‘…I’m not wearing anything right now?’

Her ominous feelings had never been wrong.

When Merrien turned her head with a completely stiff face, Ariel’s shoulder came into view.

Though everything below was hidden by flower petals, it was clear he wasn’t wearing anything either.

“……”

‘What kind of situation is this?’

Thankfully, there were many flower petals on the water’s surface.

Merrien cautiously pulled distant petals closer, working hard to cover herself while remaining vigilant.

“Weren’t we supposed to bathe together?”

“Huh.”

Merrien swallowed a bitter laugh at such a brazen question.

Seeing Ariel tilt his head as if completely clueless, she wondered if she was the one in the wrong.

……

‘No, that can’t be right!’

While internally scolding herself for almost falling for his tricks, she maintained an outwardly calm and firm demeanor.

“No, we weren’t. Usually only married couples do that.”

“Ah, that’s too bad. I’ll get out then.”

The problem was Ariel’s response.

He splashed around as if he had no choice, and actually seemed about to stand up.

“Then everything will be visible, you crazy fool!”

She’d forgotten he was completely unhinged!

Merrien, revealing her true thoughts, barely managed to grab his wrist and make him sit back down.

During this process, she didn’t forget to quickly cover herself with flower petals when she almost exposed herself completely.

Fortunately, he allowed himself to be held back, but one corner of his mouth turned upward, making his thoughts unclear.

Merrien glared at him while biting her lower lip.

“Leave while I keep my eyes closed. Don’t just suddenly get up.”

There.

Merrien not only closed her eyes but turned completely around. It was her determination to absolutely not see Ariel.

However, even as time passed, there was no splashing sound like before.

“…What are you doing? Why aren’t you leaving?”

Merrien’s eyelids trembled as Ariel’s breathing became distinctly audible behind her.

She couldn’t dare open her eyes. Somehow, she could feel his intense gaze clearly fixed on her.

“Like Merri said, I think everything would be visible if I left.”

“…But I’m turned around, aren’t I?”

“I don’t think so.”

Merrien’s eyes flew open at the voice that suddenly appeared right in front of her face.

Ariel, who had definitely been behind her, was now standing in front silently.

“…How did you. You.”

Merrien stumbled over her words, unable to speak properly. Her hands were alternating between covering her mouth and pointing at him, clearly flustered.

As her hands disturbed the water’s surface, Ariel smirked and tilted his head as if determined to enchant her.

“If I leave now, I think everything really would be visible?”

“……”

Merrien shook her head, forcefully trying to grip her dizzying consciousness.

‘I really think he’s gone mad. Why does it seem like he’s getting crazier by the day?’

But the consciousness she struggled to maintain seemed ready to fly away again under Ariel’s steady gaze.

When their eyes met, an awkward atmosphere unlike any other time settled between them.

Though they had often been alone together, this kind of tense atmosphere was absolutely unprecedented.

But it was too late to look away now.

‘There’s no choice.’

At this point, she had to face it head-on.

Let’s see who wins. Just as Merrien locked eyes with him in what felt like a staring contest, Ariel’s now-flushed lips parted first.

“By the way… did you get any letters from Prince Forcite de Vergne?”

“…Huh? You heard?”

Merrien didn’t even have time to savor her victory in their psychological battle. What mattered now was that he had heard her talking to herself.

“Yes. I also heard that the Prince’s subordinate stole the box.”

“Ah.”

‘From now on, I should just think instead of speaking.’

Ariel hears everything spoken during the day. Keep that in mind, Merrien.

Watching her awkward smile, Ariel spoke again.

“About twenty letters came.”

“What happened to them?”

“I burned them all.”

“Ah… Wait, why?”

Thanks to Ariel’s smooth response, Merrien almost accepted it without thinking before managing to question him.

‘He sent twenty letters in that time? No wonder he was suspicious!’

Now she understood why Forcite had tried to investigate Ariel’s identity.

“At least when you were at the temple, you replied to every letter. So it’s natural for him to suspect that you might be under some magical influence.”

As she explained everything step by step, Ariel’s eyes lowered with apparent disappointment.

No, he was clearly pretending to be dejected.

Merrien put on a serious expression.

“So why did you burn them? Let’s hear the reason.”

She couldn’t let this slide. If she overlooked it this time too, he would act on his own again and then play innocent when caught.

She even put her hands on her hips, though it wasn’t visible underwater. The water splashed in response.

“You like obsessive men, don’t you?”

“……”

Her strength gave out at this ridiculous response, and she almost fell into the water.

‘Did I heal him too much? This must be a side effect of excessive healing.’

Merrien couldn’t help but smack her own forehead.

The wet palm created a crisp sound that echoed through the air.

Where did this misunderstanding begin, and how should she explain it?

But did she really need to explain this…?

However, the man before her occasionally showed childlike aspects of someone not even ten years old. So she needed to explain things one by one.

“…Forcite was my childhood friend. And I think even I would send dozens of letters if a friend suddenly stopped responding.”

“But you didn’t.”

Merrien was momentarily speechless at this piercing remark.

‘Because I’m not really his friend!’

She couldn’t say that out loud, but she had to say something.

“Anyway! From now on, give me any letters that come. I need to reply to them. And I don’t like obsessive people.”

“Alright.”

Seeing him agree so readily, it seemed he would finally give them to her.

But that wasn’t the only problem.

“But you know what, Merri.”

“What now!”

Unlike Merrien who burst out shouting, Ariel responded calmly.

“These flowers. They’ll disappear soon?”

“…What?”

A lie.

Despite his calm tone, what she heard was practically a death sentence.

Merrien had now become as stiff as a wax figure.

As if proving Ariel’s words true, flower petals were disappearing one by one wherever her trembling gaze landed.

“!!!”

‘No, no!’

Desperately looking around, Merrien kept moving to cover herself with what remaining petals there were.

Thump-.

“…Ah!”

Before she knew it. Her right shoulder had touched something.

The moist bare skin had collided with Ariel’s left shoulder above the water.

Merrien trembled slightly at the unexpectedly sensitive sensation.

“Merri. If you wanted to sit with me, you could have just said so.”

A playful voice came from right beside her.

“You… You did this on purpose.”

Merrien wanted to glare at him, but it didn’t work out as she wanted.

Due to their height difference while sitting, she ended up looking up at him somewhat coyly.

The rising hot steam naturally reddened her face and blurred her vision, making it difficult to see each other’s eyes clearly.

“Did what?”

Still, she could tell well enough that he was wearing his characteristic ‘I don’t know anything’ innocent smile.

‘As if that expression works on everything.’

She gave up on glaring now. There was nothing she could do at this point.

“What happened to these flowers?”

“Magic, of course.”

“So it was your doing after all.”

“Of course.”

Ariel smiled leisurely and turned his body. Moving while so close together caused Merrien’s body to sway as well.

“!!!”

‘No, like this… If he just looks down, he’ll see everything.’

It was an extremely embarrassing situation, especially with the flower petals continuing to disappear in real time.

Merrien forcefully raised her eyes, trying to resist the urge to look down. Watching this intently, Ariel burst out laughing.

“Merri, you’re perverted. I knew you were the one who wanted to read those romance books.”

“…I told you that’s not it?”

“I heard ‘[The Saint’s Secret Hobby]’ Volume 2 is out.”

“Really?!”

“See? Your eyes turned sinful the moment I mentioned it.”

“…No, but since I’ve already read the first one, I should read the next volume.”

Just as they were exchanging this pointless conversation, forgetting the situation, finally.

Even the flower petals in front disappeared with a poof-poof sound.