Arknightcraft Modpack
Chapter 612: Even the Frost-Cold FrostNova Has a Warm Side
Steven had to admit that a Wendigo who had gone berserk for the sake of his daughter was far more terrifying than he'd imagined. At the very least, he had absolutely no intention of facing that monstrous force head-on.
Fortunately, after returning to the Infected camp and locating Yelena, who was busy handing out candy to the children, the giant figure of Patriot—who had been chasing Steven like a wrathful god of war—finally stopped.
The hulking Wendigo shot Steven a vicious glare, one that clearly said "We'll settle this later." Only then did he turn around and silently return to the guerrilla camp.
"What exactly did you do to my old man?"
After distributing the last of her candy, Yelena turned around and looked at Steven, who was standing beside her with a foolish grin plastered across his face.
"I've never seen him that angry before. Normally, I can't think of anything you could've done to provoke him that badly."
Before Steven could answer, Yelena suddenly wrinkled her nose as if she had noticed something.
Then she stepped closer.
Very close.
Taking a deep breath, she deliberately sniffed around him.
"...I see."
The gentle smile on her face instantly vanished.
"So that's why he got angry."
"Care to explain yourself?"
The temperature around them seemed to plummet in an instant.
Steven could practically feel the icy chill spreading through the air, sharp enough to freeze him solid where he stood.
Right... I'd completely forgotten.
This giant bunny's sense of smell was frighteningly sharp too.
After leaving Talulah's room, he hadn't exactly had time to clean himself up. It was only natural that she'd notice the lingering scent on him.
"Actually..."
Steven quickly changed tactics.
"I came back because I wanted to invite you to Longmen."
"Longmen?"
"Yeah. You've never really left Ursus before, right? There's a festival happening over there. I thought... maybe you'd like it."
Naturally, Steven wasn't foolish enough to bring up the fact that Patriot had caught him coming out of Talulah's room.
At this point, explanations were meaningless.
Compared to offering pale excuses, discussing a date with the girl in front of him was clearly the superior option.
And as it turned out, his decision was absolutely correct.
Yelena, who had been preparing to thoroughly interrogate him, froze for a moment when she heard the completely unrelated answer.
In the end, she could only shoot him a helpless glance, a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks.
Of course, she knew he was changing the subject.
But...
It was an incredibly tempting offer.
For a girl who had been born and raised on this frozen tundra, someone who had never even seen a city untouched by snow and ice, spending a festival in Longmen was something she wouldn't have dared dream about before.
Yelena didn't doubt for a second that Steven could make it happen.
If he had come to invite her, then he had already made all the necessary preparations.
In that regard, she trusted him completely.
"So the first thing you did after coming back was invite them first?"
She was definitely going to accept.
But. that didn't mean she intended to let him off the hook so easily.
Especially when the scents clinging to him were far too obvious.
The smell of not one, but two girls lingered heavily on him.
Thinking about it made her glare at Steven again.
Everything else about him was fine.
But the way women seemed to flock around him was an endless source of headaches.
He was such a bizarre, difficult person to deal with.
So why was he so popular?
If only she had been the only one who fell for him...
"That's because I couldn't find you."
Steven shrugged helplessly.
"Besides, just because I invited them doesn't mean I was going to leave you out, right?"
Unlike Talulah and Alina, who were usually easy to find in the Infected camp, Yelena's whereabouts were much harder to predict.
She was the captain of the Yeti Squadron, after all.
She had missions to carry out and responsibilities to handle.
It wasn't as if she spent every day playing with children on the tundra.
Finding her at the exact right moment wasn't exactly easy, so this really wasn't a matter of favoritism.
"Hmph."
Yelena rolled her eyes at him.
"Nice excuse."
"The truth is, you're just greedy."
"You want all of us, don't you?"
Without giving him a chance to argue, she suddenly slipped her hand underneath the hem of his shirt.
Steven blinked in confusion.
Then, an overwhelming wave of icy cold erupted from his abdomen and shot straight toward his brain.
"GAH—!"
His entire body shuddered violently as a chill unlike anything he'd ever experienced coursed through him.
Yelena's body temperature was frighteningly close to absolute zero.
As someone capable of conjuring walls of ice out of thin air, her inability to perfectly control that power in the past had largely been due to her Oripathy. But after Steven had cured most of her infection, regulating her temperature had become far less difficult.
And right now, she fully intended to teach Steven a lesson he wouldn't forget.
Simply freezing him as a prank wasn't nearly satisfying enough.
Seeing him already shivering from the cold, Yelena instead revealed a mischievous smile—the kind worn by someone whose prank had succeeded perfectly.
Then, as if possessed by some strange impulse, the small hand resting against Steven's stomach slowly began to move lower.
If he refused to behave himself...
Then she'd just have to help him cool down properly.
"Wait, wait! I admit it, okay?!"
Steven's eyes widened the moment he realized what she was trying to do.
Steven had absolutely no desire to find out what it felt like to challenge a near-zero-degree hand with that particular part of his anatomy.
Without hesitation, he grabbed the girl's hand and stopped her advance.
"Merciful Lady Yelena, I was wrong! Please forgive me! To express my sincere apology, I'm willing to compensate you for your emotional damages!"
"Hm?"
Yelena blinked.
Only after Steven stopped her did she fully realize what she had almost done.
A faint blush immediately spread across her cheeks.
Even she couldn't understand how she'd found the courage to do something so embarrassing.
After silently cursing herself, she hurriedly changed the subject.
"Oh? You actually know how to admit defeat?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"Now I'm curious. What exactly do you have that could possibly compensate me?"
"The thing you like most, of course."
Steven grinned.
Pulling a piece of candy from his inventory—one he had casually swiped from the Rat King's candy shop—he popped it into his mouth.
Before Yelena could react, he wrapped an arm around her slender waist and pulled her into his embrace.
"W-Wait—"
The protest never finished.
Steven lowered his head and captured her soft lips with his own.
Yelena's eyes widened in surprise.
The candy slowly passed from his mouth to hers as the kiss deepened, leaving behind a lingering sweetness.
Only after several long moments did Steven finally pull away, looking rather pleased with himself.
Trying to ambush his little brother, was she?
Then it was only fair to teach her something in return.
No matter how cold the giant snow bunny might be, the warmth hidden behind those lips was very real indeed.
<+>
Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 689: Impossible to Refute[1]
Link: https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-169789182?collection=55713[2]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-169789182?collection=55713
[2] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-169789182?collection=55713