1~ Inquire about Aistride’s mental state recently
After roughly discussing the restored parts of her memory with Didelai,
Tillysha took Yimi and stepped out of the Tower of Sages.
Though she trusted Didelai, Tillysha didn’t reveal all her memories. For example, she didn’t tell him about her trip to the Empire during the holidays, nor did she inform him about where she had been.
Didelai also realized that Tillysha didn’t intend to explain where she went during her vacation and didn’t press the matter. As he had said before, everything would be respected according to Tillysha’s own wishes. She would be the one to initiate conversations if she desired to share.
“Are you scared of those Moon Elves?” Tillysha suddenly asked on the way back.
Yimi silently held Tillysha’s hand, remaining speechless. She shook her head, then nodded, seemingly unable to figure it out herself.
“I do not hate them.” Elves naturally feel a sense of intimacy towards their own kind; this is the unity bestowed upon them by the Mother of All Forests. However, aside from that, Yimi experienced an indescribable repulsion.
This sensation wasn’t one of unfamiliarity but rather a soul-deep rejection, perhaps tied to her lost memories.
Tillysha noticed Yimi’s conflicted state, originally thinking that introducing the lonely Yimi to more of her kin might improve her mood, but now it seemed that things would have to proceed slowly.
It wasn’t too early; the evening had been earlier, but after meeting Didelai, it had grown completely dark. The Tower of Sages did not provide dinner, so the two headed to the cafeteria for supper.
The school cafeteria was open all day and wouldn’t close even during the holidays, though the quantity of food served would be much less.
Both had small appetites, or rather, elves generally didn’t eat much. They could derive energy from nature through a process somewhat resembling photosynthesis, so they didn’t easily feel hungry.
After dinner, it was getting late, and it was time to sleep.
Tillysha let Yimi sleep in her own room while she decided to sleep in Dillin’s room. One by one, she removed her garments, her dress, and her knee socks. Since she had already washed up in the morning, she just wiped herself down quickly and got ready to sleep.
Elves didn’t need much sleep, but after several weeks of traveling and barely getting any decent rest—often sleeping on hard floors—the rare sensation of a soft bed brought waves of drowsiness to Tillysha.
Since it was her own home, Tillysha didn’t lock the door.
Elves were light sleepers, perhaps because they didn’t need much sleep or because of the long-established habits from living in the forests.
No matter the reason, under the crescent moon tonight, Tillysha furrowed her brows, her consciousness hazy, sensing something different about her blanket than usual.
She first thought it was because she hadn’t slept in a bed for so long and wasn’t used to it, but the discomfort made her realize there was something warm and moving inside her covers, and another hard lump on her stomach.
She half-opened her eyes and pulled down a corner of the blanket to reveal a pair of small eyes staring calmly at her under the cold moonlight.
The tiny figure inside the blanket didn’t react to being caught by Tillysha but merely glanced at her and returned to sleeping.
“……When did you get here?” Tillysha, noticing the other’s act of pretending nothing had happened, questioned, her cool voice laced with a hint of sleepiness due to being awakened in the middle of the night.
“Not long ago.” Yimi’s voice was drowsy, responding with a few mumbled words before falling back into a half-sleep, her legs slightly cool, wrapping around Tillysha’s thighs like an octopus, showing no intention of leaving.
“Are you not used to sleeping in my bed? Why did you come here to sleep?”
“Come to assassinate you.” Yimi mumbled casually.
Hearing this, Tillysha burst into quiet laughter. “Then where are your assassination tools?”
The would-be assassin had arrived in nothing but a nightgown, bringing nothing else—more like someone who had come to sleep together rather than to k*ll.
“So, are you scared?” Yimi rubbed her eyes and glanced at Tillysha. “Afraid I’ll harm you at night, so you can’t sleep?”
“Who said I was afraid? If you wanted to sleep with me, you could have just said so!” Tillysha cheerfully patted Yimi’s head.
“Who wants to sleep with you? Stop touching me! I was waiting for my chance once you fell asleep.”
“Then you ended up crawling onto me and falling asleep first?”
“Hmph……” Yimi had no more arguments.
In the next moment, she felt her armpits being grabbed and was lifted a bit.
“What? What are you doing?”
“If you want to sleep with me, don’t be so humble and stay so low down—it’s uncomfortable for my stomach. You’re not sleeping comfortably, right?”
As she spoke, Tillysha wrapped her arms around Yimi from behind.
Yimi felt her head suddenly sink into a pair of soft pillows—only realizing moments later that they weren’t pillows. Yimi’s cheeks flushed red in an instant.
“Isn’t it suffocating inside the blanket? Anyway, are you more comfortable now~?”
“Ummmm…” Yimi instinctively wanted to argue with Tillysha, but even she could only produce some incomprehensible murmurings at that moment.
Feeling Tillysha’s warmth and soft body, Yimi felt like she was lying on a warm water mattress. Initially, the skin-to-skin contact electrified her, causing her to tense up, but then the sensation relaxed her. She lay sideways on Tillysha, her legs tightly wrapped around her thighs, as if only being this close to the Golden-haired Girl could bring her peace.
Like a drowned kitten seeking security.
Soon, sleepiness came over Yimi. She didn’t know why, but while being embraced by Tillysha and inhaling her minty and grassy scent, it was as if she was floating on a cloud, and her eyelids began to grow heavy.
As she heard the delicate and steady breathing of the kitten in her arms, Tillysha cast a warm, milky gaze.
“Sleep.” Embracing Yimi, they both fell into the world of dreams.
—
For most students, after enjoying a leisurely holiday, hearing the word ‘school’ would often leave them reluctant and frustrated.
