Chapter 189: Why Is My Mother So Innocent?!

Luna immediately tried to bolt, but she barely made it two steps before three bodies launched at her from different angles.

Selma grabbed her left arm. Ivy latched onto her right. Alia wrapped her arms around Luna’s waist from behind, practically tackling her to the ground.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” Selma crowed triumphantly. “What was that, Luna? Were you trying to escape? Right after we called your name?!”

Luna’s heart hammered against her ribs and she shook her head frantically, putting on the most innocent expression she could muster.

“What? No! Of course not! Why would I try to escape? That’s ridiculous!”

Her voice came out about an octave higher than normal.

“I was just…uh…going to…check on Lulu! Yes! My sister is up there in danger! I was going to help her!”

But Alia wasn’t buying it. She smiled, but it was the smile of a predator who had spotted wounded prey.

“That doesn’t explain why you looked like a deer about to be speared the moment we called your name.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“You’ve got the exact same look you had when you were seven and you broke your mother’s favorite vase and tried to blame it on Lulu.”

Ivy circled around to face her, looking Luna up and down with an expression of intense scrutiny.

“Also…” She tilted her head, studying Luna like a bug under a magnifying glass. “There’s something different about you today. I can’t put my finger on it, but something’s off.”

Luna’s blood ran cold.

Ivy continued, her voice taking on a dreamy, analytical quality.

“You seem…more mature somehow? Like overnight you just…grew up? There’s this glow about you. This…This something.”

Selma nodded vigorously.

“Yes! That’s exactly it! You look different! More womanly! Like you’ve suddenly aged ten years in one night!”

Luna opened her mouth to stammer out a denial, but nothing came out. Her brain had completely abandoned her.

“Wait. Wait! Could it be?” Selam eyes widened. “Luna, was it you? Are you the one who spent the night with the HERO?!”

Luna’s soul briefly left her body.

She was found out. It was over. They would tease her forever. She would never know peace again.

But then—

“What are you three blathering about?”

Duna’s voice cut through the interrogation like a knife through butter. The older elf strode forward, waving her hand dismissively at the trio.

“Just look at her! Just look at this face!”

Duna grabbed Luna’s chin and turned it from side to side like she was examining livestock.

“This adorable, innocent, baby face! Do you really think someone who looks like this could make the noises we heard last night?!”

The three interrogators faltered.

Duna continued gesturing expansively.

“Not to mention, those screams! Those moans! Those desperate, passionate, full-throated cries of ecstasy! You think this little girl—”

She patted Luna’s cheek.

“—who blushes if someone even mentions the word ’buttocks’—could produce sounds like that?!”

The other elves paused, considering this.

Ivy scratched her head.

“Well…when you put it that way…”

Selma squinted at Luna, who was now blushing so hard steam might start rising from her head.

“I mean…she does look pretty innocent…”

Alia nodded slowly.

“Yeah, Luna’s probably the last person in the village who would do something like that. Just look at her—she’s getting all red and flustered just from us asking questions.”

“Imagine if she actually had to do…you know…things.”

The three interrogators looked at each other and shrugged simultaneously.

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

“There’s no way Luna could pull that off.”

“Maybe Lulu, but Luna? Nah.”

Selma sighed in frustration before asking,

“Then who was it?! Who got to spend the night with the Hero?!”

Duna stroked her chin thoughtfully, then snapped her fingers.

“What about Nyx?”

All heads turned toward her.

“Think about it.” Duna continued, warming to her theory. “She’s probably the closest to the Hero right now. She’s always rubbing herself against him, hanging off him, touching him. And she’s certainly not shy about…well, anything.”

She smiled slyly.

“If anyone’s suspicious, it’s her.”

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the small crowd that had gathered to listen.

But then the elf who had been so focused on the penis earlier—the one with the analytical mind—shook her head firmly.

“No. That doesn’t work.”

Everyone looked at her.

“I was awake all night.” She said matter-of-factly. “Couldn’t sleep a wink because of all the noise. And I listened carefully. Like, really carefully.”

She blushed slightly but pressed on.

“And I can confirm, that voice was not Nyx’s voice. Nyx’s voice is mature. Playful. Sultry. This voice was younger. Desperate. Almost like she was crying from the pleasure. Like her soul was being rearranged.”

She crossed her arms definitively.

“Nyx would never sound like that. She’d be too busy making witty comments or something. That voice was pure, unfiltered, helpless ecstasy. It was someone who had no control over what was happening to her body.”

