She had never touched someone else"s bare body before. Her pale fingers twitched on the light brown and hardened skin. SoYoon felt her stomach turn and clenched her hand. Then Heart embraced her with his whole body.
SoYoon closed her eyes as she felt his warmth blanket her body. Feeling as if she was falling, her sensitivity picked up Heart"s scent.
She had a.s.sumed he would smell like musk or amber, but instead, he smelled like vetiver. The slightly sweet smell mixed with the scent of trees and earth, and she inhaled deeply. Heart"s arms flexed.
A little later, Heart got up. SoYoon opened her eyes. Heart was pressing her hair with his fingers and asked.
"Where is that girl?"
"Probably at the Doctor"s. I told March to take her there."
"Then tell him to bring her here right after."
After getting up, Heart pulled on a beige gown then stood in front of SoYoon with his arms open. SoYoon closed his gown for him and tied it shut.
"Very nice, my Whitey."
He whispered this into her ear then took her outside with him.
As they walked down from the third-floor bedroom to the first, she smelled blood. As this had happened so often, she didn"t think much of it, but when SoYoon opened one of Heart"s doors, she realized she had been mistaken. There was something else she didn"t expect.
The smell of blood and medicine filled the room, as a man covered in bandages lay barely able to breathe. His wounds must have been recent as blood poured into the bandages, dying them red. He was on the brink of death.
"I"m going to test her skills on him."
SoYoon sent the message to March right away.
Upon returning from SoYoon"s house, March immediately took Dor and Alice to Doctor. On the way, Dor complained that her legs hurt, so he had to carry her on his back, although he didn"t mind.
Doctor even pulled out a stethoscope to check every part of Dor and announced that she was normal. Compared to other people, her growth was stunted, and she had less muscle, but for someone who had spent the majority of her life lying down, this was practically a miracle. March hugged Dor.
"Thank you, Doctor. And thank you so much, Alice."
"I only did what I had to."
Alice nodded and smiled humbly. Doctor observed Alice as he played with the cigarette in his mouth. She was quite pretty. Her eyes and face exuded a goodness that didn"t match with those who lived in Wonderland.
"Newcomer?"
Alice turned to Doctor. In the original story, Doctor was 31 years old. He was a character who would fall for a girl 13 years younger.
Even though he had a scratchy, unshaved beard and wore an uninterested expression most of the time, Doctor was still attractive. If he was described as only above average in the book, she wondered how good Mad Hatter would look, who was described as immensely handsome. Alice couldn"t hide her antic.i.p.ation.
"It"s nice to meet you. I"m Alice Liddell. I came here two days ago."
"I hear it was you who healed the child?"
"Um, that"s…"
Alice smiled, embarra.s.sed, as she explained what happened. She said how she had wanted to help her and how the light came out of her hands, that this was a skill she"d had since childhood, that she had kept it a secret as requested by her parents, that she could not use it on herself, and when she arrived at March"s house and saw Dor, that she healed her.
"I saw Dor lying there and I couldn"t help it…"
Doctor looked Alice up and down. Alice didn"t know where to look, so she turned to March. March was busy dressing Dor.
"Not bad."
"Excuse me?"
"You."
Alice lowered her head and twiddled her fingers. March, who had been watching them from behind, clicked his tongue. That jerk is at it again. Doctor smiled and continued.
"Your organs look fresh. Not one would go to waste."
"Excuse me?"
"What do you say? Do you want to split it open just to see? It"s okay, I can take them out cleanly so that you won"t even see the st.i.tches."
"Take them out? What…?"
Only then did Alice realize where she was. Doctor, unlike March, did not fall in love with Alice at first sight. As a doctor, he was interested in her healing powers and fell in love with her apparent goodness.
In Wonderland, there was only one sentence that bought up his hobby. Alice"s face went white. If March had not intervened, she might have run out of the examining room.
"Quit it, Doctor. Such a weird personality…"
"Are you taking the side of your girlfriend? Aren"t you a little young to be dating?"
"Not you too, Doctor? Alice, I think you should go somewhere with me."
"Oh, where?"
In his heart, he wanted to go anywhere with her. Alice looked at him intently. She waited for him to say the name of the person she hoped to meet soon.
"Heart is asking to see you."
Thirty minutes later, the three of them arrived at Heart"s house.
