Gardenia’s Heart

Soaring above the clouds, Lily had never felt such freedom.

Her black wings, reminiscent of a stormy veil in the night sky, moved with powerful thrusts, carrying her in any direction she desired. The wind howled past her ears, and even at high altitude, the icy air felt nothing but pleasant.

"This is really incredible!" Lily exclaimed joyfully, bursting through yet another cloud without worrying about getting wet. Her eyes sparkled as the sunlight gleamed on her wings.

Although traveling via portals would have been faster, the girls had decided it was important for Lily to train with the wings Nia had developed after absorbing the leviathan. So now, they were practicing flight maneuvers while making their way toward their destination.

Like Lily’s left arm, which had also been created by Nia, the wings responded precisely to her thoughts, moving as if they had always been a natural part of her body. Testing a few more spins in midair, Lily glanced down at the distant landscape, where everything seemed impossibly small. She let out a soft sigh, trying to suppress a quiet moan.

"Nia... what are you doing?" Biting her lip and using her arms to keep holding the purple-haired girl, Lily did her best to maintain steady flight.

The culprit behind the waves of pleasure tingling through Lily’s mind—who would innocently deny any wrongdoing—had her face completely buried between a pair of breasts.

"Lily’s breasts were bouncing, so I had to make sure they didn’t get carried away by the wind," Nia said cheerfully, her voice muffled by how deeply her face was nestled.

During their flight, Nia had occasionally emerged from within Lily’s body to play around and experiment with different ways to embrace her. When she realized how strongly the wind affected Lily’s chest, making it bounce with each gust, Nia knew she had found the perfect excuse to stay glued to them.

"My breasts aren’t going to disappear, you know?"

Unable to resist such cuteness, Lily simply stroked her wife's hair while keeping her gaze fixed on the green horizon that was rapidly drawing closer.

Even without using portals, they had managed to shorten what would have been a months-long journey by carriage into mere hours.

"So this is the elven forest?"

As they continued eastward, massive trees began to appear. Even from the sky, Lily could tell that each one stood at least thirty to forty meters tall.

She had never seen trees so enormous—she hadn’t even imagined they could grow to such colossal heights. The vegetation was so dense that it was impossible to see anything on the forest floor, even when enhancing her vision with dark mana.

Yet, as she flew, something felt off.

"The World Tree... shouldn't we be able to see it by now?"

Although Abelia and Cleomel hadn’t told her its exact size, their words had led Lily to believe the colossal tree would be visible from a great distance—especially considering how high they were flying.

"Maybe we're still too far?" Nia suggested, reluctantly pulling her face away from Lily’s chest to look down at the forest below.

Selene hadn’t shared much information about the elven lands. Since trade between elves and humans took place only at the forest’s edges, little was known about the paths within.

The girl had mentioned that the mages from the tower always warned against entering the forest. Whenever her group needed to travel toward demon territory or the lands of the dragons, they would take a long detour around the forest rather than cross through it.

After a few more minutes, Lily finally began flying over the first tree—but the instant she did, she felt Nia clutch her tightly.

"Lily, turn back."

Anything Nia said in that alarmed tone was something Lily would obey without question.

Swiftly descending, the girl landed on the grasslands that stretched before the dense forest. From the ground, she could now see the abundance of vines and tall grass covering the terrain. The branches of different trees, long and oddly shaped, intertwined at various points, while towering roots dominated the landscape.

Leaping adorably from Lily’s arms, Nia didn’t utter a single word before walking toward the forest’s edge.

Carefully, the purple-haired girl extended her index finger forward as if trying to poke something.

Lily didn’t press her for answers, simply watching her wife in deep thought while feeling the tentacles beneath her dress tighten, as if ready to protect her from any threat.

After a few seconds, Nia skipped back to her, her bright eyes revealing that she had found something that piqued her curiosity.

“It’s a barrier!”

With small hops that made her dress flutter, Nia grabbed Lily’s hand and pulled her toward the forest’s edge, waving her finger wildly as if pointing at something.

“Hm... Nia, I don’t see anything.”

Despite Nia’s enthusiasm in demonstrating her discovery, Lily couldn't see anything where she was pointing.

At her wife’s words, Nia’s eyes widened as she realized she had forgotten to explain what she had just discovered.

“A sensory barrier is a way to define an area and disrupt spatial awareness within it. I found out the king’s castle has one of these, but I never imagined they could be this big!”

