BUTTERFLY

LIAR'S CANDLE

The little dog was always on a leash. When freedom was in his grasp, he would fall among the wolves with joy.

After a while of starting the car, it got warm inside. I wasn't sure if I should be nervous in the car of this man I didn't know, driving out of the city on an unfamiliar road. After what grandmother told me, I guess I should have been nervous. But Kize was being so kind that I couldn't expect anything bad from him. Maybe he was doing this to comfort me and he would show his true face after I felt safe.

But that didn't make sense either. If he had any intention of hurting me, he would have had the opportunity in the forest. "I guess the guys didn't treat you very well." He said quietly as he drove the car. When I took my eyes off the window and looked at him, our eyes met briefly. Of course I knew who he was talking about, those men and the woman with yellow eyes.

"I guess the soldiers are not very friendly, unlike you." I muttered and watched him to see him reaction, but he didn't react at all, except for the smile that appeared on him face. "I don't intend to do anything bad to you, if that's what you want to catch." My eyes widened involuntarily when he said that. I just wanted to see how he would react, without showing it. I was trying to see if he was as rude as the others, how did he understand my intentions?

"No, of course I didn't think that." It was definitely a lie. And this man seemed to understand lying. "By the way, you don't have to call me 'you'. After all, we are friends now, we should be friendly, right?" He said and looked at me out of the corner of his eye and smiled. I felt my heart speed up. "Friends?" I asked as I pushed my back off the couch and looked at his face with excitement. We had become friends!

Really, I thought I was going to die about for mounth ago. But now I had made my first friend. I tried to restrain myself when I realized he was surprised by my excitement. Of course I could not control my rapidly beating heart. "Yes, friend." He said smiling and pulled the car to the side of the road and stopped it.

"Looks like you and I have a lot to talk about." He said, turning to me. He looked very serious. "Did Irine say something bad to you today?" He said with the same seriousness. I hesitated for a moment because I couldn't understand who he was talking about. He immediately realized this and explained. "A woman with blonde hair came to me while you were waiting for me."

When I thought of what that woman had said to me, the smile on my face slowly faded without me realizing it. Kize was watching me carefully. "No, why do you ask?" When I said that, he turned his body towards me and leaned his elbow on the steering wheel. I was a little nervous because I addressed him as you. Because I didn't even address my brother like that most of the time.

"Did she make you cry?" He asked, looking intently into my eyes. I clenched my fingers between my knees, I definitely didn't want to talk about it. Besides, the fact that that woman could touch Kize so freely showed that there was communication between them. Maybe she could be his ex girlfriend. Or maybe they were still lovers and she didn't want him to have a female friend. That's why she could have spoken to me like that. But that didn't mean she was right for what she said to me, in front of all those people.

"No, I..." When I was about to protest, he reached out his hand and touched my hair with his fingertips. He looked at my hair for a short while and then looked into my eyes. "There is nothing going on between Irine and me right now." When he said that, I was surprised that he touched my hair. No, it wasn't surprise. I was excited.

"If she's bothering you, tell me so I can talk to her." When he continued, I wondered if he could read my mind, or was I making my feelings and opinions too obvious? "I don't think she'll bother me if there's nothing going on between you two. Besides, we're friends, it's not like she's going to get mad at me for this." I said as if mumbling. His hand was still in my hair.

"I have no intention of just being friends with you, Een. It depends on whether we get along or not, after all, we just met." I felt my face flush when he said that. I hadn't expected him to speak so boldly. He was too blunt for me. "Irine is an aggressive woman. I'm asking so she won't bother you." The car engine was still running and it was warm inside.

"I mean, I think they saw me with you." I said, my voice was inside me, like it didn't want to come out. I didn't want them to think I was scared of that woman and complained to Kize, but there was a chance she could hurt me. Like Kize said, she was definitely aggressive. Besides, I was sure to be in this world for a while, and I didn't want to be scared every time I went out with the idea of running into her and being humiliated. I didn't know how to say what Irine had said to me when he nodded for me to continue. I certainly couldn't use those words.

