She could see him, but unfortunately she couldn’t get across.
This swamp was too big. The swamp monster was more than ten meters away from the shore, and she was just an ordinary person with no equipment at all, so naturally she couldn’t go over to check his condition. She could only hope the swamp monster would come over by himself.
But looking at that shut-down state of his right now, Meili really suspected he might be hibernating.
She stood beside a clump of withered grass and shouted for a while, and the swamp monster didn’t react for a long time.
Standing so long her legs went numb, and seeing the sky growing worse and worse, she could only turn around and head back.
As she walked, she unintentionally looked back — a figure was following behind her — the swamp monster was actually awake, and even took the initiative to follow.
In the swamp, he moved very fast. Meili only stopped to wait a moment, and he had already arrived in front of her.
Meili showed a smile, “Were you sleeping just now? I called you and you didn’t respond at all.”
As she spoke, she reached out curiously and touched his arm, wanting to see if he had frozen as hard as an ice sculpture.
The result was still soft and cold, with a thin layer of white frost condensed on the surface.
All over his body, he only had a strip of cloth wrapped around his waist. The rest was exposed skin. Just looking at the frost on his body made Meili feel cold.
She didn’t know whether he felt cold or not, but she silently took off the shawl she was wearing. With a flick of her hand, she draped it over the swamp monster’s body.
The amaranth-red checkered shawl hung loosely on him, looking somewhat funny. The terrifying atmosphere around him was completely ruined.
Meili shrank her neck and tightened the scarf around herself. She gave the swamp monster her shawl, and in this cold wind she felt even colder. In just a moment, her cheeks felt as if they were being scraped by knives.
“I only came to see how you were. The weather is bad, so I’ll go back first. I’ll come to see you next time.”
Saying that, she stomped her feet, preparing to run back.
The swamp monster slowly looked at the checkered shawl draped on himself, then looked at the girl whose hair was blown messily by the wind. Suddenly, he stepped onto the path and left the swamp.
Meili was still wondering what he was going to do when a shadow covered her.
The tall swamp monster bent his back, like an umbrella sheltering over her head. The shawl draped on him hung down like two curtains, blocking the wind from both sides for her.
…He always seemed to do things that surprised her.
She walked forward, and this moving “protective umbrella” followed her forward. His speed on land was very slow, so Meili also slowed her steps, matching his pace.
The two of them moved slowly across the open wilderness. When the swamp monster walked, he made no sound. As long as she looked up, she could see his chin and his cheek.
Even though the wind was still very cold, Meili felt an inexplicable heat rise from her neck, burning all the way up her face.
With her sides and back blocked off, the only thing Meili could see was the road ahead. From the gloomy sky, tiny ash-like specks of snow were falling.
“It’s snowing.” Meili stretched out her hand to catch some. The snow ash fell into her palm and melted.
This was the first snowfall she had seen in this world.
“It feels like it’ll snow a lot. Do you want to go back to the swamp from just now? I can go back on my own, you don’t need to see me off.”
Meili stretched out her arm and touched the swamp monster’s cheek.
His gray eyeballs looked at her, frozen in place, his steps continuing without pause.
“Alright then.” Meili watched as the snow fell harder and harder, and very soon the snow ash turned into flake after flake of snow.
Finally, she arrived home. There wasn’t much snow on her, but on the swamp monster’s body and head a thin layer of snow had already accumulated.
She jumped up and patted the snow off him, tightened her scarf, quickly walked a few steps ahead, and waved goodbye to the swamp monster.
But the swamp monster still followed her.
Meili hesitated a bit. Did he want to follow her home? That didn’t seem very good.
—So should she draw out a territory for him in the garden and let him freely turn into a mud pool there, or lead him into the house?
If he stayed inside for a long time, would he turn the floor into a mud pool?
Meili was thinking about these endless questions, then looked again at the swamp monster. What she was actually most worried about was that if he entered the house, would Lady Pegg beat him? Seeing how he never fought back, wasn’t he going to be beaten into a puddle?
“Do you really want to come home with me?” Meili asked.
If he insisted, she could still think of a way.
The swamp monster only raised his hand and lifted the shawl on his body, offering it to her. The meaning was very clear.
Meili: “……” Tch, in the end she was just being sentimental on her own.
She grabbed the shawl on the swamp monster, pinched the two corners left and right, and quickly tied a dead knot.
Then she turned and ran back home, ignoring him.
If he had the ability, let him chase after her to return the shawl to her then.
Seeing that the swamp monster’s figure disappeared when she looked back, Meili didn’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed.
After all these months, this guy wasn’t as stubborn as before.
Back home, she lit the fireplace. She sat beside it warming herself, staring at the flames in a daze.
A spark burst out from the fire with a pop. She suddenly laughed and muttered to herself, “So cute, I might as well call you Cute from now on.”
The black cat Feicui padded over to the fireplace and lazily lay down.
Meili came back to her senses and saw it. She raised her hand to pick it up, but it dodged, so she put her hand down in frustration.
“Why do you never let me hold you? Could it be that you know I’m not the original owner?”
