Chapter 52: CH 51

Yul, who was subconsciously greeting the girl who had brightly introduced herself as Liena, hurriedly shut his mouth in surprise. It was because he remembered that Mikael had told him not to speak carelessly in front of others.

Yul sneaked a glance at Mikael. Mikael’s expression seemed to say, “Of course you would do that.” Fortunately, he didn’t seem angry or shocked. Only then did Yul let out a sigh of relief in his heart.

As soon as he was relieved that Mikael was not angry, a new feeling of curiosity rose in its place.

He had heard Liena’s name somewhere, but he couldn’t quite remember it. As he pondered about it,

“Yuri, that girl is Liena, Caleb’s sister.”

‘Caleb, you have a younger sister right?’

‘Yes? Yes… That’s right. Are you talking about Liena? Doesn’t the Archduke know about Liena?’

‘Right. I do. That’s not what I’m curious about.’

‘Then?’

‘Then, have you ever seen Liena play with dolls?’

‘Yes, of course. I buy her a new doll for every birthday.’

When Mikhael had washed him and squeezed him all over the place, Yul remembered how he had hurriedly called Caleb to ask about Liena. It seemed that Liena was the girl in front of her right now.

“So you can talk.”

“Aha. You should have said that sooner.”

Yul grumbled at Mikael’s words. Then Liena’s eyes sparkled.

“Wow, you really talk! My brother said it’s an amazing doll, so it was true.”

“Ahem, hmm. I’m not that amazing.”

“Then Yuri, I’ll open the stomach.”

“Huh? Uh? Why the stomach…”

Before he had time to stop her, Liena pulled up Yul’s top. Of course, the stomach was clearly visible, and the holes pierced by the arrows were also revealed.

“Ohh, look at the hole. It must be really painful, Yuri. I will treat you well!”

Liena said that and raised a sharp needle. The pointed needle glinted brightly.

“Aaahhh, arghhhhh! Save me, Mikael!”

Yul, who saw the needle, screamed in fright. He tried to escape, struggling with his short legs, but he was caught in Liena’s hand and could not budge.

“It’s okay, Yuri. Trust me. I won’t hurt you.”

“It hurts, it will hurt, it will hurt! No, even if it doesn’t hurt, I don’t want to!”

Who would like having their skin stitched with a needle with a fully sober mind?

Of course, Yul was a doll, so it was sewn from cloth, not skin, but the feeling of fear was the same.

However, no matter how much Yul struggled, it was impossible to escape human’s grasp unless he really was Chucky or Annabelle.

Eventually, a sharp needle poked through Yul’s pierced cloth.

“Aaaaargh! It doesn’t hurt! It doesn’t hurt, but I hate it!”

Mikael shook his head at the high-pitched scream. Pretending not to hear, his gaze was fixed on the book he was reading.

The book he was reading had been borrowed from Andrei, and had to do with ancient magic.

Black magic was strictly forbidden within the empire, so he couldn’t get a book related to it, but the book that Andrei lent him also had a shallow mention of soul transfer.

He read every nook and cranny of the book, hoping that he would be able to unlock Yuri’s secret, at least a little. Meanwhile, Yuri was screaming as hard as he could.

“Aaaaarghh!! Lucky!! Save, help Dad! Mikael you traitor!”

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Yul called Lucky and Mikael in between the screams and caused a fuss. It was such a large room and he was a small doll, so his voice couldn’t even reach Lucky who was sleeping in the corner of the fence on the other side.

Despite Yul’s exaggerated crying, Liena skillfully continued his sewing. Despite her young age, she mastered excellent sewing skills. Because Liena loved dolls, she didn’t just play with dolls, she also repaired and remodeled them as needed.

In fact, although Yul didn’t know it, Liena was the head of a famous doll hospital in town. With her extraordinary ability to restore worn or torn dolls, she had repaired countless dolls. She used to earn pocket money by fixing dolls without Caleb, her brother’s knowledge, and she used the money to buy her new dolls.

Liena could repair a doll that looked like it came from hell after receiving excessive affection from humans for decades. To her, the little hole in the belly was like chewing gum.

The dirty parts would also be as clean as a new doll with the touch of Liena, the head of the doll hospital.

“Your stomach is slim. I’ll put some more cotton in it.”

“Eek, you don’t have to put that in!”

Let’s go on a diet this time. Yul listened to Liena’s words astonishingly even in the midst of frantic screaming, and rejected her offer at once. Then she shook her head with a determined expression.

“No. If there is no cotton like this, the cloth will move.”

“It’s fine if it moves a little!”

“Aish, I said no? Then, the cotton in the puffy place moves to another place. The cotton on the legs goes to the stomach, and the cotton on the head goes to the stomach. Then you will become an ugly doll.”

“…”

At Liena’s words, Yul bit his mouth tightly. He didn’t mind becoming an ugly doll, but it bothered him that the cotton inside his body might move around.

It’s extreme, but what would happen when the cotton inside the body moves, hadn’t he already experienced it once because of Mikael?

“See. You don’t like that, do you? That’s why I have to put more cotton in.”

“Alright.”

In the end, Yul had no choice but to follow Liena’s words. But another problem arose. Liena squeezed the cotton in, but for some reason he felt his body full and heavy.

“Um, Liena.”

“Yes?”

“The cotton. Aren’t you putting in too much?”

That was it. He didn’t know how much cotton was the right amount of cotton that should have been in his body, but he could feel that the amount of cotton that was pushing in like the cloth was about to burst was excessive. Yul looked up at Liena with a rounder face.

“Since forever, dolls are cute only when they are full of cotton.”

“No, but I don’t want to be cute.”

“What are you talking about, Yuri! Don’t talk nonsense. Dolls have to be cute!”

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“That prejudice…”

“Here, look. Isn’t that much cuter?”

Liena cut off Yul’s words and showed him the mirror. His reflection in the mirror was more round than before.

Of course he was as cute as she said. It wasn’t simply that the cotton was tightly packed, but it was thanks to the way the cotton was spread all over the doll’s body.

“Sniff… I’ve gained weight.”

‘Mikael, I’m sorry. I’m still having a hard time dressing them up, but I think it’s going to be even harder in the future.’

Yul handed Mikael a heartfelt apology from the bottom of his heart.

In the meantime, Yul’s stomach was neatly mended. He was surprised to find that the new fabric had been re-padded and left no stitch marks.

“Wow, Liena. It’s really great. It doesn’t show at all.”

“Right? I told you to trust me.”

Liena smiled broadly proudly.

During their conversation, Mikael’s gaze, which had been fixed on the book, shifted to Yuri. He only looked from afar, but he could see that Yul’s stomach, which had a hole in it, had been completely restored.

In fact, he hadn’t been able to say anything for a while, but whenever Yul moved, he spilled cotton through his jacket, which made his heart hurt.

No matter how much he didn’t seem to be in pain and didn’t seem to care much, Mikael was aggrieved that Yul had become like that because of him.

A corner of his heart still tingled whenever he thought of the shock of that day, but seeing the fixed Yuri made his heart feel much lighter.

“Now then, shall we wash up?”

At that time, Liena’s lively voice broke Mikael’s thoughts.

“What?!”

Yul freaked out at Liena’s words. Although it was a doll’s body, it was because it was burdensome and awkward to entrust the bath to someone other than Mikael.

“Wait, Liena. I’ll do that.”

And that feeling was the same for Mikael. Others would certainly laugh at him for being particularly nervous about a doll, but he couldn’t let anyone else wash Yuri.