"I would say she insulted me a bit, but other than that nothing happened." When I continued, he smiled and took his hand out of my hair. It was absolutely hot in the car. "If anything happens, anybody who misbehaves with you, come and tell me. I don't want them to bother you because you're with me." I nodded when he said that. The smile on his face widened. "Are you asocial?" he asked laughing. When he laughed, I inevitably laughed too.

"Maybe." I said with a shrug. After all, I had never had any friends, that is, until today. Today I had made my first friend! The first button of his white shirt was undone, so I noticed his slightly visible skin. There was a little blackness on his dark skin. I couldn't help but frown.

It looked like a racial marker, but people here don't have racial markers. In fact, grandmother knew from my sign that I was not from here. So what was this then? Could it have been something like a scar, after all, he had been at war for a long time and he could have been wounded. When Kize realized where I was looking, he tilted his head and looked where I was looking. When I realized what I had done, I immediately averted my eyes, embarrassed.

"What happened?" he said with a smile. He looked as if he liked it. Oh, was I really staring at his chest! "No, you misunderstood." I said quickly and raised my hands, but as soon as the words were out of my mouth I regretted them. 'You misunderstood'? How did I know exactly what he understood?

As I spoke, he reached out and unbuckled my seat belt. "What did I misunderstand?" he asked, half laughing. This alarmed me even more. "I was looking at the stain on your chest. Or... not like that!" I said quickly, waving my hands, which made me even more embarrassed. Really, I was very good at making myself look like an i***t.

Mistress Seli and the queen always hated me like this. In fact, the usual reason they scolded me was that I was easily flustered and silly. "Ha." he said, raising his eyebrows. "It's a tattoo, not a stain." When he explained, I didn't know what a tattoo was, but I decided to pretend I did, because he spoke as if it was something everyone knew.

"Oh yeah, what's the shape?" I asked, smiling and trying to make the situation better. Although I wasn't sure if it was right to ask about the shape of the tattoo, I couldn't stop myself from asking because I was curious. "I'll show you sometime." He said with a smile. I nodded and lowered my hands, which were still in the air, and squeezed them between my knees again.

Unlike Mistress Seli and the queen, Kize didn't seem to find my earlier flustered state strange or angry at me for doing something bad. He was still watching me with a small smile on her face. This thing he did... It made me feel incredibly relaxed. "Do you have a tattoo?" he asked after a short silence.

I hesitated before answering. If I said I didn't have one, he would know I was lying, I didn't actually have a tattoo, of course, but I had something like it on my body. But if I said I had it, it would be a lie? "So..." I said and fell silent. What exactly would I be saying that wouldn't be a lie? After all, when I was with this man, I often lied and no one wanted to talk to a liar. "So? Do you?" He asked and tilted his head slightly to the side.

Kize had a very relaxed and confident manner when talking to me. And me... I kept feeling my shoulders tense, my face flushed and my hands and feet tangled. In fact, I think I felt weaker than I had ever felt with him. I looked like an i***t in front of this man who had a million times the confidence I didn't have. Suddenly I wondered if I was enough to be friends with him.

"You could say that." I said, smiling. His eyebrows rose. He ran his eyes briefly over my body, but there were few places where my skin was visible. After all, it was winter and I had to dress warmly to avoid getting sick. I had never even worn pants in my life until I came here. As a princess, I had to be the kind of person that people would want to look up to and emulate.

"Where?" he asked, looking into my eyes. I cleared my throat with a mock cough and moved slightly in my seat."On my stomach and belly." I said and he laughed. "You have a tattoo on your stomach and belly?" He said, surprised. I frowned slightly because I didn't understand why he was surprised.

Was it strange to have a tattoo there? Uh, what exactly was the tattoo! I had to ask Grandma as soon as I got home. "I never expected that from you. How did you decide to get a tattoo when you didn't even get in the car?" he asked, he seemed really curious. I think he was trying to get to know me, but I couldn't give a proper answer to his question.

"There are many things I don't remember." I said with a shrug. He took a deep breath, puffed out his broad chest and ran a hand through his dark hair, pretending to scratch his head. "Why don't you get your memories back, your grandmother is a healer, she can do it easily?" he asked and reached out and took one of my hands between my knees. I flinched inwardly when his warm fingers touched my wrists.

