"Nerina..." I say the name of this nymph, one so powerful she managed to partially invade Evelyn’s spiritual plane.

"Hello, your name is Arial, right?" She smiles at me, tilting her head. I can feel the danger just from looking at this thing. Evelyn doesn’t even know the risk she’s taking being near her. Compared to this woman, I’m like a bucket of water next to the ocean.

"What do you want with Evelyn?" I ask her aggressively. She’s wild—I can tell from her scent. Unlike most nymphs, who are "alluring" with pleasant smells and an inviting aura, this woman smells of blood and death. A stench that serves as a warning of her danger, showing she doesn’t follow the standard hunting methods of nymphs, even if her prey is still the same type.

"Nothing much. I just found this fragile Demon Queen interesting. But hey, we’re all nymphs here, aren’t we? How about I propose a deal?" Nerina speaks with a confident smile as she steps closer to me.

"I don’t want anything from you—" I try to pull away, but before I realize it, she’s already behind me, grabbing hold.

"Ghhmmm!!" She shoves two fingers into my intimate parts while my legs tremble. I feel her infecting my magic with hers as she squeezes my right breast hard.

"Come on, little Arial. We’re the same type of nymph—both water-based. And while lakes and oceans aren’t even comparable, I’ll accept the fact that you’re here."

"Let me go!" I try to push her away, but she shoves her fingers deeper, making me fall to my knees, gasping.

"What do you think of my magic? Sweet, right? I have a rather unpleasant presence, so the best method I have for attracting and keeping my prey with me is making my magic addictively pleasant."

"I-I want a deal..." As soon as I say it, she releases me. I grip the ground, panting. I look at my legs, seeing how soaked I am down there. It’s humiliating that someone as strong as me never stood a chance against this aberration of nature.

"I see you’re clever. A deal... well, let’s go over the terms. This girl, Evelyn—she interests me quite a lot. She’s like a feast to my eyes. And you want to protect her from me. Rather selfish on your part."

"But let’s do this instead: tell me everything you know about this girl, and in exchange, I’ll share my progress with you."

"Wait, what?" I look at her, confused. Share? She’d really do that when she has a 100% advantage? She wouldn’t even need to attempt a deal.

"I like cute girls like you two. Besides, Evelyn seems to have gone through some terrible things. I’ve never seen anyone with such broken, fragile emotions. It’s a surprise she’s even alive. People like that usually turn to suicide."

"And I know that well because I’ve seen many throw themselves into the sea, asking it to end their pathetic lives..." She says this almost drooling.

"You... are a pervert..." I mutter with some disgust. She likes suicidal people. Truly a woman with strange tastes. It’s true that many nymphs kill people and even drive them to death, but specifically liking people drenched in sorrow is pretty weird.

"Oh, come on, it’s not that bad. Besides, many come to end their lives in my arms. Obviously, I’d develop a taste for it. And I’ve never seen anyone more depressed than Evelyn, so she’s very attractive. Like I said, a feast."

"And I don’t want to see Evelyn killing herself. Don’t confuse things. Besides, from what I can tell, you seem to have great interest in this girl too. So I thought, how about we join forces to make her ours?"

"..."

"My power is fragile. I can completely block a being’s memories, but only as long as they don’t fight against it. The moment Evelyn resists me, she’ll remember everything."

"So it’s easier to handle her with your help. You’ll help me keep her from fully awakening her dormant memories. I need information to know what I should avoid saying to Evelyn or how to steer away from her questions."

"Like I said, I’m not too greedy. I can share Evelyn with you without issue. I follow the philosophy that having half is better than having nothing. After all, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, don’t you agree?" Nerina speaks with real intensity.

’She’s good...’ She’s actually convincing me. I already wanted to have Evelyn for myself anyway.

"Fine... I agree to that... but it’s impossible to win Evelyn’s heart. She’s a dragon, and she’s already given her heart to her wife. She’ll never give it to anyone else."

"Heee? That’s boring... but that’s fine. Just having her body and emotions is enough, isn’t it? Since when do nymphs like us need anyone’s hearts?" She gives a dangerous smile.

