Behind the shrubs, Willo looked at Charles in utter panic, her expression filled with terror, as if to say, "Come on, think of something quick—we're really gonna get caught if this keeps up!"
But Charles stayed calm, showing no sign of panic. For one thing, the idea of a burglar sneaking into the monastery was just these nuns' suspicion—if they really woke up the whole place over something this minor, how could the three of them ever show their faces again?
So, he immediately figured their real plan wasn't to wake everyone and catch a thief, but to scare whoever was in the garden into coming out!
No way he'd fall for that!
So, to counter it, they could...
A spark flashed in Charles's eyes, and he leaned close to Willo's ear, whispering a few words. Willo got a look of sudden understanding, nodding repeatedly, taking a deep breath to steady herself before starting to silently chant an incantation.
On the ground, the scattered dried leaves magically gathered, swirling onto her body and reforming into a long robe. In the blink of an eye, she'd transformed back into her dignified Matriarch self.
It was just that the lingering pink flush on her cheeks would still give away her true state to anyone with experience.
And at that moment, outside, the three nuns who'd come out late at night foraging for a midnight snack were staring tensely at the garden. Charles had guessed right—they weren't about to wake the whole monastery over this; saying that was just to flush out whoever was hiding in the garden.
Seeing no more movement from the garden, the three girls exchanged glances, coming to an agreement, then spread out in a left-center-right formation, cautiously advancing.
Their curiosity was piqued now—tonight, no matter what, they were determined to find out what that rustling in the shrubs had been.
But they hadn't taken two steps when a steady, authoritative female voice rang out from within: "No need to worry, it's me."
Then, Willo sat up from the shrubs, wearing her robe the color of fallen leaves, her face stern as she looked at them, seeming in a pretty bad mood.
Seeing it was her, the girls' faces immediately showed surprise: "Matriarch Willo? What are you doing here?"
Though they'd fought side by side in battle, they didn't know much about Willo—only that she was a powerful druid, the leader of the Green Vines tribe, and the original founder of the Alliance of the Mountain Purifiers.
They'd heard Priest Charles respected her a lot, so naturally, they felt a sense of awe toward her.
But Willo kept her expression unchanged: "Why couldn't I be here? I'm a druid, after all—getting close to nature is the right way for me to train."
The nuns all got looks of sudden understanding, gazing at her sleeping outside in the dead of winter, enduring the biting cold wind, and one by one, sympathy appeared in their eyes.
Their minds couldn't help recalling Charles's words: druids really are a class that's tough to train and super weak in power...
Ahem!
That's what the girls were all thinking, and then Willo said softly: "Alright, you're all up in the middle of the night, so you must have things to do."
"Go on and do what you need to. Don't... mm..."
Suddenly, her face flushed red, and a muffled, suppressed moan came from her throat. The girls, who were just about to leave, immediately stopped, their expressions full of confusion: "Matriarch, what's wrong?"
"I'm fine," Willo bit her silver teeth, stubbornly telling them, "You girls in this city have some serious pollution in the environment... ugh..."
She gasped lightly, her heart secretly embarrassed and annoyed, shooting a glare downward to signal him to stop messing around.
Right at that moment, under her dried-leaf mage's robe, Charles had slipped his hand between her plump thighs again, gently teasing her most sensitive spot with his fingertip.
Though her robe was magical, its intelligence level was a bit underwhelming. Right now, Charles was covered head to toe in Willo's scent, so the robe identified him as "someone Willo allows," offering no resistance and letting him come and go as he pleased.
This gave him room to play dirty—though he was lying flat under the shrubs, pressed close to Willo's body in hiding, he just couldn't keep still, insisting on toying with her body while she talked to the girls.
Poor Willo's body was still in a state where the afterglow hadn't faded, every inch of her nerves extremely sensitive; now, with the teasing, she couldn't help reacting, her delicate frame turning a faint pink, already prepared for another round of passion.
And her sudden moan immediately aroused the nuns' suspicion.
More precisely, their concern.
Seeing her flushed face, hazy gaze, and a fine layer of sweat beading on her forehead, her whole state looking extremely off, the three girls couldn't help worrying: "Matriarch Willo, are you really okay?"
"I'm fine." Willo's body swayed slightly. "I know my own state best."
"You look really bad right now—do you need me to guide some Divine Power to heal you?"
"No need; for druids, this is normal... ah..."
"But you're even breaking out in a cold sweat—is that really okay?"
"It's fine... oh... this is the price the environment here is giving back to me; you can't help... ah..."
Waves of pleasure hit one after another; Willo gritted her teeth with willpower, but still couldn't hold back the moans, her state looking more and more suspicious.
Outside the shrubs, the nun named Winnie furrowed her brows slightly, instinctively feeling something was very off about this—Willo was definitely hiding something from them.
What could it be?
Thinking this, she casually shifted half a step without drawing attention, peeking behind the shrubs, glancing under Willo's rear.
Suddenly, her eyes widened, pupils contracting, unable to believe what she'd seen.
Then, she quickly grabbed the other two girls' hands and turned to leave: "Ah, in that case, Matriarch Willo, you focus on your training. Judy, Mary, let's go—we won't disturb the Matriarch!"
The other two nuns still had a bellyful of confused questions, but being dragged along by their friend, they could only say goodbye to Willo and let her pull them all the way away.
The three girls walked quite a distance, and only after rushing into the kitchen did Winnie let go of their hands, clutching her chest and gasping heavily.
The two girls were immediately full of confusion: "Winnie, what's wrong?"
Winnie took a deep breath, steadying her excited emotions, then said with a serious expression: "You absolutely won't believe what I just saw!"
The two girls immediately felt uneasy: "What? Don't tell me Matriarch Willo is actually a demon?"
Winnie immediately stomped her foot: "No! Jeez, how could it be something like that!"
She didn't keep them in suspense, continuing: "I just saw Priest Charles's usual priest's robes lying right behind her butt!"
Immediately, the two girls' pupils contracted: "You mean..."
Winnie nodded seriously: "Yeah!"
The other girl also looked incredulous: "I can't believe it—a powerful druid like Matriarch Willo would actually take the Priest's clothes to... self..."
She couldn't say the last word, blushing bright red in embarrassment. Winnie sighed, then said: "Yeah, now I get it—what Matriarch Willo was doing hiding out there in the middle of the night."
After a pause, she continued: "That's why I told you to hurry and leave—we're not close to her, and if we'd really walked in on something like that, it'd be impossible to face her afterward!"
The two girls nodded repeatedly, completely agreeing. Though they'd walked in on each other plenty of times and were used to it by now, she was an outsider after all, and they weren't that close.
Then, one of the girls suddenly asked: "But doesn't she have her own room? Why do it in the garden? She's bound to get caught that way!"
The other girl looked up at the ceiling: "Maybe that's just how druids are!"
Winnie nodded too, her mind chaotically imagining all sorts of shameful scenes: "Yeah... maybe that's why she picked the middle of the night."
The three girls shared a knowing smile, all experienced and understanding deeply.
And after a brief pause, one girl suddenly said: "Hey, do you think maybe what's hidden under those priest's robes is actually Priest Charles himself?"
~~~
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