As far as I could tell, Kize liked to touch. "I guess I'm not ready for that yet." I said, being honest. He looked into my eyes and waited for me to continue. I understood that he wanted to listen to me. Just like in the books I read and admired, friends would commiserate and talk to each other and look for solutions to their problems. "I mean, something terrible has happened and I have a feeling that if I remember it, I'll never be the same again." I told him about the thoughts that had been gnawing at my mind since I came here.

"I mean, Grandma has already told me that my memory will come back in time, that this is temporary. That's why I'm not in a hurry, I'm running away." I said with a shrug. I mean, I mean... Why did I keep saying I mean and I mean? Also, did I talk too much? I think I might have talked a little bit too much, I mean, I didn't want to upset anyone by talking about such emotional things. "I understand." He said and pulled my hand to him and placed a small kiss on my fingers. He never took his eyes off my eyes as he did so.

"When you remember, you can come to me if you need anything. It doesn't matter what happened, or our relationship. It doesn't matter that we fought and ended things." I smiled when he said that, and it was enough to put my heart at ease. Even though we had only met a few days ago, I felt like I had known him for a long time. When he placed another kiss on my hand and let go, I couldn't feel my fingers. My heart was beating so fast that I was sure he could hear my heart voice. "Put your seat belt on and let's go back. It's late, I don't want to anger your grandmother." He said with a smile.

"Me neither." I said and, with some effort, I managed to understand how to put on the seat belt and put it on. Kize waited quietly during this time and didn't bother me. He could have put it on himself, of course, but I think he wanted me to learn. We traveled in silence and approached the road at the entrance to the village. I could tell by the trees, the closer the trees were to each other, the more similar they looked. I looked out the window, and as much as I wanted to watch Kize, I didn't think it was right to stare at him.

When Kize suddenly reached out and placed his hand on the back of my head, the car jerked to a stop. If he hadn't grabbed my head, I was sure I would have hit window. "Get out quickly." Kize said and got out of the car. Even though I couldn't understand what was happening, him hurry made me panic and I unbuckled the seat belt as quickly as possible and got out of the car.

Kize hurriedly took my things from the back of the car and came to me. "What happened?" I asked as he handed me my coat. "There's a storm coming." He said and put the beanie on my head and wrapped the scarf around my neck while I put on the coat. "Storm?" I asked frantically as Kize put my bag on his back.

"I have an emergency tent in my bag, we can use it." When I said that, he smiled, grabbed me around the waist and lifted me up. "No need. Just turn your face to my chest and don't gasp for breath." He said as he took me in his arms. I didn't know where to hold on at first, but it didn't take me long to grab his shirt. He pulled the beanie down over my face. When I turned my head and looked at his chest, I smelled a pleasant odor.

Kize certainly smelled good. "You might feel a little nauseous." He said, and immediately a strong wind hit my body. As that strong wind traveled all over my body and across my face, I felt myself gasping for breath. I could barely draw some breath out of my mouth and then swallowed. Was this the wind of the storm? How had it come, I hadn't seen anything!

As I started to feel dizzy, I felt my exposed ankles and hands open from the wind. I think that's why Kize had covered my face with the beanie. When the wind died down and my dizziness subsided, Kize gently put me down. I continued to hold on to him because I couldn't keep my balance, I wanted to reach out and lift the beanie but I was afraid of falling to the ground.

Kize lifted one of the hands holding my waist and pulled the beanie that covered my eyes. As soon as the beanie was removed, I saw his smiling face. "Are you okay?" he asked and placed his hand on my frozen hand. "Yes." I said, but I still felt dizzy and a little nauseous. Was the storm over?

Looking around, I realized that even though we were on the road a moment ago, we were now inside a house. Had Kize walked, why hadn't I noticed that? "Where is this place?" I asked, confused. Kize slowly removed his hand from my waist to make sure I could stand. "My house." He said as he stepped back, and this answer confused me even more. "But you said it was in the mountains?" I asked, my brow furrowed.

