Little Pink Starfish

He enjoyed the sacred feast and accepted offerings from the Resha. Among them, Lu’s tribute—clearly an attempt to earn full forgiveness from Nyne—stood out the most. Nyne sincerely praised each Resha’s tribute as he received them.

Gwen also presented an offering, and once again, it was an intricately detailed sculpture. Recognizing the clothes worn by the statue, Nyne was certain Gwen had replicated an outfit he himself had worn one day. Lu, who was attending Nyne during the meal, glanced at Gwen’s offering with a forlorn look. Nyne asked Lu quietly,

“Lu, I instructed Resha Lan Gwen to take good care of you. Has he truly done so?”

“…Pardon?”

Realization passed over Lu’s face. From the way Gwen had been taking care of him, yet he remained confused the entire time, it was clear he hadn’t guessed Nyne had arranged it. Lu’s face flushed faintly.

“Thank you for your concern, Sha.”

“Good. And you should treat Resha Gwen kindly in return.”

Lu was moved that Nyne had been thinking of him, but his expression remained conflicted and silent. Then, a Resha boldly spoke up with a voice full of courage.

“Sha, please accept my offering.”

The Resha’s face looked familiar. Nyne recognized her—it was Resha Zibaya Iyad, niece of Ossen Iyad. Her youthful face, likely just past twenty, showed obvious nervousness. Nyne thought it was likely due to the sudden appearance of strong competitors like Gwen and Lu, disrupting her once unchallenged status in the Lotus Hall.

Feeling guilty for favoring Gwen and Lu recently, Nyne accepted Zibaya’s offering with a gentle expression. It was a carefully arranged bouquet made from various small and large jewels. It was beautiful and rare, and Nyne praised it sincerely. Zibaya’s face lit up, practically sparkling with joy.

“Thank you so much, Sha… Next time, I shall craft something even finer for you.”

With a voice brimming with emotion, Zibaya offered her thanks, smiling brightly the entire time.

After the meal, the Resha’s prepared entertainment followed. While Lu attended him closely, Nyne watched the Resha chatter and play. Just like the combat priests’ water fight last time, Nyne found peace in moments like this.

But the time for the offering ceremony is drawing near…

Nyne’s expression darkened. He doubted whether Amon would keep the promise to reduce the ceremonies to once every three months. The last Hunting Festival had ended in utter chaos. As he sighed, the Resha, including Lu, noticed and watched him anxiously. He comforted his troubled heart with a sweet drink.

As they played and drank, time flew by. Sunset gave way to twilight, and soon the sun had vanished beyond the mountains. As the priests busily lit the lamps, the Resha showed no signs of tiring and kept playing. Perhaps swept up in the festive mood, Nyne suddenly didn’t feel like returning to the sanctuary. In a sudden whim, he gave an order.

“I’ll sleep here tonight.”

“…What?”

The attending priests’ eyes widened in surprise. But their duty was to obey the Sha’s every command, so they bowed and answered that they would comply. Soon, they began busily preparing for sleep.

Perhaps because Amon was away on a beast hunt, Nyne felt a bit more free. Right now, he was the highest-ranking being in Trastasa, and no one could stop him from doing as he pleased.

“There won’t be a shortage of rooms for the Resha in this temple, will there?”

“Not at all, Sha. There are more than enough. We’ll prepare them right away.”

Nodding, Nyne stood up. He deliberately ignored Lu, who was looking at him with earnest eyes. Then, turning to Gwen, who had quietly picked at grapes throughout the feast, he said,

“Lan Gwen, you shall attend me.”

“Yes, Sha. I will obey.”

As if he’d been waiting, Gwen stood with a bright smile. Lu’s shoulders drooped, but he still seemed content with having attended Nyne the whole day. Yet, his gaze on Nyne remained unchanged—that fervent, cult-like stare, convinced that closeness to Nyne in this life meant proximity to him in the next.

Not just Lu. Sometimes, Nyne would be chilled by the Resha’s fanatical, near-deranged longing. Amon was one thing—but Nyne couldn’t understand why ordinary humans would throw their lives away to stay at his side.

“Why have you suddenly become upset?”

Gwen, perceptive as ever, asked. Nyne wanted to answer, “Because of the Resha,” but the priests were still following behind them. He replied curtly,

“I feel perfectly fine.”

Gwen—and the priests—knew it was a lie, but no one dared say otherwise. The priests led Nyne to the bathhouse.

The temple’s communal bath, normally used by priests, was enormous. Perhaps cleaned in advance for his visit, every corner gleamed. When priests approached to remove his clothes, Nyne waved them away.

“I said Lan Gwen would attend me today. It’s bothersome—leave us.”

Annoyed, Nyne’s tone made the priests scurry away. Even the combat priests who had been guarding outside withdrew, as it was time for the Sha to bathe. As Nyne turned his head to look, Gwen stepped closer and asked in an oddly quiet tone,

“Is it truly acceptable for me to attend you, Lord Nyne?”

“Yes. It’s nothing complicated—just remove what I’m wearing.”

Nyne meant it wasn’t a difficult task, but Gwen seemed to interpret it differently. His expression carried an inexplicable anticipation, despite his cautious demeanor.

“Then… I shall attend you.”

With an oddly calm and slow motion, Gwen began removing Nyne’s ornaments and placing them in a box. First-time attendants often trembled or even wept from overwhelming emotion. In contrast, Gwen looked outwardly unbothered—but still strangely tense.

When he reached for Nyne’s loincloth, he hesitated, worried about touching bare skin. Nyne reassured him.

“It’s fine if you touch my body.”

“Eh? No, it’s not that—it’s that I might not be okay…”

“…What?”

Did he mean he was uncomfortable touching Nyne’s body? But there wasn’t a trace of discomfort on Gwen’s face. Rather, he seemed oddly excited. While Nyne looked on, suspicious, Gwen finished removing the loincloth and asked,

“Shall I remove your undergarment as well?”

“Do Northerners bathe with their underwear on?”

In colder regions, people wore heavier clothing, and nudity might be culturally sensitive. While Trastasa wasn’t a society of public nudity, many wore only short garments due to the heat. Assuming Gwen’s hesitation was due to cultural embarrassment, Nyne removed his own undergarment out of consideration.

With just one knot untied at the hip, the underwear fell away easily. Gwen stared fixedly at it on the floor, then quietly said,

“It’s not like Northerners bathe with underwear either…”

Kneeling, Gwen removed Nyne’s right sandal, then the left. Only after Nyne stepped into the bath did he raise his head. As Gwen fetched the bathing tools the priests had left behind, Nyne gestured to him.

“You should come in too. It’s been hot today—you must’ve sweated.”

“…Thank you, Sha.”

Though he paused briefly, Gwen stripped without hesitation. As he removed his modest kalasiris, a toned body was revealed. Unlike his pretty face, his muscular thighs and calves were surprisingly solid. Nyne’s gaze, startled by the contrast between face and body, shifted lower. Perhaps from the intensity of Nyne’s stare, Gwen subtly turned his body sideways.

Puzzled, Nyne tilted his head.