The Crazy Killer Whale’s Favourite Penguin

Episode 72: The Ties That Bind (II)

“Darling, come here!!!”

In order to get out of the crisis, I called out to Suradel, spitting the starter I didn’t want to say.

At that moment, Theodore, who had arrived right in front of me, grabbed my arm.

Bare skin not covered by clothing.

It was a brief moment, but I instinctively realized that it was already too late to turn back.

“…Lia!”

Suradel appeared in front of me in the blink of an eye.

The problem was that it was already too late.

Theodore had already made bare skin contact with me, and his gaze towards me had changed completely before I knew it.

Pak-!

Before Suradel could comprehend the situation, he removed Theodore’s hand and embraced me.

As Suradel hurriedly examined my body to see if there were any injuries, his face stiffened.

It was because he noticed blood coming out of my bruised knee.

Turning his head, he looked at Theodore at the same time he casted healing magic.

“Theodore, explain the situation.”

Theodore’s eyes, which had been fixed on me for a while like he had lost his mind, returned to normal at the sound of Suradel’s voice.

“…Ha, that’s what I want to say. Did you know that this is inside Wulf’s mansion?”

“Lia is hurt, do I need to know that?”

Theodore’s eyebrows twitched at the way Suradel overprotected me.

“Rather than that, the title ‘Darling’ earlier. What is that? It’s very irritating.”

“It’s as you have heard.”

I shut Suradel’s mouth as he shamelessly admitted that he was the owner of the title.

“Don’t be silly, let’s go. I’m injured.”

At that, Suradel shrugged and casted another magic.

“My darling says she doesn’t want to be here any more.”

One side of Suradel’s mouth raised crookedly as he told Theodore.

“Let’s talk about the rest later.”

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Returning to the Weil mansion, I wept in front of Suradel.

“Su, can’t I just live like this for the rest of my life?”

It turned out that I really got a thorn in my palm when I fell in the Wulf mansion.

Thanks to Suradel’s healing magic after seeing only my injured knee, the thorn in my palm became more firmly embedded.

So, I entrusted the task of removing the thorn to Suradel…

But just touching it hurt so much that tears welled up in my eyes.

“Ah! Suradel, stop. It hurts…!!”

“But it was Lia who asked first. It’s hard to stop now.”

“I didn’t expect it to be this big!”

Suradel soothed me with a soft yet firm voice.

“Lia, do you really want me to quit? Do you want it to stay like this?”

“Ah! Are you moving sneakily?”

“Sorry. Your frowning face is so cute that I didn’t even realize…”

I was dying of pain because of the thorn, and I hated him for talking about cuteness.

Struggling, I tried to free my wrist from his grip.

“I was wrong for trusting you! Let go of me!”

“Lia, if you make a wrong move, it’ll go deeper…!”

Tak-!

I swung my hand wildly and bumped into the wrong place.

“Ah!”

“Lia, are you okay?”

Suradel hurriedly checked my palm, and what he said next was shocking.

“What should we do? I think it went deeper…”

In the end, I denied reality and chose to run away.

“I-I won’t do it, it hurts so much. I’m scared…!”

“Lia, even if you insist on that, nothing will be solved. Even if it’s painful, just close your eyes and try.”

But Suradel was faster than me. He put me on a chair and pressed my shoulders to keep me from running away.

I knew I had to remove the thorn, but fear crept over my determination.

Wasn’t the reason why the thorn was planted deeper in the first place because he recklessly cast a healing spell?

I didn’t want to scream loudly that I wouldn’t do it like a child.

What I was saying was… if the thorn wasn’t this big, I would have endured without blinking an eye because I was used to injections.

With tears hanging from my eyes, I glared fiercely at Suradel.

“But what if it hurts too much? You are just trying to touch me without consideration… I hate you so much.”

Then, at a loss, Suradel wiped away my tears. 

“Ah… Sorry. Did you feel forced? Lia, don’t cry. It’s all my fault. I didn’t mean to hurt you on purpose.”

“…….”

I didn’t respond, I just sobbed quietly.

Suradel patted my back and said in a more cautious voice.

