Chapter 32 [Couple's Interaction]
On the same afternoon, standing in front of the neatly arranged flowerpots, Lex carefully controlled the amount of water poured into the pots, while Mela followed behind him, bending down to examine each of the pink flower buds in front of her.
Through the still-closed, paper-thin petals, one can vaguely see the hidden stamens, suggesting that the blooming of this batch of pink tobacco flowers will soon be a thing of the past.
Normally, Mela would have been overjoyed by this, but now, she sighed deeply at the thriving flower buds.
Seeing that Lex didn't respond as expected, Mela could only sigh heavily again.
Lex, who had guessed what Mela was going to say, deliberately ignored her: "...What's wrong? Is there something wrong with the flower?"
“It’s not a problem with the flowers, it’s a problem with Silas,” Mela emphasized.
"It hasn't returned to the cabin for two whole days since its sixty-seventh failed attempt to approach Miss Lily."
Mela believed that poor Silas must have been completely devastated and never recovered.
As the owner, and as a long-time roommate of Silas, Lex, who has a deep bond with him, shouldn't he take care of it?
"If it comes back for dinner on time these next two days, and then flies away again after eating, that would count as it never coming back," Lex added expressionlessly.
This is also why he wasn't as worried about Silas as Mela was.
Lex thinks that the reason Silas has been hiding outside and refusing to come back these past two days is probably because he feels too ashamed.
And he was worried about being openly mocked by Mela.
They might as well hide outside and take the opportunity to play the victim.
But we still need to eat.
When it's time for dinner, Silas flies back on time and enjoys the freshly cooked food in his bowl with great relish.
After finishing dinner, flying away in front of Mela and Lex was perhaps its last act of stubbornness in trying to maintain its self-esteem.
Lex thought that it wouldn't be long before Sylas would recover and reappear in high spirits.
Moreover, "this setback might actually be a good thing for Silas. At least it can help him face reality and stop trying to pursue objects that will never reciprocate his feelings."
Lex analyzed it from a rational perspective.
“Does it sound like you think Silas should give up on this relationship?” Mela asked.
"To continue to pester someone after being rejected by them is hardly the behavior expected of a nobleman." Whenever Lex didn't want to answer a question, he would come up with an exceptionally high-sounding excuse.
Lex couldn't quite articulate his own thoughts at that moment, but he instinctively felt that he couldn't just confess to Mela like that.
A faint sixth sense was reminding him to be careful what he said.
Sometimes when Mela was in a good mood, she would let Lex brush her off, but now, Mela insisted on getting to the bottom of it. "Who wants to hear what you're saying? Just tell me what you really think."
Lex: "..."
All right.
“That’s what I think,” Lex admitted.
"If it were me, I would never persist in pursuing someone who repeatedly rejects me like Silas did."
In Lex's opinion, Silas should have given up long ago.
People often call this unnecessary persistence romantic, and many timeless poems specifically praise stories of how perseverance leads to true love.
However, as proud as Lex was, he never bothered to offer his true heart, letting his so-called sweetheart discard him like trash time and time again.
He would rather take back this love than be reduced to begging for mercy.
"I always feel that if you were ever rejected by the person you love, you would do something even more irrational than Silas," Mela said quietly.
“However,” before Lex could retort, Mela added, “that’s something that happens after you leave here anyway.”
After all, there are no other women in this dark forest besides Mela for the time being.
Unlike in the royal palace, where noble ladies of high status, dressed in gorgeous gowns and with exquisite makeup, would always appear in Lex's sight, shyly calling his name—
"Your Highness."
As Mela spoke, she couldn't help but laugh at herself.
"Watch out—" Lex quickly reached out and pulled Mela back, otherwise she would have fallen backward in a squatting position.
Mela stood up, but instead threw herself into Lex's arms, inhaling the clean scent of soap on him.
A seventeen-year-old boy is no longer far from adulthood; in fact, he is already very close. Therefore, his body, covered by his clothes, is naturally mature, with supple and elastic muscles.
Mela even bumped her nose and it hurt a little.
Similarly, Lex's nose was filled with Mela's scent, the aroma of herbs mixed with a woman's unique warmth and fragrance, so much so that he was momentarily lost in thought.
“Lex,” Mela suddenly called his name, “should we ask Ducwato to buy us soap again?”
Mela said very seriously.
