Volume 4, Chapter 46 – The Moon Elf

It was late at night, and the weather in Blossom had turned from the sunny days of the past few days to cold and rainy. Blossom was already close to the Frostlands in the far north of the continent, so its temperature was already low. Under the dual effect of the rain and autumn, it was now only about five or six degrees.

However, although the temperature was low, the city was filled with a fiery atmosphere. The miracle of the Holy Tree budding during the day had been witnessed by many. This change, unseen in a thousand years, made the elves believe that it was a symbol of the future prosperity of their race. Now, not only were the commoners spreading the news, but even the nobles were gathering to celebrate.

It was worth mentioning that not everyone had been excited at first. For example, the Prime Minister and Kalsey had been very strange as to why the Holy Tree would have such a change. A baseless, uncontrollable budding would only make people uneasy. But when they learned from Mizuki that all of this was Fia’s doing, the worries in their hearts instantly vanished.

The Holy Tree was the core of the elf race, its status higher than that of the king. For the Eldest Princess to have solved a problem that past dynasties had failed to solve both proved her wisdom and power, and also showed that she was the chosen one of the elf race, capable of bringing them unprecedented prosperity. From any angle, this was a good thing.

But these people had never asked for Fia’s own opinion.

“Haah.”

Letting out a long breath, Fia returned to her room and immediately fell into her bed in a starfish position. Because she had caused the Holy Tree to bud, she had become the undisputed star of the day. In addition, Mother Yulisha had boastfully told countless nobles about it, and today, over a hundred of them had come to the palace to celebrate with her, to the point where she had had to keep them for a dinner party.

Greeting the nobles was secondary. What made Fia even more tense were the other Royal Consort mothers. That kind of completely unguarded, overly intimate contact was simply nerve-wracking. Fia even felt that if there hadn’t been other nobles present, she would have surely been asked by her mothers to sit on their laps and be fed like a five or six year old child—just thinking about it was hellish. After a round of interaction, even with her mental strength, she couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed.

Surrendering to the drowsiness flooding her mind, Fia closed her eyes and organized the day’s events.

“…In the end, I still couldn’t find out what happened to the Holy Tree.”

With physical contact, Mizuki could be brought into the Holy Tree with her, but the altar they were teleported to was not the same as the one she had gone to at the beginning. When Mizuki was present, the altar was always brilliantly golden, and there was a golden pillar of light made entirely of mana on the stone platform in the center. But if she teleported without her, she would enter that dim altar.

Not only that, but after several attempts, she also discovered that there was not just one passage in the altar. Each time she teleported, a new passage would appear, and the Black-Flamed Monsters inside would always be “resurrected,” making her feel as if she had entered a parallel dimension.

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Fia faintly sensed that the Holy Tree might be guiding her, hoping that she would clear out the monsters in all the passages and stop its withering.

“But if it can talk, why didn’t it just tell me what to do from the beginning?”

The Holy Tree in her dream could use language, which meant its intelligence level was not low. Then it should have understood how to communicate most efficiently. If it had just told her from the start to go to the Holy Tree and clear out the monsters, she wouldn’t have had to search for the answer like a riddle. If the Holy Tree didn’t have some unspeakable secret, then it was just too stupid and didn’t know how to talk.

“That being said, as long as the result is good, it’s fine.”

A hint of relief entered Fia’s voice.

From now on, she just had to keep clearing out the monsters in the altar’s passages, and the problem of the Holy Tree’s withering would be solved—the process was so simple it was incredible, making one feel that something was wrong.

At this thought, Fia suddenly sat up from the bed.

Because the Holy Tree had budded, the plan that should have been carried out today had been postponed by a day. However, Erin Slate didn’t think there was anything wrong with this. In fact, the budding had increased her prestige, which would only make Prince Schain more anxious. The only thing to worry about now was that he would feel the odds were too low and choose to lie low. Then, although she could liquidate them one by one in secret, it would undoubtedly take a long time and could easily leave a handle for others to grasp.

Perhaps she should find the Demon General of Knowledge and have him promise to help Schain seize the throne at this time, to give him a few more chips. That way, the possibility of him making a move should be greater.

“Oh well, I’ll deal with tomorrow’s business tomorrow.”

Fia shook her head, banishing the miscellaneous thoughts from her mind.