’Should I really accept this?’ I’m genuinely afraid of this woman. She could kill me right here inside the spiritual plane. I have to be careful.

"First of all, Nerina, Evelyn must never feel like she’s betraying someone. So you have to be very careful about what you offer her. If you want Evelyn’s body, and deep down she feels like she’s betraying something, she’ll try to remember. She’s very determined—I can vouch for that."

"...I see. So what I need to do is..."

"Use her sadness." She and I say it at the same time. The only way to connect with Evelyn is to make her accept things through her own sorrow. For example, if Evelyn is sad and you kiss her, she’ll accept it, because Evelyn numbs her sadness in two ways.

Either with lust—usually alone in bed at night with toys—or by crying. Outside of that, she sometimes drinks wine, but that’s occasional when the stress is too high.

"What are the danger zones?"

"...Evelyn has great lust, but only in private. That comes from two factors: her romance with her wife and her extreme need to accumulate treasures."

"If you satisfy her desire for wealth, Evelyn will seek comfort in lust whenever she’s sad. That’s the fastest way to obtain her body. But we must never do it directly, because she’s skittish about it—personal experience talking here."

"I see, I see. That’s interesting... but tell me, who is this wife of hers?"

"She’s a woman named Esther. And Evelyn has been very sad about her recently because Esther was poisoning her to kill a baby Evelyn didn’t even know she had."

"So even though Evelyn forgave Esther, she was still sad and disappointed. But now, without memories, Evelyn only has the pain without knowing she’s already forgiven that treacherous crime."

"This woman, Esther, huh? She sounds dangerous... and treacherous. I know a bit about dragons. I understand you now. Dragons in love can’t abandon their partners no matter how much they’re hurt."

"Yes. Besides, the frequency with which Esther and Evelyn ’played’ together was at least four to seven times a week."

"Quite frequent. Seems the door to Evelyn’s body is her desires... As for treasures, getting them will be easy..." I grab Nerina’s hand, and she stares at me, confused.

"...Please... just don’t hurt Evelyn, okay?... she’s already suffered so much..." Having consumed Evelyn’s emotions, I understand how much she’s suffered, and I don’t want to see her in pain anymore. It’s strange. I don’t understand why I care, but I don’t want to see her hurt.

"Why does it matter? Does it really matter whether we hurt that girl or not? We’re nymphs. Since when does something like that hold value?" I take out a fragment of feelings I’ve kept to eat.

"Eat this. It’s Evelyn’s emotions."

"..." She takes it suspiciously, but not caring if it’s dangerous—or perhaps thinking I’m no threat—she puts it in her mouth and swallows. But in less than two seconds, tears stream down her face.

"Haaa... wow... this... is intense... I’ve never absorbed something’s feelings before... I feel sad... and... something hurts." She gives a broken smile, a mix between her own grin and Evelyn’s sadness.

"It’s... disgusting."

"Yeah, it is." I agree with her description. Evelyn’s sadness is dense and disgusting. Clingy, too.

"But it’s addictive."

"I agree with that too." I agree with her again. No matter how disgusting it is, eating that bundle of sadness and jealous love that Evelyn carries is strangely addictive.

"Alright... I understand now. You’ve been eating this every day?"

"Yes, for some time now." She and I are starting to understand each other. In the end, she’s right. We’re both the same type of nymph and think similarly.

"Okay... Arial, you’ve convinced me... I won’t hurt Evelyn. The plan’s still on, but I’ll be gentler with her."

"Haaa..." I let out a sigh of relief. I don’t know why, but knowing Nerina won’t hurt Evelyn makes my "heart" feel lighter, as if the worst of the situation has disappeared—even though this thing is still here.

"If we’re making a deal, I’ll give you all the information about Evelyn’s life that I know. But besides wanting to participate, I also want something else. Help me recover at least one core."

"You’re an ocean nymph. You must have more than enough Hikishin." I want to recover at least one of my cores before asking Evelyn to fulfill our deal and build a body for me.

"...Deal." She extends her hand, and I shake it. Even though I flinch a little, the agreement doesn’t make her bizarre aura disappear.