The enormous house fit for European royalty or a Hollywood celebrity made Alice"s eyes grow wide and her lips curve upward. She tried to resist so that she wouldn"t look as immature as Dor.
"Brother, this is a house?"
"Yes, house. It"s where Heart lives."
"Who"s Heart?"
"Just someone. He"s extremely strong and scary...anyway, just someone."
The three of them stepped inside and had to split up once they came to the lobby. Alice went left, March and Dor were led to the right.
Alice was taken to a room that carried a strong scent of medicine that punched her nose. Inside were three people waiting for her, but Alice"s eyes were drawn only to one.
Even from afar, he was noticeable, with his ginger hair and handsome face. He was watching her with those energetic and explosive eyes. She almost shouted out in awe.
Wow. Even with just his smile, he could knock out any girl.
"Are you Alice?"
His voice was like an old wine as he called out her name. She quickly nodded. He waved her over.
That was when she realized he had only a gown on above the pajama pants. It was thin, so she was able to see all the contours beneath the silk exterior. The beige color s.h.i.+mmered almost gold so that it looked both elegant and s.e.xy.
Heart—Wonderland"s strongest man. Nowhere in the book did it ever say that he was this sensual being.
Alice approached Heart. He might fall in love with her in the future, but as of right now, he was Wonderland"s warlord. As she got closer, she could feel his powerful presence. Alice turned without thinking to find that there were two other people in the room.
One person was lying on the bed. It seemed she was here because of this man. And the other person was small with white-blond hair. Definitely the White Rabbit.
White Rabbit was a character who did Heart"s bidding and would make up lies for his enjoyment. He was neither a friend nor foe to Alice. He was small and thin and covered almost his entire face with a mask so that it was hard to even differentiate his gender. Surprised to find him smaller than even her, Alice thought his side looked a bit pathetic.
When Alice"s gaze locked on SoYoon, Heart"s eyes turned angry. Heart stepped forward in front of Alice. Doing this, SoYoon"s small stature became hidden behind him. Heart stared at Alice.
"I"m Heart. I heard about your powers through March."
"Huh? Oh, March…"
"So, I have a favor to ask. Can you do it?"
His low voice sounded almost demonlike. Alice nodded in a trance. Then she walked over to the wounded man and placed her hands over him. A bright light flowed from Alice"s hands into the man"s body. Upon seeing the wounds heal themselves under the bandages, Heart"s eyes narrowed.
A little while later, the man opened his eyes.
"Who...Huh? I was sure I was…"
His attention was stolen by the lovely girl"s face above him, but, confused, he got up from the bed.
Heart removed the bandages from the man"s body. The blood he had been losing only a few moments ago had dyed the bandages red, but now, the skin underneath the bandages was without even a scratch. It couldn"t be described as anything other than magic.
"Amazing," Heart exclaimed.
Heart, SoYoon, and Alice moved to Heart"s office. Unlike the other times, Heart sat at his desk and concentrated his attention on Alice. The girl"s cheeks blushed red.
"How old are you?"
"I"m eighteen."
Alice was a year older than when SoYoon first stepped into Wonderland. Even so, the difference was huge. Heart looked at SoYoon with lowered eyes.
Although he couldn"t read her expression, he could tell all her attention was directed toward Alice as well.
Heart laughed softly. Alice"s face flushed. It wasn"t hard to figure out her desires reflected in those blue eyes.
"You said you came into Wonderland two days ago? Can you tell me what happened outside of it?"
"I...I don"t really know. Suddenly my parents were murdered...sniff, I"m sorry...I was staying at a friend"s place, but I didn"t want to cause them any more trouble, so I left. I was walking when I saw Wonderland, and I just thought that here they would take me in…"
Alice lowered her head and rubbed her eyes. When she raised her face, her eyes were red.
"It must have been tough for you. If there"s anything I could do, don"t hesitate and just ask. You saved my a.s.sistant"s life."
"Then, there is one thing I want. I want to know why my parents were murdered."
"It won"t be difficult to try to find out. But is that all?"
SoYoon, who had just become item number one, saw with her own eyes: Heart"s first mistake when it came to Alice. SoYoon had been worried because they had met earlier than they were supposed to, but it didn"t look as if it changed the flow of the story much.