12~ Long Time No See
Yimi claimed that her heart had been feeling quite exhausted lately. After all, even as someone who had lived for over four hundred years, most of her time had been spent unconscious with no memory of what she was doing. She had awoken to find herself transported four hundred years into the future, but at the end of the day, her physiological age still exceeded four hundred years.
At four hundred years old, even among the Elf Clan, one was considered an adult. And yet, here she was, a reliable adult, suffering daily manipulations at the hands of that troublesome woman, treating her like an elementary school kid.
Not only had she outfitted her with a series of clothes that were hilariously childish, but Yimi’s uniforms had even been swapped out for bizarre children’s dresses paired with child-sized white stockings.
For all of this, Yimi dared not protest outright; her only form of resistance was to mutter under her breath “I’ll get you one day” after Tillysha had “bullied” her.
Thanks to the elves’ sharp hearing, Tillysha, of course, could hear Yimi’s grumbling. But she paid it little heed; in her eyes, Yimi’s resistance was akin to a spoiled kitten trying to act fierce.
Yimi had her entire life managed by that woman, not to mention being ordered to babysit her “toy.”
Every day after classes, Yimi had to run over to Dillin’s classroom to check on what this lifeless doll was doing—did it cause trouble? Did anyone bother it?
Sometimes Yimi even thought she was stupid for running around worrying about a lifeless doll. This also caused quite a bit of misunderstanding, as people who saw her standing outside Dillin’s classroom observing him from behind the door thought it looked like she was sneaking around.
Thus, a rumor spread at the Divine Prince Academy that Yimi, the class beauty from Class 4, harbored romantic feelings toward Dillin, the crown prince of class 1.
Yimi had no idea about this rumor until it had spread throughout the academy, with her being the last person to hear about it.
“I don’t even secretly love Dillin, and yet everyone already knows?!”
Yimi was confused for a long time, slowly digesting the information. But it was too late. The rumors had already solidified as fact, and everyone at the academy knew that she secretly loved Dillin.
After the rumor spread, many students were furious, beating their chests and grinding their teeth in frustration. Their hatred for Dillin was palpable.
“Just cohabitating with four beautiful girls wasn’t enough; even the flowers from the Divine Maiden faction couldn’t escape this guy. Now he even had to snatch from the Divine Prince’s side!”
“He’s too over the top!”
Of course, most students remained rational about the rumors, but they still couldn’t help but think Dillin was like some overpowered protagonist from a shallow web novel—when things were bad for him, the system sent him a wife to get him through it. Now, he lived under the same roof with several beautiful girls, and on top of that, had earned the favor of a divine prince student.
“Isn’t this guy following the classic protagonist template? When will he meet a princess from some country and that princess immediately falls for him too?”
Judging from the current situation, it seemed that this might really happen.
Thinking about it, everyone realized that all those surrounding Dillin were princesses.
At this point, Yimi was exhausted. She didn’t want to waste time explaining herself—after all, once rumors start and evolve through multiple hands, they become unrecognizable from their original form.
There was no point in explaining.
She decided to simply ignore the rumors. After all, for everyone else, gossiping about rumors was just a way to unwind after the intense studies, and eventually, the talk faded.
Yimi guessed this would be the case. But as fate would have it, she had to walk home with the unresponsive mannequin, which led many people to see her holding hands with Dillin and heading home together.
Yimi wanted to rant about this: “Where’s the holding hands? I’m just walking next to it, worried that it might fall into a ditch and get damaged. Otherwise, Tillysha wouldn’t give me her good fruit juice!”
The public didn’t care what Yimi thought—they were too busy enjoying the spectacle. By now, it was firmly believed that Yimi and Dillin were in a relationship, and Dillin was an outrageous heartbreaker, stepping on multiple boats at once while Yimi was willingly relegated to being a backup.
Yimi was furious. “Why do I have to get dragged into rumors about this doll? And why am I now branded with some crazy female deity label when this thing doesn’t even exist in reality?”
Yimi was bitter, but since she had promised Tillysha to take care of the mannequin to prevent unnecessary trouble, she had to endure with gritted teeth.
Moreover, now they even had a strange junior at home, who looked at this mannequin as if possessed. She stood there unmoving, staring at it continuously.
Could she see through the facade?
Yimi eyed Aistride with a strange expression, not really caring whether Aistride saw anything.
But if even Aistride, who wasn’t a divine prince, could uncover this mannequin’s secret, what about others?
Is it really that obvious?
Yimi scrutinized the mannequin behind her. As one of the top divine princes, she thought the disguise was pretty amateur. From an amateur’s perspective, there shouldn’t be any giveaways.
Its movements weren’t stiff, so perhaps something about its material was off?
After sitting on the sofa, with nothing better to do while Wenfu was cooking, Yimi started poking the mannequin. First, she pushed its belly.
Hmm, soft and squishy.
To confirm, she also rubbed her own belly.
They felt similar.
The bellybutton seemed fine, but how about the rest?
Yimi touched everywhere, studying the mannequin with her academic curiosity.
“Whatcha doing?~”
The sudden voice behind her stiffened Yimi’s neck. She turned around and saw the blonde girl in an apron slightly leaning over her, hands on her knees, smiling at her.
Oddly, she was now kneeling before the mannequin in an awkward position between its legs.
“?? I don’t know why this position feels weird, but it feels weird.”
“Are you claiming the spoils of your own duty?”
