Chapter 86
April 11, 761 (Sunday)
Another two weeks had passed.
According to Aiorin’s plan, she should’ve arrived at the Fey Forest with her grandchildren by now.
But due to some minor setbacks, she kept having to slow down along the way.
It was only natural for the two children to react to her constantly stopping to check the surroundings.
“That’s strange. Why are there so many signs of people passing through a forest path like this?”
“Sister, is something wrong?”
“Are we in danger, maybe?”
Though the children still refused to acknowledge her as their grandmother, they were certainly relying on her.
The path into the Fey Forest from the south-westernmost tip of Silbrenoa lay right along the border between two countries.
And that border, of course, was shared with Valterre—the nation always eyeing Silbrenoa for an opportunity.
It was also the origin of the spies who had recently been wiped out by Princess Muriela.
Of course, not all of Valterre’s spies were fools, so plenty were stationed outside the capital as well.
And after losing contact with their capital-based counterparts, they had taken further measures.
The new intel they had obtained concerned the military movements in the Livia region of southwestern Silbrenoa.
The lords who had long ruled Livia were now showing suspicious signs.
Judging from the scale and quality of their forces, it was clear to anyone they were plotting rebellion.
They had long bowed to the central government only in appearance, so this was a predictable outcome.
From Valterre’s perspective, this was the best-case scenario.
Not only was the information easily obtainable due to proximity, but it also provided the perfect pretext.
If troops moved in Livia, Valterre could move its northern border troops as well—
and no one would question it. In other words, they could begin preparations for war with no backlash.
The area around the Fey Forest was in chaos, with soldiers, scouts, and supply wagons bustling about.
Naturally, Aiorin’s sharp senses and spirit detection continued to pick up human presence.
Though she was a superb warrior, she had virtually zero political insight—so she couldn’t grasp the full situation.
All she could do was what she’d always done: wait until all signs of people were gone.
As a result, even though the destination wasn’t far, the constant delays caused her to fall behind schedule.
“It’s not exactly dangerous. Doesn’t feel like anyone’s targeting us. They’re just wandering around… The real question is why there are so many of them.”
“Could it be they’re looking for us? I mean, technically you did kidnap us, right?”
“Kidnap you?! I told you—I’m your grandmother! Really now, have you been lied to your whole lives? We’ve been traveling together for two weeks. Can’t you trust me a little by now?”
But these royal children had indeed spent their lives deceived by their own mother.
They were just now learning what it meant to be suspicious. Like the saying goes, “A thief who learns late never knows when to stop.”
Having learned too late, they now doubted everything.
“Well, I do believe you don’t intend to hurt us. You’ve been cooking carefully prepared meals and really making sure we’re safe.”
“Yeah. I don’t know why you’re taking us so far away, but so far you’ve looked after us well. I doubt life in that Fey Forest could be worse than before.”
It was only natural for a grandmother to cook lovingly for her grandchildren.
Seeing how frail they were had pained Aiorin deeply.
For every meal, she sent spirits to gather high-quality ingredients and cooked them with care in the elven style—
no unnecessary processing, with a focus on preserving the natural flavors of the ingredients.
“Well then, it’s mealtime. Let’s eat.”
“Oh, I was wondering why I felt so hungry. Without a clock, I didn’t even realize it was lunchtime.”
“Hohoho. Spend a little more time outdoors, and you’ll learn to tell time by the sky.”
At first, they had no appetite for the bland, seasoning-free health food.
But after eating it every day and walking forest paths, they were now much healthier than when they were in the capital.
In just two weeks, their faces had filled out, regaining the plumpness of youth.
“Mmm… Whoa, there’s a lot of meat this time!”
Brandon, who had been watching Aiorin cook using spirits, asked curiously.
“Well, spirits don’t hunt themselves. They just bring meat left behind by carnivores. So I guess they found a big chunk left over this time.”
“Ah, that explains it. Still, it doesn’t look spoiled or anything—it tastes great.”
“Do you think I’d give you spoiled food? Of course I cleaned and prepared it properly first.”
Besides, Katrina and Brandon had been abused by their mother even inside the Royal Palace.
And now, stripped of their royal status, they were half-resigned to their fate.
