Diary of Guarding Monster Girls

Oh!

She actually offered her hand on her own?

Herbert really didn’t expect that Ophidia would become so obedient at this time.

"..."

Is she setting me up?

Preparing to counterattack secretly?

Turning his head, Herbert only saw Ophidia looking straight ahead, and her gradually blushing neck and earlobes.

Hmm... doesn’t seem like it.

She seems to really be following her own inner thoughts, trying to live more authentically.

Moreover, with just a little observation, one can notice that she’s not as calm as she seems on the surface.

Her breathing is slightly hurried, her fingertips are trembling a bit, you can feel her whole body resisting.

She’s nervous.

Upon closer inspection, you can even feel the pulse from her fingertips, gradually speeding up.

Yes, very nervous.

["She’s really cute~"]

"...Mm, you’re right."

Although Nenasha’s timing was quite inappropriate, Herbert agreed with her viewpoint.

Ophidia, you are really cute.

It makes one have the urge to tease a bit.

But human destinies are truly different,

when facing such impulsive thoughts of teasing, if Eliza were in front of him, Herbert would unhesitatingly follow his thoughts.

He’d be happy, and Eliza would be happy too.

But Ophidia clearly isn’t suitable for such treatment, at least not at this moment.

Thus, Herbert took a gentle breath, suppressing the impulse to secretly graze her palm with his fingertip.

Pretending not to notice, as naturally as possible, he lightly held Ophidia’s slender hand, guiding her forward.

"Let’s go."

"...Mm."

The two of them quietly strolled through the serene forest, with light steps.

At first, Ophidia worried Herbert would cross boundaries, misunderstanding her intentions, and act rudely.

This time, she softened again.

Though she didn’t believe everything Herbert said was true, she knew Herbert genuinely considered her, and after some internal struggle, she complied with his thoughts.

She removed her armor-like disguise and revealed her true self.

As for holding hands...

Since she’d already done many things she wasn’t used to, why not add another?

But after truly holding hands, Ophidia realized where she’d gone wrong.

She underestimated the "magic power" of physical contact, especially for someone inexperienced like her; it was too stimulating.

The touch and warmth from the fingertips conveyed the sweet scent from the other person, the breath by her ear, and the exhilarating heartbeat... oh, that was her heartbeat.

Adding all these conditions together, even though it was just shedding a layer of outerwear, simply an ordinary touch of fingertips, Ophidia felt an illusion of being utterly exposed, as if they were both fully transparent to each other.

In truth, she was even more nervous than Herbert had imagined.

Ophidia remained tense for a while, so nervous she barely remembered what she saw along the way, feeling as though she was in a daze.

But once nothing she’d been wary of happened for a long time, Ophidia gradually calmed down.

Could it be that she was really just too anxious?

She carefully peeked sideways, discovering Herbert wasn’t focused on her at all.

Maybe he didn’t have those thoughts?

"..."

Faced with this realization, Ophidia couldn’t say what she felt inside.

Was she relieved?

Or disappointed with his hypocrisy?

Gradually, Ophidia’s originally turbulent emotions calmed, her tense body relaxing, allowing her to enjoy the surrounding scenery.

She finally started to savor this long-lost "freedom."

The misty forest, the slightly damp air, the never-before-seen plants... everything here seemed unfamiliar to her.

Yet simultaneously, it carried a reassuring sense of familiarity.

Not with the environment itself, but with the behavior at the moment bringing back nostalgic feelings.

How long had it been since she’d wandered in the forest like this?

Back when she wasn’t bearing the expectations of her companions, she was once a carefree girl who liked to run around outside.

"Perhaps, it’s already been over three thousand days and nights... Haha, it really has been quite a long time."

Ophidia mused to herself, unaware that the corners of her mouth were slightly upward, no longer feeling resistant to the hand she was holding.

With their hands interlocked naturally, the faint sense of discord due to unfamiliarity gradually faded into silence.

Just when Ophidia thought they would continue walking like this forever, Herbert suddenly halted.

"Ah, finally it’s this moment?"

Coming back to herself, Ophidia thought with some regret.

Unknowingly, she felt that continuing to walk like this with Herbert might not be so bad.

But she also understood, it was merely an unrealistic fantasy, an unattainable wish.

Ophidia wasn’t one to throw tantrums over unattainable things.

Although she felt regret, she also understood that nothing in this world is unchanging; everything eventually comes to an end.