Blooming Love?

Linfeng remained on guard for several weeks after entering Natucor, but eventually, he relaxed, as it truly seemed like Edrick would be unable to reach him or anyone he cared about here. Not only was Natucor a realm that was incredibly well-hidden, but since Yen’mila had shut off the gateway, even if someone knew where the entrance was, they would only be able to ram their heads into stone.

Furthermore, there was no reason whatsoever to leave the realm. The sunlight was invigorating, the beasts here were abundant and delicious, fruit trees and wild vegetables were all over the place, and the climate was far from harsh. Even the rougher episodes were no problem since Yen’mila could easily predict them thanks to her influence over the realm.

The plant cultivator even believed that with enough time, she would be able to move the gateway to the realm, essentially making themselves completely untouchable. Everything was perfect–Except for one thing. Fingmi seemed to quite like this place, but there was clearly something bothering her.

Linfeng had tried multiple times to speak to her about it, but his Alrinir would simply avoid the subject and pretend that everything was fine when it clearly wasn’t the case.

Within these weeks, Yen’mila had used her abilities alongside the abundance of nature energy in Natucor to grow trees that were then chopped down and made into planks and the like. Although no one had cared about it back in the day, Linfeng had actually been a great woodworker even before acquiring the system.

He certainly had a good talent in this domain, and now, he had been given the occasion to show it off by building a most splendid house under the protection of the great oak.

All that without having to actually chop down any of the native trees.

Although there wasn’t much to worry about with them, Yen’mila was truly thriving here. It was like she had become several times stronger inside of this realm... However, it really was simply because she no longer had to worry about energy consumption.

Before, she needed to be careful and always save as much of her nature energy as possible when casting spells. She also needed to avoid the more powerful spells that would drain her reserves rapidly, but here? She had no such worry. She could finally practise costly spells without worry, and this allowed her to grow a bunch of trees all over the place.

Whilst Yen’mila would run around doing a bunch of things, Mala had decided to take on the role of the housekeeper–And he proved to be quite effective at doing so.

Truly, everything was idyllic. Linfeng simply needed to get Fingmi to actually open up.

…Once again, he found himself thinking about this one issue after waking up in the middle of the night.

Since it was all still so recent, he couldn’t help but be surprised by how comfortable the mattress and pillows were. They were stuffed with some kind of grass Yen’mila had found, and it truly worked wonders.

Though the actual stuffing had been done by the more meticulous and patient Mala.

Speaking of them, they were both sleeping by his side. Although they tended to act in a way that made them seem like total opposites, they were both just as clingy as one another, keeping close to Linfeng’s body in their sleep.

The script holder found himself unable to fall back asleep, so he eventually snuck out of bed, watching with a wry smile as the two who acted like they couldn’t stand each other quickly made up for his absence by hugging each other without even realising it.

After all, Yen’mila would often bring out her amorous vines or pop out her faux-Duookois extension during activities to play with Mala, and the twink would never protest…

Linfeng found their false rivalry quite amusing, but he didn’t linger on for long. He dressed himself and headed toward his Alrinir’s room, softly knocking, expecting nothing, but he heard her soft voice reply from the other side.

“...Linfeng?”

“Yes, it’s me”

“Come in…”

He pushed the door open, finding Fingmi sitting in a loose seiza on her bed, staring out of the window, which was just several rods of wood crossing one another. The short nightgown she wore made her figure quite easily visible… Even if quite petite, Fingmi had undeniably gained some shape thanks to actually being able to eat properly.

‘She’s always been beautiful, but… I never thought she could get even prettier…’

Linfeng cleared his throat, closing the door behind him.

“It’s no wonder that you seem tired during the day. Do you have trouble sleeping?”

Fingmi looked down, moving slightly to sit on the edge of the bed, letting her legs dangle down.

“...It’s nothing much, just some nightmares”

Linfeng sighed and sat beside her.

“What kind of nightmares, Fingmi? I am your big Alrin, you can tell me everything. You can tell me about your joys and sorrows. I’ll always be here for you, so you don’t have to worry”

Fingmi stayed silent, seemingly hesitant.

“...I… Sometimes, when I try to sleep, I have nightmares and get scared because… Because he would often come late in the evening or at night to…”

She stopped herself, but Linfeng understood clearly what she meant.

“Don’t be scared. He’ll never be able to hurt you again, you hear me? We’re safe here now”

“...He… It wasn’t just at those times either… Even if he would sometimes forget about me, he would always make sure to… To ‘put me in my place’ once a week, and he would sometimes do it with his maids or wives watching us…”

“...His maids were all so devoted to him. They didn’t understand what I was going through... For them, I was privileged because he would ‘pay attention’ to me so often… I couldn’t confide in anyone. Everyone in that place was completely servile to him! No matter how much it would hurt after he was done Viotting me, there was no one I could cry to! No one I could share my pain with! And…”

“...And he knew it! He would mock me! He would laugh at me! He would degrade me with awful words! He would say that you would never come to find me, that you had long forgotten about me! He would say that this would be my life from now on, that I would be his toy forever!”

Linfeng hugged Fingmi.

“That’s right, let it all out. You must have been carrying so much for so long, right? Let me help you carry it”

Fingmi hugged back, gripping at the back of his shirt, and crying against his chest.

This lasted for nearly ten minutes, until her grip loosened and she looked up at him with tear-filled eyes.

“Linfeng…”

“Yes?”

Without warning, his little Alrinir hoisted herself up by his shoulders and planted her lips against his.

“Mmh?!”