The Nymph Wants to be Plundered - Chapter 128

So it wasn’t that they didn’t come to visit, but that they couldn’t. Evelyn was happy to learn about the unavoidable circumstances and smiled with a flushed face.

“I see, you went through a lot of trouble. You too, Sir Ruba.”

「Hmph.」

When she spoke with polite courtesy, Ruba’s elongated head pressed into her side and settled there. In reality, it just passed through and stuck out behind her, swaying, but still. Even with the tickling sensation of his mane scattered by the wind and clinging to her arms, she didn’t avoid it and gently stroked Ruba’s head.

“I missed you both very much too. Thank you for worrying about me.”

「Wh-who said they missed you?」

Though he didn’t shake his head vigorously to get it out from between her arm and side, Ruba was busy denying it. Nike watched this scene as if it were quite fascinating. He couldn’t hear their conversation, but he naturally knew the atmosphere was warm.

“Wow, to receive a unicorn’s love is really amazing, our Evelyn.”

「Why is that one calling you ‘ours’ when you’re with me? How dare he group a nymph and unicorn together.」

Ruba’s grumbling rode on the increasingly warm wind and pleasantly echoed in her mind. Evelyn thought that while she enjoyed the leisurely time spent feeling around the bedroom where his scent faintly remained after he left, she also liked this noisy present that made her forget that silence.

She gave another greeting, not knowing to whom.

“…I’m back safely.”

After spending an appropriate amount of time with the two, Evelyn returned to the Hall. Strangely, Ruba and Nike said they didn’t want to go around as a trio if possible. They would prefer to accompany her separately if anything. Since Evelyn fully understood the nature of their subtle relationship, she obediently went along with their wishes. This was because her childhood friend Fay had been like that too.

Therefore, having walked around twice as much as usual, she was sitting on the bed patting her aching legs when a shadow fell from behind her.

‘Behind me?’

That couldn’t be. Just as she worried whether the spirits had left the window open and was about to turn around, a hand approached. It was a familiar touch.

“Did you have fun playing?”

“Yes…!”

It was Cassis. She had no idea when he had slipped past her notice, hiding in a secluded corner before startling her from behind the bed. As a swift elf, moving silently and undetected was second nature to him—but he rarely did so in front of her. More than that, the crinkling bundle of papers in his hand made her sigh in resignation the moment she saw him. Another busy day, she thought.

His body settled onto the sheets, close to hers. Even as the bed shifted faintly beneath his weight, Evelyn only let her lips tremble slightly before maintaining a soft smile. The corners of her mouth, which had stiffened into blank shock as if she’d been drenched in icy rain, soon curled into a blooming grin—as if she already knew exactly what those papers contained.

“Wait, really?”

“Yes. The border scouts have left, and a good number of the knights guarding the castle have been pulled away, so we can’t go overboard. It’s the tail end of spring, so the timing’s a bit awkward, but we decided to hold a modest festival to celebrate the growth of flowers and greenery.”

Cassis explained in detail, pointing out each word for her since she still struggled with Elvish. Though she had been studying, the language was difficult, and she could only manage to pick up a few words and particles each day.

With the raucous, provocative Aika Festival now over and many of the castle’s visitors gone, attendance was expected to be low. The new festival they were planning would be small in scale to match. Not like the old days when countless elves had flooded in to establish their kingdom, worshiping the goddess and the World Tree—no, this would be a humble celebration, reminiscent of the simpler times when they lived in tribes…

“That’s amazing. So the old ways were preserved in records, and now they can be recreated?”

“Mmm.”

She was fascinated, but Cassis’s gaze was indifferent—empty, even. The expulsion of the border scout trainees had thrown the castle’s order into disarray. Holding this festival would help offset that, but frankly, just reading about it bored him. The only reason he endured it was for Evelyn, who would surely love such a thing.

Cassis tilted his head slightly as he traced back to last year’s memories.

“In the summer, they hold a slightly wilder festival. Elves confident in their stamina ride rapids and dive into the lake. Hmm… It might not sound appealing to you, but they even play games to see who can last the longest underwater, pretending to follow the water nymphs. If you want to watch then, I’ll let you.”

“Really? That’s amazing! Everyone must be so much better than me!”

The light in Evelyn’s eyes held nothing but pure admiration—not a trace of jealousy or bitterness. Cassis found it fascinating.

‘Evelyn.’

“Ah—!”

The paper she had been holding in her hand suddenly scattered messily around the bed. Now free, his hands moved toward her, and without a word, Cassis pulled out the pin holding her hair in place and tossed it aside.