“So, it can’t be her.”

The crowd murmured in confusion. If not Luna, if not Nyx, then who?

Just then, one elf raised her hand tentatively.

“Why don’t we just ask Nyx? She’s not exactly the shy type. If we ask her directly, she’ll probably just tell us.”

“That’s brilliant!”

“Perfect idea!”

“Where is Nyx anyway?”

As if on cue, a voice rang through the forest—desperate, frantic, and unmistakably Nyx’s.

“Please, hero! You have to let me check! Let me see inside your pants right now!”

“I need confirmation that your mighty sword is still attached!”

Luca’s voice followed, strained and exasperated.

“Nyx, I promise you, it’s in my pants. It’s right where it’s supposed to be. Now please stop grabbing at me!”

“I can’t just trust your word!”

Nyx’s voice was genuinely distressed now.

“I need to see it! I need to touch it! Double verification! Triple verification!”

“I need to confirm with my own eyes and hands that the magnificent treasure hasn’t been stolen!”

The crowd parted to reveal an absolutely absurd sight.

Luca was trying to walk away with as much dignity as he could muster, which was difficult because Nyx was literally wrapped around him like a monkey.

Her arms around his chest, her legs somehow hooked around his waist, her hands desperately reaching toward his crotch while he held them back.

“Let me see!”

Nyx wailed, thrashing against his grip.

“Do you have any idea how much heartbreak I felt when I saw your penis in a nest?! I almost fainted! Right there in the middle of the path! I had to grab a tree to keep from collapsing!”

Luca’s eye twitched. “I don’t know what you heard, but whatever is in that nest is not mine!”

“Then prove it!” Nyx shrieked, her fingers inches from their target. “Just one little peek I deserve this after the emotional trauma you’ve put me through!”

Luca looked genuinely exhausted. “Nyx, I’m telling you—”

“I need to see the beast! I need to confirm its continued existence with my own two eyes! This is for my mental health! My sanity depends on this!”

The crowd watched with a mixture of bewilderment and amusement as the bizarre spectacle continued.

“What in the world is going on over there?” One elf asked.

“Why is Nyx trying to grab the Hero’s private parts?”

“Is this some kind of new greeting I don’t know about?”

“I have no idea, but it’s the most entertaining thing I’ve seen all morning.” Another replied.

The trio of interrogators along with everyone else, distracted by the commotion—finally released Luna and wandered toward the new source of entertainment, leaving her blessedly alone.

And Luna too watched her aunt’s antics with a mixture of bafflement and amusement.

Nyx had clearly heard about the penis in the nest and, unlike the others, had immediately connected it to Luca.

And being Nyx, she hadn’t hesitated for a single second—she had gone straight to the source and demanded physical confirmation.

And she sight of her dignified aunt—well, relatively dignified—hanging off Luca like a desperate lover while trying to shove her hand down his pants was genuinely hilarious.

Luna felt a warm smile spread across her face. At least the attention was off her.

And she was still smiling at the absurdity of it all—when suddenly a voice spoke right beside her.

“Why is Nyx hanging off Luca like that? And why does Luca look like he’s guarding a priceless treasure? And more importantly…”

The voice softened with genuine concern.

“….why is Lulu up in that tree, dangling off a branch and screaming at a bird?”

Luna opened her mouth to answer automatically.

“Oh, that’s because Lulu was birdwatching this morning and she found a peni—”

She stopped.

Froze.

The blood in her veins turned to ice, then immediately to boiling heat.

That voice.

That wasn’t just any elf.

That was—

She turned her head slowly, agonizingly, praying to every god she could think of that she was wrong.

She wasn’t.

Leona stood beside her looking at her with an expression that was…different.

Warmer. More concerned. The usual icy mask was completely absent, replaced by something that looked almost like…genuine maternal worry.

Luna’s mouth opened and closed several times. No words came out.

Leona, for her part, seemed to realize who she was talking to at the same moment.

Her own expression flickered—surprise, then embarrassment, then a strange awkwardness that looked completely foreign on her usually composed features.

Mother and daughter stared at each other.

For one long moment, neither spoke.

Then, simultaneously, both blushed and looked away.

The awkwardness was palpable.

Despite the progress of yesterday—despite Luna witnessing her mother’s emotional breakdown with Luca, despite the walls beginning to crumble—they still didn’t know how to talk to each other.

Years of cold silence couldn’t be undone in a single day.

