“Who’s there?!”
Accompanied by the elven captain’s cold shout and the sound of an arrow being nocked, Histori, who had been sitting nonchalantly on a tree branch, felt her heart skip a beat and all her blood rush to her head.
‘…I’m done for. I’m done for.’
It had taken Amir several hours to sneak her in without seeing a single soul, and they had slipped right into the enemy’s nest.
The moment she saw the elves move away, she had relaxed.
“L-Lady Hero, I…”
‘No, this is not the time to apologize. At this point, she had to quickly put that leaf in her mouth!’
She instinctively grabbed Amir’s wrist and leaned down, preparing to put the Sacred Wood Leaf back into her mouth.
However, before Histori’s body could move down even a few inches, the black-haired Hero beside her grabbed her sleeve.
“…It’s useless.”
Amir took the Sacred Wood Leaf that Histori had intended to swallow between her fingertips, paused for a moment, then immediately used her free hand to cup Histori’s chin and pushed upward.
“…Ngh!?”
At the sight before her, Histori’s eyes flew wide open.
Under the cover of the dim moonlight and interlacing tree shadows, her slightly parted lips, opened in fear, were firmly sealed by a sudden, cool touch.
—To avoid exposing their presence, Amir had simply leaned down and pressed her lips against Histori’s.
It wasn’t a kiss. Histori only felt her lip being completely taken into Amir’s mouth.
Then, a faint scent of forest soil and some herbal flavor squeezed through her teeth.
‘Was this… the Sacred Wood Leaf from Amir’s mouth?’
Without a moment’s hesitation, Amir bit the Sacred Wood Leaf in half, then quickly pulled their faces apart, leaving a bit of breathing room for Histori.
“…Pfft, cough, cough, cough, cough…”
No, she hadn’t left any breathing room.
In fact, she hadn’t even given Histori the luxury of coughing.
After doing all that, Amir coldly raised a finger and pressed it against Histori’s lips.
“Hold it in. This is the last half.”
“…”
“Can you hold it? Nod if you can.”
“….”
Histori, whose mind was too flustered to even know where to look, swallowed quietly and glanced up at Amir.
To smoothly transfer the half leaf into her mouth, Amir had brought their faces as close as possible.
Just by looking up like this, Histori could clearly count Amir’s long eyelashes and feel the warm breath from Amir’s nose.
‘In this situation, how was she supposed to stay calm? Forget holding it in—if this continued any longer, Histori felt she would scream.’
However, as always, luck was particularly bad at times like this.
Although that strange aura had completely vanished under Amir’s manipulation, the elven captain below wasn’t giving up so easily.
His sharp eyes were locked on the treehouse above for a full ten seconds.
“…”
Seeing that Histori had not nodded as instructed, Amir frowned.
She sighed quietly, then used her fingers to press against the back of Histori’s head, applying a bit of force to pull the flustered girl into her embrace.
Then, she closed her cloak, enveloping Histori’s entire face in darkness.
‘…What, what was she doing now?! Wasn’t what she just did shocking enough? Did she want to further damage her fragile heart?!’
‘And, despite her appearance, this girl actually had quite a bit going on!’
‘Damn Hero, damn Amir, if I could just…’
Just as Histori couldn’t stop her chaotic thoughts, a light, clear voice that only she could hear drifted into her ears.
“…If you really can’t hold it, then cough out loud.”
Amir gently patted the back of Histori’s head with her palm—
“Don’t worry. I’ll cover for you.”
“…”
For a moment, the entire Elven Forest seemed to fall silent.
Only Histori’s pounding heart and their soft breaths remained on that branch.
Finally, after checking all surroundings and confirming that strange aura had completely disappeared, Dali’an slowly relaxed his taut bowstring—
“Good, no one’s there. Continue patrolling! Stay sharp! Don’t let a single suspicious person get within half a step of the Elven Forest!”
After another sound of uniform metal armor from below, and when their footsteps had completely faded away, Amir finally relaxed her tense body.
She pulled open her cloak that had been wrapped around Histori and put a little distance between them.
“Hah, hah, hah…”
Fresh air rushed back into Histori’s lungs.
She opened her mouth and gasped for air like a dying fish finally returning to its faithful ocean.
Then, as she realized what had just happened, her face turned bright red in 0.1 seconds, like a ripe apple.
‘…Wah, wah, wah wah!? My first kiss that I had kept for who knows how many years, my first kiss…’
‘Is it, is it still there? Was that action completely not within the definition of a kiss? Who kisses by putting someone else’s lip in their own mouth?!’
Regardless, Histori couldn’t bear to look at Amir’s face now.
She clutched her chest with her left hand and wiped a few tears from her eye with her right.
Whether they were squeezed out by lack of oxygen or simply from feeling wronged.
“…”
Seeing Histori’s reaction, Amir pursed her lips, then wiped the corner of her own mouth and stood up from the branch.
Looking up at the elven palace in the distance, she rubbed her chin and said calmly—
“Histori, this was a necessary measure. Although not as bad as spitting it out, splitting the Sacred Wood Leaf in half will gradually reduce its effectiveness. Time no longer allows us to advance at this leisurely pace.”
“So, don’t be clumsy anymore. Stay close to me. We’ll finish this quickly.”
Listening to Amir’s logical analysis, Histori’s dazed mind gradually began to clear.
‘Tch. Amir really is still that emotionless wooden Hero. An assassin by trade, her brain is definitely not normal.’
‘Just now she stole my first kiss in such a domineering way, and afterwards not a single explanation, just a cold “stay close to me”…’
Even though she knew Amir’s actions were correct and that she herself was the one in the wrong, Histori still lowered her eyes in grievance, silently following Amir’s steps like a kitten that had made a mistake.
Just then, a night wind blew down from the direction of the elven palace, knocking off Amir’s hood and stirring her jet-black hair.
“…Huh?”
Histori blinked silently and tilted her head.
‘Just now, in the wind, she thought she saw Amir’s earlobe… redder than the surrounding skin?’
“Don’t stop. Don’t fall behind even a single step.”
“Y-Yes, ma’am!”
After quickly stepping forward twice, Histori patted her cheeks and shook her head vigorously.
‘That just now was probably just her imagination, right?’