Merlin bent down and wiped the tears from Mahina’s face.
Mahina gently grasped Merlin’s wrist and let out a sigh.
“Why does someone as unpleasant as me have to wipe your tears?”
Merlin paused for a moment.
“Well… generally speaking, when someone cries, you wipe their tears, right?”
Haha… yeah. Merlin had lost her love, and now she only felt disgust toward herself. How could she possibly know what Mahina was crying about?
But this kind of pity was like cutting meat with a dull blade—it only humiliated Mahina’s heart.
It wasn’t because she cared. It wasn’t because she felt for her.
It was a candy coated in poison—sweet on the outside, but bitter as hell once you bit into it. The more you chewed, the more it hurt, and Mahina didn’t like that kind of thing at all.
Still, since the mask had already been ripped off, there was no point in putting up a brave front anymore.
Mahina sniffled, forcing her shattered expression back into some semblance of composure, and asked with renewed energy.
“What are you going to give me?”
Merlin was silent for a moment.
“Something that was meant to be yours. I don’t need it anymore now. Mom’s not home, so let’s just go straight to the little log cabin.”
The two of them had long since gone their separate ways, yet now their distance had actually shrunk. How ironic.
Their interwoven footsteps echoed through the night. Mahina walked with her head down, stepping on Merlin’s shadow. Just the two of them. The Merlin who loved her was already dead.
Even with the thickest skin in the world, Mahina didn’t want to make another move today.
When they got home, Merlin opened the door and looked at Mahina, who had calmed down. Merlin told her to wait in the living room and then turned to go into her room.
“I’ll get it now.”
A moment later, she came out holding a letter.
The edges of the envelope were slightly yellowed, and a thin layer of dust from the years clung to it.
Mahina recognized that envelope.
All the letters she still hadn’t finished reading used this same envelope.
They were the letters Merlin had sent her back then.
Merlin smiled bitterly as she looked at the yellowed letter.
“This should be the last one I sent to you. But… for some reason, the mailman returned it to me in the end. Probably just carelessness.”
This was the final letter Merlin had sent without any hope.
Maybe because it had never been delivered, it had been set apart from the others and ended up back in Merlin’s hands.
The 701st letter.
Just like the Merlin of now, it no longer held any expectation for Mahina’s love.
Mahina took the letter with trembling hands.
The thin paper felt as heavy as a thousand pounds in her grip.
She had shed far too many tears over these missed letters these past few days. Even opening just one of them and reading those sincere, scorchingly hot words made her lose control of her tears.
She hadn’t wanted to rush. These missed letters were like missed happiness—since they had been misplaced, they should be mended in order, one by one.
She still had over half of them left to read. How could she jump straight to the ending?
But somehow—
Under Merlin’s calm, rippleless gaze, Mahina felt like a sinner awaiting judgment.
The ending. The ending. Opening the last letter directly felt like facing the final conclusion head-on. As if possessed, she tore open the seal. The moment she unfolded the paper, familiar handwriting met her eyes.
This letter was longer and heavier than any of the previous ones she had opened. It poured out all the love Merlin had given unreservedly during those two years. Before she knew it, Mahina’s vision blurred again. The letter filled two whole pages, densely packed with the Merlin of that time—the love that even now, Mahina would kneel and beg the gods to get back.
“Every day, when I look at the moon, I wonder what you’re doing.”
“I really want to see you, Mahina. I heard you became a very powerful magician. Maybe you’ve already forgotten me, but I still love you.”
“If you could see this letter, even if you only think of me for a moment, I’ll be satisfied. I know you’re busy.”
And then—
Mahina couldn’t read any further. She broke down in sobs.
Merlin… I love you too. I love you too.
She had promised not to cry. She had promised to show her best side. Yet in front of Merlin, over and over again, she sobbed like a lost child.
Useless…
Mahina gritted her teeth, forcing herself to see the last part through her tear-blurred eyes.
At the end of the letter, there was Merlin’s gentle, roundabout blessing.
“If this is the end, then I wish you find your own happiness.”
“If you still don’t want to write back, I’ll assume you’ve found new happiness. You don’t have to bring it in front of me. Let’s give each other some dignity, just like this.”
“I heard you were going to attend the award ceremony. I wonder if this letter can reach you before you head to the capital. I wish you happiness, Mahina. Unfortunately, I don’t have the strength to go to the capital anymore. But at least we were happy together once.”
“From now on, we’ll probably lead completely different lives. I’m afraid that when I wrote this letter, Merlin already thought she had fallen for someone else, thought she was a complete heartbreaker.”
Misunderstandings… all misunderstandings.
Mahina carefully and reverently folded the letter, tucking it into her inner pocket. She lifted her head and looked at Merlin, who was standing on the stair steps.
At that moment, Merlin was watching her calmly, her eyes untroubled.
In that instant, Mahina made up her mind.
She wiped the tears from her face, and her eyes shifted from sorrow to determination.
Since Merlin had turned back into the adult Merlin, even if she had lost “love,” Mahina decided to settle all accounts of the past tonight.
Right tonight.
Even if Merlin no longer loved her.
She would settle every old debt, one by one.
She had to clear up all the misunderstandings of the past. Even if the outcome was already set, she would make Merlin understand—
Her love had never been fake.
Merlin looked at Mahina, and just smiled.
“Just a clumsy little boy’s letter—can it really move you that much? Thinking about the contents of that letter, I find it downright embarrassing.”
“It’s not embarrassing!”
Mahina roared. She cradled the letter against her chest like a treasure, unwilling to let anyone take it from her.
Then Mahina smiled again.
“Because I love you, Merlin.”
Merlin bit her lip.
Mahina had expected that reaction, so she said nothing more.
“You should have received them by now. I… I also wrote to you back then. Your letters—they were also intercepted by Chris of the Talan family, so I never got them.”
Having lost “love,” Merlin was surprisingly calm in this situation.
She stated the facts objectively.
“As for the money you sent me, I only received it recently.”
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