The black cat ignored her.
Meili unconsciously glanced again at the basement entrance in the corner, and the smile on her face faded.
At night, the snow outside was already so heavy one couldn’t see anything three meters away. After dinner, Meili sat by the fireplace warming herself, the cozy firelight making her sleepy.
Several sunlight elves growing from the gorse branches played in the flames. One joking around with its companions backed up to her feet. Meili quickly moved her feet away to avoid her clothes being burned through by them.
She suspected these sunlight elves had a grudge against her. Just a touch and she would get burned. They could touch the carpet, the floor, or anywhere else with no problem, but the moment they touched the clothes she was wearing, they would burn a hole.
She was scared, she couldn’t afford to provoke them.
“Bang bang—” Suddenly, the knocking on the door startled Meili. She sat up from the chair and looked toward the door, alert.
At this time, in this weather, who would knock on her door?
Could it be something blown by the wind hitting the door?
It couldn’t possibly be the swamp monster, right?
Meili tilted her head to listen, and heard two more bangs. She stood up, picked up a shovel leaning in the corner, approached the door, and lowered her voice to ask, “Who is it?”
“Hello, I am passing by. The wind and snow are too strong and it’s difficult to travel. I’d like to borrow a place to rest for a moment.” An elderly voice came from outside, very polite.
Aside from that voice and the wind and snow, there was no other sound.
Unfortunately, the door didn’t have a peephole, so she couldn’t look outside through one.
Meili hesitated for a moment, but still held up the shovel and opened a crack in the door to look out.
At first glance, she did not see the old man she imagined. Outside was empty.
“Hmm?” She had just voiced her confusion when the old man’s voice came again — from below.
“I am here.”
Meili looked down and saw… an owl.
Small, round, with white ear-like feathers, like two eyebrows flying outward.
“Hello,” the owl said.
Meili’s first reaction: “…An owl can talk!”
Owl: “Hahaha, I am a messenger of the forest, different from ordinary owls, of course I can talk.”
Meili tapped her brow and opened the door to let him in.
There was nothing surprising about this. She had already seen all sorts of monsters and fairies. What was strange about an animal talking? If the house’s black cat Feicui spoke one day, she wouldn’t be surprised either.
She closed the door, and the owl had already flown in front of the fireplace, spreading its wings and shaking off its feathers. While shaking, it chatted with her in that kindly old voice.
“This snow is falling so heavily. When I flew from the south, there wasn’t any snow yet. Now that I’ve reached here, I can’t even see the road. The forest is already very close, but I’m about to freeze stiff. I saw the firelight here and came over… I really must thank you, young girl.”
“It’s nothing. Do you need a towel to dry off?” Meili asked.
“Sure, thank you.”
Meili fetched it a cloth towel and even brought a cup of hot water, then sat back in her chair.
The owl groomed itself, let out a long breath, and looked very comfortable.
He studied Meili, then looked at the room illuminated by the orange firelight, and suddenly said, “Young girl, your house carries a cursed aura.”
“A curse of death… ah, and human unwillingness and resentment…”
“A strong sadness, coming from a young soul…”
The owl’s elderly voice sounded a bit mysterious. Its golden, ringed eyes expanded and contracted in the firelight.
Then, suddenly, its tone changed. “Oh, oh, yes, I also smell mice… talking about this makes me a bit hungry…”
“Young girl, would you mind if I ate some mice?”
Meili: “…I don’t mind.”
The owl was quick. In less than three minutes, it had caught the mouse Meili had never been able to catch, swallowed it in a few bites, and the satisfied expression it showed made Meili suddenly want a midnight snack.
“Ah, right. To thank you for letting me come in and warm myself, I’ll give you a feather.” The owl pecked at its own wing with its beak and pulled out a gray-white feather.
“When you miss someone very much, this feather can convey your longing.”
Meili woke up on the sofa. The fireplace had long since burned out, and she was the only one in the house. Bright white light from outside came in through the window.
The owl who had come in last night to rest by the fire had already left.
She hadn’t gone back to her room last night, just stayed by the fireplace, chatting with the owl. His temper was quite good, and he was willing to answer many of her questions, telling her about all kinds of fairies in the forest.
They even talked about the swamp monster.
Regarding the swamp monster, the owl didn’t say much. He only told her that swamp monsters were very difficult to deal with. When fairies saw him they would all avoid him. He was one of the most unwelcome kinds of monsters.
Because wherever the swamp monster walked, if enough time passed, that place would turn into swamp, swallowing the habitats of other fairies and humans. The swamp monster did not like to move, so generally he wouldn’t leave his own swamp too far, staying in one place for a very long time.
…So wasn’t that just being a shut-in.
Meili got up with a blanket around herself and opened the door to look at the snow.
After a night of snowfall, the outside world was now completely white.
Outside the garden, a figure covered in snow was wandering about. The amaranth-red shawl stood out strikingly against the snow.
Meili almost smiled instinctively and ran out.
“Mister Cute, I boldly guess… you came to see me, right!”
