Chapter 166: Carried Away! Tonight, We Make the Rumors True

‘Holy crap!’A silent, soul-shattering scream echoed through the deepest recesses of Celeste’s mind.’You have got to be kidding me… I just took a nap, how did I suddenly become a mother?!”Is the progress bar broken?!”Normal relationships go through stages: holding hands, hugging, maybe a kiss. I skipped all of that, went straight to the final boss, and now I’ve even got the DLC child?!’

She felt as if her entire worldview had just been shattered by the elves’ absurd ‘one-click procreation’ black-box technology.

Celeste’s voice was incredibly dry when she finally found it. She swallowed hard, her gaze fixed on Elaniel, her tone bordering on a complete breakdown as she sought confirmation.

“So, in Eldara’s… or rather, in the eyes of all the elves, because I slept in the same bed with you last night…”

Elaniel’s cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of crimson. She looked away, a flicker of embarrassment in her eyes, but still gave a gentle nod, confirming Celeste’s worst fears.

“In our elven culture, love is not limited by gender,” she explained softly. “And inviting someone, regardless of their sex, to share one’s bed is… in itself, a ritual to confirm a partnership.”

Celeste was speechless. Utterly and completely speechless.

She felt like a primitive tribesman who had stumbled into a hyper-advanced alien civilization, carelessly clicked ‘I Agree to the User Agreement,’ and promptly sold her soul, with a free child thrown in as a bonus.

‘It’s over. It’s all over.”My lifelong reputation! My purely platonic, revolutionary comradeship!”Now, in the eyes of the entire elven race, it’s all been twisted into a torrid love story between the Elf Queen and her mysterious lover! The kind where we even eloped with our kid!’

She stared at Elaniel’s stunning face, which now held a hint of shyness mixed with a trace of playful amusement. A deep sense of powerlessness washed over her.

“So, to everyone else, my relationship with you is already…”

Elaniel nodded again. This time, she turned back to face Celeste, her wine-red eyes sparkling with the cunning of a little fox that had just stolen the farmer’s prize hen.

Her “Mm” was understated, yet it landed with the weight of a mountain, crushing all of Celeste’s lingering doubts and cementing her new identity as the “Elf Queen’s Partner”—a status she could never live down.

Celeste slumped back in her chair, feeling hollowed out.

She finally understood the look of utter collapse on Eldara’s face earlier. Putting herself in the elf’s shoes, if her own sister, Selene, suddenly brought home some random woman she’d just met… and the very next day, that woman was holding a child, claiming they had produced it together…

Celeste shivered.

She had a feeling she would have grabbed her staff on the spot and smote the mysterious woman first, asking questions later.

Viewed from that angle, Eldara merely running away in a state of mental breakdown was actually a display of remarkable composure and restraint.

Celeste took a deep, steadying breath, forcibly shoving the absurd “eloped and became a mother” plotline to the back of her mind. She had to focus on the immediate crisis.

“Ahem…” She cleared her throat, trying to drag the runaway train of a conversation back onto the rails. “Right… let’s put our ‘relationship’ aside for a moment. The most urgent matter is, can Cyrene… change back?”

She pointed to the little girl in her arms, who was already happily devouring her third cupcake. Her face was a mask of genuine worry.

“If I bring a little pixie back, I can pass it off as a pet I caught in the Domain. But if I bring a four or five-year-old girl back to the dorm…”

“I can’t exactly tell my professor that I went on a special training mission and accidentally gave birth to a child, can I?”

If she dared to say that, her parents would be on the next express flight to the academy, ready to stage an intervention.

“That… I am not sure either.” Elaniel shook her head. This was the first time she had ever encountered such a situation. “Why don’t you just ask her?”

Celeste lowered her head, looking at the little foodie nestled in her lap. She took another deep breath and adopted a tone of unmatched gentleness, like the Big Bad Wolf holding a lollipop to lure Little Red Riding Hood.

“Cyrene, is the food good?”

Little Cyrene, her face and the corners of her mouth smeared with cream, looked up from her feast and nodded emphatically.

“Then… can you… change back to that fluffy, pink form from before?” Celeste coaxed.

Cyrene blinked, tilting her head as if trying to process the concepts of “fluffy” and “pink.” After a few seconds, understanding seemed to dawn in her eyes.

Then, she shook her head.

Celeste’s heart plummeted into her stomach. ‘It’s over. She can’t change back!’

