Chapter 24: You and Me

The three pairs of eyes widened, each one larger than the last.
Their mouths gaped open as well.
Nadiesse and the other two stood motionless, as if turned to stone.

I raised my chin triumphantly, my upturned lips telling Nadiesse:
‘What do you think? Shocking, isn’t it? Bet I scared you!’

But shock is one thing.
Nadiesse was clearly not someone who hadn’t seen the world.
She quickly returned to normal.

“Hello, you must be Miss Elvira Serenil, right?
I had the honor of hearing about you back in the City of the Sea of Trees.
We come from the same place, so we can be considered fellow townspeople.”

“Mm, hello,” Elvira’s reply was extremely cold, even more indifferent than when I first met her.

“Hello, Miss Elvira. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Same here.”

Peters and the burly man beside him also followed their boss’s lead and greeted her.
Their demeanor was not as natural as Nadiesse’s, but the result was the same.
All they got in return was Elvira’s very distant reply.

“Mm, hello to you both.”

After speaking, she made no further movements, standing there like a statue.

What’s wrong with Elvira?
Isn’t this a bit too aloof?
I know she’s not one for getting too close to people, but isn’t this a little impolite?
After all, we’re staying on their ship, aren’t we?

I discreetly poked the soft flesh of Elvira’s waist, hoping she would get my meaning.

Poke— poke—

She didn’t react.

Poke, and poke again.

She still didn’t react at all.

The awkwardness in the cabin was almost tangible, visible to the naked eye.
Even the stacked wooden cargo boxes in the corner seemed like people facing the wall, wishing they could escape the awkward scene.

The smiles on Nadiesse and the others’ faces showed signs of faltering.
No matter what, I had to break this tension first.

“Ahem—” I cleared my throat to get everyone’s attention.
“Alright~ since we all know each other now, let’s not just stand here.
Nadiesse, where’s the room you prepared for us?
Let’s go have a look.”

“Oh, oh! Right, please follow me.”

Nadiesse waved for us to follow, and she led the way into the depths of the cabin.

As expected of a cunning fox skilled in scheming and guessing people’s thoughts.
She reacted so quickly and calmly.
In my past life, you’d definitely get a little golden man award for that.

Following Nadiesse, we soon arrived at a wooden door deep in the cabin.
Nadiesse opened it, revealing a clean and tidy space.

The room wasn’t large overall, which was to be expected.
The space on the entire ship was limited, so having a separate room was already quite a feat.
The clean and tidy environment of the room also showed Nadiesse’s thoughtfulness.

“Not bad at all!” I praised.
“This one is for Elvira.
Nadiesse, could you please take me to the next one?”

“This is a double room.”

“…?”

I tilted my head and smiled at Nadiesse, blinking as a signal of inquiry.

‘What about all the empty rooms you mentioned before?’

“I can’t help it. The rooms are full, and I’m quite troubled by it too.
You two can just make do for now.
The voyage isn’t long, only a month or two.”

Nadiesse also blinked, mouthing the words “you’re welcome.”

You’re welcome my ass!
I told you we’re not in a relationship!
Don’t make your own decisions and prepare some weird setup, hey!

“You’ve gone to a lot of trouble. Thank you.”

Before I could protest, Elvira beat me to it, walking into the room on her own.
With that, I had no room to maneuver.

Someone patted my shoulder, and Nadiesse gave me a thumbs-up.

“Verona, I didn’t expect you to be so capable.
This one is a famous ice beauty in the Forest of the Sea of Trees.
No one dares to approach her easily, and I heard she has an extraordinary background!”

“Thank you so much…” I looked at Nadiesse with a forced smile, feeling a vein throbbing on my forehead.

What ice beauty?
It would be more accurate to call her a secretly sultry one.
And the main reason she’s famous is probably not because of her beauty, but because she’s a black dragon.

I shot Nadiesse a glare and turned to walk into the room.

If we have to share a room, then we have to share a room.
Anyway, there are many people on the ship.
Elvira wouldn’t dare to act recklessly.
If she dares to lay a hand on me, I’ll scream “indecent assault!”

At this moment, Elvira was sitting upright on the bed in the room.
It wasn’t the double bed I had imagined, but a rather simple bunk bed.

The room was fully equipped with a table, storage boxes, oil lamps, and other furniture and supplies.
Basically, all the daily necessities were there.
It seems we can live quite comfortably at sea.

It’s just that the room has no windows, so it might feel a bit oppressive after a long time.
But given the limited conditions, I can’t be too picky.

But then again, thanks to the presence of a certain extraordinarily elegant and dignified black dragon lady, the whole room looked a bit more pleasing to the eye.

Patting the non-existent dust off my clothes, I walked over to Elvira and said, “I’ll sleep on the top bunk, you’re on the bottom.
That’s settled. Any objections?”

Elvira shook her head. “Did you talk about me with that fox?”

“Huh?” The sudden topic left me dumbfounded.
“Er… I asked her about the legend of the black dragons…”

“Is that so… Verona, now that you know my situation, are you afraid?”
Elvira closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“The world-destroying dragon will eventually pluck the kindling of hope and shoot down the hanging sun.”

Elvira was getting obsessive again, just like when we had just escaped.

“That’s quite impressive, isn’t it?
Is there any possibility that those rumors were spread out of fear of the black dragon’s power?”

“I’ve thought about that too.
But in the homeland of all dragons—Dragon Island—there is an obelisk that records the events of history…”

I picked up a chair and placed it in front of Elvira, sitting down to give her a counseling session.

“Look at you, you’re trapped in a self-consistent dilemma again.
Have you ever heard the saying?
Hell is other people.
When you start to care about what others think of you, you’ll fall into a spiral of contradiction.
Over time, self-consumption will destroy you from the inside out.”

“Then I’ll just ask you one question.
Verona, you could have asked me about my affairs.
Why did you ask someone else?”
Elvira touched the thorny pattern on her neck with one hand and continued,
“Your mark, I can sense some of your situation through it.
So, could you please answer my question seriously?”

Her willow-like eyebrows drooped, and her eyes dimmed.
Elvira looked at me like a person who had fallen into an abyss, desperate to see a glimmer of hope of returning to the world of the living.

I didn’t intentionally go behind Elvira’s back, and I didn’t even expect that a single action could lead to the current situation.
But for a friend, I will not choose to evade the problem.

I leaned forward slightly, my hands clenched and then relaxed.
I slowly began to speak:
“Your curse, those legends, I don’t care.
But Elvira, as a friend, I care about you.
The things you don’t like, the things that annoy you, I will walk in front of you and block them for you.
And in normal times, I will walk behind you, to understand and support you.”

“This is my attitude towards a friend. Can you understand what I’m saying?”
I spoke very slowly, feeling that this would be more sincere.

Elvira took a deep breath and suddenly pressed my hand.
An elegant fragrance filled my nose as she also leaned forward, her cheek only a hair’s breadth from mine.

“No, don’t walk in front of me, and don’t walk behind me… please, walk beside me.”

In my vision, her delicious, full cherry lips slowly approached, wanting to pluck their desired fruit.
I kept leaning back, my hands feebly pushing against the fragrant, soft body that was getting closer, until my back was against the chair and there was nowhere to escape.
Just as the fruit was about to be plucked…

The door opened…