Even though Coleman Academy upheld the motto of ‘playing hard while playing and studying hard while studying,’ there was no homework during holidays, but for every enthusiastic student who suddenly realized their time-off was almost over, there was a moment of despair and screaming, “What the heck?”
The process of refocusing on studies was crucial to get back into the rhythm of schooling. Everyone who indulged in holiday fun often had to pull themselves out of that mindset.
A silent race of “back-to-school motivation” began as students raced to refocus first and become the new “study king.”
However, for Aistride, returning to school was actually something positive.
Not because she was so studious that she couldn’t wait to immerse herself in the library, but being at home truly offered her little to do. All her days were spent either playing with her younger sister Sophia or praying to the Mother of All Forests. Meals were her main events, and since elves ate less often, her life was far more monotonous than when she was studying at the Academy.
Thankfully, Aistride had brought back her luggage when she returned home; otherwise, she might’ve become increasingly restless and bored.
As beautiful as her homeland was, her life there was too repetitive. Aistride didn’t know exactly what was missing from her life, having lived in the Forest of Sages for years without feeling restless. This holiday was supposed to be a joyful reunion with family, but why did she feel that her body had returned, but her heart remained somewhere else?
Since starting school, Aistride had undergone various changes. During this holiday, several unusual and bizarre events occurred.
Everything was normal at first. After greeting her father and mother, she resumed her usual life at the palace for a few weeks, but strange things began to occur shortly after that.
Aistride started having strange dreams that were not nightmares, which made it quite odd since it happened every night.
The content of these dreams wasn’t eerie, but rather incredibly sweet. In human terms, they could almost be considered “spring dreams.”
As night fell, whenever Aistride meditated or went to sleep, she would gradually feel some abnormalities in her body despite the tranquil summer night. She felt inexplicably hot and restless.
When she opened her eyes, she would always see a strand of golden silk falling across her chest and shoulders. Looking up, she would meet the gaze of a Golden-haired Girl gracefully holding a strand of her hair, casting a seductive and enchanting look at her. Her eyes shimmered like rippling blue waves, stirring Aistride’s emotions.
Aistride clearly knew this Golden-haired Girl.
At first, confused about why Tillysha appeared there, Aistride asked.
“Oh, Aistride really likes to pretend to be confused when she knows the answer, does she~” came Tillysha’s teasing gaze. “Why am I here, Aistride? Don’t you have a clue?~”
As she spoke, Tillysha, lying on top of Aistride, placed her hand on Aistride’s chest, her lips opening delicately like a fallen petal.
“Listen, your heart is beating so fast~”
“Huh?!?” This daring posture caused Aistride’s mind to freeze entirely, her cheeks flushing red as she tried clumsily to stop Tillysha.
“Princess Tillysha, don’t do this…”
“Mou~ you say not to, but you’re secretly thrilled aren’t you? Such a tsundere.”
“Princess Tillysha, what are you trying to do?? We just…”
“Are classmate relationships~?” Tillysha beamed radiantly, yet her eyes spoke of affection. “Aistride, this is something you can only tell yourself.”
“Think deeply—what exactly do you define me as in your heart?”
“Friends, of course…”
“So~” Tillysha’s expression shifted subtly, a slight curve on her lips. “If it’s just that, why am I in your dreams, Aistride~?”
“???” Was this a dream?
“You say ‘don’t’ with your mouth, but in your heart, you’re so greedy that you fantasize like this? Fooling yourself, aren’t you, Aistride~”
“Such a bad girl.” Speaking, Tillysha’s breathtakingly beautiful face came closer, her hand lifting a strand of fallen hair while her lips lightly brushed against hers like the gentle touch of a dragonfly…..
At this point, Aistride would always awaken, glancing around and finding herself in her familiar bedroom, listening to the calming splash of water outside.
The frosty moonlight persisted, but what had just transpired, this real and absurd experience, was just a dream.
That night, Aistride was sleep-deprived.
She initially thought it was a one-off incident.
But a few days later, the same scene reappeared in her dreams.
Like before, it was Tillysha again, though this time it was more intense.
“Move, Aistride! Come on~!”
“???” Aistride stared in bewilderment, unable to see Tillysha initially but hearing her sultry voice.
Only when two golden strands of hair hung down into her vision did she realize where Tillysha was.
Riding on her?!!
“Wha-what?!” Aistride’s eyes spun in confusion.
“Really now, since you invited me here, remaining still would be quite boring.”
“Or, do you need some encouragement~?”
Saying this, Tillysha holding a whip in her hand licked her lips.
“H-how did things turn like this?!”
Each subsequent dream was more outrageous than the last, one of them still vividly etched in Aistride’s memory.
Tillysha sat on a majestic throne, and strangely, her perspective seemed to be kneeling before the other.
Tillysha then elegantly slipped off her shoes, propping her chin with one hand while her foot clad in black stockings lifted Aistride’s chin, making her look up at her with a tantalizing smirk.
What was this?!
Aistride had only heard of hand-kissing etiquette, and even that on fingertips—she couldn’t fathom this bizarre foot kissing…
Anyway, since then, Aistride hadn’t had even a single decent night’s sleep. There was one particularly extreme incident when she woke up drenched in sweat, uncovering her sheets to find them mysteriously wet……..
Perhaps due to these recurring “nightmares,” her mental state had deteriorated significantly. Her younger sister Sophia noticed it the most.
When Sophia hugged Aistride from behind while she was daydreaming in the garden, Aistride would cry out, “Princess Tillysha??”
Princess Tillysha??
Sophia frowned. Isn’t that the name of the crowned champion?
Why would her sister address someone human as ‘Princess?’
