WTBFCY Chapter 12

Following Noah, Regina stepped out of the forest path to find a carriage waiting. The old coachman who drove it had dozed off while Noah waited, his slouched back nodding gently with each passing moment.

"Come on, get in."

"Where are we going?"

Noah opened the carriage door for her. Regina asked as she accepted his help climbing inside. He followed her up and answered straightforwardly.

"East. But we'll stop in the capital first for something I need to handle."

"We're taking this carriage all the way to the capital?"

The Evelyn Barony was considerably far from the capital. The distance was too great to cover by carriage, so Regina asked in surprise. Noah shook his head.

"This carriage only goes as far as the train station. There's no station in this territory, which is ridiculous for a place like this."

"It's not that remote. We have a decent-sized town here, and we produce an enormous amount of wheat!"

Noah grumbled lightly and tapped the carriage wall. The old coachman began moving the horses. Regina protested, flustered, but he simply folded his arms and closed his eyes as if indifferent.

"Fine, I'm going to sleep now. You can close your eyes, rest, or do whatever you want."

"I still have so many questions. Won't you tell me more?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Don't be annoying. If you keep this up, I might change my mind."

Noah cracked one eye open briefly, then closed it again and turned his body to the side. Faced with that resolute attitude, Regina had no choice but to swallow her frustration. If he suddenly decided it would be better to eliminate her, that would be catastrophic.

Regina turned to look out the window. The endless forest was gradually receding into the distance. Only then did she realize just how exhausted she truly was. She leaned back against the carriage and closed her eyes.

It wasn't long before Regina slumped like a water-logged cotton ball and fell asleep. Noah opened his eyes to look at her.

When he'd absorbed her power, one thing had been clear: Regina was definitely a black faerie. But there were oddities. More than one or two.

'The fact that she absorbed another faerie. The way her appearance barely reflected the original body's influence, even if she was born in the Faerie King's Forest. And the fact that she repelled my power.'

Noah clenched and unclenched his fist, remembering the shock of that moment. A fascinating woman. Maybe even a mutation.

Noah stared at Regina's sleeping face for a while, then closed his eyes again.

His power was still stronger than hers.

'...If she seems dangerous, I can just eliminate her.'

He had time, after all. Plenty of it.

"Hey, wake up. We're here."

At the sound of someone tapping on the carriage door and calling to her, Regina jerked awake from her dream, eyes snapping open.

"...What?"

Still not fully conscious, she looked around with a dazed expression. Noah tossed a small leather bag to her. Regina caught it hastily.

Thump!

"What is this?"

"Your things. Since you haven't molted yet, you need things like humans do. I prepared some for you."

He climbed out of the carriage first, then gestured for her to follow. Regina got to her feet unsteadily and descended. He shouldered his own bag and walked ahead. When she saw the old coachman pocketing the carriage fare and turning to leave, Regina hurried after Noah in quick steps.

"Is this the train station? I've never ridden a train before."

"Not surprising."

The massive building bustled with people. Had she only ever seen this many people at festivals? Regina looked around with wide eyes, and Noah let out a small laugh before responding.

"What? Are you making fun of me?"

Regina pouted at him. Noah just shrugged and approached the station master who stood checking tickets in front of the train.

"Two tickets to the capital."

He handed over the tickets he'd arranged for in advance through the coachman. The station master checked them and tore along the perforation.

"Have a good journey."

"Thank you."

When the station master tipped his hat and greeted them, Regina returned the gesture without thinking. The station master smiled warmly and offered his hand to help her board the train. The interior was wider than she'd expected.

"This way."

Noah went ahead. Regina hurried after him. Large windows lined the left side of the train corridor, while compartments lined the right. He checked the number on their ticket, entered one of the cabins, and closed the door behind Regina before tossing their luggage up carelessly.

"It's bigger than I thought? And the chairs look so cushioned. Is this compartment just for us?"

"Yeah, it's royal class."

"Are you going to sleep again?"

The moment they arrived, Noah was already settling into a chair and closing his eyes. Regina furrowed her brow. Didn't this man ever get tired of sleeping?

"There's nothing else to do anyway. Why don't you sleep more? You were completely passed out in the carriage—you weren't even conscious."

At those words, Regina's face flushed red.

"Passed out?! How can you say something so rude?! I slept plenty. Thanks to you, I had a strange dream and now I feel unsettled. I don't want to sleep again. Isn't there anything to see around here?"