"I’m leaving for now, but I still don’t trust you. So I won’t let you have contact with Evelyn. However, if my trust in you grows, I’ll help you manifest your consciousness into a temporary body outside the spiritual plane."

"That way, your true essence will stay inside Evelyn, but your mind will be outside to help me conquer Evelyn’s body."

"...Of course... I hope you keep your end and don’t do anything bad to her."

"I also hope you do your part correctly." She begins to fade, and the atmosphere immediately becomes lighter.

’Evelyn... I did my best for you...’ I did more than I should have, and I still protected her. So I deserve this little treat that will come from the deal. It’s my right. Though deep down, I hope Evelyn remembers Esther and regains her memories. But that’s something only time will tell.

-------------------------------------------

Galaxy’s Note

Hello, readers! I’m here to announce some important things! Remember Chapter 108? It had an important note about the type of content in this work! If you don’t remember, I recommend going back and reading it!

For a long time, that Chapter seemed like just a warning, and the content it described hadn’t happened until now. But starting with this Chapter, that type of content will occur!!

I’d already made it clear that Evelyn would have sexual relations with other characters as an emotional escape from her sadness, even though Esther is the main romantic target of the work.

Now we’re getting to that! I don’t want you to see this as NTR because it isn’t. The explanation for why it isn’t is already in Chapter 108. Instead, I want you to see it as self-sabotage.

Would the current Evelyn—hurt, wounded, and without memories—really be okay? Could she really resist two beings at the top of the food chain? In this work, nymphs are among the strongest types of monsters.

And now Evelyn will have to deal with two of them while struggling with her own confused feelings!! I don’t want you to see this arc as just sexual content thrown in out of nowhere.

As I said at the beginning of this work, all sexual content serves a purpose for context and narrative influence in the story.

So try to see it from the perspective of the situation! I also want you to be fully aware that most of the scenes that follow in this arc—the ocean arc—fall under the [Dubious Consent] tag. Evelyn won’t be raped; Arial did everything she could to make sure Nerina wouldn’t hurt Evelyn.

But Evelyn, without her memories and extremely sad, isn’t someone truly capable of giving consent, especially considering Nerina is a manipulator to the extreme.

In this arc, we’ll explore many things, such as the nymphs, their attitudes and behaviors, and also Evelyn’s personal growth—something she’s never truly confronted within herself until now.

Evelyn is sad, and she’s been spreading her sadness in all directions. But has she truly fought against it? Honestly, no. She’s just been dragging her problems forward.

As Nerina said, Evelyn’s sadness is enormous. People with less would have already taken their own lives in this world. But every person is different, and Evelyn has her own determination.

So now, in this arc, Evelyn will have to confront a truth she’s always avoided: will she be a coward forever? Or, for the first time in her life, will she face her cowardice?

If she chooses to be a coward, it means never trying to remember, remaining forever in Nerina’s clutches, embracing false comfort and love in a gilded cage. Or will she choose to fight against the fear?

Will she choose to remember and confront her manipulative jailer? This is undoubtedly important for the work because it will show whether Evelyn has the will and courage to move forward against fear.

Or if she’ll cower and wait until Esther finds her and takes her off this island. Let’s face it—Esther will find her someday with her blessing. So Evelyn will need the courage to escape this sweet trap on her own before Esther comes to save her.

So, readers, this isn’t a spoiler. Whether Evelyn chooses courage or cowardice, she’ll still return to Esther. What remains for us is to see, wait, and hope that Evelyn finally decides that cowardice is no longer worth it. But you’ll only know which choice she makes if you keep reading.

The following content will be heavy, full of manipulation designed to break Evelyn’s will. So even if she fails and needs Esther to save her, will it truly be her fault for failing? Or will it also be Esther’s fault for breaking her so much that she needed to escape reality?

Although, in the end, Evelyn is also a nymph. So who knows who’ll truly be preying on whom in this deserted island? There are many possibilities, and that’s the fun of reading a psychological novel.

Well, I hope you’ve been enjoying the work so far, and we’ll see what the future holds for our queen. Have a great read ahead.