In Need of Comfort
I needed comfort.
Eldrisa didn't come home until well past evening.
I was sprawled on the living room sofa, crunching through a bag of snacks, when I called out to her.
"You're back? How was the Ispellen Estate?"
"Unnie, look — zero gravity! Zero gravity!"
Eldrisa floated Yena up into the air like a balloon and shot the question right back at me.
"How did you know I went to the Ispellen Estate?"
I kept my eyes locked on the TV.
"Because the Director completely lost it and called me. Said you'd flown straight into enemy territory and I needed to haul you back immediately."
"Honestly. Humans have no concept of privacy, do they."
I snorted.
"This time it was actually worth worrying about. So? Did you meet Elaine's grandfather?"
Eldrisa wandered over and flopped down beside me on the sofa.
"Couldn't meet him."
"Why not?"
"That coward had the entire estate plastered in trap magic circles. Surveillance cameras, golems — the works. There was no structure that would let anyone sneak in unnoticed."
Even Eldrisa had been forced to click her tongue at it. Apparently the family defense system Elaine had bragged about wasn't just hot air after all.
I chuckled and asked,
"What were you planning to do once you met the old man, anyway?"
"Well… I was going to play a little prank on him. But the target changed."
"A prank?"
Eldrisa suddenly smiled.
"There was a granddaughter in that house. And she just so happened to want to learn magic, so I taught her a little before I left."
"What are you scheming this time?"
"Nothing you need to worry about."
"You know she's my friend, right?"
"Of course I know. And I'll say it again — you don't need to worry. I have no intention of harming her. More importantly, where on earth did you find a raw gemstone like that?"
A raw gemstone? What was she talking about? Elaine had been the one who found me first, not the other way around.
I blinked at her. Eldrisa narrowed her eyes, as if replaying the earlier encounter in her mind.
"Her traits are extremely distinct. Elemental combinations, magical technique — those are absolute garbage. But her ability to detonate the mana inside her body in a single burst is outstanding. Thanks to that, she can cast spells well above her actual level."
"Ah, so she's like a vigorously shaken bottle of cola?"
Eldrisa burst out laughing.
"Exactly."
I nodded.
Just as every person carried a wildly different amount of mana, the ability to unleash it all at once varied just as much.
Take someone with dump-truck levels of mana — if the outlet they could push it through was the size of a knothole, it was useless. All day long they'd be stuck casting low-tier spells like Firebolt.
Conversely, even if your mana was only the size of a cola bottle, if you could dump the entire thing in one shot, you could cast intermediate magic. The discharge would be fast, sure — but it would work.
Elaine was definitely the latter.
Once I'd set the stage for her, she'd wiped out two evil spirits with lightning magic alone. Considering she hadn't even mixed in a water attribute, it wasn't an exaggeration to say she'd simply crushed them under pure mana volume.
Eldrisa smiled slyly.
"Of course, that type has a hard time regulating themselves. So I pinned a flower on her that assists with mana control before I left."
I looked at her, mildly surprised.
"What's gotten into you? Showing actual, appropriate goodwill? She's the bloodline of your enemy."
"My enemy… yes. She is."
Eldrisa stared straight ahead.
"But not a mortal, blood-feud enemy. I fully intend to settle the score for killing me, bit by bit — but I have no desire to incur Your Majesty's wrath over it either."
"……"
Should I threaten her not to take revenge here? Or just keep an eye on things for now, since she hadn't caused any real trouble yet?
{Don't go picking unnecessary fights.}
I looked at Eldrisa for a moment, then said,
"Thank you."
"Pardon?"
"I said thank you. For looking after my friend."
Eldrisa's eyes went huge.
"Why are you suddenly acting like this?"
"Like what? I can't even say thank you when I'm grateful? I'm just saying thanks for helping my friend. So hurry up and accept it."
"Heh heh, please don't. Even the same words become terrifying when Your Majesty says them. Did I… do something wrong?"
Eldrisa rubbed her arms as if goosebumps had broken out and stood up from her seat. She had completely misread my intentions.
…This was too much. I genuinely had zero ulterior motives.
