No Matter How I Think About It, This Is Flirting

Chapter 92

We were walking side by side along a forest path glittering with starlight.

But then.

'Let's stay calm.'

I desperately chanted it to myself in my head and deliberately jerked my gaze away to the side.

It was to keep myself from constantly looking back at Elysia, who kept burying herself in my cloak and smiling sweetly.

Because if I kept staring, I felt like a catastrophe would happen and the sound of my heartbeat would burst right out into the open.

'No, if you suddenly come at me like this, young lady, I'm going to be in a lot of trouble.'

The place I forcibly fixed my gaze on was the enormous trees lining the roadside.

…….

As I looked closely, the leaves and branches really were softly glowing in places.

It was as if the whole forest had been coated in fluorescent paint and was serving as one giant light fixture.

And beyond those beautifully stretched trees.

Huge oak casks bathed in the same starlit glow were lined up beyond them, stretching on endlessly.

"What are you looking at so intently?"

Then Elysia, who had been walking beside me, lightly slowed her steps and asked.

"Ah. The trees are really fascinating. There are an awful lot of oak barrels, too."

"Would you like to take a closer look?"

"Yes. Please."

I didn't refuse.

I felt like I needed to get my head on straight.

To defend my mind from Elysia constantly pressing in from the side, I desperately needed something physical to keep my attention split.

Step.

We left the path slightly and took a few steps toward the giant star trees.

Seen up close, their brilliance was even more overwhelming.

It really looked as though translucent jewels had been studded across the entire tree.

I reached out and lightly touched one of the leaves.

Cold and smooth to the touch. It felt like a real mineral.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Elysia stood beside me, looking up at the tree, and whispered.

"……Yes."

It really was.

The tree was beautiful, and your side profile as you looked up at it was also stunningly beautiful.

But I forcibly packed away the emotions rising in me and deliberately blurted out nonsense, as if to smash the mood to pieces.

"It's beautiful. Beautiful enough to rival real jewels."

"What?"

Of course, that wasn't what I had intended.

I had just fumbled it.

"I also had a silly thought like, 'If this were all real jewels, how much would it be worth?'"

"……Pfft."

Elysia covered her mouth with her fan and let out a small laugh at that bleak, dry capitalist joke.

It was enough to instantly clear away the romantic atmosphere that had been starting to grow damp.

My trump-card joke was neatly defeated by Elysia's endlessly sweet laughter.

"Right?"

"Yes, well……."

"Actually, even since I was little, whenever I walked through this forest, I'd sometimes think exactly that."

Elysia lifted her chin and looked up at the leaves above her head.

"Like, if I took off just one of those leaves and sold it, how many pairs of pretty shoes would that buy? Of course, I couldn't bring myself to say it out loud because I had to keep up appearances as a Rosenberg young lady."

Wow.

What, were you fifth graders on some online positive-comments campaign for morality class homework or something?

"……Young lady, you were secretly kind of materialistic too, huh."

"I want to be completely honest whenever I'm in front of someone."

No matter what kind of nonsense I threw out, she took it all in stride.

The syrupy atmosphere in the air just wouldn't let up.

"Now, follow me this way."

Elysia smiled sweetly and led the way.

I obediently trailed after her.

We passed the glowing star trees and approached the clearing lined with oak barrels.

"Oh……."

Seeing them up close, the scale of the barrels was beyond imagination.

Huge wooden casks that towered far above my height were lined up there by the hundreds.

It was like I'd been whisked away to some famous winery in Bordeaux, or whatever that other place in France was called, somewhere I'd never even visited.

No, even more than that.

Because even in France, you probably couldn't see a sparkling winery like this one that gleamed all on its own, no matter how much money you paid.

"This is the famous perfume that's being aged in Rosenberg's starwood."

"That's right. It's our family's pride."

Elysia answered as she gently stroked the barrel's smooth surface.

"Inside this star-tree forest, perfumes and wines aged for a long time in special oak casks made from star trees capture Rosenberg's uniquely mysterious note."

"……I think I get it."

That wasn't a lie.

The pleasant scent tickling my nose right now was so unique and multidimensional that I'd never once smelled anything like it in my entire life.

