Chapter 22 — The Hidden Ingredient
Chapter 22 — The Hidden Ingredient
Translation: Godtl
When she stayed at the Temple, Lelia had learned swimming from her friends.
Remembering that time, a smile naturally formed on her lips.
How hard she had tried not to reveal she was a girl. After swimming ended, she had taken all her friends' towels, wrapped herself up, and returned to her room.
It was a happy memory. The beautiful lakeside bathed in sunset, friends shouting and laughing noisily.
Thanks to them, she had practically mastered swimming.
'I might not die from falling into a lake or a river, let alone a pond.'
Remembering that time, she missed her friends even more. Lelia deliberately turned her thoughts elsewhere.
'It's late today... so I'll go to the cottage first thing tomorrow.'
Lelia looked out the window at the setting sun, trying hard to shake off her depression.
The next morning.
As soon as she woke up, Lelia washed and changed her clothes. Then, carrying a large bag over her shoulder, she left the tower.
She wandered a bit since she didn't remember the exact location, but she managed to find the cottage.
The wooden cottage was old but had charm. Lelia carefully opened the door and went inside.
'It's cleaner than I thought? Emperor Perseus must have visited.'
It seemed he had the servants dust the place.
Lelia began to carefully examine the interior, being as cautious as possible not to leave any traces.
Inside the small cottage, someone's careful handiwork remained everywhere.
Small picture frames with pretty landscapes painted on them, a tablecloth that looked hand-embroidered, charming decorations.
All of these were things touched by the deceased Elizabeth's hand.
'....'
Lelia was seized by a strange feeling in that space.
Until now, Elizabeth had been merely a character in a novel in her mind.
No matter how she was reborn into this world, her memories from her past life remained.
But entering this small, narrow space, her heart strangely fluttered.
The fact that there had been someone she could call mother touched her skin anew.
Coming here, she felt like she understood what kind of person Elizabeth must have been when she was alive.
Even in the original work, she was a person with a warm heart, lovely enough to capture Perseus's entire heart.
Lelia's chest swelled with emotion.
This place felt warm and safe, like the womb of the mother she couldn't even remember.
It was so cozy that it gave her the illusion that perhaps this space had been created for her sake.
Is this what it would feel like to be held in a mother's embrace?
For the first time, Lelia imagined what it would have been like if her mother hadn't died but had lived.
Elizabeth would have protected her child more preciously than her own life.
She would have loved her with all her heart and taught her all the beautiful and righteous things in the world.
That alone was enough.
"...."
Lelia stood there blankly for a while, just staring at meaningless spaces somewhere.
After a while, Lelia barely regained her senses and began to carefully look around the interior.
'Found it!'
The emergency rations protected by magic were found beneath the wooden floor beside a small dining table.
The small glass bottle appeared empty, but a label was attached to its exterior.
It indicated what food was inside. This glass bottle containing mysterious magic would produce emergency rations ready to eat at any time when shattered.
It was a glass bottle containing special magic that Elizabeth had personally developed for storing emergency rations.
It was an incredible magic that could preserve food in its freshly-made state for up to a hundred years.
'Seeing it in person makes it even more amazing...'
She was a very eccentric mage who enjoyed inventing all kinds of wondrous magical items.
This was one of those inventions.
Lelia stuffed several glass bottles into her bag without even checking the labels to see what food they contained.
Right now, Lelia was in no position to be picky about this food or that.
'Thank goodness.'
It was partly due to the relief of finding food, but a smile also came to her face for another reason.
Creating a space beneath the wooden floor to hide something was an idea anyone might have, but she wanted to give it some special meaning.
After all, she too had hidden something precious beneath the wooden floor of the small tower.
Fortunately, it seemed no one had discovered where Elizabeth had hidden the food. There were no signs of anyone having touched it.
'Even Emperor Perseus probably doesn't know about this place.'
In the original work, Julianna had discovered various magic-related items in this cabin.
'These rations were originally meant to be found by Julianna too...'
Lelia felt uncomfortably guilty for no reason, but soon shook her head.
'Julianna has plenty to eat even without this food... so it should be fine if I take it.'
In any case, her own survival was at stake.
Lelia put aside her hesitation and packed her bag.
'First, I need to survive.'
After gathering the rations, she began searching here and there again, wondering if there might be something else useful.
'There should be something...'
It wasn't described in detail, but Julianna had said she found something special here.
Emperor Perseus smiled as he watched Julianna boasting about discovering treasure.
And he came to truly regard Julianna, who had a warm and kind heart like his late wife, as his own daughter.
'...I should head back for today.'
Worried that someone might come, Lelia left the cabin with lingering regrets.
'I'll come back in a few days and look more carefully.'
Fearing discovery, Lelia hurriedly returned to the tower.
That night, she ate the emergency rations her mother had made and cried a little.
It was so delicious, as if it had just been made, that she found it hard to hold back her tears.
It was a few days later.
Lelia was secretly heading to the cottage when she hid herself behind a large tree.
'It's Julianna...!'
She had spotted Julianna in the distance.
Honestly, nothing good would come from running into her, so hiding was the better option.
'Surely her twin brothers will be tagging along with her.'
And she didn't want to get scolded by those guys again.
However, perhaps because she was still young, it was difficult to resist even the instinct of curiosity. Lelia carefully peeked out from behind the tree.
"Please cheer up, Your Highness. Please?"
"How about we go sightseeing in the bustling district? If you get a pretty dress fitted, you'll feel better."
"Or shall we go see the princes?"
A large knight with a good-natured smile was giving Julianna a piggyback ride.
And Julianna's maid was gently comforting her.
'Something must have happened.'
Julianna's expression while being carried was quite dark. As if she had received some great wound.
"His Majesty is really too much... Rejecting the Princess's hand like that. He's so heartless."
"You're right."
The maid and knight coaxed and comforted Julianna. But Julianna pouted her lips and murmured timidly.
"No... Father is a good person. He's just... uncomfortable with me still..."
Listening to their words as they passed along the walking path through the forest, Lelia narrowed her eyes.
'Ah, I see. So this is that time.'
Just before that doll incident in the original story where Emperor Perseus becomes completely a daughter-fool.
Julianna gathers courage to try to hold Perseus's hand, but gets rejected.
Today must be that problematic day.
After this day, Julianna becomes dejected whenever she stands before Perseus, and Perseus buys her a doll to comfort her.
It was just before the birth of the unprecedented doting emperor.
'She must be really hurt...'
Lelia thought as she watched Julianna's back, looking particularly depressed.
The knight giving her a piggyback ride and the maid tried hard to comfort her, but Julianna's shoulders remained slumped.
In her even younger childhood, Julianna had grown up under her biological father who frequently used violence.
But her stepfather Perseus was different.
He was stoic but basically kind to everyone. Enough that young Julianna would reach out her hand first.
Perhaps Julianna knew. That Perseus carried deep wounds inside. That's why she tried to take his hand.
'Well... still, in a few days she'll be smiling. Hang in there.'
Lelia silently offered words of comfort to Julianna, who was making a tearful face.
And then she hurriedly moved her steps again toward the cottage.
But unfortunately, Lelia couldn't go to the cottage that day.
Because she spotted Emperor Perseus standing in front of the cottage from afar.
'Why is everyone wandering around so much today of all days?'
Lelia grumbled inwardly.
Emperor Perseus looked like his mood was greatly dampened. He stood in front of the cottage for a while before going inside.
'He seems to be feeling guilty for hurting Julianna...?'
Lelia wanted to tell him not to just stand there and go to the doll shop quickly, but she held back.
'I need to find something in the cottage quickly...'