Chapter 20: CH 19

“Caleb, do you believe that I’m normal now?”

“Gasp, I’m sorry! I have made a mistake!”

At Mikael’s words, Caleb immediately bowed his head.

Caleb sincerely reflected on his mistake, saying that he didn’t think there would be such a situation and only thought that his boss was crazy.

But, how could he have imagined that the doll would really come to life? He saw it with his own eyes, but he still doubted what was going on.

Maybe it was connected to evil spirits? If so, was it okay for the Archduke to have such a doll?

Caleb was free from worry that his boss was crazy, but he had other concerns now. Moreover, he was concerned that Mikael would be angry with him for not trusting him.

“I’m fine, so raise your head. First of all, tell me what I asked.”

At Mikael’s words, Caleb slowly raised his head. Mikael’s expression only looked triumphant, he didn’t look angry or upset.

He breathed a sigh of relief only after seeing his face.

He was still worried about the doll’s identity, but at least it was fortunate that Mikael didn’t seem upset.

“You mean, how to fix a crushed doll?”

“Oh, yes. That.”

Caleb looked intently at the doll he held out. He had seen it before, but it was a pretty cute doll.

The doll looked up and down gently as wary of Caleb. Caleb cautiously reached out towards the doll. But his hands didn’t reach it. It was because Mikael had pulled back his hand holding his doll.

“Don’t touch it. Just speak.”

“Yes? Yes… Okay. You just have to fiddle with it. My little sister said… Round off the face, press the rolled cotton and it will move to the side.”

At Caleb’s words, Mikael narrowed his brow. Then he looked at the miserably disfigured Yul.

The limbs were so uneven that you could even notice the disparity at first glance, and the face was also crooked and distorted like a peanut that had been peeled.

It’s at this point, would it be fixed if he fiddled with the doll with his hands? It was dubious.

“It’s true. Liena works on new dolls when she buys them.”

“… Hmm, alright. Round off the face? How does that work?”

Mikael gave in and decided to listen to Caleb. If he didn’t do anything now anyway, he had no choice but to cut Yul’s body and rearrange the cotton.

Of course, Yul wouldn’t stay still if he said he could cut his body. If that was the case, it seemed his brawling would never end.

Mikael shook his head at that situation he couldn’t even imagine.

“Grab the doll and do as if you were making a circle with both hands like this.”

Caleb demonstrated with both his hands in the air. When Mikael saw that, he grabbed Yul’s head with both hands and followed the same pattern.

“Ahh, ahhh! It feels weird, it’s weird!”

Yul, who suddenly received an unauthorized meridian procedure1, yelled.

His face was squeezed tightly, and his vision was spinning round and round. It was a strange feeling rather than pain. Of course, the strange and unpleasant feeling was far from good.

Caleb this jerk, if it doesn’t work, just wait and see. I won’t let it go.

Yul gritted his teeth with a huff. Meanwhile, Mikael did not rest and continuously rolled Yul’s face in a circle.

“Is this really how you do it?”

“Check it out, it looks much better than before.”

“Oh… It really is.”

Mikael followed Caleb’s instructions because there was no other way, but he initially doubted that it would work. However, when he actually looked at it with his own eyes, he could see that Yul’s shriveled face had turned round like it originally was.

Mikhail’s eyes, which soon met Caleb’s, were filled with infinite trust.

“Really? Is my face back?”

Yul asked with excitement, hearing those words.

Of course, he had only checked his limbs before, he didn’t look in the mirror, so he couldn’t confirm how miserable he looked, but considering Mikael’s reaction, even if he didn’t look, he could tell it was pretty bad.

In such a situation, he was just uncomfortable and startled by the massage that was uncalled for, but he was relieved to hear that it was effective. He quickly wanted to check his face, which had become normal again.

“Caleb, mirror, show me the mirror!”

Since he couldn’t move his limbs yet, Yul was calmly held in Mikael’s hand and demanded a mirror.

At the imposing request, Caleb hurried to find the mirror without realizing it. Of course, it wasn’t long before he silently started to wonder why he was listening to that doll.

“Hey, check that drawer over there.”

Besides, Mikael went one step further and even told Caleb where the mirror was located.

He wondered what on earth was the relationship between that doll and Mikael and why Mikael was doing so much for it. As Caleb tilted his head, he rummaged through the drawer Mikael was talking about and found a small hand mirror.

“If it’s not fixed, you just wait. I won’t let it go, both of you.”

Yul warned the two in a cold voice before looking in the mirror. He did not seem to know that, with that appearance, any warning or threat posed little threat.

“Oh oh! I look fine!”

He didn’t know how much better it had become because he couldn’t see his face from before receiving the massage, but his reflection in the mirror was just an ordinary doll.

A doll with a very large head with a round and plump face.

“Mikael, do it quickly! The arms and legs must be symmetrical okay? You have to do it exactly in a 1 to 1 ratio!”

“Just wait. Caleb, what did you say to do with the body?”

“Uh… Well, just press on the side with more cotton and gently move the cotton inside to the other side.”

Caleb was a bit perplexed when he saw the doll order the Archduke Orlov of all people as he liked. To the extent that he couldn’t immediately answer Mikael’s question.

Above all, Mikael was also following the doll’s request without fuss. Not only that, he didn’t seem to mind when the doll called the Archduke by his first name only. The relationship between the two became even more curious.

“Urgh, be gentle, be gentle!”

When Mikael pressed down on his thick right arm, Yul made a sound of pain.

It wasn’t really painful, but he was pressing too hard on his arm full of cotton, so he was afraid that it would burst before the cotton moved.

""

“This way, the cotton will move. Be quiet.”

“But! What if it explodes like this? Ahhh!”

“It’s not going to happen, so be quiet.”

Mikhail wanted to cover Yul’s mouth, which was constantly babbling. He was paying keen attention because it was his first time shaping a doll, but his concentration was disturbed as Yul kept talking next to him.

Mikael was someone who had never played with dolls when he was young. He had touched a toy knife and gun countless times, but this was the first time he had seen a stuffed toy like this. Of course, he didn’t know how to touch or handle it properly.

Even so, he was doing his best to get Yul back to his original shape, but he was only saying ominous things like, “What if it explodes unknowingly?”

In fact, Mikael also had a terrible imagination that Yul would burst because of his strength, but he was trying not to express it.

“Hmm… Caleb, how does it look? Do you think it’s fine now?”

“It still seems a bit out of symmetry.”

“Damn it.”

Mikael, who had been messing around with Yul for a while, showed him to Caleb and asked. He thought that he was well symmetrical, but the answer he returned was ruthless.

“Oh, do a good job!”

“If you make a lot of noise just one more time, I will tear your stomach with a knife and move the cotton, so be quiet.”

“Yes!”

In the meantime, he gave a cold warning to Yul, who was provoking him, and Yul bit his mouth after a short reply. Then it got quiet.

Mikael regretted that he should have said this earlier and decided to focus on forming Yul’s body again.

“Whew.”

He took a deep breath and calmed his mind. His hand, which was holding the plump, apricot-colored body, even trembled in tension.

The work of shaping Yul’s body was the most trivial yet important task in Mikael Orlov’s 28-year life.