Chapter 55
March 20, 761 (Saturday).
Aiorin had brought her two grandchildren to a small forest near Solineum.
The trees provided cover from prying eyes, and perhaps because she was an elf, she found the forest inexplicably comforting.
She was taking a break while receiving continuous reports from the spirits about their surroundings.
Her two grandchildren were sleeping soundly, looking adorable.
By the time she thought it was about time for them to wake up, Katrina stirred slightly before opening her eyes first.
“Uh… Who are you, big sister?”
Upon waking up, she was momentarily confused by the unfamiliar forest scenery.
But when she spotted an even more unfamiliar figure, she instinctively flinched and backed away.
Aiorin smiled warmly at her reaction, finding her utterly adorable.
But of course, Katrina—who had been kidnapped without understanding why—did not take it that way.
Instead, she became even more wary.
“There’s no need to be afraid.”
Despite Aiorin’s reassurance, Katrina’s tense body refused to relax.
Soon, her younger brother stretched his arms and woke up as well.
“Huh? Where are we? Where are the uncles?”
“Brandon, I think we’ve been kidnapped.”
Brandon’s eyes widened at Katrina’s cautious words.
“K-Kidnapped?”
“Yeah, by… this person.”
“Kidnapped? Oh, my dear little Katrina. I am your grandmother, Aiorin.”
She had not uttered a single lie.
But that alone was not enough to dispel their doubts.
Her youthful appearance was far too misleading.
This was one of those rare cases where looking young actually worked against her.
“Grandmother…?”
“Yes, I am your grandmother. The only wife of your grandfather, King Solinor.”
“Is that really true?”
Katrina and Brandon exchanged nervous glances.
Growing up under their crazy mother, they had naturally developed a rather advanced skill—the ability to communicate with their eyes alone.
‘Does she seem legit?’
‘I don’t know. I’m not sure.’
‘I think I saw a portrait of our grandmother in the main palace once… But it was a long time ago, so I don’t really remember.’
Of course, only about half of that silent conversation was actually conveyed properly.
Speaking of portraits—
Naturally, the founding king, Solinor, had a detailed painting in the royal palace, and his wife, Aiorin, had one as well.
However, among Eldric’s children, the only one who frequently visited the main palace was Alfred.
And even he hadn’t spent much time there before being declared crown prince.
In other words, the portrait of their grandmother that Katrina had seen was a distant, faded memory by now.
As the unease in their eyes deepened, Aiorin decided to take the most direct approach.
The best way to prove something was, after all, to provide irrefutable evidence.
“Alright, children. I will prove to you beyond a doubt that I am your grandmother. Watch carefully.”
After speaking, she began calling out the names of the spirits she controlled.
One by one, they emerged in front of the children.
The grumpy old wind spirit, Wendy, appeared first.
Then came the earth spirit, the water spirit, the tree spirit—each revealing themselves in their unique forms.
Katrina and Brandon’s mouths dropped open in shock.
“Well? Your grandmother is a Spirit Mage. I always have spirits by my side. You must have heard about that before, right?”
It was true.
Even if they weren’t princes or princesses, everyone in Silbrenoa knew about the legendary adventures of Solinor and Aiorin.
Though Aiorin had abandoned her son for years and returned to the Fey Forest, she still remembered how wildly popular their adventures had been.
No matter how careless she was, there was no way she could forget something so significant—even decades later.
After all, she had personally supervised the publication of their storybooks, and they had sold like crazy.
The early success of the publishing industry in the kingdom had been largely due to these adventure tales.
There was even a joke that King Solinor had introduced a national literacy program just so everyone could read about his adventures.
Even now, despite the royal family’s decline in popularity, books about Solinor’s legendary feats continued to sell well.
Since these events had taken place only a few decades ago, many people still looked back on them fondly, thinking, Ah, those were the good days.
Many citizens longed for the former king, and that sentiment had been passed down to their children.
Ironically, as King Eldric’s approval ratings plummeted, Solinor’s continued to soar.
