The Nymph Wants to be Plundered - Chapter 147

“It seems you’re becoming part of Jupiter too.”

What he casually tossed out as a remark transformed into a touching emotion that made her eyes well up. Unable to contain her proud feelings, Evelyn gripped her robe tightly, then grabbed even her thigh as she stammered.

“Really… truly…?”

“Evelyn, don’t forget that you too are a proper resident of Jupiter. Well then, how about giving a greeting to the World Tree that you’ll visit it safely?”

“I will!”

Evelyn squirmed her back to press close against him, then carefully extended both arms. Then she cried out in her heart.

I’ll visit you, thank you. Lord World Tree, I won’t forget the grace of allowing me to be in this place.

Just a single flower, and a flower that bloomed on someone else’s tree at that. Even though it was something she received belatedly through the careful consideration of Cassis and the unicorn, the World Tree didn’t blame her and willingly embraced her. That warm consideration was unforgettable.

Whoooosh…

A cool early summer breeze rolled in from the direction of the World Tree, gently enveloped them, then disappeared. Cassis gazed quietly at the circular traces swept on the ground around the horse they rode, then soon raised his gaze.

The World Tree’s policy remained unchanged.

“We’ll go now.”

With his back to the magnificent castle, Cassis rode the horse almost without rest. The speed wasn’t very fast, and he frequently turned his head to unfailingly survey the surroundings. Even so, he took good care that Evelyn, whom he carried in front of him, wouldn’t lose her balance, so there was no discomfort at all.

‘This is… nice.’

Though the heart-pounding, fluttering emotions when touching him remained the same, perhaps because it reminded her of the memory of going to the castle alone with him for the first time, she wasn’t sexually aroused. Evelyn liked this so much that she wished this time would last for a very long time.

After they had been riding for quite a while, when a rather strong wind blew and made her ears feel stuffy, he let go of the reins with his left hand and hugged her tightly.

“Aren’t you cold?”

“I’m fine.”

“Hmm, I told them to leave supplies at the destination, so I don’t have anything to wrap you with separately. Um… wait a moment.”

When he made rustling sounds as if removing the cloak draped over his shoulder, startled Evelyn’s waist jerked up.

“I’m fine! You can’t possibly use Lord Cassis’s cloak for me…”

“You have a body that falls ill easily. Stay still.”

“B-but it’s burdensome. It’s been like this all along, always. Even when Lord Cassis was just Cassis, it was like that, but ever since entering the castle, it’s been constant. Not a single day…”

Evelyn’s lament poured out onto the open field, stirring the grass blades before being swept away by the passing wind and quickly disappearing. In the end, Cassis dismounted from the horse, helped her down, and had her sit leaning against a nearby tree. When he didn’t leave but continued standing in front of her, Evelyn tried to get up but was stopped.

“……”

Awkward silence endlessly filled the space between them. Though she felt a slight regret that she might have ruined what had been a good start, Evelyn was captivated by the thought that if she had been wrapped in his blue cloak, she would have suffered from hiccups the entire way. In the end, it wouldn’t work. The stinging sensation in her stomach would have kept rising endlessly.

It was Cassis, who had been standing the whole time, who broke the silence.

“Sometimes I think about it too. I mock myself, wondering if the decision to bring you wasn’t too arrogant. Especially since the day you collapsed, I think about it more often. I… as a result, I was complacent and let you get hurt.”

“What?!”

For Cassis, the memory of being unable to prevent Evelyn’s fainting became less regretful as time passed, but was followed by shame for being unknightly and bitter reflection. And furthermore, it even reached the fundamental question of whether he could defy the fate of a dying nymph.

Evelyn’s eyes wavered as she heard his honest inner thoughts. Cassis had always appeared strong, so she had never, not even a little, suspected that he was suffering from such worries.

She had thought that she alone was sad and struggling in Jupiter Castle. In the vast Hall of Glory, there were times when she wondered if her designated role was merely to satisfy his carnal desires. It would be a lie to say she had never once been consumed by the sorrow that he could give everything, while she was a being who could only receive permission for everything.

But he too was, in the end, a being whose heart beat and who felt joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure. Just like her.

Pushing aside the excitement she had felt like a late spring picnic, she did not consider his confession to be shocking. This was sincere. Just like her, who had always lived watching others’ reactions, Cassis too had lived swallowing his frustrations. Because he was the king, because he was the guardian of the world tree, because he had to take care of everyone, and because even when all tasks were finished and he returned to his bedroom, there was still the last being he had to care for—the nymph Evelyn, lying in wait.

This was not the time to be wallowing in self-pity alone!

Evelyn shot up and grabbed his hand, shaking her head.

“That’s not true!”

“Evelyn?”

“The decision for me to come to Jupiter, the time I’m living now—it’s all thanks to you, Cassis. If you hadn’t extended your hand to me, there would have been no beginning at all.”