“Be patient for a little while. I’ll try to make it as painless as possible for you. I’ll cast healing magic right after it’s over, so the pain will be short-lived. Okay?”

“…….”

Despite being flustered, he kindly soothed me. My heart softened.

I closed my eyes tightly in desperation and held out the hurt hand.

“Do it.”

I could feel Suradel slowly reaching over.

And…

“Hah…!”

As soon as the thorn was pulled out, Suradel cast a healing spell.

Fortunately, it healed quickly, so the pain was short-lived.

I shuddered at the thorn that Suradel pulled out with tweezers.

That long, big thing was stuck in the palm of my hand. No wonder it hurt so much.

“You did well, Lia.”

After patting my back for a moment and praising me, Suradel got to the point.

“So, why did you go to the Wulf mansion?”

…This was the real beginning.

At my silence, Suradel stared at me, silently asking if I was really not going to tell him.

I let out a sigh that seemed to have come from the depths of my lungs and revealed.

“Hunting competition.”

“Huh.”

“That day, I ‘accidentally’ found the dying Theodore. I thought he would die if I left him as it is, so I saved him with the half-elixir you gave me.”

I examined Suradel’s expression for a moment.

He didn’t seem upset that I used the half-elixir on Theodore.

I continued, somewhat reassured.

“But he tried to imprint something on me after I saved him, so I hit him on the head, knocked him out, and ran away.”

“…It wouldn’t have been so bad if you didn’t let him get up again.”

No, then there would be no point in saving his life with the half-elixir.

“Anyway, I forgot about Theodore after that, but then I heard that he had an incomplete imprint, so I went to the Wulf mansion to check it out.”

“Hmm.”

“But Theodore, who was lying down like a patient, suddenly got up and our eyes met. Like what? That’s why I called you… I fell while running away.”

“Then, did Theodore, who caught you then, completely imprint on you?”

“Uh. Maybe… so? As soon as his skin came into contact with mine, the look in his eyes changed completely.”

“Aha.”

Upon learning the whole story, Suradel laughed heartily.

“The bottom line is that he dared to do the shameless and rude thing of imprinting on you, who saved his life?”

“Huh? Uhh… yes.”

Of course, there was a little, very little, of my fault for going into the Wulf family’s grounds and trying to confirm it, but it was true.

Seeing my bewildered face, Suradel made a deep smile.

“An uninvited guest broke in, but don’t worry, Lia. No one can separate us.”

‘….Do you know that to me, you are both the same obsessive men.’

I let out a sigh.

In the end, it seemed that the situation I feared arrived.

Stuck between Suradel and Theodore and suffer.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Meanwhile…

Bella, who had a fight with Primo, heard various rumors that have been circulating in the center from the servant.

Some of them made Bella doubt her ears.

“What? Suradel and Lia are like that? They already had a good night together?”

It was certainly welcome news that the relationship between the two was closer than she thought.

But Bella was furious.

No matter how Suradel was in his prime and his desires could boil over because he didn’t pay attention to a woman for a long time…

Hasn’t it been a while since the other person was humanized?

‘You’re not an animal, and if you love it, you should know how to proceed slowly with time!’

‘That innocent child…!’

Bella headed to Lia’s room, thinking that she couldn’t let it be.

She was going to advise her that it was good to trust Suradel, but she did not have to be dragged along.

Just as she was about to knock, she heard a conversation, suggesting Lia was not alone in her room.

The words… were significant.

“Ah! Suradel, stop it. It hurts…!!”

In an unimaginable situation, Bella’s thought-circuit stopped for a moment.

Even the words that followed were all the more spectacular.

Suradel, who was somewhat pushy, and Lia, who was sobbing in pain in the end.

When Lia showed tears, Suradel finally grasped the situation and seemed to soothe her, but…

Bella felt sorry for Lia, who was kind and naive to accept the apology because she thought it was sincere.

More than anything else, Suradel’s double face was shocking.

Then, all of a sudden, Bella realized that continuing to eavesdrop on this conversation was something she shouldn’t do to Lia, and she hurriedly left.

“Crazy, crazy…!”

It seemed that she had raised her child the wrong way.