The Nymph Wants to be Plundered - Chapter 155

“I’m sorry.”

His fingers brushed through her now-grown-out bangs, sweeping them aside to reveal her smooth forehead. Only after his lips pressed softly against her skin did his reply come.

“It’s fine. Scouting the surrounding area was just an extension of my duties—I took care of it yesterday.”

The unexpected answer left Evelyn flustered.

“Huh? But you kept bringing me meals…”

“I went in between your naps.”

“O-oh. I see.”

Eating a little, sleeping, lazing around—that had been the entirety of her yesterday. She had no rebuttal.

“We’ve decided to return via spatial translocation tomorrow, so you won’t have to suffer on horseback. Just close your eyes when I tell you, and we’ll arrive in no time.”

At his words, she felt a surge of relief that she had impulsively suggested looking back at the castle when they left. If I hadn’t, I would’ve missed it. The lesson—that hesitation meant lost opportunities—pierced her freshly all over again.

Cassis took Evelyn’s hand as she sat up, willingly matching her unsteady pace as they walked together. The moment her steps grew slightly more stable, her gaze fixed intently on the window.

“Want to go out?”

“It feels like such a waste…!”

He chuckled softly, as if understanding her frustration at losing a whole day of their precious getaway.

“I’ll try to schedule another one. Midsummer is too hot anyway—we’ll go wherever you’d like. Hmm. The sea might be nice.”

At the word sea, Evelyn’s eyes instantly widened.

“The—the sea? Really? Yes, I want to go!”

Since it was such an enthusiastic reaction from her specifically, he couldn’t just watch and brush it off indifferently. Cassis said he would consider it for now, and even made a promise not to create the disaster of going to see the winter sea too late. If it came to that, he’d rather postpone it to next year.

They came out of the log cabin and strolled around the vicinity. She had resolved the day before yesterday to fill the vase, but ended up doing nothing in the end, so she hesitated and looked around at the Margaret flower beds around the house. However, she felt too sorry to pick the flowers that were blooming so beautifully, so it seemed she would have to look again to see if there were any wildflowers somewhere.

When she actually came out but kept glancing back toward the house, Cassis’s hand reached out and cupped her cheek, which carried the fresh scent of summer.

“Do you want to rest more?”

“No. Actually, when I first came in on the first day, the vase was empty, so I thought I should pick some suitable flowers if there were any. Even some berries would do…. But even if I had done that, I slept through the entire day yesterday anyway, so I probably wouldn’t have seen much.”

Since tomorrow was the day of departure, it would be a shame to pick flowers abundantly now. At her words, Cassis slowly raised an eyebrow.

“Just leave it be.”

“Yes.”

Thinking it was advice not to bother the flowers, Evelyn nodded her head. As expected, His Majesty the King of Jupiter is different, she thought.

The weather around the log cabin was moderately warm and pleasant. Yesterday…. no, the day before yesterday. The side effects of losing an entire day would probably float around her all day today. She glanced toward the forest where she had encountered the mysterious deer two days ago.

“Where would you like to go?”

When his gentle tone reached her, Evelyn found herself deliberating at a crossroads. Should she suggest going to the forest where the deer was—though it might have left by now—where she could rest by the clear, clean pond? Should she willingly push him away, saying she wouldn’t mind if he had unfinished business to attend to? Or if not that….

Holding the moment of choice entirely in her hands, she opened her mouth.

“Which direction is closest to the sea?”

“We need to go down to that stream below. If you go that way for quite a while, you’ll come to a big river, and you have to cross that river and keep going straight to reach the white sand beach by the sea.”

“I’d like to play around the stream area for a bit while walking. A stroll would be nice too.”

“Let’s do that.”

She thought there would be small but clean flowers blooming around the endlessly flowing water. Since he had told her to stop, she wouldn’t pick them deliberately, but since they had come this far anyway, it was a decision made because she wanted to walk around that area at least.

Cassis walked slowly two steps ahead of her, and Evelyn quietly followed when his footprints were carved into the grass. When her steps slowed, he would immediately stop and wait for her, and it was truly amazing how he knew her presence without even looking back again.

She endlessly followed Cassis’s heels along the winding stream. The walk without mixing in a single word was better because it felt like a free journey following the wind rather than being lonely from the silence. To be honest, there were sounds of an appropriate level continuing constantly. From her left came the endless sound of trickling water, and she walked and walked again, intoxicated by the sound of his feet brushing against the grass blades.

Then, a section appeared where several smooth stones were laid like stepping stones. Only then did he turn around and look at her.

“Is this enough?”

“It is.”