Chapter 3
Chapter 3
The moon was really round.
Round and red.
So red it was even a little shiny.
My insomnia-addled brain was a little slow to react. It took me a long while to come back to my senses.
That wasn’t the damn moon at all!
“Good grief! Why the hell are you standing in front of me in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?”
Mirror Bro lowered his head without saying a word, then slowly pulled a small stone out from behind his back and handed it to me.
“I’ve thought it through. This is for you.”
I frowned at the thing in my hand. It was just an utterly ordinary little crappy rock.
“What’s this supposed to be?”
“My heart.”
My hand jerked, and I nearly threw it.
“Huh?”
Mirror Bro, his face still glowing bright red, gave me a solemn nod.
“I said I’ve thought it over. I’m willing to give you my heart.”
Oh, Mom… I think I’m in trouble…
The next morning.
Having not slept all night, I held the stone in my hands and yawned nonstop.
Magic Book, fresh off finishing her morning lesson, greeted me with a deeply satisfied look on her face. “Morning~”
I glanced at her. Oh. The latest edition of Sleep Chronicles.
“Morning.”
Maybe the morning lesson had been especially great, because Book Sis was in an unusually good mood. She eagerly scooted up to me, pointed at the stone in my hand, and asked:
“Why are you holding some busted rock?”
“It’s all gray and ugly as hell. Hurry up and throw it away.”
The moment she said that, she was immediately hit with a death glare from Mirror Bro behind me.
Book Sis’s reactions were razor-sharp, and she instantly sensed the killing intent.
She whipped around and glared at the Magic Mirror. “What are you staring at? You think you’re the only one with eyes? I’m warning you, don’t get carried away just because you’ve gotten a little favor and attention! Back when I was the favorite, who even knew where you were? Just you wait. Sooner or later, she’ll remember me!”
Looks like those two had quite a deep grudge against each other.
The sound of the lock turning interrupted their PK.
The Queen lifted the hem of her little dress and walked in.
The instant she entered, Book Sis immediately put away all that hostility. She stared at the Queen without blinking, her eyes full of devotion, and her whole book instantly seemed to soften into something gentle and adorable.
Mirror Bro didn’t look at the Queen. Instead, he shot me a complicated look.
It gave me a very bad feeling.
The stone in my hand felt even more like a hot potato.
Dear God, if I’d known, I never would’ve stuck around for the drama…
“Magic Mirror, Magic Mirror, tell me quickly: who is the most beautiful woman in the world?”
Same familiar question as always.
But the Magic Mirror didn’t answer for a long time.
Book Sis got so anxious at the side that her voice shot up an octave. “Stupid mirror! Hurry up and say it’s her!”
The Magic Mirror still said nothing. He turned to look at me again.
The unease in my heart grew even stronger…
The Queen was getting a little impatient from waiting, so she asked again, “Magic Mirror, who is the most beautiful woman in the world?”
A moment later, a big apple appeared on the mirror’s surface.
A red-and-green big apple.
That would be me.
The storage room fell into a strange silence.
The Queen stared at the mirror in disbelief for a long time. “I’ll ask one more time. Who is the most beautiful?”
The apple on the mirror’s surface remained bright and plump, and even became a little clearer.
After asking several times in a row, the Queen came to a conclusion.
“The mirror’s broken. It’s useless now.”
She opened the window and, after hesitating for a long while with the jewel-encrusted Magic Mirror in hand, stuffed the Magic Mirror back into the box.
Then, without even turning around, she grabbed me with perfect accuracy and hurled me out the window.
“Ah, how did this apple fall out? How strange. How terribly careless of me.”
She said that while firmly shutting the window.
As I flew out the window screaming my head off, I heard Book Sis shrieking at me like crazy:
“Guo! Look! She knew where you were without even turning around! She really loves you so much! Oh my God, she really does! I’m crying!”