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– I was often sick, – Koschei returned to the interrupted theme. – And nobody wanted to be friends with me. Nobody played with me. I wasn’t handsome or obedient, so I had no friends. But for Gorynych, of course.  With him, we have been friends since childhood. But he frequently flew away somewhere, and I was left alone. The forest inhabitants, who were the same age, often teased me and I quited trying to make friends with them. I started getting angry, offended. I drew more and played less with them. But then I suddenly realized that anger had made me stronger than others. I liked that I could be stronger than those who offended me... – he confessed, sneaking a peek at Hope. Contrary to the fears he had, the girl didn’t jump out of the armchair or ran away in disgust to his confession. He couldn’t observe his transformation while he was opening his mind, and he didn’t know how hard she wanted to see that handsome man not in the mirror, but in front of her. 

– I was angry, – Koschei kept telling his story, – and I fought. I fought with my offenders and started to win more and more often. I became feared. Both they and the village boys, that used to come and laugh at me, got scared of me. They saw that I won many times due to my magic and anger, so they couldn’t handle me with their fists or magic. And then they came up with another idea. They were looking for those who could handle me. They were telling every ready to listen person about my terrible temper. They were telling how cruel I am. And eventually, even I believed them. Why waste time and persuade someone if you can just meet others’ expectations? I believed even more, especially in those moments, when the next passing by hero knocked at my door, holding the sword in his hands, without trying to figure out the truth.

– Poor thing… – Hope whispered and Koschei shivered. No one had ever felt sorry for him. And he didn’t know how to take this and what to say her. So he just continued the story.

– And when I was determined to tell somebody the truth, they laughed at me and decided that I was fooling them, cheating on them, stringing them along… – Koschei said sadly and stopped speaking, lowering his head.

– It’s so good that I appeared here… – Hope muttered. – Now I will always take my time before believe somebody. I’d better ask the person people are talking about whether it’s truth or not.

The houseowner looked closer at the girl. She was speaking from her heart.