Incompatible Interspecies Wives

Chapter 48: The World Tree (8)

The transformation in Arwin was evident to everyone.

Her tangled emotions unfurled in the most unexpected manner.

"Arwin! Get down!"

Once, she even tried climbing the World Tree.

Below, she saw the frantically charging Ascal, the other elves staring at her in shock, and the elders gazing up at her with stern expressions.

"Arwin! Didn't I tell you to get down? The World-"

"-What did I do?"

Arwin coldly retorted.

"Did I cut the World Tree? Did I set it on fire? I'm just climbing it to get a distant view."

"You could've had that from the observation deck!"

"What I choose to see and from where is up to me."

Arwin felt a sense of relief looking at the elders turning various shades of red.

She never thought that hurting someone could be this satisfying.

"Besides, I do worry about the World Tree."

Arwin continued climbing the World Tree, shouting down.

"It must live long out of spite, at least. Otherwise, the pain of 110 years would be meaningless."

It wasn't until she had climbed to a height where she could no longer hear Ascal and the elders that she regained her peace.

From such a height, she looked out upon landscapes she hadn't seen in 120 years.

Free from her duties, the mere thought of which direction to travel first brightened her mood.

From then on, Arwin stopped thinking twice and did everything she wanted to.

As long as it felt liberating, she didn't care what she did.

She burst into the room where the elders were having a meeting, recklessly using her powers.

"...Arwin, we're in a meeting. Leave."

"I don't want to~"

Whenever the elders spoke to her, Arwin would hum in reply.

She would toss documents stacked on the desks to the floor and arbitrarily extinguish lit candles with a puff.

The elders' immense patience only made it more enjoyable for Arwin to act out.

Arwin regretted not behaving this way sooner.

At night when everyone was asleep, she roamed about loudly singing songs and trampled over well-maintained flowerbeds on deserted streets.

The fall of Arwin, who was born with a blessed lifespan, was a shock to everyone.

But whether they were shocked or not, Arwin didn't care.

She just continued her journeys as she pleased.

Yet, she didn't miss undergoing the sacrificial ritual every 15 days.

That pain still tore her apart, but enduring it became easier than before.

Ever since she adopted a resentful mindset, it became more bearable.

Ascal and the elders were disheartened by this change in Arwin.

"Arwin. Let's have a moment to talk."

Approaching the exhausted Arwin who was lying in bed engrossed in her reading, Ascal spoke.

Only moving her eyes, Arwin looked at her father and then refocused on her book.