However, Cyrene’s next action sent her heart on a wild rollercoaster. The little one carefully raised the cupcake in her hand, holding it out to Celeste in a clear “hold this for me” gesture. Then, she wriggled out of Celeste’s arms, hopped onto the ground, and closed her eyes.

The next second, a soft, rose-colored light enveloped her small body.

When the light faded, the four-or-five-year-old girl was gone. In her place floated the fluffy, long-eared, big-tailed pixie—Mimi.

Mimi did a little spin in the air before zipping back into Celeste’s arms, precisely snatching the cupcake back from her hand, and burying her face in it once more.

Celeste was silent. In the span of just a few minutes, her emotions had been dragged from hell to heaven and back to earth, leaving her feeling almost numb.

“Great! As long as she can change back!” she breathed, a long sigh of relief escaping her lips. The massive boulder that had been crushing her chest was finally lifted.

“Okay then… can you go back into the book by yourself?” Celeste asked the next critical question. She couldn’t just carry the little thing around forever, could she?

Mimi seemed to understand. It paused its eating and pointed a tiny paw at the `as i have written` tome in Celeste’s other hand. Then, with a soft whoosh, its small body dissolved into a streak of pink light and dove straight into the book.

On the open page, next to the [Spiritual Memory Companionship] skill icon, a tiny, Q-version avatar of Mimi appeared. There was even a small “Zzz” bubble floating above its head.

Celeste focused her thoughts, trying to communicate with it. ‘Mimi? How do you feel in there?’A soft, sweet-natured thought was transmitted directly into her mind.’Mimi!’ (It’s great in here, so comfy! I’m going to sleep now!)

Celeste was completely, utterly relieved.

She could switch forms freely. She could return to her “bedroom” on her own. This was the perfect solution!

Crisis averted.

With the biggest trouble dealt with, Celeste’s tense nerves finally uncoiled. And as they did, another, even more outrageous—and infuriating—matter flooded her mind.

The atmosphere in the garden shifted abruptly. The previous sense of relief evaporated, replaced by a tense, predatory silence.

Slowly, inch by painstaking inch, Celeste turned her head.

Her gaze landed on the Elf Queen, who was sipping her black tea with a leisurely expression that practically screamed, “See? Problem solved.”

Celeste’s beautiful peach-blossom eyes narrowed, a dangerous glint appearing within them.

“Elaniel.”

She spoke, her voice unnervingly calm.

Elaniel looked up, her wine-red eyes still dancing with lingering amusement, clearly oblivious to the storm about to break.

The next second, Celeste shot to her feet. The chair scraped harshly against the stone floor. In a single, long stride, she closed the distance between them.

“Celeste?! What are you—”

Elaniel’s exclamation was cut short as she felt her body suddenly become weightless, her vision spinning. Celeste had extended her long, powerful arms—one sliding behind Elaniel’s knees, the other firmly supporting her back—and swept the tall, curvaceous Elf Queen right off her feet.

The shocking strength and sense of security radiating from those arms caught Elaniel completely off guard. Instinct took over, and she subconsciously threw her arms around Celeste’s neck, clinging tightly.

She was completely stunned. Her heart hammered against her ribs, threatening to burst from her chest, as a wave of heat rushed from her neck to the tips of her ears. Her senses were filled with Celeste’s refreshing, faintly sweaty scent. Her entire line of sight was occupied by the other woman’s face, mere inches away, wearing a smirk that was more predator than prince, laced with a hint of genuine annoyance.

Her Majesty the Queen’s heartbeat was now completely out of her control.

Celeste lowered her head, her gaze drinking in the stunning, crimson-flushed face in her arms. The curve of her lips was both wicked and charming. She leaned down, her warm breath ghosting across Elaniel’s sensitive earlobe.

Her voice was a low, intimate growl, laced with the sound of gritted teeth.

“Your Majesty the Queen, did you enjoy the show? Hmm?”

Without waiting for Elaniel to gather her scrambled thoughts, Celeste turned, carrying her with long, purposeful strides toward the massive bed in the adjoining chamber—a bed soft enough to swallow a person whole.

The vicious sound of her grinding her teeth was perfectly clear in the Queen’s ear.

“Since our relationship has already been confirmed by every elf in the land…”

“Since Eldara has already certified that we even have a child…”

“Then if I don’t actually do something, wouldn’t I be at a huge loss?!”

[Elysian’s Note: Having a good time with the story? Every single bit helps immensely: