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Time back to January 8, 11:40 a.m.
Dressed in ordinary clothes, Fiktok walked along the road outside the town in a foul mood, muttering under his breath.
"Damn Brandy. He dumped me here in the middle of the night and just told me to keep heading northeast. I finally found a town."
The town before him was Pintoshi, where the streets were kept free of snow through daily clearing, making it look no different from any ordinary settlement.
Still, Pintoshi was a town rather than a city. It lacked the organized commercial districts of larger cities, had a relatively small population, and life moved at a slower pace.
After paying the entrance fee, Fiktok stepped through the gate. Suddenly, someone lightly bumped into him from behind. The impact wasn't enough to knock him down, but it did make him stumble forward a few steps.
Immediately, he spun around angrily to see who had been careless enough to run into him. He had already been in a terrible mood, and this was enough to bring all his irritation boiling to the surface.
The person who had bumped into him was a woman with orange-yellow hair.
Before Fiktok had even fully turned around, she hurriedly dropped to her knees, pressing her forehead against the ground as she apologized in a panicked, fearful, and utterly submissive voice.
"I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you! Someone as clumsy and filthy as me actually ran into someone as noble as you. You must be furious. Please forgive me! I'll do anything you ask!"
Having seen only Fiktok's face, the orange-haired woman had immediately assumed he was a noble. Terrified that offending one might cost her head, she was willing to do absolutely anything as long as she could stay alive.
Seeing her attitude and posture, Fiktok briefly wanted to step on her head and berate her mercilessly.
But something caught his attention, instantly extinguishing his anger.
Instead, he looked down at her with a lewd smile and spoke calmly.
"...Get up."
The woman slowly rose to her feet.
Fiktok noticed that her bangs completely covered her eyes while the rest of her hair reached all the way to her thighs. Since his own hair only reached his shoulders, he couldn't help marveling at how many years she must have spent growing it.
"Your hair is really long..."
"I-I'm sorry! Someone as unattractive as me shouldn't even have long hair. It must have offended your eyes. I'll cut it off right away!"
His casual remark made her think he disliked her hair. Feeling guilty for bumping into him, she believed she had to make amends. If he disliked her long hair, then she would cut it off despite how painful it would be.
Her interpretation struck Fiktok as ridiculous.
Taking her hand gently, he said,
"No. I was just thinking long hair suits you."
"It... suits me?! You don't have to force yourself to say that. I know no hairstyle could ever suit me. My chest is completely flat, I have no femininity at all, and my Adam's apple is so obvious. That's why I wanted to grow my hair long—to look more feminine... Ah, I'm sorry. Someone like me shouldn't even dream of being feminine. It's an insult to femininity itself..."
His compliment left the orange-haired woman flustered.
She wasn't used to receiving praise, so she instinctively denied his words and slipped into self-deprecating negativity.
Fiktok, however, paid no attention to her personality.
He simply found her adorable.
(A human girl was timid like a little white rabbit... So cute.)
"I'm Fiktok. What's your name?"
"My name is Stice..."
"Stice, do you have time today?"
"O-Of course! Someone like me doesn't have the right to say I'm busy. Even if I were, I'd still say I have time!"
"Wonderful. I'm new here. Would you mind showing me around town?"
"M-Me? But someone as boring and awkward as me would only make you regret it. I'm sorry. Please ask someone else!"
"You won't. I think you're a very interesting person. I have a feeling we'll get along well."
"...Really?"
Stice could hardly believe his words.
No one had ever said anything like that to her before.
Fiktok simply wanted to spend more time with her.
"Really. And I think you're very feminine. You should have more confidence and stop thinking so negatively. From today on, I'll help you become confident and leave those negative thoughts behind."
"You're amazing... I want to believe you."
After hearing Fiktok's words, the negativity buried deep within Stice slowly began to fade.
She came to believe he was someone worthy of her trust.
Stice spent the rest of the day showing Fiktok around town until evening.
Overall, there wasn't anything particularly remarkable about Pintoshi.
However, Fiktok noticed that no one greeted Stice wherever they went, leaving him curious about what kind of life she had grown up with.
That evening, since Fiktok wasn't a local, he needed a place to stay.
Believing he was a nobleman, Stice naturally brought him to what she considered the finest inn in town.
"This is the best inn in town. I'll leave you here."
"I'm truly happy I met you today. But our time together was far too short. I'd like to spend a little longer with you."
Fiktok gently took Stice's hand, intending to lead her inside.
After spending the entire day with him, Stice had fallen for him.
No one had ever treated her with such kindness.
Her entire childhood had been filled with criticism and bullying.
Her parents...
When she accidentally dirtied the bedsheets as a child, her mother had yelled,
"How old are you already? Don't you know I'm busy? Why do you keep giving me more work?"
When she received poor grades,
"Forget school. You'll never become anyone important anyway. Go get a job and earn money."
Because Stice worked several part-time jobs, her schedule was always packed.
Whenever her mother asked her to gather herbs in the mountains,
"You're busy? Doing what? Unless you're doing something important, go help me."
As she neared twenty and was still unmarried,
"You're almost twenty. Your body's like a man's. You don't have a shred of femininity. I have no idea who you take after."
As for her so-called friends...
When one of them caught Stice looking at a boy she liked,
"Someone as ugly as you? No guy would ever like you."
When she forced herself to laugh at an unfunny joke,
"Your laugh is disgusting. Stop laughing."
When she passed by old classmates on her way to another job and didn't have time to chat,
"So now that you're working, you've forgotten your friends? Don't get full of yourself. You're just my follower. You'll do whatever I tell you."
When twenty-year-old Stice attended a friend's wedding as a guest, the bride and bridesmaids deliberately mocked her loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Everyone here is married except you. You should just go find some divorced old man. Hahaha!"
From childhood until adulthood, Stice had never once received genuine warmth.
She couldn't understand what she'd done wrong.
Why did her parents hate her?
Why did everyone else treat her the same way?
She had never met anyone capable of changing the way she thought.
Over time, she became convinced that everything was always her fault—that she deserved to be treated this way.
Little by little, inferiority and negativity became part of who she was.
And now, she had finally met a man who didn't scold her.
A man who praised her.
Hearing kind words for the very first time, it was almost impossible for Stice not to fall in love.
"I-If... if you don't mind... I'd be happy to..."
With Stice's consent, Fiktok happily hurried her into the inn.
That night, Stice no back home.
The next morning, as Fiktok got dressed, he glanced back at the sleeping Stice.
His eyes drifted to the blanket covering the noticeable curve beneath it.
With a satisfied smile, he murmured,
"I knew I wasn't mistaken."
The curve beneath the blanket was Stice's hips.
The real reason Fiktok had forgiven her from the very beginning was because, when she'd knelt before him, her pants had outlined the round shape of her hips.
After becoming captivated by her appearance, Fiktok spent the entire day figuring out how to make Stice fall for him—and willingly sleep with him.
Once dressed, he sat back down on the bed and gently caressed the sleeping Stice.
Feeling the touch, she slowly woke and sleepily murmured,
"...Lord Fiktok?"
"Continue to sleep, Stice. From this moment on, you'll become a confident and optimistic person. You'll also forget everything about me... and avoid the town square."
"...Yes..."
Stice drifted back to sleep.
Fiktok stood up and quietly left the room.
As soon as he stepped outside, he took out a piece of pink cloth, lifted it to his nose, inhaled deeply, and smiled with renewed determination.
"Playtime's over. Time to get back to work."
Side Note: When Stice woke up, she couldn't find her underwear.