I grabbed a fistful of Eldrisa's hair just as she tried to flee to her room and yanked.
"Ah!"
"If someone greets you, you accept it."
Eldrisa's face twisted as she flailed both arms behind her.
"P-please stop. I won't meet Elaine anymore. Happy?"
"No, you can meet her."
"Then is it the Ispellen Estate that's the problem? Just tell me."
"No, that's not it, I really just— mmph."
I was about to spit out a string of curses when my eyes met Yena's — still floating in midair — and I clamped my mouth shut.
In that gap, Eldrisa laughed awkwardly.
"Your Majesty. Please calm down. This isn't helping either of us."
I screamed internally from sheer frustration. But if I actually lost my temper here, nothing would get resolved — so I took one deep breath and beamed at Eldrisa.
"I really am just grateful. Accept the thanks and I'll let go."
Eldrisa eyed me with deep suspicion.
"……You mean it?"
"Yeah."
"Understood. I accept Your Majesty's expression of gratitude."
I released her hair immediately. Eldrisa vanished into her room in a blur without even stopping to fix her mussed hair.
The moment her door shut, the magic holding Yena up dissolved and she drifted back down to the floor.
I turned to her disappointed little face.
"See that, Yena?"
"Hm?"
"I did my homework today. You have to tell Mom I said thank you."
That was right.
Because of that psychiatric evaluation the other day, Kang Jiye had assigned me the most ridiculous homework imaginable. Once a day, say thank you — and also do something worth being thanked for. That was the mission.
But Yena just burst into a peal of laughter and answered,
"Nope."
"Huh? Why not?"
"You got it by threatening her. Later, say it properly in a warm, friendly atmosphere."
I felt deeply wronged.
"Hey, what am I supposed to do when she's the one who freaks out for no reason?"
"That's because you mess with her all the time, unnie."
"……"
Truly, the path to living like a proper human being was long and treacherous.
Even when I'd done nothing wrong, the world hated me, suspected me, and piled on the unfair criticism.
But I would not yield. For such was the nature of—
{Witches love jewels and herbs.}
"What?"
The Remnant cut in out of nowhere.
{She's doing that on purpose. Have you ever seen a witch forget something done to her? If you want to improve the relationship, you don't use words — you hand over a bribe.}
"What did I even do to her? I smacked her a few times when we first met, that's it."
Honestly, all I could remember was treating Eldrisa well.
The Remnant sighed.
{Then live like that for the rest of your life. You think managing nobles is easy for a king? Don't tell me you were planning to control everything with raw force alone.}
"……Is that not allowed? I am the queen."
The Remnant started sneering.
{Without that face and your seduction trait, you'd already be dead. There's a limit to how carefree you're allowed to be. Want to know why I suddenly popped out?}
"Don't tell me it's because my behavior was so frustrating you had to make an appearance."
{You got it.}
The Remnant added that if we fused as things stood, every action I'd taken up to now would reverse itself — because the current me was far too different from the original Pecia.
I'd clearly come to regret it later, so she'd surfaced to keep me properly in check.
When I offered no rebuttal, the Remnant seized the chance and poured out everything she'd been holding back.
{Strategy, tactics, human relationships, negotiations with the Order — hell, even eating and drinking. There's not a single thing you do properly.}
"……"
{Stupid. Dull. Foolish.}
"……"
{And a complete idiot.}
"WAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
I bolted straight into the bathroom. The moment I saw the Remnant's face in the mirror, I started punching it with everything I had.
Thwack! Thud! Thud!
In seconds both nostrils erupted and blood sprayed across the sink. Yena's scream rang out at the sight. Startled awake by the commotion, Kang Jiye came running and grabbed my arms to stop me.
Eldrisa burst out too, staring in horror — then snapped to her senses at Kang Jiye's shout for help and seized me from behind.
"Y-Your Majesty! Snap out of it!"
I ignored them and kept assaulting my own face. At first the Remnant had been laughing at me, asking what the hell I was doing — but her tone grew steadily more serious, and when I tried to bite my own fingers off, she finally started apologizing.
