Chapter 37: Awkward Morning, Divine Interlude

Inside the Arcana Space, the mysterious being stared at the fragment of Elias’s space before closing it again. He then sat back down with a long sigh.

*Sigh...

"Isn’t that kid interesting?"

A woman’s voice suddenly echoed throughout the space. The being only glanced to the side with a flat expression.

"What are you doing here?"

A soft laugh echoed through the space before a massive rift opened, and from beyond it emerged a being similar to the one already in the Arcana Space.

The figure began walking toward the seated being and sat down beside him. Unlike the previous one, this being took the form of a woman, her body pitch black with specks of light resembling stars scattered across it. Long silver-white hair cascaded down her back, shimmering among the dots of light decorating her form. A pair of golden-yellow eyes gazed gently at the being beside her, wearing an expression that carried a faint, soothing smile.

"What do you mean? I just missed my husband’s face~"

The woman leaned closer to the man, wrapped her arms around his, and rested her head on his shoulder. He only glanced at her briefly before looking away again.

"If that’s all, you didn’t need to come all this way."

"Hmph... My own husband is so cruel to me. And here I came all this way just to see him..."

The woman began pretending to sob while tightening her grip on the man’s arm. She even tilted her face as if to show just how sad she was.

But the man showed no real reaction. He only let out a short sigh, as if he was far too used to her antics to bother responding.

"If you’re done crying, let go of my arm. You’re bothering me."

The woman loosened her hold slightly but didn’t release him.

"That kid... Is he the one ’he’ sent?"

"Who knows. It’s not exactly ’sent,’ really. What I can’t wrap my head around is that when ’he’ gets curious about something, she’ll stop at nothing to find out. But even I didn’t expect her to end up bound so strongly to that kid."

"Isn’t he a little similar to you?"

"No! Not at all. That kid actually likes working, and I absolutely despise anything that even resembles work. I thought reaching this level would mean I could finally relax and do nothing. But even at this level, I still can’t escape work."

"Fufu~..."

The woman only laughed softly at the annoyed expression on the man beside her, still busy with his work.

"You should head back soon. The River of Time isn’t as calm as this space."

The woman then brought her cheek closer to the man and pointed at it with her index finger.

"One little kiss for encouragement~"

"W-what?!"

For a moment, the man seemed at a loss for words. The specks of light on his face flickered irregularly as he quickly turned his gaze away.

"N-not now! Just go back already!"

Without giving his wife a chance to respond, he immediately opened a rift beside them and pushed her toward it.

"Wait, wait! At least listen to me first!"

But just before the rift fully closed, the woman’s voice echoed through the space once more.

"I love you!"

The man fell silent for a moment before finally letting out a long sigh and rubbing his forehead. He was used to his wife’s antics, but that didn’t mean he could always face her teasing with a calm heart.

"...Troublesome woman."

Despite his muttered complaint, he glanced back at the now-closed rift. For a moment he stayed still before finally looking away, trying to ignore the lingering warmth in his chest.

Then he sat back down in his plush chair, resting his head against his right hand.

"I can’t believe she’s my wife."

---

The next day in the outside world, Elias had woken up early and was carrying a bucket of water into Evelyn and Elysia’s tent so they could freshen up.

After the last incident, Elias had been scared half to death. Remembering that massive figure with pressure that made his heart feel like it would burst had kept him from sleeping properly.

But thankfully, after throwing up repeatedly, he felt incredibly weak, probably because his mana was nearly depleted. With the help of a Magic Talisman that had a warming effect, Elias managed to sleep soundly and recover all his mana.

But even though he was terrified of that figure, Elias still had questions. Who exactly was that being? And how did they know he was a Transmigrator?

"Should I go back to that space and ask? But considering I couldn’t even stand, let alone say anything in front of them, that’s clearly impossible."

Elias then entered Evelyn and Elysia’s tent, placed the bucket in his hands on the table, and woke the two girls.

Between the two, Evelyn was the easier one to wake. Probably because she was the older sister, her maturity surfaced first.

Elysia, on the other hand, wasn’t as easy to wake. Even though she was now sitting on her bed, she was still half-asleep. To fully wake her, Elias had to wipe her face with a wet cloth.

Only then would she truly wake up and clean herself.

After that, Elias would leave their tent. There was no way he could be expected to change their clothes for them, right? They were well past the age of being grown girls! So it was absolutely impossible for Elias to dress them.

That’s how it should have been...

But this time, both girls suddenly wanted Elias to help them get dressed.

"Elias... Where are you going?"

Elias turned when he heard Evelyn call him, her voice low and her eyes still drowsy.

"I’m going to get your clothes from the carriage."

"Uhmm... Please help me get changed."

"Eh? B-but I..."

"I’m too weak to take off my clothes and clean myself. So please~"

Elias was confused for a moment, because in his mind, this kind of thing was really not appropriate!

