Accidental Elf: My Passive Allure is Ruining My Plans

Alaster was completely paralyzed. Truth be told, the situation was comfortable yet incredibly awkward at the same time—a contradiction of the exact kind Joseph loved to overanalyze.

«I like you... What is that supposed to mean, exactly? That she likes my personality? How does she like me? As a "friend"?» he questioned himself in a sudden wave of rational panic.

«No, no... You don't glue yourself to a friend like gum in their hair. Come on, calm down, don't act like a virgin.»

However, after processing the data at high speed, he realized that, technically speaking, in this elf body, he was.

The elf took a deep, long breath, letting out a heavy sigh. Jinneth, who was watching his every move with her heart leaping out of her chest, misread the gesture instantly.

«I can't believe I actually told him! And he's not saying anything... Why isn't he saying anything? I should have waited longer! Like a year or two... in elf years. Wait, was that an angry sigh? No, it can't be, I know him. Everything is fine, just play it cool and pretend you're crazy, Jinneth!» she cheered herself on.

Meanwhile, Alaster remained trapped in his own mental loop:

«She likes me, but why? I'm just a normal gu... well, an elf mage. We almost kissed that night, but... No, there's no doubt, the evidence is definitive.

Wait, what if this is a prank? One of those cruel hidden-camera reality shows from TV? No, cameras don't exist here. There's no doubt about it, this cute girl genuinely has terrible taste. Just don't screw this up, Joseph.»

Alaster also thought about the whole situation with Mila...

«Wait... if I have a girlfriend, I can't do that to a girl this kind and sweet. I'm not that kind of guy. If I have to choose, I'll choose love over wild, reckless sex,» he thought to himself.

Still, he didn't want to look like a simp in front of his girlfriend.

—Jin, you are incredibly cute, but... —Alaster began out loud.

The girl's eyes flew wide open.

«"You are incredibly cute, but..." Nothing good ever follows a "but"!» she thought in panic, as tears of frustration began to well up in her eyes.

—... but I thought we were already dating —the elf finished with nonchalance.

—Huh? —she blurted out, completely thrown off.

—Well, yeah —he continued, turning his body to the right to face her directly.

Without overthinking it, he slid his hand over the girl's soft leg, moving past the hem of her shorts until resting it firmly against her waist.

—We've been practically on top of each other for over six days. If we weren't a thing, don't you think I would have pushed you away when... —he leaned a bit closer, lowering his voice with a mischievous edge— ... when you slide your hands underneath my shirt?

«Let it never be said that I went out like a fool!» he thought.

The girl tried to process his words, but the simple realization that they had spent about a week together without him making a major move simply because he assumed they were already in a relationship left her completely speechless. Furthermore, he was making it clear that he had no intention of resisting.

Jinneth looked down at her favorite part of the elf's physique—his abdomen—and with an agile movement, shot both of her hands right underneath his linen shirt.

Alaster felt the baker's smooth, warm hands directly against his stomach and burst into laughter, making no effort whatsoever to stop her.

In response, he slid his hand slightly lower along her waist, caressing the delicate skin of her leg, and subtly slipped two fingers beneath the hem of her shorts. Jinneth's sun-kissed legs were so incredibly soft that Joseph internally noted they easily surpassed those of any woman he had ever known back on Earth.

Her gray-eyed face, her cute upturned nose, and her radiant smile completely captivated him.

«She likes me,» he thought, reminding himself not to overcomplicate things; after all, they had almost kissed that night.

The atmosphere turned deeply intimate, though it didn't differ much from how things had been going these past few days, where she always found an excuse to be all over him, even resting her head on his chest under the pretext of being tired. What Joseph said wasn't entirely a lie.

—Beautiful girlfriend —he murmured softly.

Hearing those words, Jinneth felt an immense flutter in her heart and somewhere else in her body. However, the elf's next words completely shattered the romantic mysticism of the moment:

—The bread is burning.

A few minutes later, Jinneth returned to the sofa smelling faintly of smoke and sporting a heavy pout on her lips.

—Did they burn? —he asked, thoroughly amused.

—Yes... but only half of them. I already kneaded some more anyway —she grumbled in a thoroughly spoiled tone.

Alaster smiled as he looked at her. Her coppery hair, tied up in a ponytail, had several stray, rebellious locks framing her face, and she had a few smudges of soot on her cheeks.

—Mom helped me —the girl added—. Should we go have breakfast upstairs?

—Upstairs? Upstairs where? —Alaster replied, playing dumb.

—In my room.

