Volume 7, Chapter 60 – Buried Within

The idea was beautiful, but reality was another matter.

Just as Fia was joyfully sketching the torso, Anastasia, who had been kept outside the stone pillar, reminded her of something crucial: Fia should first experiment on a few healthy elves to confirm the method’s safety before applying it to Anastasia herself.

Lianne was very different from a normal person. She had existed in soul form for decades, her spirit so stable it wouldn’t suffer damage even independent of a physical body. For a normal person, however, having the soul leave the body for even a short time could cause irreversible harm—such as memory loss, contamination of the soul with impurities leading to a drastic personality change upon re-entry, or even an inability to fully control the body, resulting in slow reactions or paralysis.

To transfer the soul from the current Anastasia’s body to a new vessel, the soul must leave the body for a period. Applying this untested method directly to Anastasia could cause irreversible damage, something to be deeply regretted later.

Therefore, Fia chose to first experiment on several death row inmates selected by Colita. She had checked their crimes; without exception, they were heinous villains deserving of death. Using them for experiments wouldn’t burden her conscience.

Thanks to this, it wasn’t until the blazing white sun rose from the horizon that Fia concluded the first round of tests.

All three prisoners used in the experiment survived. Two were physically healthy with no abnormalities, but one experienced memory loss. Although the problematic individual was the last of the three to undergo the experiment—and theoretically, since the first two had no issues, he shouldn’t have either—differences between individuals existed, so Fia was quite concerned.

However, when Fia inquired about the details, she couldn’t help but feel she was wasting her time. The problematic death row inmate claimed he wasn’t a criminal at all, couldn’t remember why he was there, and hadn’t committed atrocities like rape or pillage. Fia chose to hand him over to members of Twilight Flower to use memory restoration spells to help him recall his lost memories.

Thus, all three experimental subjects were fine. The next step was simply to find a few more subjects with conditions similar to Anastasia’s—in terms of gender, physique, strength, and age. If all of them showed no issues, the same process could be applied to Anastasia.

Although a sample size of over ten people was quite small, it was unknown when the swap for Anastasia would occur. Time waited for no one. She had to choose an appropriate balance between minimizing risk as much as possible and speeding up the timeline.

Standing quietly by the stone coffin, Fia took a deep breath. Morning light from outside the window had already pierced through the glass into the room. The summer heat was gradually rising, and the previously cold-lit testing ground now held a bit more vitality.

I have to speed up…

After briefly organizing the information about the elven prisoners used for testing in her mind, Fia reached into her storage magic and poured all the dark blue medicinal liquid stored within into the stone coffin. As the splashing sound echoed in the empty testing ground, the translucent dark blue liquid quickly filled the interior of the coffin.

Although this elven prisoner’s physique was vastly different from Anastasia’s, she was also female and possessed strength closest to Anastasia’s among all the death row inmates—the Fourth Tier. If she could successfully pass the experiment, the probability of Anastasia being fine would greatly increase.

“Parti—”

Knock, knock.

Before Fia could cast her magic, knocking sounds came from the testing ground’s metal door.

The Crown Princess’s body wasn’t resilient enough to perform [Particle Repair] with external disturbances.

I wonder why Anastasia is coming to see me now. She should be sleeping.

“Come in.”

“Yes.”

Contrary to Fia’s expectations, it wasn’t just Anastasia who entered, but also Claire in a dark blue dress. Claire followed behind Anastasia, gently waving her hand in greeting.

Liti and Milu weren’t seen. At this hour, Liti was definitely sleeping, and Milu was probably handling the cooking.

Fia halted her body-shaping work and looked helplessly at the two who had come before her.

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“I thought it was Colita delivering the criminals to me. I was wondering why she’d bring them so early when I haven’t finished shaping the body yet.”

“Ara, can’t we come see little Fia if there’s nothing wrong?”

“It’s not about whether there’s something wrong or not, but that I’m in the middle of serious work.”

The life-or-death kind, at that.

However, Claire wasn’t someone who couldn’t read the situation. The reason she made such a flippant remark at this critical juncture was probably to lighten the mood.

As Fia thought, Claire smiled, placed her hands behind her back, and came to Fia’s side, leaning against the stone pillar.

“Even when doing serious work, you should rest properly and replenish your energy. If I hadn’t happened to see Anastasia bringing breakfast when I came out, I wouldn’t have known little Fia hadn’t rested all day.”

