Chapter 5
NOTE: I made my mom read the Merlin human-dwarf conversation and said its okay.
"What would have happened if I proceeded with the plan?"
"And you've figure it out just now?" The human Merlin faced his dwarf counterpart
"I mean, we've found the most beautiful woman in the world! We are doing this so that once I transform back to this..." he gestured to his human-self
"So we could confess my love for her, before I got turned into you" the dwarf rolled his eyes
"What? Is it bothering you that you would confess as an ugly green monster?"
"No!" Human version looked away to his dwarf version
"That... that's not it..."
"You really are just using Red Shoes!" The dwarf said in an accusatory tone
"I am not!" they both glared at each other, voicing a 'humph' sound and looked away. It was silent, between the two different versions of Merlin
"Appearances" the human heard the dwarf blurt out
"What?" The human questioned, as the dwarf released a sigh
"She mentioned it once, the first week when you get turned into this. Appearance was something that blinded us."
"I mean, I can't live looking like you for the rest of my life!" The human shut up when the dwarf gave him a death stare
"Beauty is within the eyes of the beholder" and with that, Merlin started contemplating. Starting to when he met Charlotte the first time, to when she saw them as a cursed dwarf... everything that happened the whole year.
He then imagined Red Shoes and Charlotte, who does he really want to get that kiss? Kissing Red Shoes... its as if he turned a blind eye about his true feelings. Charlotte might have already thought that he likes Red Shoes!
Charlotte was right all along!
The interpretation to what she said before!
"Charlotte is my beautiful woman!" Merlin was hollering and jumping around in happiness, till he realized...
"I really am an idiot!"
By morning, the stuff that Charlotte ordered through the messenger pigeon yesterday has finally arrived. After Merlin connected the last piece for the pulley system, he went down using on of the hooks. Landing with a hero pose in front of Charlotte who is standing beside Red. Charlotte looked askance to his sudden actions
"Show off" she muttered
"Now, you two, stand over here and don't move" Merlin helped to two girls step down to the window
"Okay" Red said
"Pino, Noki, Kio, show as what you got" Merlin spoke to the triplets and he moved out of the way
"Okie dokie"
"Here we go"
"Our pleasure" the three then activated the wooden robot to pull on the rope for the pulley to raise the house's front cover. As it slowly rose up, Charlotte has to check if Red's skirt won't get caught in something as it goes up. The both of them guided Arthur who is holding the rope on the left, Merlin, Jack and Hans on the other side to center the frame.
After making sure it won't fall back down, they then painted it to look brand new. Charlotte and Merlin were together, with Merlin making an affectionate look to her made her weirded out and confused. She took a glimpse at him, but he shifted his focus on painting as if he wasn't staring at her
"Now that looks like a real home" Red Shoes commented as all of them took a good look at the finished product
"Certainly does looked like what is was before" Charlotte added
"Yep. I could get used to that" Merlin stated
"Uh uh. I cannot" Jack interjected
Kio then activated the invention that they did to make copies of Red's missing poster of her father
"Nice work boys" Pino and Noki interchange a high-five to each other, then to Charlotte
Red gasped in surprise "It's a perfect copy of my drawing. That's incredible"
Arthur pushed Kio away and did the same thing and said "I could do this faster"
"Just make sure not to break it" Charlotte muttered, Merlin heard her
"This will definitely make it easier to find your dad" Merlin said
"Unfortunately, this thing ain't flying" Pino patted the leg of the robot
"It's grounded" Noki added
"Why does it need to fly?" Red Shoes inquired
"The posters are no good if we can't distribute them fast" Pino explained
"He is right about that" Charlotte agreed
"Guys, thank you so much for everything you're doing" Red Shoes kneeled down and grabbed the triplets to give them a hug with Arthur looking jealous at the side
"We could use that" Merlin the pointed to the broom that brought Red Shoes to them
"It could work" Charlotte and Merlin walked towards it. She was about to pull it out till Merlin stop her
"Allow me, Lotte" he then got up to the level of the broom and pulled the it with force
"You sure you can do it?" She asked
"Yep! No... problem. Woah!" The broom was removed and Merlin was dropped. She shook her head and giggled, helping him to stand up.
"Good job" she cleaned up the dust on his hair and took the broom so she could show the triplets on what they can do.
Merlin, staring lovingly to Charlotte. Much brighter, slower... just... utter perfection.
Pino, Noki, and Kio configured some stuff inside the robot after connecting the broom on the back of it
"Amazing as always you three" Charlotte patted their heads as she used to
"Now, with the three of you inside that, who's going to fly with Red?" She turned to the remaining four. The three raising their hands up to be picked, Merlin just walked away from them. Charlotte raised a brow at this, looking confused to him as he just let the other three be
"Rock, paper, scissors" Charlotte suggested and they immediately started playing against each other
"Merls, you still have that talisman we didn't get to use?" Charlotte inquired and he immediately check the inventory on his pouch for the certain talisman
"Eureka!" He exclaimed and pulled out the talisman
"You still have it!"