{W-wait. Stop! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!}
"WAAAAAH!!"
{I said stop, you crazy bitch! Don't treat my body however you want!}
"I'll bite! I'll bite you!?"
{I already said I was sorry!}
"AAAAAANG—!!"
{Aaaah, I'm sorry! I was wrong!}
By the time they finally managed to lay the unconscious Pecia down on the bed, the rest of the family had already gathered in the living room for an emergency family meeting.
Kang Jiye grilled the other two in detail about everything that had happened before Pecia's outburst, then crossed her arms with a grave look.
"……So that's what happened."
Yena sniffled, her voice thick and nasal.
"I— I said something too harsh. Unnie just wanted to get closer to Eldrisa unnie, and I scolded her for no reason…"
"……"
Kang Jiye looked at her daughter with a complicated expression, then gently pulled her into a hug.
"It's not your fault, Yena."
Eldrisa hesitated, then spoke.
"Then… is it mine…?"
Kang Jiye let out a bitter little laugh. So even that witch could look this flustered. It was a surprisingly fresh sight.
She gently took the witch's cool hand.
"Don't worry. It's not your fault either, Eldrisa."
But Eldrisa immediately pulled her hand away, frowning.
"We were the only two there. I made the Queen angry. This is not the time for clumsy comfort."
Kang Jiye closed her eyes and shook her head.
"It really isn't your fault. Well — of course it isn't like there was zero influence… but I think the stress has been building up."
Eldrisa blinked in confusion.
"Stress?"
Kang Jiye nodded.
What had just happened was something that played out all the time. Yena playing the strict adult with Pecia was nothing new — it had been going on for ages.
There had to be some other cause beyond that. Kang Jiye quietly retraced the recent days, then spoke with genuine seriousness.
"Think about it. Pecia hasn't had a real break lately. Things keep exploding with the Order, the Hunter Administration stripped her of any private life making her manage the magical beasts, the number-one hunter in the country is watching her around the clock, she repairs Party Bears whenever she gets a spare second, and she still has to keep up with her Academy coursework. On top of all that she does rescue work — and not a single person acknowledges any of it."
"……"
"And then, for our safety, she's been constantly correcting your behavior, Eldrisa. I don't know for sure, but… maybe she's been living on edge, terrified you'd do something unpredictable?"
"……!"
At Kang Jiye's words, Eldrisa rested a hand against her cheek and sank into deep thought.
She'd known Pecia's excessive hierarchy-enforcement was connected to Kang Jiye and her daughter — but it had never occurred to her that the process might have been hard on Pecia's heart.
Eldrisa had simply never thought deeply about relationships with humans.
Thank you.
Perhaps that expression of gratitude… hadn't been a threat at all, but genuine thanks for helping her friend?
Eldrisa frowned and swept her goddess-like hair back over her shoulder.
"Ugh — how irritating. That just makes the problem more complicated."
"Hm?"
Eldrisa looked at Kang Jiye.
"Relay this incident to your superiors. Tell them to be careful how they treat Her Majesty from now on. And drag every single person whose life she's saved in here to thank her properly. If you're right, confirming the results of her own efforts should help her feel a little better."
"……Do we really need to go that far?"
"Of course we do. Do you honestly think this is something we can fix with just our own efforts?"
"……"
Kang Jiye turned her head toward the room where Pecia lay sleeping.
Something hot rose in her chest, and she covered her mouth. Come to think of it, lately all she could remember was scolding Pecia far more than praising her.
Even if the intention had been to humanize her, the thought struck her that she'd been cracking the whip far too harshly.
You've been through so much.
As for all the mischief Pecia herself had caused — that had long since been bleached clean from her memory.
"……I see. Understood."
"What's the matter, sir?"
The Director hung up the phone and let out a long sigh. Kim Seojun's brow furrowed.
The underground war with the Order was in full swing, and tensions were already running high.
The Director looked at Kim Seojun.
"Kim Seojun."
"Yes."
"Have you, by any chance, been harassing the Queen of Chiffonside on the side?"
"……Excuse me?"
"Apparently she started screaming, self-harmed, and collapsed."
"……!"