Outside the yard, a swamp monster poked his head in. He held a shoe full of mud in one hand, and a lamp in the other — both were things Meili had dropped on the path when she went to look for him earlier.
As soon as Meili stepped outside, a shoe appeared right in front of her nose.
“Alright then, thank you for finding it for me.” Meili pinched the shoe and set it aside, letting it soak together with the other shoe.
The swamp monster followed her, walking with her to the little pond she had specially guided water into. Nearby was the vegetable garden.
Looking at how half of her garden was still empty, Meili’s hand holding the ladle began to itch.
“Cute, can you help me with something?”
Hearing the word “cute,” the swamp monster handed his hand to her.
Meili let out a mischievous chuckle, pulling him to the edge of the garden, making him stand in the center of the plot, and then tried pouring water on him.
Because of the previous lesson, afraid that one careless moment would dissolve him on the spot, Meili stopped as soon as she saw the “bathwater” almost flowing fully into the various parts of the garden.
She had imagined this scene for a long time, and held back until today to act.
In the end, she still did such a ruthless thing to him.
“I’ll be responsible.” Meili held back her laughter, dragging the swamp monster, who had been inexplicably bathed, out of the soil again.
The swamp monster didn’t understand what nonsense she was saying. His expression was blank and very easy to deceive. Seeing him like this made her want to tease him. Meili pulled a blade of grass from the side, braided a big ring, and added a wildflower to it.
Then she held up this “ring,” lightly cleared her throat, and asked solemnly, “After what happened yesterday, I think I’ve come to understand you more deeply. I think our relationship should take a step further now. May I ask if you are willing to be my boyfriend, Mister Cute?”
Hearing the word “cute,” the swamp monster offered his hand to her.
Meili burst out laughing, holding his large hand. Laughing, she slid the ring onto his finger — because the quality was too poor, it fell apart the moment she put it on.
Meili: “…Ahem, I’ll make you another one.”
She made a sturdier grass ring again. As she slowly pushed it onto that gray-white finger, the laughter on her face slightly restrained, and an unclear trace of melancholy suddenly rose.
She seemed to have fallen for this silent monster, yet she couldn’t be sure he understood human emotions.
Doing such a half-impulsive, half-playful thing — giving him a ring made of grass — was perhaps her greatest courage and her deepest fear.
The green grass ring rested on his finger. Meili held his long finger, stayed quiet for a moment, then looked up and smiled at the swamp monster. “…Alright.”
“I’ll take that as you agreeing.”
“Anyway, you’re not losing anything, right? Getting such a cute girlfriend for free.”
Meili’s next sentence suddenly stuck in her throat, because the swamp monster used the hand wearing the ring to gently caress her cheek. It was the first time he took the initiative to touch her face.
Flowers in the garden were blooming, attracting many tiny butterflies. Water droplets rolled on the freshly watered green seedlings.
Meili blinked, snapping back from her daze, and held his hand. “You learned that from me again.”
She had occasionally reached out to touch his face before, and now he would do it too. Many of his actions were things he learned from her.
Thinking a little back, she could discover that compared to the beginning, the swamp monster had changed a lot and she was the same.
Her feelings for him had shifted rapidly and naturally from fear to fondness. Sometimes even she was astonished when she thought about it.
He was a frightening monster, a swamp monster hated by fairies and humans alike. But stripping away that terrifying appearance and the rumors — the swamp monster she came to know was like a lonely child.
The longing to be heard, to be seen, to be loved, to be accompanied.
Clumsy yet sincere.
The swamp monster imitated her, pulling a blade of grass from the ground to make a grass ring, and handed it to her.
Meili understood his meaning almost instantly. She didn’t take the grass blade, only smiled on purpose and said, “I give you a grass ring, and you give me just a piece of grass? I don’t want it, I don’t want it. Give it to me after you learn how to make a grass ring!”
Seeing she wouldn’t take it, the swamp monster clearly didn’t know what to do. His gray lips slightly parted, and he offered the grass toward her again.
Meili still didn’t take it, only extended one finger. The swamp monster placed the grass on her finger, and it slipped off lightly.
He bent down again to pick up the grass blade, then stood still holding it.
Meili: “…” She felt like she was bullying him.
Down by the vegetable garden stood two figures, clearly reflected in a pair of emerald-green eyes on the second floor.
She heard that ridiculous conversation below and saw the exchange they couldn’t imagine. In the once-clear green eyes, a layer of frost seemed to condense.
Meili hummed a cheerful tune as she walked into the house, and saw Mrs. Pegg, for once, downstairs in the daytime.
She looked Meili up and down with a new gaze, as though temporarily putting down her pride and coldness, truly taking Meili into her eyes. But even that gaze carried deep displeasure.
“Do you know how ridiculous the thing you are doing is?” Mrs. Pegg opened with such a sentence.
A layer of shadow lay between the two. Meili stood at the kitchen doorway, light beneath her feet. She faced Mrs. Pegg’s sharp gaze and said, “I’m doing something that makes me happy.”
“I’ve always left you alone, but you’d better not cause me trouble,” Mrs. Pegg said coldly.
“What am I doing that would trouble you?” Meili asked.
“That thing outside is trouble. Stop provoking it at will.” Mrs. Pegg spoke in a tone that allowed no refutation. She clearly didn’t want to hear Meili’s reply either. With graceful, dignified posture, she stepped back up the stairs to the second floor.