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It was now time for business.

Her left hand reached into the collar of her formal dress and grasped the pendant. Her right hand, in turn, reached towards the door, using [Spatial Hand] to lock it.

Then, still in her black dress, she knelt directly on the bed—it had turned cold in Blossom, and taking off her clothes would be very cold—swallowed, and after confirming that no one could observe her, she carefully infused mana into the hexagram-shaped ruby pendant.

Recently, Fia had discovered another use for the pendant. It had a function similar to autoplay. Even if she didn’t make an effort to imagine or command it, the Claire in the image could move on her own, following the general direction she had thought of at the beginning, allowing her to concentrate on her business. It was very convenient.

It should be said that Fia was not without her questions. Since the ruby pendant had this function, why had Claire given it to her? After all, when she had given it to her, they had not yet confirmed their relationship. To just give such a private item to someone else, the Claire of that time had been too careless.

Of course, this had benefited her.

Her mouth curved into a ‘w’ shape, Fia switched the ruby pendant to autoplay.

As a projection with a faint cyan glow appeared, Claire’s image appeared before her—the background was a black night sky, and Claire was flying.

Fia was not surprised by this. Every time she opened the pendant, the background would change. She had seen forests, lakesides, rooms, and grasslands. It was for this reason that the images felt more fresh and exciting.

“But in the air, isn’t that a bit…?”

Fia was a little worried that Claire would fall from the sky, or be seen by others. Even if this was just a projection of her fantasy, she didn’t want such a thing to happen.

However, she soon discovered that her worries were unnecessary. Claire was indeed in mid-flight, but in autoplay mode, the camera would move on its own, without needing her cooperation. For example, it would float behind her skirt, or take her own point of view, sweeping over the mysterious valley in her collar.

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Even though it was just a fantasy projection, Fia felt as if she could smell the faint medicinal scent from Claire’s chest.

It was so thoughtful.

Quickly getting into the mood, Fia’s breathing gradually became hot. But strangely, she felt that the background that occasionally appeared in the image was somewhat familiar. But considering that it was her own imagination, it wasn’t strange for familiar things to appear. Besides, nothing was more important than the business at hand. Once a person got into the mood, their mind would be filled with only one thing.

The temperature in the room gradually rose, and the rustling sound became more and more obvious.

Until, at a very special moment, the image suddenly froze, then quickly switched as if it had malfunctioned. Fia was shocked to find that the person in the image had changed from Claire to herself, and it was the shameful sight of her kneeling on the bed, her hand reaching into her formal dress.

Did it break?

Impossible. She had controlled her mana well.

As the projection’s point of view was from the window, Fia subconsciously turned her head to look.

And then, she was completely stunned.

A young woman, enveloped in a silver glow, was sitting by the window.

Skin as white as the moon, silver hair as smooth and bright as flowing mercury, the young woman, dressed in a snow-white shawl and a dark-colored dress, was pointing an index finger to her lips, her smiling appearance like that of a mischievous moon elf, making one feel as if they had long been played in the palm of her hand.

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Claire.

For a moment, Fia completely forgot what she was doing. Her heart was entirely focused on this beauty who had appeared by her side without a sound. She subconsciously stood up and, in an instant, moved in front of her. But for fear that the Claire before her was just an illusion, she dared not reach out and touch her for a moment.

Until the silver-haired young woman raised an eyebrow and took the initiative to speak.

“Been so long you don’t recognize me?”

How could I forget!

However, before Fia could answer, Claire, taking advantage of her organizing her words and her defenses being down, suddenly scooped her up by the waist, then, with a speed that was impossible for the naked eye to capture, threw her onto the bed. By the time the dizzy Fia had come to her senses, she found that her shoulders were already being held down by Claire’s hands, and Claire’s deep, jade-green eyes were gazing down at her from above.

Those cunning eyes were like those of a beast about to devour its prey, making one’s heart tremble.

“Have you had enough of peeking? You haven’t taken a single day off these past few days. See if I don’t teach you a good lesson!”

With that, as if to eat Fia whole, Claire slowly leaned down. But just as their lips were about to touch, she suddenly swept to Fia’s tender earlobe and exhaled softly, saying with infinite tenderness.

“I’m back.”

Translator Note

waaaaaaa ><