He knew that simply avoiding the issue wasn’t the solution. Yet, the thought of hearing from her what she had felt upon seeing his horrifying appearance terrified him.
She had undoubtedly seen something monstrous in him, something no human could ever possess. The eyes that were usually calm were filled with shock, and when her eloquent lips froze in disbelief, it felt as if his whole world had collapsed.
“What on earth are you? How can a woman I’ve only known for a few weeks make me feel this… this awful way?”
Yes, maybe, as Shagal suggested, she really was a mage. Surely, she must have cast a spell making her fall in love with him. Otherwise, how could he explain these overwhelming feelings he didn’t even know existed within him?
“If only she really were a mage… if she were used to elves, monsters, or fairies living in the woods, perhaps this grotesque form of mine wouldn’t matter to her.”
Noah reached out with trembling hands and took Caria’s hand. Then, very gently—as if the touch might break or vanish, like a feather brushing against her—he left a tender, almost ticklish kiss.
It was a desperate gesture for someone who, in another sense, might have been blaming her.
At that moment, as he was about to withdraw, paralyzed by uncertainty, Caria grasped his hand tightly.
“–Don’t go.”
She didn’t open her eyes. Lying there like someone still asleep, she only held his hand. Noah, unaware she was awake, froze in surprise.
“Even today, I’ve had a really hard day.”
“Ah…”
“If you don’t want to, I won’t ask anything, and I won’t open my eyes… I’ll just stay here by your side.”
Her voice was dry and cracked, and it moved Noah so deeply that he couldn’t bear to reject her. Standing there, unsure of what to do, Caria spoke calmly.
“Don’t worry. You weren’t terrifying at all.”
“-Lady…”
“From the very first day we met, there wasn’t a single moment when you weren’t beautiful.”
Her comfort was matter-of-fact. What mattered to Caria wasn’t his outward appearance, but if he valued his exterior, she could praise it a thousand times—not just to soothe him, but because he truly was beautiful.
Noah also realized that she wasn’t speaking falsely. She had a way of wrapping her truth in gentle words, but she wasn’t someone to lie outright.
“There’s one thing… just one thing I can ask.”
Gathering courage, Noah spoke. His secret wasn’t solely his own. He couldn’t reveal everything, but he could take a small risk to stay by her side.
At his words, Caria’s eyelids slowly opened. Her long golden eyelashes fluttered like the wings of a butterfly.
Caria slowly raised her upper body from the bed and looked at Noah, who was dressed entirely in black like a ghost. She stared intently into his unseen eyes and asked,
“What exactly is your problem? That you’re a half-elf? Or that you can’t answer my questions after showing me your true form?”
Her voice carried a slight reproach. These were things she could have helped solve immediately.
Above all, she was angry at his attitude. Had he said what the problem was, she would have resolved it without hesitation. If it was something she couldn’t fix, she would have adapted to his circumstances.
Caria disliked leaving solvable problems unresolved—it would only take away time from addressing the unsolvable ones.
“…”
“Say something.”
Faced with her scolding question, Noah remained silent. His face was completely hidden, making it impossible to read his thoughts.
Even this was too difficult to answer? Caria furrowed her brow, preparing another question, when Noah finally spoke.
“-‘Half-elf’? What’s that?”
It was an absurd response after a week of waiting.
Caria paused, trying to gauge his intent. He was asking what a half-elf was? The situation itself was strange.
Was he pretending not to know? But after showing his night form, such pretense was pointless. The man who had hidden from her for a week had finally appeared—there was no reason to waste time anymore.
Narrowing her eyes, she examined Noah’s face through his hidden features and asked for confirmation.
“You appear human by day and turn into an elf at night. As far as I know, only a half-elf, born from a human and an elf, could do that.”
“‘Elf’? You mean the ones from children’s fairy tales?”
“-Then… are there other elves?”
Now, Noah was even more bewildered than Caria. He understood that what was happening to him couldn’t be explained by ordinary logic. He had vaguely imagined she might be a mage.
But an elf? He was an elf? Weren’t elves fictional, like fairies or giants?
He had grown up in a reality too busy to waste time on fantasies, so he never imagined his origins could be tied to a creature from old stories.
After a lifetime of searching, this was the absurd answer? He might have preferred it to be a disease—or at least a curse. The secret that had shadowed his life was far too…
“cute!”
If it were a joke, he would dismiss it—but Caria’s expression was serious. And she wasn’t the type to play with important matters.
Judging by the slow blink of her large eyes, it seemed she was surprised that he didn’t already know.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes. Did your parents ever give you a hint?”
“No, they never mentioned it.”
Noah shook his head grimly. It seemed he had never met another elf. So one of his parents must have hidden their identity while living among humans—and given no explanation to their child.
‘If elves have cut ties with humans, how could a half-elf even exist?’
Humans no longer knew elves existed, so they no longer hunted them. That would mean, for some reason, his parent had left their community—or been expelled. But why would an elf, strong in communal loyalty, leave their people for just one child?
“-Now that I think about it, my late mother once said that I would understand if I went to the forest.”
The forest… that must be where the elves lived. Perhaps he had been silenced when leaving the community. Still, his mother should have at least told him what he was—then he wouldn’t have thought of himself as monstrous.
Caria shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to blame Noah’s unknown mother.
“So that’s why Shagal kept talking about the forest.”
“What’s in the forest?”
“-Who knows.”
“Lady… how do you know about elves?”
As she spoke, he held her hand a little tighter, urging her to answer. He had left abruptly before, but now seemed unwilling to let go.
Caria glanced between his hands and the face hidden by his robe, letting out a soft, deflating laugh.
“You hide yourself so thoroughly, yet want to know my secrets? That’s not going to happen.”
She suddenly yanked his hand. Startled, Noah was pulled next to her, and Caria used her free hand to remove his robe. Beneath it, his disheveled silver hair and beautiful face, wide-eyed in surprise, were revealed.
“Still beautiful, even now.”
Half-joking, half-serious, her whisper made Noah’s pale face flush red like moonlight. Realizing he had been teased, he quickly stood and backed away.
Caria, having lost the warmth of his hand, clenched and unclenched her empty fist a few times in the air.
“Anyway! If what you say is true, this could be a problem.”
“Why?”
“If this is my true form, it means I can’t prevent these nightly transformations. So, I’d have to keep hiding every night from now on.”
He covered his face with his palm, sliding it downward. Knowing the truth relieved him somewhat, but it was still troubling.
Caria watched him quietly, stroking her chin. As a half-elf, he would indeed live half of each day in elf form. But…
“If your problem is not being able to appear in front of people, there’s a solution.”
“Yes?”
“Think of your mother. She lived among humans without awkwardness. Did she ever wrap herself in a robe or hide her face like you?”
“-No, she lived normally.”
“Exactly. Elves have the ability to conceal their true forms.”
Caria referred to elf ‘magic’ as a ‘skill.’ As a researcher who studied magic for years, she viewed the natural magic elves are born with as primitive compared to learned magical arts.