“What? Stop making up things! I’m just checking to see if this mannequin is functioning properly and if it would give away any secrets,” Yimi muttered, lowering her voice so others wouldn’t overhear.
“Oh~~” Tillysha dragged out her “oh,” looking at Yimi meaningfully. “I get it. It’s normal to be curious about the bodies of the opposite s*x after living so long.”
“That’s not it!” Yimi shouted.
Aistride, who had just come out from the kitchen, saw the two golden elves surrounding Dillin. Her cheeks flushed when she noticed Yimi’s position.
How shameless, doing this right in front of everyone…
Eh?
She peeked between her fingers, confused.
Why hasn’t the shirt been taken off yet?
“You little thing,” Tillysha poked Yimi’s small nose. “Taking advantage while I’m not looking? If you like my model this much, I can lend it to you for a couple of days.”
“Grr!” Yimi growled, trying to bite Tillysha’s fingers like a vicious puppy. Of course, she missed and got a tap on her head instead.
“Alright, time to eat!” Tillysha said, lightly pulling Dillin’s arm as if signaling him to stand up. Only Yimi and Tillysha knew that this was a hint for the mannequin to cooperate with the movement.
But from the outsiders’ perspective, it just looked very intimate.
Aistride’s lips twitched slightly as she watched the scene.
At the dining table, Aistride absentmindedly ate the dishes in her plate, despite going through all the effort to come home and eat what Wenfu had prepared—a lavish upgrade to her usual fruit and veggie salad. Aistride showed little interest, making Wenfu feel a bit heartbroken, feeling her status in the team was being challenged.
After the meal, nap time.
After settling the mannequin back in the room, Tillysha transformed into Dillin for the first time in a long while.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she once thought this was her original self. It wasn’t until her memories resurfaced that she realized her most familiar original form was actually from her second reincarnation—it was like the part of Iceland submerged under the sea, much larger than what could be seen above.
But this body was just as real, no doubt about it.
These two were both her.
After washing her face, she exited the upstairs restroom, only to collide with a figure wrapped in snow-like silver hair at the corner.
“Dillin?………” Aistride walked absentmindedly toward her room, not noticing Dillin standing at the corner. The sudden familiar scent of book pages hit her, disorienting her briefly.
She was reminded of her first encounter with Dillin. Lost in the forest and attacked by a group of unsavory bandits, Dillin had heroically intervened to save her before she had even ascended to becoming a god maiden.
He wasn’t strong, rather slim and underdeveloped, but Aistride clearly remembered how Dillin fearlessly defended her, armed only with a cheap old g*n. He stood in front of her, frail and weak, yet bold and determined.
Courage isn’t fearlessness—it’s doing it despite the fear.
Dillin pointed the g*n at the bandits, shouting fiercely. Though eventually overpowered and beaten down, he still shouted for her to escape and held onto one of the bandits’ legs with all his might.
It was at that moment that Aistride began to fall for this human boy.
Yes……….
How could she have forgotten such an important feeling?
“……Aistride?” Dillin’s head was filled with question marks after the collision when Aistride didn’t step away but instead maintained her position in his arms.
What’s going on? Did the elves start going through heat or something?
“Please stay still.” Before Dillin could pull away, Aistride’s delicate hands wrapped around his waist from behind.
Dillin was taller than Aistride, so if she buried her head, it would naturally rest against his chest.
Dillin didn’t expect to experience this softer and stronger side of Aistride, and his human form compelled him to submit to her, given his much weaker strength.
… It’s him, no doubt.
Aistride deeply inhaled Dillin’s scent, exhaling like a veteran smoker enjoying a puff of smoke.
Dillin wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt Aistride’s pupils had momentarily taken on the shape of hearts.
Must have been my imagination.
As Aistride let go of Dillin with reluctant reluctance, she realized how impolite her actions were.
“Are you okay? Feeling unwell?”
“Hmm………” Aistride nodded.
Dillin’s face showed a fleeting confusion. “Of course I know if you’re unwell. You were jumping around fine this morning. What happened in the afternoon?”
It was just a courtesy question, but Aistride actually responded.
“Then go back and rest. Drink plenty of warm water.”
As Dillin clutched his chest.
With his memories back now, the initial transformation was through an accessory, but now it was reversed. Without it, it was hard to maintain Dillin’s form.
And that accessory was in the room now……
After muttering this famous straight man line, Dillin intended to return to the room, only to discover he couldn’t move.
His clothing, caught by two delicate yet surprisingly strong hands, wouldn’t budge an inch.
This counts as being unwell?
Dillin snorted mentally.
“Is there anything else?”
“Could you… stay with me for a bit?” Aistride lowered her eyes slightly, her voice soft and vulnerable. “We… haven’t talked in a long time.”
“Do you not want to talk to me?”
Aistride didn’t say another point.
Namely, although they had encountered each other multiple times since she returned, in her heart, only now did it feel like they were really reuniting after so long.
“But I…” The accessory is still in the room.
Dillin wanted to say this but found his resolve softening the moment her usually cool and composed eyes turned pleading.
… Alright, just a short while, there shouldn’t be any trouble.
Dillin knew Aistride wasn’t really sick; she might just want some company.
But was it a good idea?
He was made up, continuing to tread further and deeper into this illusionary relationship. Was it really beneficial for Aistride’s feelings?
But seeing Dillin tacitly agree, Aistride gently tugged at Dillin’s sleeves, slightly covering her mouth, leading him with a modest grace into her room.
Just to keep her company, do we really need to go to her room?
Dillin’s face showed a hint of confusion.
