The Nymph Wants to be Plundered - Chapter 212

“Hmm…”

She didn’t dare to actually touch the leaves attached to the branch. What if they fell off? Even though it had been separated from her tree, she couldn’t treat it indifferently.

‘But, did my sapling look like this? The branch looks quite sturdy and thick, more than I expected. It seemed much more pitiful originally. Does it grow this quickly in just one season? Usually in spring, trees don’t grow much because they’re busy sprouting…’

She who was thinking of asking Cassis about it in detail when he returned soon shook her head. Since she couldn’t immediately go to the sanctuary to check on the jasmine tree, she didn’t want to bother him unnecessarily.

The time spent alone waiting for him was boring and tedious. With nothing else to do, Evelyn found herself comparing the wallpaper and the patterns and designs on the ceiling with those of Jupiter, one by one.

‘I should have brought paper and a pen. Even though this isn’t my hometown, it’s still my motherland, so even if I couldn’t make designs, I could have made something by tracing similar patterns.’

Only then did she think that since she had come to Devran for once, wouldn’t it be better to read books written in the Imperial language to her heart’s content? There weren’t really any books in the guest room, but she remembered glimpsing a bookshelf when entering the hotel lobby yesterday.

It wouldn’t be leaving the hotel, so it should be fine. Evelyn opened the door handle and went out while continuously repeating to herself.

‘I’m Lena. Lena who came with Sir Cayan… Let’s not forget. I don’t know anyone named Evelyn or any nymph.’

Coming to the lobby, she examined the bookshelf she had spotted while passing by yesterday. Next to it was also a low bookcase with newspapers inserted, befitting the capital. When she lived in the rural village, she would sometimes get newspapers that were severely outdated—at worst a year old, at least several months to weeks old—so she became secretly curious.

Surely nothing new had happened in the meantime?

Even if there had been, it seemed unlikely there would be any stories that she, a rural maiden, would know about. The capital people lived in the capital, and she had lived in the countryside all along, so they were completely different lives. After hesitating for a moment, Evelyn decided to look at the newspaper rather than books.

The print date was today. Worried that ink might get on her hands, Evelyn carefully held the edges and spread it out on the table.

‘Hmm…’

From her perspective, there wasn’t any tremendously special news. Discovery of a small-scale rock salt mine within the kingdom, resumption of sugar beet imports, Marquis Ron’s corruption scandal resulting in a ban from entering the royal palace until November of this year, and so on. Marquis Ron was quite famous, so that was somewhat surprising. Other eye-catching articles were quite far back in the paper.

「Introducing the world’s matchless wonderful princes from various countries!」

It was like a fairy tale story. You could clearly see traces of it being written to completely captivate the hearts of girls reading the newspaper, couldn’t you? If she had discovered this article before Faye’s wedding, they probably would have read it carefully together, not missing a single word. She and Faye would have put their heads together and chattered about how this country was too far away and how they could possibly get there.

She smiled faintly, and just as she was about to fold the newspaper she had spread out, when she casually raised her head, there was a man sitting across from her with his elbow resting on the armrest.

Cassis…! No, Cayan.

“What were you looking at so interestingly?”

Even though they had agreed not to use formal speech, he shamelessly pulled the same kind of prank, making her extremely annoyed. What if she accidentally called him by his real name because of this?! Therefore, she pointed to the article she had just been looking at with a sulky face.

“Since I came to the capital anyway, I was thinking of targeting the world’s matchless princes from various countries.”

She tried to keep her voice low in case other hotel staff might hear this and bend over laughing at how funny it was. However, her tone was almost whining, and Cassis narrowed his eyes and lowered his gaze to the newspaper.

“Hmm…”

“……”

Come to think of it, since the newspaper was placed facing her, he would have to read the letters upside down, so should she turn it around for him? While she was pondering, he made the first move.

“I see.”

His lips were quite red even though he hadn’t applied anything to them. Having thrown that out there, Evelyn was regretting it a bit and wondered if she should smooth it over by saying it was a joke.

“There was a reason the article title was just ‘princes’ instead of ‘young and handsome princes.'”

“What?”

When she, who hadn’t properly looked at the content, asked back, Cassis lowered his head to match her eye level and said affectionately.

“A prince from some country who is four years older than His Majesty the King of this country is looking for a bride. Would you like to know more details? It seems like we’d have to adjust our schedule quite a bit to get to that country, but if it’s alright with you, I’ll consider it.”