Lily watched with a smile as Nia beamed with excitement over her discovery. Her beloved wife seemed eager to continue explaining, her arms flailing in an adorable manner, so Lily remained silent, giving her full attention.

“I thought that by touching a barrier, the knowledge would come to me, but the two volumes of the Book of Truth I consumed didn’t react. The fragments of knowledge about this within them are too small.”

Since the full knowledge had been divided into six parts, Nia didn’t have a complete understanding of its entirety, and this applied to almost everything.

“When we stepped into the forest, I felt the mana-location become completely scrambled. We’ll have to test how much this barrier interferes with movement, but it seems extremely strong.”

Nodding, the two girls walked hand in hand into the forest.

Beneath the towering branches, though a thick canopy of leaves blocked much of the sunlight, it was still fairly bright. The small rays of sunlight filtering through the leaves created a beautiful and pleasant sight.

Around Lily, four tentacles hovered protectively, prepared to face any threat, while her beloved wife scanned the surroundings with extreme caution. Since they had only walked a few meters inside, Lily could still see the sunlit grasslands outside the forest.

“How do you want to test movement?” Lily asked, fully willing to help her beloved with her experiments.

“Hm... First, could you retrace the exact path we took to get here?”

Agreeing once again, Lily turned around and began walking back out of the forest, this time without Nia. Since they hadn’t gone far, it only took her a few seconds to reach the outside.

Turning back to the forest, she saw Nia standing there, arms crossed, resting her chin between her fingers as if deep in thought.

“Lily, did you take the exact same path?”

The silver-haired girl tilted her head at the odd question.

“Yes, why?”

Using one hand, Nia pointed with her index finger to the side. Following it, Lily looked at the sunlit, grassy plains around her.

A small pillar of black ice formed on the ground.

“That’s where we came from. Lily, you walked diagonally to exit the forest.”

“What?” Lily furrowed her brows at the statement.

She was certain she had walked in a straight line to leave the forest—there was no way she had gone diagonally without noticing, right?

Determined to try again, Lily began walking back toward Nia. At first, each step followed the next naturally, but as she moved forward, what should have taken only seconds started to feel like minutes.

She could still see Nia, but with each tree she passed, it was as if the distance between them stretched farther. The once-clear and distinct path now demanded much more effort to follow.

“Nia, if you keep moving deeper into the forest, it's going to be hard to reach you.”

Finally reaching her wife and wrapping her in her arms, Lily protested with puffed cheeks.

However, nestled against her chest, Nia wasn’t wearing her usual playful smile. She wasn’t teasing or playing a trick. Turning her head, she pointed toward the edge of the forest. Following her gesture, Lily saw the black ice pillar standing just a few meters ahead of them.

“I never moved. You started weaving in and out between the trees multiple times before making your way to me.”

At that moment, a chill ran down Lily’s spine, and a nauseating sensation gripped her mind.

Shifting her gaze between Nia and the ice pillar, she realized that the vast distance she thought she had crossed was, in reality, only a few meters from where she had started.

“H-How long did it take me to get here?” Lily stammered.

“Ten minutes and forty seconds,” Nia answered.

Forget reaching the World Tree. If just a few meters—while keeping Nia in sight—had caused her to unknowingly wander for over ten minutes, then escaping this forest was near impossible. And if the barrier extended even to the sky above, then flying wouldn’t guarantee an exit either.

Now, Lily finally understood why even the mages of the tower avoided this place. The mere thought of trying to walk toward the ice pillar again vanished from her mind. Instead, she pulled her wife even closer into her embrace, determined not to lose her.

“I understand that elves prefer to stay isolated from others, but this is downright terrifying.”

Lily wasn’t naive. She knew that if they ventured deeper into the forest and she tried to leave on her own, she wouldn’t succeed. For anyone who needed food and water to survive, entering unprepared would be no different from a death sentence.

“I’m going to test the portals now. Is that okay, Lily?”

Unbothered by her thoughts, Nia was still overflowing with curiosity, her small hands gripping Lily’s tightly.

Lily realized it then—the excitement of testing and discovering things together was greater than any fear. Nia wasn’t just investigating the barrier; she was sharing the experience with her. And she was absolutely thrilled about it.

Feeling her tense expression soften, Lily’s determination reignited at the sight of her wife’s eager, expectant face.

A portal resembling a starry sky appeared before them. Though hesitant, Lily let go of her wife and stepped through. On the other side, the grassy plains and bright blue sky welcomed her once again.