“Saying that to me, Claire is the same, isn’t she?”

Claire also had faint dark circles under her eyes. While Fia was shaping bodies in the magic testing ground, Claire had been using her own magic to shape bodies in the quieter underground laboratory. Her earlier mention of “when I came out” probably meant she had just emerged from the underground lab.

“Ladies, rather than bickering, why not have something to eat?”

“Oh~”

Faced with Anastasia’s suggestion, Claire opened her eyes wide in surprise. She first looked at Anastasia holding the silver tray, then tilted her head to glance at Fia, her clear emerald eyes full of interest and teasing.

“Anastasia has grown too, hasn’t she? Before, no matter what, Anastasia would never dare to say such teasing words.”

“Uh… S-sorry, I thought Miss Claire would like it.”

“No, I’m not disliking it. I’m just feeling emotional for a moment. Recently, Anastasia has been improving quickly. But these dishes were prepared by Milu for little Fia, right? If I share a portion without asking, won’t little Milu get angry?”

“Claire, you sound like you don’t know Milu. With such a lavish breakfast, I could never finish it alone.”

Besides the usual bread and milk, Milu had also made fried meat cutlets and poultry drumettes. Against the backdrop of verdant, tender lettuce, the flowing meat juices mixed with explosively fragrant seasonings made one swallow saliva repeatedly.

Continuing their light-hearted banter, the three of them sat around the stone pillar. By now, the glow of morning had climbed the walls, and even the golden dust particles floating in the air were clearly visible.

“Anastasia, aren’t you eating?” Picking up a slice of bread from the silver tray and spreading sauce on it, Claire asked curiously, “You haven’t had breakfast either, right?”

“For some reason, I have no appetite today…”

“Maybe you didn’t sleep enough?”

“Probably.”

Anastasia offered an apologetic smile in agreement. She took out the teapot she usually used from her storage item and poured a cup each for Fia and Claire.

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It was still the clear orange-yellow flower tea, exuding the fragrance of honey.

Claire picked up her teacup and took a small sip, then her brows visibly furrowed.

It’s too bitter.

Fia, who had taken a sip before Claire, answered in her heart. If yesterday’s flower tea was only slightly bitter, today’s tea was like leaves steeped for several hours—overly strong, causing the tea’s inherent bitterness and the honey’s sweetness to fuse. The sequence of sweet-then-bitter only intensified the bitterness.

Noticing Claire’s frown, Anastasia looked nervous.

“Does it taste terrible?”

“No… it’s fine.”

The frown lasted only a moment. Claire quickly regained her smile. She stopped Anastasia’s hand, which was about to taste it herself, and said with a flawless smile,

“I’d like to add a bit of sugar to the milk. Could you fetch some from the kitchen for me, Anastasia? Not the honey from the Silvar Kingdom, but the brown sugar produced in the Milcandis Holy Kingdom.”

“Certainly. Please wait a moment.”

As she spoke, Anastasia started to stand up. But as soon as she straightened her back, her bottom fell back onto the floor. The surprise on her face showed even she found it unbelievable.

“Anastasia?”

“It’s… it’s nothing. I just suddenly felt a bit weak. Please, Your Highness and Miss Claire, wait a little longer for me. I’ll be right back.”

“If it’s really difficult, have someone else fetch it.”

“It’s just fetching something. A small task like this is completely fine.”

Smiling, she patted her chest in assurance. This time, Anastasia stood up normally and walked out of the testing ground just like usual.

When the testing ground door closed with a heavy thud , Claire, who had been watching Anastasia leave, let out a long sigh. That exquisitely beautiful and elegant face shifted from a smile to one of worry and gravity.

It seemed she also had no appetite, mechanically repeating the motion of cutting the meat cutlet with her knife.

“Anastasia’s condition is getting worse.”

“Mhm…”

Though she didn’t want to admit it, Fia had to nod.

Not only had the tea turned bitter, but just now, even walking was difficult. And this was just the change over one day. If yesterday’s degree was very mild, now it could be described as serious.

Once it developed to the point of memory loss, that would be the moment the swap occurred.

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She couldn’t truly wait until the day Anastasia lost her memory to transfer the soul.

She had to hurry. If absolutely necessary, even if it meant stopping the experiments on subjects with conditions similar to Anastasia, she would place Anastasia’s current soul into a new vessel. As for irreversible side effects, they were still better than outright disappearance.