"Always with me for emergencies" he then handed it over to Charlotte
"I want to give this to Red, is it okay?" She asked to be sure
"If you think she might need it, why not. Having that gut-feeling again?" She nodded. He was about to say something when he was cut off by Arthur's cheer
"That took a bit of time" he heard Charlotte said who is now walking towards Red Shoes
"You need to keep this with you" she gave Red the talisman
"What is this?" Red flipped the talisman
"A special talisman that me and Merlin made, he made most of it, I just give him the idea. That talisman will trigger when there was a powerful magic, and only magic. Within the talisman is asurge of electricity and it will attract this arrow coil that will help us in detecting to where you are" Charlotte explained and showed Red the arrow that is attached on her belt
"Thank you" Red then pulled Charlotte for a hug. Pass Red's shoulder was a jealous Arthur. She felt childish as she hold Red closer and sticking her tongue out to him. Merlin was watching it happen and muffled his laugh with a cough. Pino, Noki and Kio is observing Charlotte and Merlin... thinking a like that something good will happen later on.
"Are you sure about this Merlin?" Charlotte questioned as they watch Red Shoes and the other dwarfs by the robot
"Yep. Also, you do remember that I have a fear on certain heights and I get motion sickness very easily" he placed his hands on his hip
"How could I forget the motion sickness" she shook her head with a grin on her face
"But uhm Merlin, what about the plan? You know, for you and Red"
"I have a different plan" her eyes turned wide
"A different plan? What is it then?"
"It was my original plan" her brows furrowed in confusion
"You never told me you have an original plan"
"Because it is a well-kept secret" she wasn't sure if he is going to believe him
"So, what is it?"
"You'll find out later" this made her confused... the right word is actually confuzzled
As Red Shoes got on the broom, she spotted Merlin and Charlotte. To be honest, Red Shoes... Snow White... was starting to have feelings towards Merlin. But, she felt that his actions wasn't sincere, unlike Arthur who was really trying. She felt that Merlin was only charming her to get a kiss to break the curse.
She kept watching Merlin as he has been admiring Charlotte who was talking to Arthur, Pino, Noki and Kio about the course that they should take when dropping the missing posters.
She always saw him with the same look when Charlotte was near him. She could tell that he could easily locate her from a distance.
Charlotte also has the similar look when she longily stares at Merlin. How heart-broken she looks when he joined the others in swooning her
Red Shoes... Snow White... knows... understand... Merlin and Charlotte has this connection... and she didn't want to ruin that for them
As the sun goes down, both Merlin and Charlotte took a walk. They planned to go to the field of flowers, but they need to easily get back to base if the talisman was ever activated.
"I'm still bothered by this" Charlotte said all of a sudden
"By what, exactly?" They then sat down on a log that was on the ground
"Not going, with Red Shoes. I mean, its a moment for you to be alone and work your charms on her"
"There is a uh... I actually realized something, that you are right about" Merlin looked down and rubbing a hand down his neck
"What is it?"
"That I am an idiot!" She flinched when he raised his voice
"I never said that!"
"You were indicating it"
"I did! A couple of times. But I never verbally said that you're an idiot!" Merlin groaned
"This is getting me no where" he muttered to himself as he covered his face with his hand
"You're... regretting not going with Red, aren't you?" He immediately faced her
"No! I don't! Because you-" he doesn't know how to go on with this
"Did I do something?" He heard her listen
"No! You didn't! It's just.... remember when you said, that the curse is about our conventional outlook of beauty to us?"
"Wasn't expecting for you to recall that since you guys just brushed it off" she commented
"And then other thing you mentioned, 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. Beauty, that doesn't exist on its own, because its created by the observer!"
"You are telling me this because?"
"It's you!"
"What?!" The silence broke when Charlotte yelled
"Tha-that can't be! I mean... most beautiful woman in the world. That can't be me! I... I am not! I act more boyish, not girly enough! Snow... Red Shoes! She's the perfect girl! Beautiful! More so a girl than me. You must have made a mistake"
"Not telling you the truth was a mistake" Charlotte was puzzled
"The original plan was actually you. The whole most beautiful woman in the world went over my head. What you said was correct all along. I wasn't listening nor understanding you" he sighed
"Red Shoes is indeed beautiful, but she is not you. I was just using her to break the curse. I can't imagine kissing her, because you're the one I kept seeing. I was actually planning to confess before everything that happened the past year. I just thought that you liked the Merlin that you know"
"You are the Merlin that I know" she muttered as Merlin faced her
"You're still the same Merlin that I met. You're more famous now, sure, but... you're still you. Human or dwarf. Whatever you look like. You're my Merlin" they kept staring at each others eyes... closing in...
"Are you sure about this?"
"I could never go wrong"
The couple rushed to the base as the arrow on Charlotte's belt started pointing to a direction. Merlin burst the door open, spooking everyone inside. They got inside and shut the door close
"How did you-" Jack was cut off
"No time to explain. Arthur and Red Shoes need our help. We need to-" Merlin was the one cut off this time as someone knocked on the door.
Charlotte removed her sword from the scabbard and slowly inched closer to the door. She pulled it open and was about to swing her sabre when spotted...
"Those are bears" Jack pointed out
"Ah..." one of the bears started awkwardly
"Hi? We were sent here by Arthur"
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro