Chapter 118: Punishment (3)

I looked at Arwen, who spoke weakly with a bitter smile on her face. She was wearing a robe like last time, but this time she had completely removed her hood, revealing her appearance.

Her sparkling silver-gray hair and eyes were like the Milky Way, and her appearance seemed somewhat young. I was sure that she was the Arwen that I knew.

Then why was she here? I couldn't help but wonder in my mind and immediately looked at her.

'These people...'

Two women stood beside Arwen, one with red-tinted black hair and blue eyes, and the other with white hair and golden eyes.

Both women were wearing masks, but their glamorous beauty couldn't be hidden, and their ears were significantly shorter than Arwen's. It was clear that they had been artificially trimmed, not naturally short.

Especially the woman who exuded a mature charm caught my eye. Arwen and the girl were both wearing robes, but the woman alone was wearing armor that seemed to reduce her defense.

With her firm thighs, adorable belly button, and clearly defined abs in the shape of an "11," she boldly showed off her feminine charm. In fact, the armor was so revealing that it was embarrassing to call it armor, and it was almost as if she was only wearing underwear. Because of this, I couldn't help but have doubts instead of resentment.

'Isn't it cold like that?'

I took my eyes off the woman and looked around at the three people in front of me. When I looked closely, the differences became even more noticeable.

Considering all of these characteristics, these people were undoubtedly dark elves, whom I had only heard about in stories. They had many similarities to elves, but there were also significant differences.

Well, just as humans have great differences between ethnic groups, there would be differences between elves. After seeing two dark elves alternately, I roughly realized what the situation was and nodded my head.

Well, just as humans differ from one another according to their ethnicity, there's no doubt that there are differences among elves. After taking turns watching two dark elves, I realized what was going on and nodded my head in agreement. The dark elf with golden eyes like mine, who was staring at me, didn't matter, but the girl in the center lowered her head like a criminal. Judging by her position and the atmosphere, it was clear that she was the culprit who stole my manuscript.

Like Cecily had hinted before, she was a young girl, like someone who had just entered middle school in my past life.

"Is that her?"

I pointed to the girl in the center with my finger and asked Cecily next to me. Cecily, who was watching the situation with interest while curling up the corners of her mouth, immediately gave an affirmative answer.

"Yeah. That one in the center is the culprit who stole your manuscript. She's a good-for-nothing kid from such a young age."

"Hmm..."

I fixed my gaze on the girl in the center after hearing Cecily's answer. Even though she was a young child around adolescence, I couldn't understand why she had stolen my manuscript.

The value of the manuscript is beyond doubt, reaching almost to the level of a national treasure in the cultural field. Especially for demons, it's almost treated like a sacred relic.

Nevertheless, the reason why that dark elf girl had stolen my manuscript wasn't explained. There must be a clear purpose behind it.

As I silently stared at the dark elf girl with her head lowered like a criminal, I shifted my gaze to Arwen. Arwen was looking at me with a complex and subtle expression on her face.

'Surely Arwen must be involved in this in some way or another.'

If it's not the case, there's no reason for Arwen to be here. I'm curious how they managed to become friendly with the Dark Elves, who were banished from Alvenheim long ago.

It seems to be a complicated situation, so I called Arwen's name first.

"Arwen."

"Speak."

Arwen spoke with an elegant yet dignified tone. Perhaps due to her appearance, there was a subtle gap that could be felt.

I alternated my gaze between the tired-looking Arwen and the Dark Elf girl next to her, then spoke in a blunt voice.

"The situation seems complicated. Could you explain? What's the relationship between you and this Dark Elf, and why did she steal the manuscript?"

"I understand."

Arwen glared at the Dark Elf girl in response to my question, then took a long breath. She then placed her hand in the center of her chest and gave a formal greeting.

"Let me introduce myself formally. My name is Arwen Elydia. I am the queen of Alvenheim, a country blessed by the gods."

"Queen?"

I couldn't help but widen my eyes after hearing her formal greeting. I had predicted that she was a dignified person from her dignified tone, but I never imagined she was the queen.

"Excuse me. I never imagined that you would be the Queen of Alvenheim."

"It's okay. And you can speak casually. You have the qualifications for it. It doesn't matter much in this situation anyway."

Arwen nodded her head when I apologized politely and used formal language. Considering the situation during the festival, she seems to not particularly adhere to formality. Perhaps this is why her tone of speaking seems somewhat awkward and condescending. Of course, depending on the situation, if Arwen were to order me to speak in a formally, she could.

"Okay, then. Let's skip the greetings for now. As I asked earlier, I still don't understand the situation. Can you explain it to me in detail?"

"Sure, Rain."

"... ..."

Arwen mentioned the name of a dark elf girl, which I presumed to be the culprit. Then the body of the dark elf girl trembled slightly, and she glanced at Arwen. Soon after, the girl slowly raised her head and looked straight ahead. She seemed to be trembling with fear, and her lips were tightly pressed together.

It is a natural response, considering that she is a dark elf girl with a sentence of 500 years, which is a tremendous amount even for elves. Even if it were me, if I were sentenced to 50 years in prison, I would probably lose my mind. For that girl, it would be more severe than that, so she could not be less affected.

'It's a bit pitiful.'

At that moment, as if she saw my expression weakening, Cecily whispered to me in a low voice.

[Isaac. I'm telling you in advance, but that kid invaded your mansion while you were watching the performance, and tried to steal the manuscript again.]

I looked at Cecily with a skeptical expression in response to her whisper. It might be forgivable once, but not twice.

Cecily smiled at Isaac's expression and gestured for him to lend her an ear. Although still doubtful, he lent her his ear.

[The kid said she just invaded to confirm if you were Xenon, but who would believe that? Fortunately, Gartz intervened and prevented it from happening again. Of course, it could be true, but just the act of invasion is a problem. Please deal with it wisely.]

That's when Isaac learned that the dark elf girl had stolen his manuscript. He looked at her as he heard Cecily's whisper.

It's not just once but twice, which is a big problem. They didn't impose a 500-year sentence for nothing.

In the meantime, the dark elf girl swallowed her saliva and bowed deeply, then spoke quietly with a trembling voice.

"Ah, hello. My, my name is R-Rain. I'm currently taken care of by the queen as my guardian."

"A guardian..."

A guardian is someone who looks after someone who lacks or is deficient in independent capability. However, this is a story from my previous life, and in this world, it's similar to a teacher or parent.

As mentioned before, the relationship between elves and dark elves is not very good. However, it can be inferred from the fact that dark elf Rain has Arwen as her guardian.

There is a high probability that the dark elves who have been living as wanderers will want to return to Alvenheim, and the cornerstone for this is the relationship between Arwen and Rain. I looked at Rain, who was staring quietly with a tense expression, and asked in a low voice with a firm tone.

"Yeah, I think I know what kind of relationship you and Arwen have. Let's cut to the chase and start with the main topic. Why did you steal my manuscript?"

"... ... "

"Do dark elves learn to steal other people's things and even invade mansions recklessly?"

"No, that's not it."

As I rebuked Rain sharply, he answered, hanging his head in shame. It seemed that she knew her mistake, but that made it even more awkward.

If you know that it's wrong, you shouldn't do it. That's common sense. Although this world is a fantasy world that portrays the Middle Ages, not stealing other people's things is a basic human conscience. What could have led her to steal my manuscript to the extent of selling her conscience?

"Then why did you steal it? And why did you sneak into the mansion and want to know that I am Xenon?"

"That's because..."

"Rain stole your manuscript to make me happy."

Before Rain could speak, Arwen, who had been silently watching the situation, stepped forward to defend Rain...

"Arwen, I'm sorry, but I don't think now is the right time for you to intervene. That kid has to speak up for themselves."

"... ..."

I closed my mouth at my own retort that left Arwen speechless. However, her desire to protect Rain was evident on her face.

I'm sure Arwen also kept quiet and waited until Rain spoke up. With a slightly relaxed tone than before, Rain replied.

"As the queen said... I stole it to make her happy..."

"To make Arwen happy?"

"Yes. Since the queen also likes your book..."

After hearing Rain's words, I turned my head to Arwen again. Come to think of it, Arwen had abandoned her duties as a queen and participated in the exhibition.

Normally, she would have made an official statement that she would attend, but she must have been talked out of it and had fun while keeping her identity hidden.

'Childish thinking.'

Perhaps Rain, with the short-sighted thinking of a child, stole my manuscript to make Arwen happy, but the outcome was the worst. It's unclear whether I should blame Arwen's lack of education or Rain's morality.

However, Rain had already committed a crime and even broke into the mansion. That alone is a big problem.

I sighed deeply, feeling overwhelmed by the complicated situation, and spoke in a low voice.

"Arwen."

"...You can tell me."

"You knew you were in the wrong too, didn't you?"

"...I knew."

"Then why didn't you just return the manuscript right away? It would have been fine to just return it to the publisher."

Honestly, as long as Arwen could handle the situation well even if Rain made a mistake, it wouldn't be a problem. It might sound like an empty talk, but it would have been okay to just return the manuscript to the publisher.

However, Arwen didn't do that, even though I didn't know what her circumstances were. As a result, this mess happened.

Arwen hesitated for a moment after hearing my question, then apologized sincerely.

"...I misjudged that part. I thought humans were so suspicious that they wouldn't believe it even if we returned it right away."

"Sigh..."