Thinking this, the flower tea in Fia’s mouth tasted even more bitter. She simply put down her fork and stood up to continue shaping the body.

Claire did not stop her. She raised her head, and a complex, indescribable emotion flickered in her deep eyes as she looked at Fia.

“How much longer for little Fia’s side?”

“If things go well, before noon. But I can’t be 100% sure there are no problems. There are too few successful examples. I can’t guarantee that just because the previous death row inmates had no issues, Anastasia won’t either.”

Most crucially, Anastasia was a Fifth Tier practitioner, while those prisoners were generally much weaker—lacking persuasive power.

“And Claire’s side?”

Mentioning herself, Claire’s gaze drifted to the floor.

“Last night, I also asked Anastasia for blood, but the results were poor. Her tier is too low; blood alone isn’t enough to create a body. Bones are probably needed. But doing so would mean that this current Anastasia’s body could never receive healing magic again. Not that it couldn’t be healed, but if the bones in the original body grew back, the vessel crafted using those bones as a core would lose its connection and gradually disintegrate.”

“What about my blood?”

When Claire left yesterday, she had also taken blood from Fia.

Claire’s expression remained troubled, her voice so low it felt as if it were falling into the bottom of a well.

“Fia’s blood has too active a magical reaction. I can use little Fia’s blood to create a vessel, but I can’t guarantee I can finish crafting the body before Ana’s condition worsens further. I need time.”

Same as me.

Right now, they lack nothing but time. Anastasia probably also knew she couldn’t hide it from everyone much longer. The smile when she stood up earlier was completely forced.

So foolish.

“I understand. Let’s use my method first. If it really doesn’t work, then we’ll wait for Claire’s results. Everything is going smoothly on my side for now; perhaps we can succeed on the first try.”

“Mhm.”

Answering verbally, Claire’s heart was filled with hesitation. She hadn’t come with Anastasia to see Fia out of boredom. Her workload was much heavier than Fia’s. The order of this world was repelling her and her magic, and she was trying to bypass those constraints.

The reason she took time out of her busy schedule was to mention something important—something Fia should have noticed but was deliberately ignoring. To prevent that “what if” from happening and her cherished person becoming someone else, she had to remind Fia.

Even if it might create a rift between them.

Her usually gentle face was now covered with worry. Claire gently bit her lip, finally gathering her courage. She stood up, her gaze looking directly down at Fia.

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“Little Fia, I need to remind you of something. What if—I’m saying what if —what if both our methods fail to keep Ana, or if the swap happens for Ana before we achieve any results? It doesn’t mean everything is settled—”

“I know.” Without flying into a rage, Fia replied calmly yet resolutely. “But I’ve already told Anastasia that no matter what, I will use my full strength to keep her here. Her world is already shattered; I won’t allow her to return to the past alone.”

“No, what I mean is, even if Ana returns to that side, we just need to find the conditions that trigger the swap. Then we could swap Anastasia back again.”

“Believing in that kind of vague future is just self-comfort. Compared to making assumptions, I’d rather believe in the present.”

Even knowing the possibility Claire mentioned existed, Fia refused to acknowledge it.

Because it was almost like saying Anastasia would definitely disappear.

No one knew how long that broken world could last. She had a long lifespan to search for answers. That world did not.

Therefore, she would not allow the possibility of the swap to become reality.

Right now, immediately, until the moment the soul transfer for Anastasia could begin, she would proceed to the next step without a moment’s pause.

Fia took a deep breath, then stepped forward and gently hugged Claire.

She could hear Claire’s heartbeat in her ear. Warmth and a faint medicinal scent also drifted into her nostrils.

A comforting smell.

“Sorry, I know Claire is thinking of me. But right now, I don’t have that much time to think about what to do after failure. I’ll leave that side to Claire.”

A gentle touch came on her forehead.

Claire, gently stroking Fia’s head, showed a faint smile.

“Can I say little Fia has grown? I thought you’d lose your temper with me again, like last time.”

“I won’t make the same mistake.”

“That’s good.”

Claire actively released Fia. She cupped Fia’s face in her hands, and as Fia’s pupils slightly dilated, her lips lightly touched Fia’s cheek.

“I’ll wait for your good news. If little Fia’s side succeeds, I won’t have to busy myself anymore.”

“Mhm… I will.”

Without a verbal reply to Fia, Claire closed one eye and threw Fia an encouraging, playful look. She waved her hand and left the magic testing ground.