Meili shrugged and ignored her warning. She grabbed a basket from the kitchen and headed out.
The swamp monster was still waiting for her outside. Meili walked up and beside him, speaking quietly, “You were just disliked by your future mother-in-law. But it doesn’t matter. To me, she’s at most just a stepmother.”
“Rebelling against the stepmother is a classic fairy tale plot.”
The swamp monster was still staring at that grass blade, dazed.
Meili: “.…” Alright, let’s see how long you’ll keep being troubled over it.
───♡───
Aunt Maggie’s body was found. A simple funeral was held and she was buried in the cemetery.
Hesha attended the funeral, feeling sad, and came looking for her little playmate to talk.
Following that little-used path, she hadn’t even reached the garden cottage by the edge of the forest when she saw Meili sitting by a small stream, her hair covered with tiny flowers. A nearby patch of small white wildflowers had already been plucked bald.
“Meili, what happened to you?”
Meili brushed the flowers out of her hair and gave a dry laugh. “I… was playing with flowers.”
A moment ago, her hand itched and she picked a huge handful of wildflowers and tossed them onto the swamp monster. Then when she sat here washing her hands, without warning, the swamp monster began imitating her again — he plucked a huge bunch of wildflowers and dropped them right onto her head.
Now many tiny flowers were tangled in her hair and wouldn’t come out.
Seeing her friend like this, Hesha’s heavy mood lifted considerably. She stepped forward to help pick all the wildflowers out of Meili’s hair.
Meili led her toward the house. Taking advantage of her inattention, she quickly slapped the swamp monster’s hand. He was still holding a bunch of wildflowers he hadn’t thrown yet — if he tossed them now, he would definitely scare Hesha.
Warning the swamp monster, Meili turned her head back to talk to Hesha.
Hesha talked about what happened at the marketplace. When Meili walked slightly ahead of her, Hesha suddenly let out a soft sound, “Meili, why are there still a few flowers in your hair?” She had clearly cleaned them all just now.
Meili touched her own head. “I put them there myself.” Obviously, it was the swamp monster who put them there.
Hesha chatted absentmindedly for a while, but still couldn’t resist bringing up that matter. “Meili, you don’t know yet, right? Aunt Maggie’s body was found.”
Meili blinked, truly surprised. “Huh? Didn’t they say she sank into the swamp and couldn’t be found?”
In a low voice, Hesha said, “It’s very strange. Everyone’s discussing it. They’re all saying that Aunt Maggie was actually… killed by a witch, because some terrifying changes appeared on her corpse.”
This time, Meili’s surprise was even more genuine. “A witch? Do witches really exist?”
Hesha: “Everyone says they do, but I don’t really believe it. Actually…”
She hesitated, looking at Meili, wanting to speak but stopping.
Meili was puzzled. “What is it?”
They had already entered the garden. The flowers in Meili’s hair were on the verge of falling, her face carried a healthy flush, and her amber eyes looked at Hesha — clear and bright.
Hesha pressed her lips together and said vaguely, “Nothing.”
She stayed there for a while before going home. Meili cut a few flowers from the garden and gave them to her.
Hesha hugged the flowers back home. Her younger brother, Evan, leaned out from upstairs and saw the flowers in her arms. He hurriedly ran downstairs.
“Hesha, you went to that witch’s house again?”
Hesha immediately covered his mouth, shushing him, her expression full of disapproval. “Evan, stop saying that!”
Evan was still young. Being scolded by his sister, he pouted unwillingly. “Everyone says so. They say the Pegg lady who used to live there was actually a witch.”
Hesha: “Mrs. Pegg has already passed away. Now only Meili lives there. She’s a good girl, absolutely not a witch!”
Evan muttered, “But Barry and the others said Meili has become a witch just like her mother, and they said Aunt Maggie’s death was done by her…”
Hesha took the flowers in her hand and whacked him on the head. “Don’t follow them and spout nonsense!”
Seeing her huff and head upstairs with the flowers, Evan rubbed his nose and chased after her. “But Hesha, she’s a weird person. You shouldn’t go to that house by the forest again, it’s dangerous there.”
Hesha covered her ears, showing she refused to listen.
Aunt Maggie’s body had been found. Many people saw how her body had grown old, and also discovered her heart was missing. Somehow the rumor started spreading — Aunt Maggie had been killed by a witch.
Witches were evil. They could use mysterious powers to kill and would eat people’s hearts.
Because witches were strange in behavior, they were solitary. And here, the most solitary and eccentric people were the Pegg mother and daughter who lived at the edge of the forest.
“I’ve long suspected that the Pegg lady is a witch. Looking that beautiful, it must be to tempt people. That’s a witch’s ability!” a neighboring aunt said confidently.
A playmate who used to hang out with Meili also said, “I’ve long felt the current Meili is different from the old Meili. Such a change must be because she has turned into a witch too.”
There were many similar whispers, spreading secretly with Aunt Maggie’s death.
Hesha heard many such things and worried for Meili. She had been with Meili long enough to know that she was a friendly, hardworking, and kind girl. But she had no way to explain anything for her.
Originally, she came today wanting to tell Meili about this matter, but in the end, she couldn’t speak. Looking at the flowers in the vase, Hesha let out a worried sigh.
