Chapter 2. Cabbage and Mini Cat (2)

Translator: Lili

“… Do as you please.”

She didn’t say no. Even as her tone tried to bite, the tremor in her voice betrayed her.

“Close your eyes.”

A soft laugh was followed by the low murmur of their voice. Shushu hesitated, then asked instead of obeying.

“… Why do I always have to close my eyes?”

Whether it was before a kiss or in the quiet of the night, they always made her close her eyes, like some fairytale princess married to a monster disguised as a boy. Her question slipped out, though she had been scolded before for ruining the mood.

For a moment, they narrowed their gaze at her. Their icy, pale blue eyes carried a pressure that made Shushu drop her own gaze. Finally, a slow response came.

“Because otherwise, you’ll burn.”

“…Ha.”

‘What nonsense.’

Shushu frowned but closed her eyes without protest. If she didn’t, this back-and-forth would never end, and they’d let free time run out without a care for any consequences. And, truthfully, she knew.

In this peculiar dynamic where they called each other ‘wife’, she was the one who gained the most.

Cabbage and Mini Cat.

The platinum-haired Mini Cat, as brilliant as quartz, was Cabbage’s prison wife, and the petite Cabbage was Mini Cat’s prison wife.

Thanks to the privilege of being married to the formidable inmate Mini Cat, Shushu enjoyed leisurely lunch breaks and the time and space to care for her tomato seedling. After becoming ‘wives’, the kisses came quickly, but the matters under the sheets were slower to unfold.

Yet Shushu had never truly rejected either. Even though the body behind that cascade of long hair was undeniably female, Shushu accepted it all. And sometimes, she had strange dreams.

In those dreams, Mini Cat appeared as a man. He still called Shushu his wife and did far more intense things than they had ever done under the covers.

But when Shushu woke up, Mini Cat was still a woman, still an inmate, and so was she. And so Shushu would feel a tangle of sadness, confusion, and shame, all on her own.

‘Otherwise, you’ll burn.’

Even while sensing the piercing in her mouth that felt oddly cold, Shushu couldn’t help recalling Mini Cat’s teasing words. Which one of them would be the one to burn?

Shushu was certain it would be her. Mini Cat was like endless winter, and if someone were to burn, it would naturally be someone born in the summer—someone like her. With such foolish thoughts in mind, Shushu found her breath growing short.

***

She had read novels that began with an innocent person being falsely accused and sent to prison.

The protagonist would wake up to find themselves branded as a criminal, surrounded by people who didn’t believe in their innocence. Eventually, they would be sent to prison. In most cases, the protagonist was an ordinary person or a justice-driven detective.

After being imprisoned, they would run around tirelessly to prove their innocence, eventually uncovering a grand conspiracy and clearing their name. They would walk free, sometimes even winning love along the way.

It was a fairly common trope.

However, Shushu had never imagined just how catastrophic such a story would feel if it became her own reality. Nor had she ever wanted to truly understand the steel-like determination those protagonists needed to fight their way through such dizzying circumstances.

And yet, here she was, in exactly that situation.

***