It had a subtle woody base, mixed with a very sweet yet refreshing note.

It was the kind of scent that cleared my head and made me feel instantly better.

'How strange. My sense of smell isn't getting tired at all.'

Usually, a fragrance this stimulating and overpowering would numb your olfactory cells after a few whiffs and get old fast.

The more I smelled this, the more I wanted to breathe in even deeper.

Was this the kind of cheat only a fantasy world with magic could get away with?

"This is incredible."

"Do you like it?"

"Yes. More than I expected."

And, most dangerous of all.

The natural scent drifting from these barrels was creating synergy with the bewitching floral fragrance coming from Elysia beside me.

How should I put it.

Femininity, in the most literal sense, was practically exploding all through the air.

What, was this some kind of fragrance capsule or something?

Then.

Step.

Elysia, who had been fiddling with the barrels, suddenly took a step toward me.

Originally, the distance between us was only about one and a half steps anyway.

But when she shoved in that half step, the distance between us instantly shrank.

"……!"

At the same time, once again, a thick floral scent like roses jabbed straight into my lungs.

'I'm getting dizzy.'

I screamed inwardly.

There really was a reason why, in old folktales, woodcutters got bewitched by a gumiho and ended up handing over even their liver and gallbladder.

And this wasn't some nine-tailed gumiho or even a furry fox—it was just a foxlike pretty girl, and I still felt like I'd be bewitched and left speechless in an instant.

"I want you to smell my perfume a little more closely."

Elysia whispered in a soft voice.

"A little closer. Just a little closer."

"……Do I have to?"

I asked back, completely stiff.

What, what is that supposed to mean?

Was she deliberately trying to drive me insane?

No, but.

Why in the world is she doing this to me?

I've been trying my best to psych myself up and not think nonsense since earlier.

'No matter how I think about it, this is flirting.'

I thought today had to be a miserable day for her.

So when this woman, who should have been sad by now, gave me a smile that felt like flirting,

I consciously tried to think, No, that can't be it.

But there was no way I could.

I'm not stupid or anything.

A woman was giving me this much of her own space, asking me to smell her scent.

……and smiling at me.

How was I supposed to think this wasn't flirting?

'Damn, I thought I was just some zoo monkey.'

Elysia, buried in my big cloak, tilted her head languidly.

"This perfume I usually use,

"……."

"was made by our resident perfumer to blend as perfectly as possible with the unique scent of this very star-tree forest."

"……Ah."

"How is it? Doesn't it feel a lot better now that the scents are mixed together?"

Oh-ho.

So there really was a scientific and aesthetic reason to it.

'...Scientific and aesthetic, my ass. This is definitely flirting.'

"…I've smelled it a few times since earlier."

"So, what do you think?"

"…It was nice."

Elysia curled the corners of her lips prettily and stared straight at me.

Really stared.

Without even blinking once.

Her transparently gleaming violet eyes were obsessively raking over every inch of my face.

'Ah, shit, what now.'

I was sweating bullets inside.

'Why is she staring at me like that again?'

Did I get something on my face?

Or does my breath smell like the jerky I ate earlier?

Just as I tried to move my gaze far off into the void out of sheer pressure.

Elysia lightly covered her mouth with her fan and began teasing me in her roundabout way of speaking.

"Cassian."

"……Yes. Go ahead."

"Your face."

"……."

"Your face is even cuter and prettier now that it's red than when you first saw me at the front gate earlier."

"……!"

Damn.

I reflexively raised one hand and touched my cheek.

It was hot.

It was burning up like a lump of fire.

"This is, um... because it's cold. The weather's pretty chilly."

"Oh my. But you were the one who wrapped this cloak around me, Cassian."

Elysia gripped the hem of my cloak tightly and laughed playfully.

"Yes. So it seems only my face—the part left bare after I took off the cloak—turned red."

"Hehe. All right, we'll go with that."

Elysia generously let my excuse slide and lightly turned her body.

"Then, to help cool those reddened cheeks of yours down—"

"……."

"Would it be all right if I now guided you to the next place I really want to show you today?"

Only then did I fully realize the miserable fact that my face had flared up beyond all control.

I lowered my voice and answered.

"……Understood. Lead the way."