‘I’m scared’

After going in the cold north, he became truly fierce.

“And there’s someone who came with me. Let’s meet with him and discuss our escape.”

Pandora picked up the jar and rubbed the sides.

“?”

But there was no response.

‘I’m sure that if you rub the jar, you can sense the direction of other life forms.’

Pandora blew on the jar and rubbed it vigorously. But there was still no response.

“Erf is not here.”

She thought they’d fallen into the maze together. Did she come alone?

Pandora suddenly felt overwhelmed at the thought of having to escape the maze alone with this ill-tempered Northern Grand Duke.

“Who’s Erf?”

“The …… Doctor?”

“But why is that in the form of a question?”

“Right.”

A doctor is a doctor but he’s a fake quack?

Or because their relationship wasn’t something that could be simply described by those plain five letters?

Pandora pondered, hugging the cat again.

???????? ?? ???

“What’s with the cat?”

Frederick asked.

“It’s my cat.”

“You’ve never had an animal in your house.”

“I’m going to have one from now on.”

But how does he know she’s never owned an animal?

She doesn’t even know that?

Pandora swallowed her doubts and rolled her eyes.

Frederick had apparently been keeping an eye on her ever since she’d reunited with him as an adult.

‘Vivian, the heroine, won’t like that.’

Thinking of the sassy redheaded Vivian reminded her of the fan art of Frederic created by the game’s players.

They loved how he was single-mindedly pursuing the heroine as the story progressed.

Wouldn’t they feel betrayed if they realized that he had a female friend that he was interested in?

Even though they were just friends from childhood, and it may not be a romantic emotion.

Shaking her head, Pandora looked up at the high wall of the maze and asked.

“Can you climb up there?”

“No. Not even I can.”

“Then can you cut a path through the wall?”

“Even if I cut, it keeps growing. The maze also changes shape constantly.”

“What about digging a tunnel and going down?”

“I hadn’t thought of that, but I don’t have much in the way of tools, and digging with a sword doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

“What can you do?”

“What?”

“It’s nothing. I don’t know what I can do.”

Pandora blurted out, changing the subject. Frederick narrowed his eyes and glared at her.

“How did you get into the painting?”

“Erf slammed my head into the canvas and……?”

“What? What is he, why would he hit a person, he’s a horrible person!”

“Don’t swear at our doctor!”

“Our? What do you mean ‘our’?”

“Yes! Why! What!”

“What are you doing with that doctor?”

Frederick’s eyes became ferocious. His fierce black eyes flared like fire.

‘What is it? Why are you angry again?’

Pandora squirmed, her eyes wide.

‘Or rather, why did the conversation suddenly turn this way?’

She couldn’t understand Frederick’s fluctuating emotions or the context of the conversation.

“No, more than that. Why were you in my workshop?”

“I told you, I was worried about you.”

“What were you doing in my studio, getting stuck in a painting?”

“The wind blew hard and the painting fell on my head……. That’s the answer.”

Frederick stuttered as he answered.

Both Pandora and Frederick were hit by the canvas. Or, more precisely, just as he was about to hold it, he missed and he went into the painting.

“I guess so, huh?”

How to get out, then.

Pandora stood up, looked around for sharp stones or branches, then slipped her hand around Frederick’s waist.

Startled, Frederic took a step back.

“W, what do you want?”

“Lend me your sword.”

“Oh.”

His pale skin flushed red. His black eyes roamed far away, unable to meet hers.

‘What were you thinking?’

Pandora looked at him grimly and took the sword. Then she dropped her arm, along with the sword.

“Ugh. It’s heavy!”

“Careful, you’ll hurt yourself!”

Frederick caught Pandora and the sword, who nearly fell to the ground.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to draw a landscape of my workshop, and if I hit you on the head, maybe you’ll come back.”

Frederick snatched the sword from her hand and set it down, then pulled up the grass to expose the dirt floor.

Then he reached inside his clothes and pulled out a small, thin dagger.

“Take this.”

Pandora took the dagger, which was much lighter and had a finer blade, perfect for making detailed drawings.

She wasted no time in drawing on the dirt. With each stroke, she created a landscape in the corner of her studio.

Frederick, watching from the side, asked,

“Why did you become a painter?”

“Huh?”

“You didn’t say that when you were a kid.”

“I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you know?”

“Because I don’t remember.”

“You don’t remember……?”

Frederick’s expression hardened. He stared at Pandora in shock.

“Why? Were you hurt? What happened?”

His eyes were shaking, and his emotional state was clear.

But Pandora couldn’t answer.