At playgrounds across the kingdom, children still pretended to wield Solinor’s mighty sword or summon spirits like Queen Aiorin.
Meanwhile, the book-loving kids read the adventure stories and debated historical accuracy.
So Katrina and Brandon knew well that their grandmother had been a Spirit Mage.
If Kaelen had been here—who was a huge fan of their grandfather—he would have gone wild at the sight of so many spirits.
But these two, being much more reserved, had a far more subdued reaction.
“Wow… Are these spirits?”
“This is my first time seeing one.”
Their reaction was colder than expected, but at least it was positive.
Aiorin smiled triumphantly and asked the children,
“Well, do you believe now that I’m your grandmother?”
However, Katrina, who had regained much of her rational thinking after being freed from her mother’s influence, fired back with a sharp comment.
“I’m not so sure. There’s more than one Spirit Mage in the world. And you look way too young to be our grandmother.”
In the entire kingdom, the number of people who had seen an elf in their lifetime could probably be counted on two hands.
Naturally, there was almost no information about their nature in human society.
Besides, Aiorin had left the royal palace when she was still young.
No one had seen her since, so no one knew that elves could maintain a youthful appearance even at eighty.
The only ones aware of this were Solinor and his old companions.
“Uh… Is that so?”
Brandon, who had nearly been won over by the sight of the cute and majestic spirits, hesitated at his sister’s words.
He stopped himself from stepping closer.
‘Damn, I almost had them.’
Aiorin clicked her tongue internally.
But no matter. If she kept trying, she would eventually persuade them.
The problem was, if spirits didn’t work, she didn’t have many other cards left to play.
At this point, the only thing she could do was boast about her knowledge of Solinor.
But that also posed a major problem.
For one, if Katrina and Brandon couldn’t verify her knowledge, there would be no point in showing off what she knew.
The broad strokes of Solinor’s heroic tales were already well known, so recounting those wouldn’t prove anything.
And if she revealed secrets only those who had adventured with Solinor would know, the children wouldn’t recognize them as proof anyway.
She was stuck.
A true dilemma.
Aiorin fell into deep thought, searching for a way to prove her identity beyond doubt.
—
Meanwhile, Princess Muriela woke up from a deep, restful sleep.
Since it was the weekend, there were no special engagements scheduled.
She had already gotten in touch with Corbin and received confirmation that Katrina and Brandon were safe.
The palace problems were temporarily settled.
The only lingering issue was that there was still no word from Aiorin or Sylvius.
Of course, this was not something that Solinor could solve just by worrying about it.
The best course of action was to focus on the problems she could actually address.
‘Well, they’ll reach out when the time is right.’
There was no way two of the most powerful beings in history could have gotten into trouble in such a short time.
‘Since I have free time, I should go over the financial reports again.’
Solinor reached for the documents stacked haphazardly on the side table.
As always, the royal budget reports were enough to make his blood pressure rise.
There were far too many expenses being funneled into strange, unnecessary categories.
Though, considering Eldric had six wives, it was surprising that the queens weren’t spending an excessive amount.
Eldric’s womanizing tendencies were quite extreme, but at least he had prevented the queens from interfering too much in politics or squandering resources recklessly.
‘And yet, things are still this bad…’
But if the queens weren’t the ones draining the treasury, then who was?
The answer was obvious—Eldric and his officials.
‘Those bastards…’
Specifically, whenever Eldric ordered something, the bureaucrats would inflate the necessary budget several times over.
And since Eldric approved these requests without a second thought, the national treasury had been hemorrhaging funds.
‘It’s a miracle the country is still standing.’
The deficit had been ongoing for years.
Even if Muriela was to eventually inherit the kingdom, it wouldn’t matter if the financial situation was beyond repair.
She would be left desperately trying to patch up a sinking ship, only to collapse from the strain.
If she wanted to govern properly in the future, she needed to start taking action now.
Otherwise, by the time she was ready, it would already be too late.
They say you should strike while the iron is hot.
There was no reason to wait.
“Bianca! We’re heading to the main palace immediately. Get ready. Also, summon Sir Hamilton.”
—
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