The Nymph Wants to be Plundered - Chapter 211

“Don’t be angry, Lena.”

“……”

“Miss Lena?”

She couldn’t stand the tickling feeling in her chest at his single word, like spring that had passed its season. Who does he keep calling “miss”? Evelyn felt like she would burst out somewhere if she stayed like this, so she finally reacted.

“Stop calling me miss. What kind of miss am I…!”

“Knights are supposed to escort ladies. How about it, shall I use formal speech with you?”

“No, that’s enough. If you do that, I’ll really get indigestion from everything I ate….”

Cassis had decided to pose as a wandering knight without a contract. Though he actually was a knight by origin, when she worried about what would happen if he got exposed while proving it since they were from different countries, he said there were ways for everything so not to worry.

She was set up as a maiden from some nameless rural village who had been childhood friends with Cayan and met him again as adults. He had decided this setting himself, saying that if they claimed to have grown up together the whole time, there might be a possibility of being questioned in difficult situations. Since it was almost identical to Evelyn’s actual life, there was no burden about dangerous lies.

As he helped her up, her bottom probably sore from riding the cart for quite a while, he answered.

“You understand for now, but if you want my polite formal speech, tell me anytime. This offer is valid until we enter the castle, so I hope you’ll change your mind. E….”

As he said this, his lips openly parted in the shape of saying the letter ‘E’ rather than ‘L’. If she was teased any more than this, she really felt like she wanted to run away blindly to some alley. Finally, she protested while pretending to cover his wicked mouth with her hand.

“Stop it, if you keep doing this, I’ll really get confused!”

“…Alright, I understand.”

Coming to the hotel and flopping down alone on the bed, she spread both arms wide. The fluffy feeling of the sheets that seemed well-dried in the sun and their distinctive scent made her lying body feel drowsy.

How strange. This bed was definitely not small, and there were even two pillows. But perhaps because of the luxurious life she had enjoyed in the Hall of Glory, when she first came in, it looked small and unfamiliar, like a matchbox that had been forcibly stretched. Actually, this entire guest room had been like that, but as time passed, she got used to it and it became fine. It was exactly the same feeling as when she had first set foot in the capital earlier. Why had that been?

‘I’m tired.’

She hadn’t noticed while bickering with him about “Miss Lena” and such, but once she was alone, fatigue came rushing in like a wave.

It would be troublesome to sleep already, wouldn’t it? Evelyn sat up and looked at her jasmine branch that she had placed in a vase with water as soon as she entered the room. Still, no particular emotion arose. It didn’t feel like her tree.

Perhaps her life and vitality were based solely on Cassis. Like this… with her body and heart entirely directed toward him.

The next day, Evelyn spent a rather boring morning.

One of the reasons they couldn’t rush to her hometown village was that he had business to attend to here. Was that business as Cassis, not Cayan? Without asking and guessing on her own, she looked out the window.

‘He’ll come back late, won’t he?’

Since they had to leave the capital tomorrow and head toward her hometown village, the best thing to do was to wait quietly in here. She shouldn’t wander outside carelessly and get lost or cause trouble.

A way to dispel boredom without going out occurred to her. Opening the window and holding her breath while listening carefully, she could hear the voices of people chattering as they passed by on the street below. Though it was difficult to make out what they were saying, it was noisy and lively. She was about to lean against the window frame when she suddenly had such a thought.

Hmm… It won’t happen, but there’s no chance I’d run into the prince right after leaving here, is there?

“Pfft!”

After thinking about it, it was such a ridiculous thing that she laughed. Aside from Cassis being a king, it’s not like the prince of the country she had lived her whole life in had nothing to do, so what reason would there be to encounter him on the street?

She did remember what Faye had chattered about before.

—You know, Evelyn. If you live in the capital, you can often see royalty if you’re lucky. Nobles are one thing, but a prince! Just imagining the moment of meeting makes me so excited, don’t you think?

—Mm-hmm. I am curious about what kind of person he is.

—I heard he’s around our age. He’s supposed to be tall and incredibly handsome, I want to meet him too! Who knows? He might invite us to a ball.

Such a thing would never happen, but if she were lucky, she might encounter him by chance. Of course, since she didn’t know what he looked like, she would only know if he said with his own mouth that he was the prince…

For her, who had completely belonged to Cassis and wanted only him, it was already a wistful dream of the distant past. Even married Faye would have naturally lost interest or her rational curiosity would have disappeared. Without even trying to peek out the window to find the direction of the royal castle, she returned to the table and stroked the jasmine branch.