She can’t coldly say, ‘This is a game, and I’m an event NPC with no memory of before June 9th. I didn’t realize I have such an elaborate past setting.’ to the male lead of this game.

It was best to just play it cool and pretend she didn’t know anything.

“How much can’t you remember?”

“Everything.”

“Did you forget me too?”

“I just remembered.”

Frederick sighed, his face contorted as if he might collapse at any moment.

The painting was half finished when Frederick grabbed Pandora’s hand.

It was a soldier’s hand, full of calluses, gripping his sword as he swept across the battlefield.

His big, strong hand was hot.

“Pandora.”

His thick throat fluttered deeply. Frederick quickly pulled Pandora into his arms.

“?!”

“I went back to that village to see you after my injury from the wolf healed.”

His voice was damp and hushed.

“But you were gone…….”

“Huh?”

“Your house and your family was gone and I thought I was going crazy.”

“I, I see, and I’m sorry, but can we not talk about this……?”

Pandora tried to push Frederick’s body away from her, but his rock-hard body didn’t budge.

Meow—

She heard a cat meow. The cat was clawing at the hem of Frederick’s shirt, trying to pull him away from Pandora.

‘Heok. Oh, my God, he’s so cute.’

Both the cat and Frederick were in serious moods, and Pandora couldn’t really focus on either of them.

“But you, who I barely managed to meet again… didn’t say anything even when I asked how you’ve been.”

“Yeah.”

“After tearing into you for saying you’d marry some crazy guy, you told me never to see you again! Do you know how much I…!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

That’s when Frederick’s body dropped, and he put his hands on Pandora’s shoulders and stared at her earnestly.

“You really don’t remember?”

His eyes, burning, took on a mournful glow.

“Why, I’ve been looking for you for over a decade. You really don’t remember?”

“I, I don’t remember.

She doesn’t even know that he’s been looking for her for over a decade.

‘Why did you do that?’

It’s not like Pandora is Frederick’s daughter. He was too obsessed with his childhood friend.

But Pandora answered in moderation so as not to provoke Frederick.

“Because I’m a dear friend……?”

“Damn it. What friend?”

What?

“I never once considered you a friend.”

“No, why are you suddenly talking so badly…….?”

Pandora grimaced involuntarily and looked at Frederick with a hollow face.

To little Pandora, Frederick was her best friend.

Frederic said,

“Wanting to kiss your friend, wanting to hug her, do you feel that?”

“Are you crazy? What kind of crazy person thinks that about their friend?”

“I do.”

Oh, shit.

“I look at you and think those crazy thoughts.”

“…….”

“Do you still think I see you as a friend?”

His low, growling question turned Pandora into a honeyed mute.

This was not a good development.

Frederick’s angry face drew closer and closer. He whispered, almost nose to nose.

“Do you think I’m your friend after all this?”

Ding, ring, ding!

Warning bells went off in my head.

? Condition: Emotional dysregulation (Will go out of control after 30 seconds)

“C, can you calm down and give me some space?”

His breath on her lips was ominous. Any closer and they would be touching.

Pandora gave up pushing him away and clamped her hands over her mouth. The next moment, hot lips touched the back of her hand.

‘Holy shit!’

The heat against her hand was abnormally hot.

If Erf’s body temperature was higher than normal human standards, Frederick’s just seemed to be out of it.

As if he’d been drugged.

“I hope my friend freezes to death.”[1]

His eyes were already rolling back in his head.

‘He’s going out of control!’

His emotional dysregulation was approaching.

? Condition: Emotional Dysregulation (Will go out of control in 1 second)

Pow!

Frederick knocked Pandora onto the grass and lowered his head. His lips dropped to Pandora’s neck.

Pandora rolled to the side and tried to escape, but her arms were pinned.

That’s when she brought her knee up in an attempt to perform the most effective self-defense move in history.

Bam!

With the sound of something breaking, someone’s foot slammed into Frederick’s head.

Frederick was thrown sideways in one fell swoop, hitting his head on the ground and blacking out.

? Condition: Stunned (Wakes up in 30 minutes)

Pandora gasped and rolled to the other side, away from Frederick.

She looked up, searching for the culprit.

Erf stood there, breathing heavily, looking impatient and somehow angry.

“Oh my.”

Pandora shielded her eyes in panic.

Her face, which had been perfectly calm when she’d tried to kick Frederick in the crotch, quickly became flushed.

“D, Doctor…… Erf……. W, why are you naked……?”

That’s right. Erf, who stood proudly staring at Frederick, was naked without a single thread of clothing on.

“!”

[1] Not sure about this phrase, but I think Frederick said this to express his strong emotions that he does not wish to be a ‘friend’ to Pandora.