Chapter 158: A world that belongs only to the two of them

As they chatted and laughed, they stepped into a suddenly open expanse.

It was a meticulously tended flower garden.

The centerpiece was a grove of cherry blossom trees blooming white as snow, petals drifting down like rain.

Beneath the trees grew clusters of pure white jasmine, pale violet irises, and goose-yellow primroses, scattered beautifully throughout the garden.

The sunlight was no longer blocked by dense shade. Instead, it poured down gently, passing through the swirling petals in the air until it almost seemed dyed with color itself, forming hazy curtains of light visible to the naked eye that quietly draped themselves between the flower fields and the two girls.

A soft breeze swept through, stirring the fallen blossoms on the ground and lifting Perletti’s snowy hair.

One complete white petal, its edges delicate as embroidery, slowly spun downward and landed lightly upon her shoulder.

She subconsciously raised her hand, and the petal obediently fell into her palm.

“So the cherry blossoms have already bloomed this fully…” Olivia murmured while gazing at the endless white petals dancing through the air. “Karin was right… I really shouldn’t keep locking myself inside the office all the time.”

“There was almost another entire spring I would’ve missed.”

A faint trace of melancholy lingered in her voice, along with relief.

“Yeah… the scent of the flowers here is really special.” Perletti took a deep breath. The sweet fragrance carried a refreshing coolness that soothed the heart.

“You planted all of these flowers?”

“I did,” Olivia answered as she approached one of the cherry trees, her fingers gently brushing over the rough bark. Her gaze grew distant, as though piercing through time itself. “Though not only me.”

She turned toward Perletti.

Within those emerald eyes, beneath the drifting petals and radiant spring light, emotions incomparably deep and complicated surged quietly.

There was nostalgia for the past.

Cherishment for the present.

And an almost unwavering tenderness.

“Every living thing in this garden — every cherry blossom tree, every cluster of jasmine… was planted by Qingcheng and me together, with our own hands.”

The breeze rose again, sending even more petals swirling around them.

Olivia’s gaze settled upon Perletti, her voice as soft as petals touching the ground, yet incomparably clear in Perletti’s ears.

“Look at these flowers. White petals, tender green stamens…”

“They’re just like you. Clean and bright.”

She paused slightly.

The light in her eyes shifted before finally turning into a quiet sigh-like whisper.

“But no matter how beautiful they are… they still can’t compare to you.”

Perletti stared blankly as she listened to Olivia’s whisper.

It felt as though the gentle trailing note of her voice had frozen her in place.

A few seconds later, delayed heat exploded across her face with a boom, instantly burning her cheeks bright red.

As if scalded, she abruptly turned her head away and coughed twice awkwardly, trying to hide the violent pounding in her chest with terrible acting.

D-Damn it…

This elf princess was way too good at this?!

That kind of straightforward yet poetic praise—

Perletti suddenly felt as though she had just left the beginner village without even gathering proper equipment, only to run headfirst into a max-level succubus, completely overwhelmed by the other party’s elegant and composed assault.

No, this couldn’t continue.

She couldn’t stay this passive forever!

Perletti took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing her racing heartbeat and deciding to counterattack.

Or rather, change the subject.

She turned back around, trying her best to appear calm and inquisitive, though the redness at the tips of her ears completely betrayed her.

“You just said… these flowers were planted together with Qingcheng?” She seized onto the logical inconsistency, attempting to regain some initiative. “But that was from your previous life, wasn’t it? Even if you planted saplings back then, how could they possibly… still remain until now?”

Watching Perletti clearly flustered out of her mind yet still stubbornly trying to stay composed and think things through, the smile in Olivia’s eyes nearly overflowed.

She gently curled her lips upward and whispered in a voice only she herself could hear:

“She really is still just a child…”

Her tone was as soft as the breeze brushing across flower petals.

Faced with Perletti’s question, Olivia did not answer directly. Instead, she posed another question, her voice returning to the calmness of someone recounting an ancient legend.

“Perletti, do you know why the elves regard the World Tree as their supreme sacred relic… and even the foundation of their race’s survival?”

Perletti shook her head.

What little she knew amounted only to vague concepts like “extremely important” or “a gift from the God of Nature.”

“Calling it a sacred relic is indeed fitting.” Olivia raised her head, her gaze looking toward the figure of the deity long vanished into the river of time.

“This colossal tree was the final gift the God of Nature left behind for the elves favored by Them at the moment of Their fall.”