But in her heart, Luna was ecstatic.

Her mother’s voice had been full of concern. For lulu. She was worried about her daughter’s safety.

And she had asked with such tenderness, such genuine care, that it was obvious that she loved them.

’Luca was right.’ Luna thought, tears prickling at the edges of her eyes. ’She does love us. She always has. She was just…trapped.’

Leona, for her part, was internally mortified.

She hadn’t meant to sound so…soft. So caring. So maternal.

Years of practice had trained her voice into a weapon of ice and distance, but lately—especially after yesterday, after talking with Luca, after feeling things she’d locked away for so long—that control was slipping.

She could feel her true feelings leaking out whether she wanted them to or not.

And right now, looking at her daughter dangling precariously from a tree branch, those feelings were very hard to suppress.

Clearing her throat, Leona tried again—this time with a bit more of her usual edge, though it came out forced.

“Why…Why is your sister up there, Luna? She’s going to fall. She could hurt herself.”

But Luna heard it. The worry underneath. The genuine fear for Lulu’s safety.

A warm, happy feeling bloomed in her chest.

“Don’t worry, Mother.”

She said softly, the word ’mother’ feeling both strange and wonderful on her tongue.

“Lulu will be fine. She’s silly, yes, and she does ridiculous things constantly, but she’s actually an excellent climber. She used to scale the highest trees when we were kids just to prove she could remember.”

Leona blinked, surprised by the casual way Luna was speaking to her and how she was calling her mother again.

Luna continued, emboldened.

“As for why she’s up there…” She hesitated, then held out the scope. “Here. See for yourself.”

Leona took the scope hesitantly, turning it over in her hands. Then, following Luna’s instructions, she raised it to her eye.

Meanwhile, Luna watched with barely contained anticipation.

She knew exactly what was about to happen.

Any second now, her mother’s face would go through the same journey everyone else’s had—confusion, then realization, then horror, then embarrassment.

It was going to be glorious! For her atleast.

This was because after yesterday’s emotional display, Luna was absolutely starving for more glimpses of her mother’s true self.

She wanted to see Leona flustered.

Wanted to see her blush.

Wanted to see her squirm with awkwardness like a normal person instead of the cold, unreadable statue she had been for years.

And this was going to be the perfect trap.

So Luna waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

But instead of the dramatic reaction she expected, Leona simply lowered the scope with a mildly confused expression.

“What am I supposed to be seeing, Luna?” She pointed toward the tree. “Your sister is hanging off a branch, crying about something, and next to her there’s a nest. That’s all I see.”

Luna’s smirk froze on her face.

“What?”

“I see Lulu. I see a nest. That’s it.” Leona looked genuinely confused. “What exactly am I looking for?”

Luna stared at her mother like she’d grown a second head.

“Did you—did you not see what’s inside the nest? That strange thing? Between the two eggs?”

Leona raised the scope again, peered through it for another moment, then lowered it with a shrug.

“Oh, that? I thought it was a bit peculiar at first, but it’s just a strange-looking mushroom, isn’t it?”

She tilted her head innocently.

“Birds collect all sorts of things for their nests. Twigs, leaves, the occasional interesting fungus. Nothing unusual about it.”

“A-A mushroom?! Mother, that’s not a mushroom!”

She said looking utterly baffled before quickly saying,

“I mean, just look at the shape! Doesn’t it resemble something? Something you should definitely recognize?!”

Leona blinked, thoroughly confused. She raised the scope again, examining the object with renewed focus.

Up and down. Side to side.

Her brow furrowed in concentration.

After a moment, she lowered the scope with an expression of complete bewilderment.

“I still don’t understand, Luna. What am I supposed to be seeing?”

She looked genuinely, authentically puzzled.

“Is it some kind of rare mushroom? Is that why Lulu is trying so hard to get it?”

Her face shifted to maternal concern.

“If it’s valuable, tell her to come down immediately. I’ll climb up and get it myself. There’s no need for her to risk falling.”

Luna’s brain short-circuited.

How? How could her mother not recognize a penis?!

Even the most innocent elves in the village had figured it out eventually.

It wasn’t exactly subtle. It was right there, sticking out of the nest like a very specific, very unmistakable shape.

Not to mention, that her mother had to have experience with such things.

She had given birth to two daughters, for crying out loud!

There was no way someone could have two children without intimate knowledge of…well…the equipment required to make them.

So why was Leona acting so innocent?!

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