The elf looked at her, figuring she probably wanted to show him something. And indeed, Jinneth fully intended to show him her favorite books and fulfill her fantasy of having breakfast with him right in her window nook.

Alaster, who wasn't exactly new to the ways of the world, saw Jinneth as a cute, innocent girl holding onto a lot of romantic illusions—and he wasn't wrong.

«Okay, here's the plan,» Jinneth thought to herself. «I'll take him to my room for a snack, and while we're there in my window nook...»

A deep blush washed over her face as she pictured her own scenarios. Alaster didn't notice any of this internal plotting because his attention was fixed on the breakfast Marly was setting down on a nearby table.

—Young Al! Your breakfast is ready —the woman announced.

The elf stood up from the couch.

—On my way! —He glanced back at the blushing Jinneth—. Are you coming to eat too? I can't snub the breakfast your mother just served —he asked, noticing the girl averting her gaze.

Meanwhile, she was thinking, «Mom! Waahhh! You are not helping me right now!» But then an idea struck her.

—N... No, I'm not hungry. Al, I want to show you my books —she said.

—Sure, we'll go right after I eat.

She smiled without looking at him directly but ended up sitting right beside him at the table anyway. When he finished eating, Jinneth stared intently at him, but Alaster couldn't quite decipher her expression; it was a strange mix of bottled-up annoyance and immense affection.

—Is something wrong? —he asked, taking a sip of his tea.

She pouted again.

—Why didn't you tell me we were dating sooner? I thought you rejected me after that night.

The elf looked at her calmly.

—Of course not... I just didn't feel right after your boyfriend interrupted us.

—He is NOT my boyfriend! —the girl shouted at the top of her lungs, alarming the few guests who hadn't yet left the dining area.

Alaster nearly choked on his tea.

—Yes! Yes, I believe you! I was just joking!

She narrowed her eyes, not entirely convinced.

—Let's go then.

—Hold on, I haven't finished my tea yet.

Right at that exact moment, Joseph felt a familiar pressure against his leg. It was the girl's bare foot from across the table, giving him tiny, playful kicks underneath.

It wasn't anything new; she did it all the time, usually barefoot, so it didn't hurt. It was simply her way of maintaining physical contact and subtly rushing him.

Alaster took a tiny sip of his tea, deliberately savoring it with exaggerated theatricality just to tease her.

—Mmmm... What an excellent tea! Magnificent! It's brewed to absolute perfection! —the elf droned.

Noticing perfectly well that he was only doing it to annoy her by wasting time, she let out a sideways smile.

—Idiot...

The instant he drained the cup, Alaster was dragged up to the young woman's bedroom for the second time since arriving in this world. The situation already felt incredibly familiar: the smiling, bouncy girl leading him by the hand up the stairs.

Upon arriving, the door swung shut behind him with a sharp click—closing with a bit more force than he deemed strictly necessary. The room was splendidly illuminated thanks to the wide, projecting bay window, which featured a comfortable, plush daybed built right in front of the glass.

The girl ran over and tossed herself onto the cushioned seat. From one of the side shelves, she eagerly pulled out a red, hardcover book with gold lettering titled [The Warrior and the Elf], followed by another one called [Princess Siena].

—These are my favorites —she said anxiously.

Alaster took the first one. Jinneth flipped through a few pages with practiced speed and pointed at a paragraph.

—This is my favorite scene —she indicated, settling into the plush cushions.

The area was practically a bed embedded directly into the framework of the window—a perfect spot for reading. Alaster thought that during a rainy day, reading here would be fantastic, listening to the patter of drops against the glass.

He read a bit of the scene as he climbed into the "nest" where the girl had already tucked herself beneath a sheet. He sat down with his legs languidly stretched out, finally free of his tall boots, resting the book against his chest as he leaned back into the myriad of pillows piled to one side.

He focused on the lines, wanting to discover what exactly fascinated Jinneth so much about this story. The text read:

"They were not speaking. The warrior woman and the elf mage were each minding their own business, together in the room; he was focused on his grimoire, and she was simply resting after training. It was perfect. Everything was exactly where it belonged. Time seemed to stand still for Jenna. They had saved each other, both from loneliness and from the creatures of the miasma. Furthermore, that mage—the elf she contemplated from the bed—was perfect. Like that magical moment where nothing was happening... yet anything could happen."

Suddenly, Alaster felt the weight of Jinneth's body pressing against him. The girl's smiling face peeked out right over the top of the book he was holding.

—Did you like it?

Alaster smiled, closing the volume slightly.

—The prose is beautiful. Very poetic.

Her smile widened, and she smoothly snatched the book right out of his hands, tossing it aside. Laughing quietly, he stared at her.