There was nothing left to say. It was a trap that her unique perspective and deeper thoughts as a race had set for herself. And that made the mistake even worse.

But her education style was very wrong. If a child with a lack of moral sense had committed a crime, you should scold them sharply, not coddle them like a baby. That's why this happened.

Otherwise, Rain wouldn't have invaded our mansion like this. I'm sorry to Arwen, but she was very lacking as a guardian.

"Arwen, humans are not as suspicious as you think. Rather, it's your Elven race that is more suspicious than others. As thick as your convictions are, you tend to reject everything."

"... ..."

"Anyway, Arwen, you also understand that you have some responsibility. Then, secondly, you tried to steal the manuscript by invading our mansion..."

"Tha-that's absolutely not true! I just wanted to confirm it!"

Rain interrupted me hastily. Judging from her unjust expression, it seemed like she really did not try to steal the manuscript and only wanted to confirm my identity.

However, invading the mansion also caused many problems. At that time, knights dispatched from the palace were on guard duty at the mansion, so it meant that she had penetrated the stern guard and entered my bedroom.

In other words, it meant that my family and I could have been threatened. Fortunately, nothing happened as we were watching the performance, but if it had been an ordinary day, no one knows what would have happened.

"Even if you really did that, invading the mansion itself is unforgivable. You could have had bad intentions and used our family as a pretext for blackmail. You could threaten our family anytime, anywhere, so asking for forgiveness for stealing the manuscript is unacceptable."

"Oh, no. I..."

"Rain."

At the moment when Rain was about to protest, the dark elf woman who had been standing silently next to her put her hand on her shoulder. Rain met the shining eyes of the golden woman and closed her mouth.

It seemed like she realized that she would only be more disadvantaged by making excuses. I became curious about who the dark elf woman was and asked Arwen.

"Who is that person?"

"Siris Lunatic. She's someone that the dark elves assigned as my escort."

"Siris Lunatic, you say."

It was a husky yet attractive low-toned voice. Similar to Adelia's, but the voice of a woman named Siris was much lower and deeper.

As I was looking at the dark elf introduced as Siris, I turned my gaze back to Rain. She was waiting for me to deliver the punishment.

The dark elf has already punished her themself, but the final authority lies with me. Depending on the decision I make, the intensity of the punishment could be stronger or weaker than what has already been done.

But first, I need to hear their position. I looked at Arwen instead of Rain and asked a question.

"Arwen. Are you trying to protect Rain because of your cooperation with the dark elves? You said she is under your patronage."

"You are right. I am trying to bring the dark elves who have been separated from their homeland for a long time back into Alvenheim. However, the resentment between us has not yet been resolved, and I am trying to see if I can integrate well as Rain's guardian."

"And if I order the execution of her here?"

Honestly, it doesn't matter to me what happens between the elves and the dark elves. I'm just asking out of curiosity.

At this, Arwen trembled and looked down with a gloomy expression.

"...It is likely to fall through. Rain is also at fault, but there are many shortcomings on my part as her guardian, so it will be difficult for the dark elves to trust me."

"Hmm..."

"It's okay for you to execute her here. But there's one thing I want to tell you."

Tap- Tap-

Arwen slowly raised her gaze, which had been lowered, and we exchanged glances. Then, she slowly lifted her foot and walked towards me.

As she walked towards me, Cecily, who was standing next to her, took a step forward, but I raised my arm to stop her. I didn't think Arwen would harm me, and I had a rough idea of what she might do.

Tap-

Eventually, Arwen came right up to me, almost touching my nose. We stood there, about 5 centimeters apart, silently staring at each other. Her silver-gray eyes shone like the Milky Way in the night sky as she gazed straight at me, and I looked back at her.

Then, with a slightly tense expression, she took a deep breath and exhaled, moving her hands. The place her hands moved was none other than the front of her robe.

As if unbuttoning the robe, Arwen began to slowly remove it, fidgeting with the front. As the robe that had covered her body was removed, a silver-gray dress was revealed.

In fact, it was more like a tight-fitting one-piece than a dress, highlighting her figure. Unlike her childlike appearance, her beautiful body was on full display.

Especially, the hip line that extended downward from her slender waist captivated my gaze. Since it was such a tight dress, the line was prominent.

When my gaze was briefly drawn to her beautiful hip line, Arwen placed the robe on the ground with a thud. By putting down the robe, I could barely see her face.

She made a resolute expression and slowly, and carefully, began to bend her knees. Rain called out to Arwen frantically from behind, but Siris immediately stopped her.

Arwen, who finally knelt down on both knees, even lowered her upper body...

"I'm sorry."

"... ..."

"As Arwen's guardian, I was inadequate and Rain made a mistake, and I couldn't resolve the situation. I can only apologize for this matter."

She apologized to me while lying face down on the ground.

Translators note: