Ch.96Happiness (1)

When I opened my eyes in the morning, Sylvia was already gone.

I wondered if I had dreamed it all last night.

That’s how completely her presence had vanished—she was nowhere to be seen inside the cabin.

As I went outside to look for her, a cold morning wind blew fiercely.

I wrapped my arms around my shivering body, realizing that winter had fully arrived.

I had diligently stockpiled firewood during my time alone, with a substantial pile in the corner of the room, so heating wasn’t a concern. But unless I found some clothes to wear, I’d be stuck inside the cabin all winter.

These thin garments I’d been wearing since the day Sylvia’s cabin burned down in Millwood Village couldn’t possibly block the biting winter wind.

And Sylvia, who had suddenly appeared yesterday, was dressed just like me—in the same thin, worn nightclothes she had been wearing that rainy night when we parted.

Neither of us was dressed to withstand the harsh winter cold.

Of course, this was my first winter since entering this forest, so I didn’t know exactly how cold it would get.

But at the very least, this morning’s chilly temperature was warning me of a difficult winter ahead.

And then, at that moment.

I was left speechless at the sight of Sylvia walking toward me from the distance.

“Sylvia?”

“Oh, you’re awake.”

“…Huh?”

I dropped my jaw in shock at her appearance.

Meanwhile, Sylvia casually flipped her hair and spoke with complete nonchalance.

“Ah, were you looking for me? Sorry for leaving without saying anything… I didn’t want to wake you.”

“…No, um, well…”

Unlike my flustered state, Sylvia approached me slowly with a smile.

I unconsciously took a step back.

“What’s wrong, Ash?”

“What’s wrong? Sylvia…”

“Hmm?”

Sylvia slowly put her hands behind her back and leaned her upper body toward me, straightening her waist in a seductive manner.

I could see her smooth buttocks rising up behind her and her soft breasts swaying right before my eyes.

I waved my hands, my face flushing red as I shouted:

“Why are you naked?!”

All my earlier thoughts about thin clothing suddenly felt ridiculous.

Sylvia was walking through the dense trees without a single thread on her body.

Her brilliant golden hair slid like silk over her pale skin, which exuded a moist texture and scattered transparent light.

She seemed to glow pure white against the dark, deep greens and browns of the forest.

Moreover, her red eyes, looking particularly vivid today, were beautifully set like strawberries dropped on a field of snow.

I deliberately averted my eyes from her perfect beauty and struggled to speak.

Of course, I managed to open my mouth, but words didn’t come easily.

“Well, um, ah…”

“What’s wrong, Ash… Are you embarrassed?”

Sylvia gave her usual mischievous smile and approached me, deliberately pushing her large breasts toward me.

Thanks to her provocative movements, I felt my face burning hot, forgetting even the cold.

Her appearance, literally making blood rush to my lower body first thing in the morning, caused me to awkwardly step backward until I tripped over my own feet and fell with a thud.

Sylvia giggled at the sight, then approached me, grabbed my arm, and helped me up.

“Sorry, I guess I teased you too much.”

“Ugh, Sylvia, your chest is… swaying and showing and touching and… and everything.”

She looked at my embarrassed face with half-lidded eyes and pressed my arm firmly against her chest.

I could clearly feel her soft breasts squishing against my arm through clothing so thin the wind could pass through it.

She tapped my frozen body with her fingertips and said:

“…Hehe, we’ve already seen everything there is to see and done everything there is to do, so why be so shy?”

“Um… maybe because it’s been a while…”

“Fufu, even after all this time, you’re still cute, Ash.”

Sylvia grinned and gently ran her hands over my body.

Fighting to maintain my dizzying consciousness, I asked:

“So… why were you walking around naked? Were you taking a forest bath or something?”

Let me emphasize again, this morning’s weather was fully winter-like, and the temperature was nowhere near suitable for enjoying a naked stroll.

Of course, the thin clothes she had been wearing before wouldn’t have helped much with maintaining body temperature, but the difference between wearing even a single piece of cloth and wearing nothing was surprisingly significant.

Sylvia rolled her eyes briefly at my question, hesitating before slowly opening her mouth.

“Ah… well, I went to the river to bathe, but my clothes were so worn out they tore when I took them off, and the scraps of cloth blew away in the wind while I was washing.”

“Oh, I see.”

Her explanation made sense.

The clothes I was wearing were also so tattered they could tear at any moment.

After all, Sylvia wasn’t particularly fond of exposure, and she was certainly not a free spirit seeking liberation.

I nodded slightly and led her into the cabin.

