The Nymph Wants to be Plundered - Chapter 189

Suddenly her breath was caught. Evelyn, who had grown despondent, made a sad expression that resembled her own fate, then rested both arms on the low table and closed her eyes with her head tilted to one side.

The fresh scent of leaves couldn’t intoxicate her nose, so it helped her fall asleep easily.

It was when she had just dozed off into a deep sleep.

“…Evelyn?”

When she opened her sleepy eyes at the feeling of someone caressing her cheek, blue and deep eyes that made her heart tingle filled her vision.

“Lord Cassis….”

“After the sofa, now you’re carelessly sleeping on the floor. Are you determined to harm your body? What is this now?”

After thoroughly scolding her, his fingertips touched the leaves of the citrus tree that had no flowers. Evelyn steadied her still drowsy lips and answered.

“It’s a citrus tree.”

“I know.”

How dare she try to teach the name of a plant to an elf who protects flowers and plants. She had no manners at all. Evelyn, realizing she had made a great mistake, hurriedly added this and that.

“Ah, well. I received it from Sir Iel. It’s a long-living tree and grows well indoors too. If it gets too big… uh, he said it would be fine to place it near the hall, but then…”

“You met Iel?”

His gaze stared intently at the lips that were chattering urgently. The lips that had looked pitifully pale when they had dined together now had a quite pleasant cherry-colored tint.

Evelyn nodded eagerly, as if she had regained the energy she had lost when dining with him.

“Yes! I, I also received a task from him. Placing fertilizer stones in the flower beds near the World Tree.”

“I saw.”

Cassis, who curtly cut off her words indifferently, narrowed his brow. Thinking it wouldn’t do to leave the basket with fertilizer stones in the bedroom, Evelyn had asked a spirit to put it in the utility room.

‘Iel.’

What exactly was Iel scheming that he was gradually approaching Evelyn? For Cassis, who had to watch silently, it was extremely uncomfortable. The strange rumors would eventually die down if he thoroughly ignored Polyxene , but it was quite suspicious since he didn’t know what Iel’s change of heart was aimed at.

He could call and ask him. However…

Even if he got a satisfactory answer from him, this current state. That Evelyn was smiling with a bright expression while mentioning the name of Iel, who had vehemently opposed her coming to Jupiter? Even if she didn’t know the truth, he didn’t like that expression, and something seemed to surge up from his throat.

She, who had been answering excitedly, suddenly became quiet and read the mood. When she acted cautiously without even thinking to meet his gaze, he felt his patience snap.

From Evelyn’s standpoint, it would naturally be beneficial for her relationship with Iel to improve, following Laocon. But why his mood was worsening, even he couldn’t understand. What was the cause of this strange feeling, as if his stomach was churning uncomfortably?

“…….”

“Did I do something wrong? Should I return the fertilizer stone and the orange tree pot to Sir Iel…?”

Only after hearing her voice grow weaker toward the end, nearly dying away completely, did Cassis come to his senses.

How petty—what was he even doing? How long had it been since she had collapsed and barely survived? He had resolved to treat her well, yet here he was neglecting her again under the excuse of being busy, reducing her to this state. The one who had brought that gloomy expression to her face was none other than Grani, the very person who had brought the nymph’s tree here.

“No.”

Even at the man’s voice filled with certainty, Evelyn still seemed frightened and acted timidly.

“The fertilizer stone was the first task entrusted to me, so I just wanted to do well with it. So I went out, and then Sir Iel told me to follow him, so I went to the mansion and he gave me the orange tree as a gift.”

The name of another man coming from her lips was still unpleasant to hear, but he spoke quite brightly.

“It’s fine. Since this is yours, it wouldn’t be bad to go see a suitable place to put it.”

‘Ah.’

The moment she heard those words, the warmth that had been circulating through Evelyn’s fingertips turned cold, and her face went deathly pale. The instinct that had somehow made her want to desperately survive even when her life hung by a thread instantly took control of her body. Early despair pressed down heavily on her eyelids, and there was no way to stop it.

So this is how it ends up. The frightening moment I thought would come someday has arrived too quickly. Now I won’t be able to stay in the Hall of Glory anymore.

Whether it was someone other than Polyxene, or even if there was no one by Cassis’s side at all… The feeling of having fallen to the status of something to be disposed of was unbearably bitter.

He stood up as if it were nothing.

“Tell the spirits to carry this, and let’s go.”

She couldn’t bring herself to answer. In his words, she barely managed to steady her legs, which had completely lost their strength, and stood up, looking so unsteady she seemed ready to collapse. Cassis noticed her suddenly changed condition and bent down to examine her complexion.

“Are you tired?”

Her meal with him had been extremely meager, and she had gone out to do work entrusted by someone else, then returned carrying a pot—it would be natural for her to be exhausted. Seeing the unstable, swaying movement of her legs, he wasn’t one to pretend not to notice.