The Nymph Wants to be Plundered - Chapter 87

According to Lya, a disturbance had occurred right in front of the sacred grounds, which was a serious matter.

However, Lya had disappeared since that day, and Brax had only mentioned that Lya had some temporary business to attend to and might miss future training sessions. It probably had been classified as confidential, as it would be difficult to simply overlook causing a commotion near the sacred grounds.

Although Polyxene didn’t ask anyone first for fear of becoming involved, she was curious. How would that situation unfold? More than that, piecing together what she had just heard from Mel felt somewhat satisfying.

Look at the result! How about that? No one knows the condition of the injured nymph, and even her life or death is unclear, yet His Majesty has made the unprecedented decision to personally attend the Aika Festival.

She was nothing, that one. Is that nymph dead perhaps?

‘Hmm, I don’t know. According to rumors, they didn’t just plant the nymph’s tree anywhere—opinions differ on whether it’s in the garden inside the Hall of Glory or in the sacred grounds.’

Hmph.

Both were exceptionally special treatments, but Polyxene surprisingly didn’t mind in that regard. Now that nymphs were extinct except for Nike, showing the generosity of bringing a tree and planting it somewhere was perfectly acceptable. Isn’t it better than just bringing her in thoughtlessly and being indifferent? Especially since the sacred grounds were no longer a place that served gods like in ancient times.

‘As expected of my man. As a king, it’s only right to show compassion, but everyone else is just so greedy…’

Cassis, who had been a knight of the blackberry tree before becoming the guardian of the World Tree and then inheriting the crown, was a man whose mere name made Polyxene’s heart flutter. Therefore, she was desperately trying to find similarities between him and herself.

Unlike her cousin brother Iel, whose mother’s side had old royal bloodlines, Polyxene’s parents were merely ordinary. Yet Cassis, who was also far from any so-called “noble bloodline,” had managed to claim all the highest positions.

Polyxene considered this commonality to be an eternal fate that entangled the two of them intensely. At the side of a man who had risen with bare hands to become king, it was only right that she, born with supreme beauty, should take her place. Such a man… How dare those nobodies covet him?

A bitter smile tainted Polyxene’s lips.

‘There’s no choice. I’ll have to clearly show that this Polyxene is a special being. His Majesty attending the Aika Festival? Let them hold it as much as they want! I’m not afraid.’

There would be no tense power struggle, no fierce courtship war to monopolize Cassis’s attention. Because on that day, Polyxene would triumph. Because she would position herself as the object of desire that would break Cassis’s long abstinence!

She firmly believed this would be so.

***

On the morning of the Aika Festival, Cassis, who had completed all preparations, was looking at Evelyn with a subtle smile.

Her much-improved face showed no trace of illness no matter how closely one looked. The abdominal bleeding he had worried about was gone, and the misaligned or cracked bones had healed completely. Above all, what made him smile was that he no longer needed to anxiously worry whether her broken ribs were pressing against her lungs every time she breathed.

She had recovered. Perfectly. Just that small fact alone made his blue eyes, more azure than the sky that covered the Hall of Glory above them, curve in contentment.

Though she wouldn’t be exposed to sunlight with all the curtains drawn on the terrace, her golden hair still shone brilliantly. Unable to contain herself under that radiance, Evelyn finally complained.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Even that ridiculous posture—sitting up in bed and raising her knees to hide her face, perhaps out of embarrassment—couldn’t erase his smile. Even if she curled up her body and rolled forward once, she would end up in front of him again. Of course, whatever she resolved to do, her clumsiness was part of her charm. Cassis chuckled and tilted his head.

“What are you trying to do?”

“…I asked you first. Stop looking at me.”

“Raising your knees high won’t hide your face. If you really want to hide, move your arms and lift your legs straight up so your feet face the ceiling. So your bottom shows well.”

“T-that kind of talk…!”

Her face reddened at the utterly indecent words she hadn’t heard in a long time. Finding her flushed cheeks rather pretty as she reacted to his inappropriate comment, Cassis’s smile froze mid-laugh. Her burst and bloodied lips had healed almost completely, but faint traces remained. The final wound that stubbornly wouldn’t heal, clinging more tenaciously than a greedy leech.

Why only there, when torn muscles and bones everywhere else had healed?

At times like this, Cassis felt that his impressive title as the ancient guardian of the World Tree was utterly useless. In the end, what saved her was the slow recovery brought by the passage of time, and he was nothing more than an idiot who could only wait indefinitely.

“……”

His finger suddenly reached out and traced her heart-shaped lips. As his touch, which had intended to caress the vertical red wound, eventually gave up and moved to her cheek, Evelyn gently took his hesitant finger. As if she knew what he wanted and desired.