The Nymph Wants to be Plundered - Chapter 173

Eventually, a sharp rebuke followed as if he would chew up and devour something.

“Did I say that?”

“Eve, everyone…”

“I clearly told you when I brought you here. To value me more than the words of a hundred elves.”

Even while recalling old memories, he could find no way to suppress his surging anger. He knew well that when the castle ‘s public opinion had reached such extremes, Evelyn, weak in both body and mind, couldn’t help but be shaken. But he had hoped she wouldn’t be.

His lips, tinged with fury, pressed her relentlessly.

“If you were so worried about having to leave, why didn’t you come to me and ask directly? You should have knocked on my office door, or if I wasn’t there, you should have asked Sir Laocon about my whereabouts. I’ve seen you two converse well before—does it only become impossible for such matters?”

“I…”

He knew it was inappropriate to say this when he had been too busy to even visit the bedroom where she mainly stayed. Even as Cassis spoke, his fists clenched tightly, heating up on their own. She, who had been hanging her head low, seemed to have nothing to say and hunched her body even more.

Her pitiful appearance, as if she had committed a sin, provoked his blazing anger even more. Even knowing that the one who had caused trouble was on the wrong side entirely, he found it utterly detestable to see Evelyn keep trying to burrow into that hollow space resembling a broken shell, avoiding him. Cassis extended his hand for her, who was uncomfortably fidgeting trying to cling to the round wall. His fingertips were not steady and trembled faintly.

“Come out.”

“……”

“Take my hand.”

As if she couldn’t hear his words, Evelyn, crouched down, finally pressed both hands firmly over her ears.

She ran away on her own whim, and now she’s going to pretend she can’t hear?

He could no longer endure it. Cassis acknowledged that his last bit of patience, which he had tried to maintain benevolently, had been not only useless but had snapped completely, and he showed it through action.

He had never received much praise for having a good personality, even during his days as a knight. Though he had endured difficult times silently, he had lived answering excessive provocations with force, so he had no complaints about it. Of course, he would make Evelyn take responsibility for this situation with a response of quite different nature than that.

“Ah…!”

His fierce hands grabbed Evelyn and pulled her out, pressing her completely against his embrace. Ruba, who had poked his head out from behind the shrubs after noticing the sudden change in situation during their standoff, saw that it was already the moment when Cassis was swiftly running down the hill.

The unicorn felt pleased.

Seeing him abandon everything and come running frantically, then carry off the runaway nymph, it must have worked out well. Ruba yawned widely enough to split his muzzle and sat down right there. He planned to go back in soon, once the king came to his senses and quelled the dirty, annoying rumors within the castle. He should sleep more until then.

“Ugh, hic…!”

Evelyn was in his arms with her eyes tightly shut. Because he was running so incredibly fast as if riding the wind, the scenery receding behind her looked as blurry as tear-mixed vision, and when she opened her eyes, the nausea was so severe she couldn’t help it.

Where was he going? What was going to happen? Just as she was gasping, unable even to guess, her body was pulled sharply upward. Evelyn was nearly on the verge of fainting and could only breathe with her head pressed tightly against his chest.

Cassis, who had kicked off from the castle wall and climbed up in one bound, naturally faced no one’s interference. This was a blind spot too high for guards to come, and the World Tree had no reason to block his passage. Rather, as if telling him to go there, golden spores rose spiraling on the wind from the spot he had noticed earlier.

‘What useless welcoming.’

Leaping down toward that direction, he walked with large strides wearing an ice-cold expression.

Evelyn, who had been hanging limply in his arms, suddenly noticed voices mixed with laughter coming from over there. There were two of them, male and female. It was an affectionate conversation that seemed quite far from the chilled relationship between Cassis and Evelyn.

“Let me go, I’m not going anywhere!”

“Liar!”

“I’ll promise. If I leave without saying anything, then you can do whatever you want.”

“Really? Good, I…”

We must have entered the castle grounds.

Even as her consciousness was about to fade, Evelyn tried to grasp the situation while attempting to understand the location. As Ruba had said, he had indeed come after her, so that was fortunate for now. At first, she had been scared wondering what would happen if he didn’t come, worried that being too far from the tree might cause trouble. But now that Cassis had come and shown a rough side she had never seen before… this felt unmanageable in its own way.

“Ugh!”

Her body was thrown onto a space covered with something soft. She heard rustling sounds and thought it might be dry leaves, but then Cassis took off his cloak and threw it down, then laid her on top of it again.