—Is the window locked? —he asked with a teasing tone.

She huffed with feigned annoyance but darted her eyes toward the glass. Alaster laughed harder, but when she turned back to face him, the playful look was gone from her expression.

—When I first met you —she said in a soft, quiet voice—, I thought you were some kind of elf god...

He looked at her, analyzing the phrasing. «An elf god? Look, I know I look good in this body, but "elf god" is a massive exaggeration on her part.»

—I'm the broke elf god —he replied ironically.

She leaned even further against him, pressing her chest directly against the elf's abdomen.

—And what do you think of me? —she asked, locking her gray eyes onto his.

—When I first met you, I thought you were the prettiest, kindest girl I had ever seen —the elf declared with sincerity.

—And now?

—I still think the same.

Internally, Joseph couldn't help but think: «I feel like I just walked into a flawless trap. Just like guys back on Earth do when they say, "Oh, let's watch a movie at my place" and the girls end up in their bed... except here, I'm the one who ended up in her window nook-bed.»

He looked down at Jinneth's two beautiful attributes, which were pressing softly against his torso. Alaster's hands, which had been resting at his sides until that moment, instinctively rose to clasp the girl's waist, feeling her shudder slightly at the contact.

The waist of Jinneth was incredibly slender, and her sun-kissed skin felt so silky that he couldn't help but admire it. Those gray eyes, filled with profound affection, gazed at him as if they never wanted to let go. The young woman's petite chin rested on his chest, distributing a weight that he found immensely comfortable.

Feeling the softness of her body, Joseph couldn't resist the temptation and began to slide his hands higher past her waist, tracing the line of her back. Jinneth licked her lips, utterly overwhelmed by the proximity.

«I can't believe this is actually happening,» the baker thought, her emotions running incredibly high. «But I also can't believe the massive idiot didn't tell me sooner that we were already dating, and for such a long time!».

She could feel every single one of the elf's perfectly sculpted muscles beneath her; they were solid, yet they radiated a deeply comforting warmth. From her position, the girl felt completely intoxicated by the intensity of those violet eyes and a sudden flood of sensations.

She held a profound admiration for the way he had saved her and how strong he was; but she also deeply valued the feeling of being listened to and respected.

Even while being right on top of him like this, she didn't perceive an insatiable lust from his end; she felt the elf looking at her with genuine affection and a latent, yet firmly restrained desire. That subtle tension made her heart pound violently.

«Damn elf... I wanted to kiss you so badly every single time I saw you studying so intensely. I feel like you were mocking me. I know you weren't, but it felt like you were just parading around looking all handsome and sexy right in front of me just to tease me,» she internally debated between calling him out or staying quiet.

To break the ice, she reached out and grabbed the other book she had cast aside, [Princess Siena]. She partially propped herself up, pushing off the mattress with her left arm, while using her other hand to place the dull blue, silver-lettered volume right in front of Alaster's eyes.

She sat straddling him, letting her legs drape down the sides of the elf's body, and flipped the manual open to a specific page.

Alaster watched the book invade his field of vision, blocking his view of Jinneth. Remaining reclined, he simply let himself be guided by the girl's suggestion and began reading the lines aloud:

"But now that she would finally ascend the throne as empress, the elf advisor would no longer be able to simply ignore her. Siena was determined to humiliate him. That haughty elf thought himself untouchable and proud, but that pride would be his downfall—or so the princess believed.

She caught him in a garden corridor reading a chronicle and, after a few ploys, managed to convince him to help her with her lines for the coronation speech. She finally had him exactly where she wanted him: in her bedchamber.

Then, she said: —Elves truly feel nothing. They are not men; they are like maidens, no different from the elven women.

Ethar, the elf, glared at her with deep distaste. —No, Your Imperial Majesty. We are entirely masculine, just like any man —he said, his voice laced with a tightly coiled rage.

She smiled. When the ideal moment arrived, she deliberately broke her shoe, pretending to trip on a rug. Left with ruined footwear, she looked at the elf. —Can you help me?

The elf looked at her with suspicion but knelt down to examine the future empress's foot. It was then that Siena lifted her skirt before him; she wore nothing underneath. —If you truly are a man, do what a man would do.

The elf appeared taken aback, but he was far too proud to back down, and the princess was exactly the same. Neither would yield, and it ended in a kiss... a wet, intimate one."

Suddenly, the book was abruptly ripped away from Alaster's view.

Behind the pages emerged Jinneth's face—she was completely red as a tomato, sitting directly on top of him, staring down with a volatile mix of boldness and embarrassment.