Chapter 281: Just Another Day on the Island

"...Nerina, I made dinner," Evelyn says timidly from the kitchen while I gaze out the window of the house Evelyn built with threads. It’s a very well-made structure, indeed.

"Okay! Come on in, I’m ready." Evelyn said she’d make a "special" dinner for me tonight, since we’d normally been eating pretty basic stuff until Evelyn upgraded the structures she’d built.

But now she’s practically created all the common furniture for each room in this little house. It’s not perfect, but it’s also not something you’d throw away.

"I-I’m here..." Evelyn comes out of the kitchen carrying a makeshift tray made from materials she fashioned from trees, and then she sets the plate in front of me.

"..." It’s a piece of meat. It’s clearly raw, even though it’s been precisely cut and seasoned with some kind of sauce. I glance at Evelyn’s severed tail.

’She did this... right...’ Arial already told me Evelyn used to serve her own tail as food to her wife, and even without memories, repeated behaviors like this don’t disappear. So now she’s trying to serve it to me, too.

I look at Evelyn, who doesn’t seem to realize how strange what she’s done is. Still, I don’t say anything. If I ask about it, she’ll get confused, and then she’ll start wondering why she wanted to serve me exactly that.

’So she really did serve pieces of her own tail as food...’ I cut the meat with the rustic utensils, also made by Evelyn, and take a bite. It’s nothing special; it’s meat, like any other meat, though it’s slightly tougher compared to animal meat.

"It’s good, Evelyn. Thank you." I stare at her tail, which has already begun regenerating. It really is an excellent substitute for regeneration. Evelyn sits on the other side of the table, eating a kind of fruit salad as we enjoy the meal.

"Evelyn, it’s been a few days since we started living in this house. Are you comfortable with it? Or do you need more materials?" I’ve been giving Evelyn lots of little gifts from the sea.

Pearls, gold that sank with ships in the past, precious jewels, materials, and other things, which Evelyn has been burying beneath the house as if they were the most important things in the world to her.

"Ah... I would like more materials... b-but isn’t that asking too much? You give me so many things every day."

"Nothing is too much for a friend." I say, smiling. Meanwhile, my eyes drift completely down to her skirt. I can see perfectly everything beneath her skirt because the table is very low, and Evelyn never wears panties since she doesn’t like the normal animal-fur materials she uses for her clothes.

’It’s really tight, smooth, and soft... it also seems quite plush. How adorable.’

"And it’s also an investment." I’m honest with Evelyn. I’m investing in her.

"Oh, you’re investing in my ability to create things?" She asks innocently.

"Hun? Ah... yes." I’m investing one hundred percent in her body and emotions. I want her for myself. I can hardly wait for the day she falls completely into my hands.

"By the way, Evelyn, this is the gift I’ve been promising you almost every day but never end up giving you." I place a beautiful necklace of dark green pearls on the table, their interiors a deep, shadowy black.

"These are very special pearls. They can only be found in the deepest part of the ocean. I’ve been putting off giving them to you because each of the sixteen pearls here represents a day we’ve spent together." Every day at bath time, I promised I’d give Evelyn something but never did, saying I’d give it to her tomorrow.

The truth is, I could have given it to her on the first day, but I wanted to build anticipation. I watch Evelyn take it, and a brief flash of greed glimmers in her eyes as she tucks it into her clothes. Just like Arial said, I’m satisfying one hundred percent of Evelyn’s material desires, but I’m always close by to keep her from satisfying her carnal desires.

’Eventually, she’ll cross the line... but which line do I want her to cross?’ There are many possibilities for what I can do, but one is truly tempting.

’Make Evelyn attack me...’ Evelyn is a dragon. She can pretend to be as rational as she wants, but the moment her instincts speak louder, can Evelyn overcome desire? I highly doubt it.

I specifically haven’t let Evelyn make clothes for me to wear precisely so my naked body incites both lust and normalcy. Me being naked is a situation Evelyn currently sees as "normal." I’m slowly normalizing things that are strange, mainly my touch on her body during baths.

But undeniably, Evelyn sees me as a "target of lust." I’m beautiful, seductive, and I also cater to Evelyn’s personal taste in physical appearance. So if I don’t give her an outlet to find her relief, she’s going to explode at some point.