“It does not merely provide inexhaustible life force to the entire forest. More importantly…”

She withdrew her gaze and looked toward the beautiful garden around them, seemingly frozen amidst light and falling petals. Her voice softened with something close to reverence.

“Within the shadowed core region beneath the World Tree, a unique domain called 【Momentary Eternity】 naturally forms.”

“It is a fragment of time and space belonging solely to divine miracles — independent from the normal flow of time outside, and unaffected by the authority of the ‘God of Decay’ dwelling within the World Tree.”

She bent down and picked up a complete jasmine blossom from the ground, its white petals flawless, as though it had only just bloomed.

“It is precisely because of the protection of this 【Momentary Eternity】 that the flower seedlings Qingcheng and I planted by hand back then were able to cross hundreds of years of time.”

“They avoided all frost, wind, rain, snow, and seasonal changes, forever maintaining the appearance they had when first planted… continuing to bloom until today.”

【Momentary Eternity】!

Perletti’s heart shook violently.

This was not the first time she had heard that concept.

At Lumen’s side, she had once personally entered such a space — a place where time intertwined chaotically, allowing beings separated by thousands of years to meet one another there.

Compared to that, the domain formed beneath the World Tree’s shadow seemed far weaker than one actively maintained by a god. Its effects were more singular as well: protection and stagnation rather than connection and convergence.

But even so, its existence alone was already astonishing enough.

Then another, more fundamental question surfaced.

“The God of Nature… fell?” Perletti asked softly, disbelief in her voice. “Even gods can die? How did They—”

Olivia shook her head, her gaze turning somewhat distant.

“I don’t know.”

“That history is far too ancient — so ancient that even the elves’ oldest epics speak only vaguely of it.”

“In this world, perhaps the only one who truly knows the truth behind the God of Nature’s fall… is the vampire queen who has lived through unknown ages.”

Her tone gradually became solemn again, pulling the conversation back toward the heaviness of reality.

“Now you should understand what the World Tree means to the elves.”

“It is not merely a tree. It is the source of life sustaining the entire ecology of the Elf Forest, and even the anchor point maintaining elven civilization itself.”

“If the World Tree were completely destroyed, if its shadow vanished and 【Momentary Eternity】 collapsed, then the ecological collapse and temporal chaos that followed… would become a catastrophic disaster the entire race could never endure.”

Perletti frowned tightly.

“But the contract between the God of Decay and the Third Elf King happened hundreds of years ago. So why, during all these centuries, does It not seem to have truly tried destroying the World Tree?”

“Perhaps… It also understands how important this tree is…”

Olivia speculated quietly.

Then her tone shifted again, suddenly softening as though afraid of disturbing the tranquility of the moment.

She stepped closer, standing directly before Perletti, and gently brushed away a flower petal from Perletti’s hair — one that did not actually exist.

The movement was careful and focused.

“But those are heavy questions that have burdened the elves for centuries.”

Her clear eyes reflected Perletti’s slightly flustered face perfectly.

“Life has already continued this way for far too long. There’s no need to worry about everything in this single moment.”

She leaned forward slightly, closing the distance between them. Her breath almost brushed against Perletti’s ear as her voice fell low and clear, carrying unmistakable sincerity and tenderness.

“Right now, here, there is no elf princess and no Witch of Light.”

“Forget those identities and responsibilities.”

She took Perletti’s hand, her fingers gently yet firmly threading through Perletti’s own until their fingers slowly intertwined.

“At this moment, within this 【Momentary Eternity】…”

She lifted their clasped hands between their gazes. Sunlight filtered through the gaps of their intertwined fingers, scattering countless tiny flecks of light.

“It belongs only to ‘Olivia’ and ‘Perletti.’”

“This is the world of just the two of us.”

—

Hissss—

It felt like a kettle boiling over.

Perletti only felt sweat pouring down her back while an indescribable emotion surged wildly inside her chest.

This is weird… what’s happening to me?

Could this really be… the feeling of being in love?

N-No way!

I can’t stay here anymore. If this keeps going, Olivia’s going to eat me alive sooner or later.

“S-Sorry, I’m not feeling very well. I’m heading back first!”

The moment she finished speaking, Perletti fled at top speed.

Behind her, Olivia stood with her hands clasped behind her back, smiling softly.

“Alright then~ It’s a promise. We’ll meet here again tomorrow.”

“Oh, and just so you know, Titi can also pass through the thorns now.”

“That’s the ‘privilege’ I’m giving you.”

“G-Got it!”

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