“So, as long as I exit the barrier, I can create portals to places outside the forest without any trouble...”

Though separated by several meters, Lily could still see and hear Nia clearly.

Still deep in thought, Nia extended her hand, summoning another portal beside Lily. Understanding what she needed to do, Lily leapt through it—only to find herself surrounded by a dense, towering forest.

Massive tree trunks and sprawling roots stretched in all directions, entwined with tall grass and thick undergrowth. Various plants and flowers filled her vision no matter where she looked, and in the distance, she could hear the songs of birds echoing through the trees.

"Nia?"

No matter where she looked, she couldn't find the one thing that mattered most to her. She scanned her surroundings, even glancing up at the treetops, but Lily couldn’t see her wife anywhere.

A sense of danger crept into her mind, but before she could start running to search for her, a voice echoed directly in her thoughts.

(This is problematic. I tried to create the portal just a hundred meters from my position, but it ended up much farther away than I expected.)

Nia spoke in a thoughtful tone, but just hearing her voice was enough to make Lily let out a heavy sigh of relief.

Another portal appeared in front of Lily, and this time, when she stepped through it, a purple-haired girl stood before her, arms crossed, her eyes reflecting how deeply focused she was on analyzing the situation.

“You can't scare me like that. Don’t do it again.”

Completely ignoring the fact that Nia was still thinking, Lily eagerly grabbed her wife's cheeks, making Nia finally realize that she had done something wrong.

“S-Sorry, Lily!”

Accepting the scolding, Nia apologized multiple times until Lily's face, which had been a mix of irritation and concern, softened back into its usual affectionate smile.

Letting out another sigh, relieved that her wife understood what she meant, Lily pulled Nia into her arms and began running her fingers through her purple hair.

“So? What did you find out?”

Happy to have been forgiven, Nia enjoyed the affectionate gestures as she began explaining her discoveries.

“The sensory barrier affects all of our senses. When I try to create a portal inside it, it always shifts from the location I intended, even if I have its exact coordinates. However, if the portal is created using one of us as the entry or exit point, it works without any issues.”

Lily immediately understood why the portal that had taken her to an unknown part of the forest had failed—Nia had tried to set the exit far away from her. However, when she placed the exit at Lily's position, the portal had worked perfectly.

“With this, either you or I can leave the forest to get food or other supplies while the other waits here. That way, when I create the portal again, it will be accurate, and we won’t lose our progress.”

The two couldn’t leave the forest at the same time if they wanted to maintain their path, but while this was a limitation, it still gave them far more freedom than anyone trying to enter normally would have.

“Do you have any idea how we can reach the labyrinth? Or maybe even the elven city?” Lily asked, pondering the possibilities.

She had already confirmed that following someone inside the forest was extremely difficult. One of her ideas had been to wait for a trade between the elves and merchants at the forest’s edge and then follow them inside, but that plan had lost its appeal—especially since she had no idea when the next trade for medicine or weapons would even take place.

“If we take the information we received at that dinner as completely accurate, then the source of this barrier is none other than the World Tree itself.”

Observing the depths of the forest, Nia murmured while narrowing her eyes.

“Although it’s a complex spell, I might be able to calculate the coordinate shift pattern or even disable the barrier if I spend some time on it. But even for me, that would take a few weeks.”

As Lily listened carefully, something Nia had mentioned earlier caught her attention.@@novelbin@@

“Wait—you said before that your mana-location became strange when you crossed the barrier, right? If its source is the World Tree, wouldn’t that ‘strangeness’ increase the closer we get to it?”

She didn’t know exactly where the elven city was located, but Cleomel and Abelia had told her that it was built around the World Tree—the supposed only tree in existence that contained mana.

Hearing her idea, Nia took a moment to reflect before looking back into Lily’s eyes, an excited smile slowly forming on her lips.

"It might be difficult, but I think there's a good chance this will work!" Nia said excitedly—the idea of trying this method hadn't even crossed her mind before.

A spell didn’t necessarily weaken the farther it was from its caster, but Lily was certain that the deeper she went into the forest, the stronger the feeling of being lost became. If they relied on that sensation, they could navigate toward the World Tree.

Planting a firm kiss on Lily’s cheek, Nia merged back into her wife's body. Spreading out her mana-location and searching for the distortions, the two girls began making their way deeper into the forest.