She was clearly a married woman now.
Based on her memories from when she was a boy, she should be gentle and virtuous.
—Though she couldn't muster much gentleness, being new to girlhood and lacking experience, and she didn't particularly want to be gentle and virtuous either.
But being teased like a little girl still felt somewhat excessive.
After all, she was technically a forty-year-old big boy at heart...
"Eeek~!"
The moment her mind wandered, the flying carpet suddenly dipped and swayed more violently, becoming increasingly unstable.
The tilt made her body lurch, nearly throwing her off.
Just then, two arms wrapped around her waist from behind.
It was Liam.
The grown man had leaned forward, his arms encircling her slender waist tightly.
His hold was so firm that Celia could barely breathe, crushed against him.
Liam sat behind her, holding her like this, and their size difference was starkly apparent in this position.
Compared to him, Celia was as petite as a little figurine.
The kind you could just pick up and carry.
Somehow, with Liam's help, the carpet really did stop shaking so much.
"Lord Liam," Celia turned her head sideways, her face warm, "Could you... loosen up a bit?"
"No."
He refused.
Not only did he not relax his grip, he pulled the girl in his arms even closer.
"If you don't hold on to me properly and start flailing around once we're in the air, I won't catch you if you fall."
"But... alright then."
Celia relented, letting her body go limp against him.
The man withdrew the large hand from her waist and ruffled her hair, praising with a laugh, "So well-behaved."
Celia narrowed her eyes, feeling strange, but still obediently nestled into his chest.
Instantly, the previously stationary carpet shot up from the ground, soaring diagonally into the sky at such speed it left only an afterimage.
Birds roosting in the treetops scattered noisily, disturbed by the commotion, and the leaves rustled "sara sara."
On the carpet,jostled by the sudden maneuver,an unprecedented feeling of weightlessness churned inside her.
It felt as if her very brain matter were being scrambled, and she couldn't help but shiver.
She thought of the pirate ships and roller coasters from her previous life—thrilling, for sure—but the sensation of riding this flying carpet was ten thousand times more intense.
As the carpet raced forward, the wind howled past, whipping the girl's golden hair into a wild, directionless frenzy.
Her body tense, her panicked face buried in the fabric of his clothes, her teeth chattered as she spoke, "L-Lord Liam... maybe we could fly a little lower?"
She was truly terrified.
Her feelings now were completely different from when she first saw the carpet.
She was terribly afraid of falling, her small hands clutching her husband's garments like a lifeline.
He seemed like her only solid ground right now.
She was afraid of heights...
No, probably anyone experiencing such altitude for the first time would feel this fear.
"It's alright."
Words of comfort rumbled from the man's throat as he carefully turned the trembling elf girl around.
One hand cradled her head, the other stroked her back, trying to help her relax.
"What a timid wife," he chuckled lightly. "But, I rather like that about you."
"Though, it's a shame to miss such a magnificent view from up high without even opening your eyes."
"Not looking..."
Liam was very warm, and with his continuous soothing, Celia finally calmed down a bit.
She cautiously opened her teary, blurred eyes.
Realizing her earlier loss of composure, her fair cheeks flushed hot again, but she still clung tightly to his clothes, not daring to loosen her grip one bit.
She had already started relying on that man subconsciously.
She was done for.
Turned into a useless elf...
Celia didn't know when it had started, when her fondness for Liam had risen to this level.
Why did just being by his side give her a faint sense of happiness?
Perhaps it was just the instincts of this female elf body at work.
She nuzzled her small head against his chest and asked quietly, "Lord Liam, when will we arrive?"
"Soon. We've already reached the border of the elf territory."
In about another hour, they would leave the Emerald Forest of the Southern Territory and arrive at the Kingdom of Silverdew.
His expression was calm, the short hair at his forehead tousled by the wind, adding a casual handsomeness that made him seem even more like a prince from a black castle, his nobility undeniable.
Celia liked princes.
Wait, no. Celia had been a boy growing up; she didn't have dreams of being pampered by a prince.
But now, a prince was right beside her.
"Emerald Forest of the Southern Territory, Kingdom of Silverdew..."
Celia murmured the names, her gaze distant and unclear.
She only knew she lived among the elves.
She had never heard of these outside places or names before.
So the place she lived was called the Emerald Forest?
Celia lowered her eyes, feeling uneasy at the thought of soon reaching a place inhabited by humans.
"Lord Liam, if I go out there... will I be captured by humans?"
She voiced her doubt.
"Little Celia, you've shown quite a lack of trust in your husband this whole journey."
Liam raised an eyebrow, his knuckles gently tweaking her slightly reddened elf ear as he murmured,
"It seems my efforts at night haven't been thorough enough. I must make you completely unable to leave me, turn you into something that belongs only to me. Is that it?"
"No!" she immediately retorted.
"It's already thorough enough..."
Celia's face, buried in the man's chest, steamed as she said in a coquettish tone, "I... I am your little Celia."
Any more 'thorough' and she'd be done for!
Since Liam said so, she had no choice but to set her worries aside and nestle against him contentedly.
Sure enough, within just ten minutes.
As her perception of natural mana grew significantly weaker, a magnificent barrier came into view ahead.
The surface of the barrier was greenish and radiated the most potent natural mana.
This was the boundary ward.
Formed not long after the birth of the elf race by the Eternal Tree, this massive ward sealed within it a power forever beyond the elves' reach.
To break it completely would require power of at least the sixth tier or above.
Most invaders could only manage to punch a small hole.
During that brief time, the elves would trigger violent tremors to buy time for resistance or escape.
The enchantment would activate teleportation magic, forcibly removing all foreign invaders from the space, while simultaneously deploying another formation instantly.
This formation would obscure the view from the outside, creating a labyrinthine effect, making it extremely difficult for enemies to find the elves' trail again.