down Calix’s back.
“I was just trying to check what your gift was. I did play a prank, but…”
*Sniff.*
“No, you didn’t actually think I was going to eat you for real… did you?”
As Calix busily wiped away his tears while asking, strength entered Melty’s eyes. How could he trust someone who so easily canceled an oath made to the Beast God? Moreover, after he had offered cookies and chocolate only to be scoffed at….
One look was more powerful than a hundred words. Feeling like he had swallowed a fish bone, Calix tightly wrapped Melty’s cold hands, which seemed to indicate he was quite startled, with both of his own.
“I was wrong. The joke went too far. So please stop crying.”
If Angel had heard this, he would have gaped in surprise, saying, “I just learned for the first time that Master Calix knows how to apologize.” Somehow, this first-ever apology came out surprisingly easily. Despite Calix’s efforts to restore warmth to Melty’s hands by blowing warm breath on them, those kind words once again stimulated Melty’s tear glands.
The sound of sniffling grew louder as tears streamed down. With a sigh, Calix gave up trying to wipe away his tears and instead pulled him tightly into his embrace. He continued to stroke Melty’s back. Melty, who had buried his face in Calix’s chest, began to cry audibly as if his sorrow had exploded.
“Master Calix, I’ve returned…”
It was then that Angel, who had sighed and opened the door after receiving no response to numerous knocks, discovered them—Melty crying as if he had suffered some great tragedy, and Calix holding him in his arms. Though it was difficult to guess exactly what situation had unfolded, one thing was clear. Calix frowned at Angel’s slowly changing expression.
