Chapter 9
Maybe I had used too strong a spell from the very start, because Jeff was exercising his right to remain silent.
I peeked at him through half-lidded eyes and saw that he had his eyelids screwed shut, his face gradually turning as red as a radish.
I chanted the spell again and urged him to repeat it quickly.
But Jeff stayed stubbornly silent to the end.
“You don’t want to be friends with me, do you? I’m sorry… I didn’t even realize…”
Putting on my most serious face, I created an atmosphere of deep gravity. Jeff cracked one eye open, clearly testing the waters.
“That’s not it.”
“Then why won’t you repeat it?”
“That friendship oath thing is one thing, but what kind of prayer is that?”
At times like this, shamelessness is the ultimate weapon.
“You’ve never had a friend before, have you? When you make one, this is what everyone does.”
Not that I had ever made a friend in my previous or current life—but who cares?
The thought that Jeff would think of me at least three times a day already had me in a good mood.
Still… even to me, it felt a little too shameless. Would he actually believe this?
And yet…
“Do we really have to do it?”
This boy is killing me.
The purer Jeff was, the more my shamelessness rose in proportion.
“Are you saying I’m lying right now?”
I stared at him triumphantly, and in the end, Jeff repeated after me and began writing the sentence down on paper.
That’s how people get scammed—one little step at a time.
“Number two: When something difficult happens, tell your friend first.”
…
…
“Number nine: Always tell the truth and share secrets.”
“Number ten: Dream about your friend every day.”
I had come up with it myself, but wow—it really was a creative clause.
The more outrageous the terms got, the more Jeff’s face showed shock, until it was steadily cooking to a boil.
“How do you control your dreams?!”
Of course dreams can’t be controlled.
But that’s the beauty of the doctrine of the Great Priestess Frill—it makes even the impossible possible.
Once you’ve joined, you must give your all as a devoted follower, my dear disciple.
Keeping my serious leader’s face, I said solemnly, “If you think about me before you fall asleep, I’ll show up in your dreams.”
Complete nonsense, of course.
But delivered without a hint of humor, my performance gave my disciple quite a bit of faith.
Some might say I was teaching him bad habits… but honestly, his flustered reactions were just too cute to stop.
Jeff was already cute and handsome, but Tomato Jeff—flushed red—was devastatingly adorable.
Then he asked, wearing an expression of utmost seriousness, “But… what if you still don’t show up in my dream?”
And with that… how could I possibly stop?
“You mean, even after you desperately think about wanting to see me, I still don’t appear?”
Jeff hesitated before reluctantly answering, “…Yeah.”
Looking into his studious, burning eyes, I smiled brightly.
“Then it means you didn’t think about me desperately enough.”
Jeff looked disappointed, an almost sharp edge to his expression.
“I did think about you desperately! So what if you still don’t appear?”
Ah, disciple, in that case…
“Close your eyes.”
“And then?”
Jeff’s eyes sparkled with sincerity.
“Go back to sleep. Until I do appear.”
“…What?”
His dumbfounded face made me burst out laughing.
“Alright, alright, sorry. I’ll tell you the real method this time.”
I quickly faked another serious expression, and Jeff—so pure—focused on me again.
“When that happens, as an act of penance, you smack your cheek hard once, then chant the sacred words.”
Jeff touched his cheek with a strange expression.
“Sacred words? Like what…?”
Drawing upon the long years of obsession from my past life, I infused my actions with deep fangirl passion and recited them in sync with the motions:
Uri Nuna ge-gwi-yeo (Our Nuna is sooo cute)
Hago Pung-geo sak-da-hae-ra (May the river breeze sweep away the seaweed)
Disciple No. 1 followed along, albeit with a suspicious face.
“Louder!”
Just as sincerity can be proven with your actions, faith is proven with your voice.
Now we were entering the really important section.
Jeff closed his eyes again, deadly serious.
I pinched my thigh—already sore enough to bleed from previous pinches—again, turning the pain into fuel to suppress my laughter.
Then, as the solemn leader, I chanted:
Shin-ui mi-mo se-sang gan-ji (Godly beauty, peerless in the world)
Yong-an-e-seo bi-chi-nan-da (From the royal face, light radiates)
Jwa-ro in-jeong, u-ro in-jeong (Recognized to the left, recognized to the right)
Ap-gu-ru-gi dae-gul-dae-gul (Rolling, rolling, everywhere)
When Jeff opened his eyes, he was stealthily crawling toward the door.
The disciple was attempting escape.
Yeop-gu-ru-gi dae-gul-dae-gul (Rolling, rolling, brilliantly)
Dol-a-on-da ji-geum-dang-jang (Return immediately, right now!)
Startled, Jeff hurried back to his seat.
Alright, teasing him had to stop here. Any further, and I might never see him again.
With a bright, innocent smile, I pulled something out from my pocket.
“Here, put this on me.”
“…What is it?”
A couple ring.
I had scoured every jeweler in the territory for something perfect for Jeff. The reason I chose this one? The tagline was just too good:
[It will make love come true.]
Of course, a ten-year-old boy wouldn’t know the meaning of lapis lazuli, so twisting it into another meaning was as easy as pie.
“A friendship ring.”
“….”
“Soulmates always wear something like this together.”
Jeff narrowed his eyes, looking between me and the ring suspiciously.
Without giving him time to think, I held out my fourth finger.
“What are you waiting for? Put it on.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Jeff met my eyes and slid the ring onto my finger.
I immediately shoved the identical ring onto his finger, half by force.
Jeff looked at it and muttered in a barely audible voice, “It’s… a little big on me.”
“I know. I bought it big on purpose.”
“Why?”
“Because… when you grow up and it fits perfectly…”
I stared at him and said shamelessly, “…I’ll marry you.”
Jeff was so shocked he couldn’t speak for a while.
I used that moment to drive the nail in.
“From today on, you’re not even allowed to look at another friend of the opposite gender. Got it?”
He started trembling slightly, finally snapping out of his daze.
“Wait… This isn’t a friendship ring, is it?”
“It is. But don’t you remember clause number five? Never betray.”
“What does that have to do with other friends—?”
“That is betrayal.”
I’m not raising you to be like that.
Jeff seemed utterly stunned, his pale face fixed on me as if realizing his life had just taken a drastic turn.
Jeff was cute even normally, but when he was flustered, he was downright biteable.
Unable to hold back my laughter, I grinned wide enough to show my teeth.
“I’m all you need, right?”
I hadn’t done much, but somehow night had fallen as if it were conspiring with me.
Jeff kept glancing at the clock and catching me noticing.
Even so, he never said he was leaving first.
I told myself it was because he didn’t want to go.
“Let’s go.”
As we left La Vie en Rose and walked toward the carriage, Jeff’s earlobes were bright red.
When the carriage came into view, I ran ahead and shouted, “Same time tomorrow at La Vie en Rose!”
Jeff just stood there, staring blankly at me again.
I waved my hand—now adorned with the friendship ring—before hopping into the carriage.
The next day, unlike usual, Cayman came up to me.
It was because of the secret mission I had given him yesterday.
But this time, Cayman was unusually talkative.
“Was it true that he hit you?”