"Lady... I really can’t—"

Before Elias could finish, Evelyn cut him off while pointing at Elysia.

"See... Your usual tricks that always work are completely useless right now."

Elias looked toward Elysia, who had apparently fallen fast asleep still sitting on her bed. He could only scratch his head with a bead of sweat forming on his cheek.

’Are they really that exhausted that they can’t even stay awake?’

It was true that Evelyn and Elysia had fought too much yesterday when they encountered monsters, but even if they could defeat them easily, using that kind of power multiple times would definitely tire them out.

And on the other side, there was a "MALE" Caretaker who did nothing while the two children he was supposed to protect were fighting.

*Sigh...

’This is my fault...’

"Alright, but don’t move around carelessly while I’m wiping your body."

Evelyn then smiled faintly and raised her trembling hand to give a thumbs up.

"...Okay~"

Elias walked closer to Evelyn, who was still sitting in place. Occasionally the girl’s head would nod slightly before jerking back up, as if she was fighting off sleep. But before long, her eyes closed again and her head began to droop forward.

Before removing her clothes, Elias started by tying her hair up first, then removed her clothing one piece at a time from behind.

If there were parts that were difficult to undo from the back, Elias would ask Evelyn to undo them herself.

After all her clothes were removed, leaving her pale skin exposed, Elias took the bucket from the table and brought it behind Evelyn’s body.

He dipped the cloth into the water, wrung it out, and then began wiping Evelyn’s beautiful back.

"That’s cold..."

"I did that on purpose so your drowsiness would disappear."

After a few wipes, Elias put the cloth back into the bucket, wrung it out again, and wiped her right and left arms from behind.

Even though his expression looked flat and indifferent, inside Elias’s mind he was actually trying to think of absurd things to distract himself from Evelyn’s body in front of him.

"You’ll have to wipe the front yourself."

"Alright."

Evelyn accepted the cloth Elias handed her before she began wiping her own front.

"While waiting for you to finish cleaning your front, I’ll go get your clothes and Lady Elysia’s from the carriage."

Evelyn answered Elias briefly since she was still focused on wiping her front.

Elias quickly headed to the carriage and grabbed spare clothes for Evelyn and Elysia. It didn’t take long before he was back at the tent, finding Evelyn covering herself with a blanket while shivering.

"I’m done. By the way, it’s really cold in here~"

Elias walked over to the table to place Elysia’s clothes before heading toward Evelyn to hand her hers.

After Evelyn received the clothes from Elias’s hands, Elias immediately turned around and was about to leave the tent to let Evelyn get dressed.

Before he could even open the tent flap, Evelyn called out to him again.

"Where are you going now?"

Elias paused for a moment before turning back and looking at Evelyn, who was still covering herself with the cloth.

"Obviously I’m going outside."

"Help me get dressed, okay? Please~"

"No." Elias answered firmly.

"Huh? Why?!"

"It’s impossible for me to do that."

Evelyn immediately puffed out her cheeks. She pulled the cloth covering her body up a little higher, then looked at Elias with teary eyes while whining in frustration.

"I don’t care! Just help me get dressed!"

Elias fell silent, staring at her with a flat expression. He knew full well she was whining, but somehow, seeing Evelyn, who was usually graceful, acting like a child made it even harder for him to respond to her request.

’What’s wrong with me?’

"Fine, but for your underwear, you have to put it on yourself."

Hearing that agreement, Evelyn’s face immediately lit up. She smiled widely as if she had just gotten exactly what she wanted.

"Elias, come here~"

Elias furrowed his brow slightly, not quite understanding what Evelyn was planning. But he still stepped closer without asking much.

"Turn around."

"...Huh?"

"Don’t look over here. I need to put on my underwear first, don’t I?"

Elias fell silent for a moment before finally understanding. He immediately turned around, making sure his gaze was directed outside the tent.

’Then why did you tell me to come closer...?’

The sound of fabric rustling could be heard as Evelyn began putting on her underwear behind Elias.

Elias kept staring at the tent entrance with trembling hands from nervousness.

After a while, the other sounds stopped. Elias wanted to turn around but asked Evelyn first to make sure.

"Done, Lady?"

"Yup! You can turn around now."

When Elias turned around, Evelyn suddenly hugged him tightly. Elias was immediately startled when Evelyn embraced him in just her underwear, not to mention the two soft mounds pressing between his stomach and Evelyn’s.

Elias lowered his gaze and found Evelyn smiling mischievously at him.

Before he could release the embrace, Elias suddenly felt two soft mounds pressing against his back.

"I just woke up but... What the hell are you two doing?"

Elysia had suddenly hugged him from behind too and whispered in Elias’s ear, sending shivers down his spine.

"You owe me an explanation... Elias."