Walking closely with her, I asked about a question that suddenly occurred to me:

“Why did you go all the way to the river to wash? Why not use the lake? Even if you’re not greatly affected by magi…”

“Ah, that’s…”

Sylvia dragged out her response.

She seemed to be hesitating to answer.

What is it? Was there some secret by the river that I didn’t know about?

I was slightly curious, but I didn’t press for an answer, calmly waiting for her reply as we entered the cabin.

“I… was looking to see if there was anything useful.”

“Hmm?”

“The river is also near Millwood Village. I thought I might find something to bring back.”

She said this while lighting the fire in the hearth in the middle of the living room.

I sat down by the fire to warm my frozen fingertips and tilted my head in confusion.

“That day… that day, ah.”

Just as I was about to speak,

Suddenly, the image of Layla, whom I had burned to death that day, flashed before my eyes.

It was a scene I had tried hard not to recall during my time alone, but being with Sylvia seemed to have brought it back involuntarily.

I mumbled with slurred pronunciation, skipping the detailed explanation:

“That day… we already looked. There wasn’t much.”

“That’s true… but I thought I’d check just in case.”

I kept my mouth firmly shut without responding.

I didn’t ask the foolish question of whether she had found anything.

Judging by the lack of items in her hands, it seemed she hadn’t found anything.

It might be natural for Sylvia to miss her old cabin after seeing the empty state of this one.

With that thought, I didn’t press her further about why she had gone all the way to the river.

“Haah…”

The atmosphere had suddenly become heavy because I’d recalled that day.

Perhaps it was fortunate, as her sensual figure sitting next to me with knees together had been on the verge of numbing my reason.

Sylvia was slowly warming her chilled body by extending her hands toward the fire.

She leaned her head slightly on my shoulder and said softly:

“I have… the deer hide I brought yesterday. We can make some rough clothes with that for now. If it’s not enough, I can hunt for more.”

“…I don’t think I can comfortably let you go hunting in a forest filled with magi.”

“You know I’m fine. While you were…”

“…”

“While you were gone… I spent every day killing monsters.”

So that’s why there weren’t many monsters visible despite the forest being filled with magi.

I nodded slightly, then rested my cheek gently on her head as it lay on my shoulder.

She slowly withdrew one of the hands she had extended toward the fire and placed it on my thigh, then slowly found my nearby hand and grasped it tightly.

I silently squeezed her hand in return.

“…It feels like a dream.”

“What does?”

“Being with Ash again.”

Why I had left her,

Why I had pretended to be dead.

She still didn’t ask anything, simply savoring this moment we were sharing.

But I couldn’t do the same.

Considering that I had burned down her shelter and all her supplies,

And thinking about the time she had spent wandering through the magi-filled forest in just thin clothes, fighting like mad, I couldn’t help but feel guilty.

“…Sylvia.”

“Shh, I told you not to apologize.”

“…”

She read my intention first and rejected my apology.

Did she mean I didn’t need to feel sorry, or that she wasn’t angry?

Or perhaps that apologies were meaningless?

Actually, it wasn’t even a question.

I already knew the answer.

“…”

I slowly raised my head to look at Sylvia.

She also moved slightly away from my shoulder and looked at me with those moist red eyes.

When I slowly reached out to stroke her exposed arm, she flinched slightly but surrendered to my touch.

Sylvia slowly closed her eyes.

I gently moved my fingertips from her arm to her shoulder, collarbone, neck, and finally to her cheek.

Perhaps because she had bathed not long ago?

Her inner hair, not yet completely dry, clung softly to the back of my hand.

I applied pressure to my fingertips.

Then, like her hair, I gently pressed my lips against hers.

Our tongues intertwined, and the moist explosive sound of lips meeting and parting slowly filled the empty cabin.

The breath from the tip of her nose was incredibly sweet.

Without my noticing when it had happened, her arms were wrapped around my neck.

Her body was slowly coming closer, placing its weight on mine.

I embraced her and gently fell backward.

“Ash.”

“…Yes.”

“I love you…”

Instead of answering, I pressed my lips to hers once more.

Her breath covered my mouth, and her beautiful body, both firm and soft, pressed tightly against mine.

Her legs and mine crossed and overlapped.

Her beautiful hair, like spun gold, fell softly, tickling my cheek.

“…Haah.”

“Not yet, Ash… a little more.”

“Mmph.”

Sylvia clung to my lips like a starving person.

I too held her back tightly, gently biting her sweet tongue.

I didn’t mention it for fear of ruining the mood,

But beyond her scent, I could faintly detect the fishy smell of blood, though I couldn’t tell where it came from.