Given Mela's usual carelessness, her dress would inevitably get stained with deep marks of varying sizes, which would be impossible to clean without soap.
"...The soap I bought last month is almost finished."
Lex snapped out of his daze and released Mela.
He had originally planned to talk to Mela about this in a few days, but since she brought it up herself, it saved Lex the trouble of reminding her.
Despite this minor incident, even though Mela didn't seem to care, Lex couldn't help but steer the conversation back to Silas, as if that would allow him to ignore the emotions he shouldn't have been feeling.
"...Speaking of which, even if Silas gets what he wants, this relationship probably won't last long, right?"
Seeing Mela looking over, Lex added, "After all, it can't communicate with Silas, can it?"
This is also why Lex said before that Lily wouldn't possibly respond to Silas.
Silas is a miracle, the only talking raven in the world. Its ability to communicate back and forth with Mela and Lex proves that it possesses wisdom no less than that of ordinary people.
Miss Lily, however, was just an ordinary white dove. She couldn't understand what Silas was saying, and her cooing was incomprehensible to him.
Therefore, Lex believed that Silas's affections were entirely wishful thinking on its part as a bird.
This makes it even less likely that things will continue.
Otherwise, when Silas finally realizes that he can never truly connect with his lover, the blow will be even greater than it is now.
“According to you, if Silas needs a lover it can communicate with, it can only be a human, right? But,” Mela gently smoothed the wrinkles in her skirt caused by her earlier movement, “would anyone accept falling in love with a raven?”
Upon hearing this, Lex fell silent.
He suddenly realized that Silas was actually alone in this world.
To other birds, Silas speaks a language as strange as humans; but to humans, Silas is simply an overly intelligent bird.
So, what about Mela?
She was lonely too.
Unlike other witches whose identities were predetermined from birth, Mela had lived among people for over a decade and was accustomed to that life. However, after becoming a witch and unfortunately having her identity exposed, she was forced to live in seclusion with Silas.
If Lex hadn't chosen to venture into the Dark Forest, would Mela still be living that kind of life with Silas?
Thus, he had no one else to talk to except for Ducwato, who occasionally visited.
Thinking of this, Lex couldn't help but observe Mela's eyes, trying to glimpse her true inner self hidden beneath that green lake.
What is Mela really thinking?
Do she sometimes feel lonely in the quiet of the night?
"Huh? What are you looking at?"
Noticing Lex's gaze, Mela curiously moved closer and looked at him up close.
Lex, on the other hand, was so frightened that he took several steps back.
"What's wrong? Didn't you want to look into my eyes? I came closer, why are you backing away?" Mela asked with a smile, her eyes gleaming with mockery.
She was just teasing Lex on purpose.
Seeing this, even though he knew what was going on, Lex couldn't help but show a strange expression. "I'm seventeen years old now," he emphasized. "Do you still think I'm the same kid I was back then?"
Otherwise, why would you feel that you don't need to maintain the proper distance between a man and a woman?
“I know,” Mela said casually, her appraising gaze quickly sweeping over Lex’s Adam’s apple and moving downwards. “If he weren’t seventeen, he probably wouldn’t have such a beautiful figure, would he?”
"I could feel it just now, it's very firm muscle. It seems that all these years of training have paid off."
Mela emphasized this in a teasing tone.
Then Lex's ears turned bright red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Mera!"
Lex called out Mela's name with a rare hint of anger.
Mela tilted her head, looking completely unconcerned about what Lex might do to her.
Seeing her like this, Lex's anger truly outweighed his shame.
"Mera!"
This time, it was Silas who hurriedly flew back to make the call.
Its appearance interrupted the faint pink scent floating in the air.
Silas ignored Lex's presence and rushed headlong into Mela's arms.
"Silas, what happened to you? You've lost a lot of feathers from your wings again. Did you get into a fight with another bird?"
Mela looked at Silas in her arms in surprise.
Despite its injuries, it held its head high, looking incredibly arrogant.
"Hmph." Silas hummed happily twice.
"You guessed right, I did go to fight with other birds, but I had a reason for it this time."
This is different from the last time when they got beaten up for spying on other crow couples.
"This time, I stepped forward to save Miss Lily!"
Silas excitedly dropped this bombshell.
"ah?"
Silas's words caused Mela and Lex to exchange bewildered glances, both of them looking on with question marks above their heads.
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