When they were kidnapped, they thought, ‘Well, this is it for us’—
But their treatment had been unexpectedly kind.
Even though it was a kidnapping, neither of them had any complaints about how things were going.
“Aww, look at you two eat. How are your bodies feeling? You look fine, but…”
Just watching them eat made Aiorin feel full herself.
That didn’t mean she skipped her own meals—but she had a smile on her face the entire time.
So this is what it feels like to be a grandmother.
She was now regretting how she had neglected Eldric in the past.
The children swallowed their food and took turns answering her question.
“Ever since I met you, I haven’t had a single nightmare. Just that alone makes me feel like I can survive.”
“Same here. I used to see a monster that always stopped me from speaking—but now it’s gone.”
Katrina, who had been under severe emotional distress, had recovered quite a bit thanks to Aiorin’s care.
Brandon, who had always been withdrawn and seemed a little slow due to his mother’s pressure, had also improved significantly.
Though neither of them could fully recover in just two weeks, Aiorin had a secret weapon.
It was the Spirit of Dreams, something only elves with compatible aptitude could summon.
“That’s such a relief. Hohoho. All the effort paid off.”
“Huh? Effort?”
“Ah, never mind, it’s just something like that.”
Strictly speaking, Aiorin herself hadn’t actually done the work.
The Dream Spirit had been busily working under Aiorin’s orders after she sensed something was wrong with her grandchildren.
Every night, the spirit would enter the dreams of the two royal children and untangle the mess inside their minds.
That’s how their condition could improve so much in such a short time.
If Aiorin lived in another world, she could’ve become a famous psychiatrist.
And all without doing any of the work herself—she had outsourced everything.
As the three of them were happily enjoying their meal, one of the spirits gave Aiorin a report.
“Hmm? What is it… tch. Kids, sorry to interrupt your meal, but we need to move over that way.”
She sighed briefly, then called out to the children.
“Huh? Why? Ah— I dropped my food!”
Brandon suddenly looked up and dropped his meat, but Aiorin quickly hushed him.
“People are coming this way.”
With that, they held their breath and followed the guidance of a Tree Spirit, moving deeper into the bushes.
The spirit cleared away branches and leaves to make the path easier for them, so it wasn’t too difficult.
The Wind Spirits floated the remaining food behind them, allowing them to escape the danger smoothly.
“Alright, it’s safe now. You two go ahead and eat. I’ll go take a look.”
“Sister, where are you going?”
“To find out who keeps getting in our way. This has been happening for days. Really starting to piss me off.”
“What if someone comes while you’re gone?”
“Don’t worry, we’re deep enough in now, and the spirits will protect you. If anything does happen, I’ll be back right away.”
Aiorin wrapped herself in Wind Spirits and distorted the space around her—almost like turning invisible.
If someone knew what to look for, they might notice the shimmering air, but—
The Valterre scouts combing the forest weren’t even specifically targeting them to begin with.
“Hmm… Looks like another dead end. There’s no one here.”
One scout, holding a dagger drawn from its sheath, inspected the area where Aiorin’s group had just eaten.
“It’s obviously just the Livia scouts. Who else would it be?”
One of them offered the most obvious guess, but it didn’t ease his partner’s anxiety.
“Yeah, probably. Still, something feels off. It really feels like someone’s watching us right now.”
Had he sensed the presence of Aiorin, who was listening in while invisible?
His expression was dead serious. Meanwhile, the other scout looked completely unconcerned.
“What’s so weird? That there’s no sign of a campfire? Maybe they’re not camping this close to their base. Maybe they’re just taking shifts scouting. We’re doing the same thing, aren’t we?”
“No, that’s not what’s bothering me.”
“Then what is? You’re creeping me out.”
“Do you see any way out of this space? Every direction is covered in thickets. Other than the path we came through, do you see a single spot where the leaves are disturbed?”
“…Huh?”
He handed his flustered partner a piece of meat he’d picked up from the ground—Brandon had dropped it earlier.
“Look at this. It’s still warm. That means someone was eating here just moments ago. Do you know where they went?”
“Gasp…”
That small sense of unease sparked by the observant scout quickly spread to his partner.
In the form of fear.
—
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