"Come sit down, I'll light the stove, there's going to be a bad storm." As soon as he said that, there was a loud gust of wind. I raised my shoulders involuntarily. "Don't be afraid, the house is sealed. The wind can't get in here." He said and hung my backpack on the hook behind the door. Hadn't the storm started yet? And what was that wind just now?

"Come on, sit down." I nodded and after taking off my snowy shoes and leaving them in the corner, I sat in the corner of one of the armchairs in the small living room. My feet were a little cold because the floor was cold. Kize also took off his shoes and threw a few pieces of wood into the stove. "I ran all the way here, that's why you're so shaken." He said it like he read my mind. But he couldn't have read my mind. If he was, he would have realized who I was by now.

"What do you mean? You ran all the way to the mountains in such a short time?" My astonishment was reflected in my voice. He smiled and threw the kindling he lit with a lighter into the stove. "It is true that I am quite fast." He said smiling. But I couldn't understand as easily as he explained.

"I was going to go to your house, but it's on the other side of the mountain. If I left you there and came back, I'd get caught in a storm." When he said that, I still didn't understand. "Did you run all the way here in a minute?" I asked, absolutely not getting it. Kize came to me with a smile and leaned towards my face. "Yes Een, I ran here in one minute." He said softly. I stared at his face.

"How?" I said and his smile widened. He leaned in a little more and sniffed my hair briefly. "Hmm, good." He said, satisfied with the smell. Then he went back and threw a few more kindling into the lightly burning stove and added wood. At that moment, I thought of grandmother. "Grandma, what about her?" I said as I hurriedly stood up.

"Your house was sealed, it won't be a problem. After all, your grandmother lives here, she'll know what to do." Of course I agreed with him when he said that. But grandmother didn't know I was here, she might think I was caught in a storm and get worried. "Don't worry, I sent word on the way. She knows you are with me." Or could he really read my mind? "Can you read my mind?" I said and put my cold hands in my pockets. If even I was cold, I couldn't think of grandmother. But as Kize said, grandmother lived here. She must have seen countless storms before.

"No, but you are too obvious. It's not hard to understand what you're thinking." When he said that, I was relieved that he couldn't read my mind. I mean, there was a chance I could end up dead.

Kize came to me and put his hands on my shoulders. "Sit down, you don't have to be so nervous. I won't blame you if you lie about things you don't want to say." He said and sat me on the couch. Soon after, he sat on the seat opposite me. "It's not right to lie. Would you be friends with a liar?" I said and clasped my cold hands between my knees. The heat of the stove was slowly making itself felt. Outside, the wind was screaming.

"I don't want to be friends with a liar, but we just met, Een. Of course I don't expect you to be honest about everything." He said with a shrug. Immediately afterwards he put his hand on the back of his neck and frowned. "Sorry I didn't ask, would you like a drink? I have a very good coffee from Guda if you like." When he continued, he quickly stood up.

Although I was about to object, I agreed as he seemed quite eager for me to try the coffee. He quickly walked through a door. I looked out the window, guessing he had gone to the kitchen. Everything was white, I could see nothing but white. Oh, Grandma was definitely going to beat me up for coming here. How long would the storm last?

The sound of the wind was also quite scary. I was used to the wind blowing fast and making noise because I was staying in the room on the top floor of the palace, but this was different. It was as if it was toppling mountains and flattening everything. If the house wasn't magical, the wind would surely have taken everything with us. Kize soon arrived with two cups of coffee and the smell of coffee immediately hit my nose. He handed me one of the cups and sat back in the armchair he had just gotten up from.

I took the hot coffee between my hands and warmed my fingers. It was the first time I had ever seen such cold weather. If such a winter happened in my world, many people would surely die. "What do you think?" I was startled when he asked, and I raised my eyes from the cup in my hand to look at Kize. He was sprawled out on the couch, spreading his legs to the sides in what looked like a comfortable position.

I shrugged, "I was wondering how long the storm would last." I said and took a sip of the coffee, but I almost threw it back because of its bitter taste. I grimaced and swallowed it with difficulty. It was as if the bitterness of the coffee had affected all my nerves. I felt it go all the way down to my stomach.