"Evelyn, lately I’ve been stockpiling magic for a ’friend’ I have. She needs a core, so I’m giving her magic. That’s why I was thinking—"

"I’m going to enter a state of suspended animation during the night. Could you watch over me?"

"What do you mean?" She asks, confused, putting a piece of fruit in her mouth. The red pulp of the fruit really highlights her lips.

"It means I’ll be ’sleeping,’ but it’s more like passing out. I’ll stay still in one place. I’d like you to take care of my body while this happens. I’ll wake up every day between four and five in the morning. And don’t worry, monsters won’t be a problem. You just need to look after me by simply keeping an eye on things."

"...A-Ah... b-but what about the other house...?" Evelyn has been doing everything she can to make me accept a "house" just for myself. She’s clearly desperate for privacy.

"Evelyn, it’s not safe for us to be apart. Besides, I’ll be completely vulnerable while I’m sleeping. Do you want to leave me alone in that state?" I feign hurt.

The truth is, that’s not how this works. First, I’ll be awake; I just won’t move. Second, suspended animation is just an excuse for her to think I’m vulnerable and unaware of anything she does.

That way, she’ll have the position to "attack" her dear sleeping friend. And third, if I wanted to, I have enough magic for Arial to have about ninety cores. I would never need to sleep to recover magic just to create a single measly core.

Playing with Evelyn’s guilt is fun. I wonder how wicked she’ll think she is when she does this out of lack of control, when it’s me who’s making it happen. Besides, a nymph’s aura tends to be attractive. My magic is very pleasant and obviously draws Evelyn in like honey draws bears.

"O-Okay... I’ll keep an eye out... but so, you’re going to be, like, really asleep? Not noticing anything?"

"That’s right. I’ll be busy recovering magic." Her question goes in the direction I want as I watch her rub one thigh against the other.

"I-I’ll make a bed for you..."

"No need! We can share yours; it’s plenty big. And besides, I can keep you warm on the cold nights on this island since the linen blanket you made, while good, isn’t that protective."

"And the house, despite having a window frame, doesn’t actually have glass to keep the cold out." I use logic with her; she just mutters something softly.

"I’m full. I think I’m going to bed now." She gets up while I finish the last piece of meat. During the night is when Arial gives me pieces of Evelyn’s emotions to eat, so I get excited.

"Me too!" I get up and start going with her. Normally, I’d stay in the house, but not in her room. But now, with the new excuse I’ve come up with, I go in to sleep with her.

"I’ll lie down first, Evelyn." I lie down on her bed, drastically reduce how much magic I normally emit, and close my eyes. My "heart" slows down, and I truly appear to be asleep.

"Nerina? Is that it? You’re already ’asleep’? Hey!" She starts shaking me, but to give her credibility and confidence, I maintain the state.

"So you’re only going to get up around four or five in the morning?... And who is this friend you didn’t even explain! Hey!" She keeps shaking me for a while until she gives up.

"If a monster attacks, you didn’t even say how I can wake you up!... Haaa... you could have at least truly complimented my food... it was painful to rip my tail off..." She lies down on top of me. A real surprise.

"...Why are you helping me so much?... Besides, I feel like your compliments sound like someone else’s..."

’Probably similar to that Esther’s.’ From what I understand of what Arial said, Esther also used compliments that indirectly diminished Evelyn’s achievements, which is more or less what I’m doing.

"..." Using water, I form a small eye stuck to the corner of the ceiling, observing the situation. Evelyn is lying on me, just murmuring things about her recent doubts and about me.

’She doesn’t trust me yet... expected after only sixteen days of living together...’ I ignore everything she says that doesn’t interest me.

"Stupid Nerina! Idiot... why... why don’t you understand privacy... being this close to others is... annoying... running around all the time and swinging those two water balloons around... you have no decency!!"

"...If you weren’t helping me so much, I’d complain a lot... but, thank you for helping me... but learn to keep your distance!!!... haaa... good night..." Seeing that I don’t respond, she sighs and just closes her eyes to sleep.

’Second step successfully taken...’ Evelyn doesn’t realize that the more I teach her to use her powers, the more magic I release, and the more magic I release, the greater the area "seduction" effect I apply.

’How many weeks can Evelyn hold out...’ I can hardly wait to see Evelyn rubbing against me like a bitch in heat when she can’t take it anymore. It’s almost a shame to have to share Evelyn with Arial, but information is worth more than mindless greed.