@heml8ck
Yeah, I think the issue is that when writing this, the author didn't account for the time skipped content. They just time skipped like it was going to bed one night and waking up 4 years later. Emiel just now is causing her concern, what about all the years prior to, building up trust? One slight misunderstanding ruins the entire relationship (not romantically) between then?
Honestly this story has been just bland depression for a while now. There literally is almost nothing positive going on for any of the main characters for quite a few chapters. And even when there is something good, it is accompanied by something bad or worse. "Look we removed a lot of the pollution. That's good. But that could cause a lot of issues for us so we must not be happy about it and hide all involvement as if we never had anything to do with it. In fact, dont even acknowledge it until someone brings it up so that we do not draw suspicion". "You got a few spirits? Great, never speak about it ever, dont interact with them around anyone, don't even use them unless you are about to die."
Gonna have to add a Drama and Tragedy tags to this if the story doesn't get much better than the current mood. I get the story ain't exactly the happiest one, but there has to be something solely positive?