"A dream? ...What kind of dream?"

Noah reacted to the word. A faerie having dreams. That was funny. Unusual, like everything else about her. His eyes opened, and an expression of genuine interest crossed his face. Seeing this, Regina felt a little embarrassed. She cleared her throat and adopted a prim expression.

"It was just... I dreamed I was a maid. I worked in an estate for over ten years, and then one day a young coachman came to work there. I saw him steal jewels from the house, but then..."

"But then?"

When she trailed off trying to remember the end of the dream, Noah prompted her. Regina looked at him, then reluctantly recalled the final part.

The coachman was a handsome young man. Maybe that's why her heart had wavered. She'd been born the eldest in a poor family and had come to the estate to work as a maid while still young, just to feed her younger siblings. She couldn't resist when he approached her with kindness.

She'd noticed something was wrong. He only ever asked about when the other servants worked, their routes through the house, the layout of the interior. Whenever she showed doubt, he'd smile sweetly and whisper that once he had enough money, they'd run away together and be happy.

Once he had enough money.

Maybe she'd known he was a thief. Maybe she'd imagined that when he stole the jewels from the estate, he'd take her with him and they'd live happily together. Maybe that's why she'd watched from the shadows that night as he dug into the garden soil and buried the jewels there.

She'd recognized the spot—beneath the flower tree the lady of the house cherished. The jewels would be discovered. She'd decided to move them, planning to tell the man later. To run away with him. To tell him they could be happy together.

She'd snuck out in the dead of night to dig up the earth when a dark shadow fell across her back. When the maid turned, the man stood there with a monstrous, twisted face. Thinking she was stealing the jewels he'd buried, overcome with terrible rage, he reached toward her before she could even explain herself.

The maid's shadow stretched long beneath the moonlight, growing shorter.

It was pitiful. Her heart ached at how pathetically the young maid's dreams had ended.

"What was the man's name?"

"What?"

"The young coachman in your dream. What was his name?"

Regina blinked, then the name came to her. "...Robert. The maid's name was Betty."

Noah went silent. Then, with those blue eyes, he regarded her carefully and quietly.

"Why... why are you looking at me like that?"

Regina shrank back, shuddering at the unsettling feeling his gaze brought. He turned his eyes away.

"Like what? I'm just... curious."

"If you keep giving me those looks, someone's going to die from fear."

"You tried to kill someone—literally tried. Anyway, can you absorb faerie memories?"

"What?"

Regina's mouth fell open in shock. What was he talking about?

"That maid. The maid who turned into a monster at the Jenkins estate—her name was 'Betty.' The coachman who was temporarily hired was named 'Robert.' I think your dream is actually a memory that black faerie absorbed from the maid."

"I... what?"

Her confusion was genuine, so Noah's eyes narrowed as if looking at an idiot. Then he sighed and held up one finger, making a gesture of pinching it with his other hand.

"Look. This is the maid, and this maid was eaten by a black faerie. Then you swallowed the black faerie. So the memory transferred."

"Oh, I understand that part, but... why do I have that kind of power?"

Regina waved her hand dismissively, clearly not that foolish. Noah just shrugged.

"I don't know either. I've never seen a black faerie like you. In the first place, fairies absorbing fairies? It's not even kinship."

"What...!"

Realizing she'd accidentally eaten one of her own kind, Regina lost her words and made an upset expression. Noah leaned back in his chair.

"Worrying about it won't help—neither of us knows anything. Just go with it. When you can't resist hunger and eat a human to molt, I'll hunt you down. End of story."

Regina had meant to be angry, but she didn't know what to say. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Noah, having lost interest, folded his arms and closed his eyes. After a long pause, Regina spoke as if talking to herself.

"...There's no way I'd eat a human."

In truth, she was confused about what she even was. Regina murmured like a promise to herself. I'm a person.

The sound of the train moving was loud—clack-clack, clack-clack—but by now she'd grown used to it enough that it wasn't particularly bothersome. Regina got up wearily and left the compartment. In the corridor, she found people who had lowered chairs by the windows and sat watching the scenery outside.

Regina followed their example, lowering one of the corridor chairs and sitting down. Resting her chin on the window frame and looking out, memories of everything that had happened in a single day came flooding back. A life turned upside down in an instant.

"...What's going to happen to me now?"

Like the train wheels thundering on endlessly, not knowing where they'd land. She was just being dragged along at that speed, helpless and disoriented.

Not knowing where it would take her.