Of course, it only lasted a moment. Now Elliot and her house would be the imperial palace, not the Grand Ducal residence.
“It’s a shame.”
As she was gathering things to take from the Grand Duke’s residence to the imperial palace, she couldn’t help but feel regret and looked around the mansion.
‘I had so many good memories here.’
The gardeners, the kitchen people including Mr. Harold, and the head maid, Mrs. Balea, and the maids. She looked around from the greenhouse to the kitchen and said hello to familiar faces. Then, as she passed the hallway in front of the office on my way to the inner room, Elliot and Luna’s voices came out.
“Please report your financial statements to me every three months for at least the next two years.”
“Yes, your Majesty, the nagging Demon King.”
As soon as Elliot became emperor, his first task was to restore the theme of female singing. That’s how Luna became the Grand Duke. It was just as Luna had wished. However, she could not leave the Grand Duke and the Billund Dominion to a twelve-year-old alone, so he decided that Sir Daniel would stay at the Grand Duchy and help Luna. Although she was quite a disappointment to Elliot, she was glad that she still had someone she could trust and entrust her sister to.
As she walked down the hallway past the office, someone waved at her from the window. It was Luca.
She also opened the window, waved her hand, and asked.
“Even on a day like this?”
“I’m bored because I stay indoors.”
Luca must have been training in this cold winter, so her silver hair and white shirt were covered in sweat and dirt.
“Quickly come in and wash up. You’re going to catch a cold.”
“Huh.”
Soon Luca’s figure disappeared into the entrance of the mansion. This would be the last time she takes care of Luca. She decided that the child, who would enter the Order of the Holy Knights when he turned fourteen, would stay here with Luna. Although she said they weren’t breaking up forever, the thought of living far away made her feel empty, as if a wind had lifted in a corner of her heart. But she guessed she was not the only one with a weak heart. During their brief stay for several days, they always ate together and, as they used to do, they spent free time huddled together in the library with the fireplace lit. But now was a busy time for everyone. Of course, her too.
She headed to the nanny’s bedroom. She walked through the now empty bedroom, straight into the closet, and headed toward the cabin.
“I heard a lot about it.”
She looked around the cabin’s living room and kitchen, bathed in warm winter sunlight. She had to leave this cozy cabin too. She thought about connecting the hut to the imperial palace, but for safety reasons she thought it would be better not to. Moreover, the procedures for doing so in the imperial palace were so complicated! So she decided to leave this to the kids and Sir Daniel.
“Then shall we begin?”
She rolled up her sleeves and took out a bunch of empty boxes and heavy baskets from the storage room. Then, she took out the tools used to make potions from the basket and spread them out on the table.
“What should I make first? We will still need poison test reagents, right?”
After she roughly finished packing up my belongings, she started making a large amount of magic potions that would be needed for the Grand Duke’s residence. The empty wooden chest was filled with pill bottles and potion bottles.
“Oh, this must be… haha.”
As she was doing this, she remembered how her grandmother would prepare a lot of side dishes and soup with her friends before going on a trip, and she smiled without knowing. Even after making everything from the necessary to the unnecessary, she still had time left until dinner.
“What should we make now?”
As she was looking through the magic book and examining the medicinal ingredients in the warehouse, a thought occurred to her.
‘Snake’s legs!’
She immediately went back to the Grand Duke’s residence and retrieved the box containing the snake’s legs and the piece of parchment the witch had given her from the safe.
“Whoa…”
After carefully reading the potion recipe on a piece of parchment, she took a deep breath. This was a really, really important potion. Additionally, the ingredients were rare, so she would only be able to try it four times. So, she thought about leaving the dispensing to the imperial palace magicians who have more experience than her.
‘But if I fail…’
If she failed, she could blame it on her lack of skills. If someone else failed, wouldn’t she end up blaming them?
‘So I might as well do it.’
She laid out all the tools and ingredients listed in the recipe on the table and started preparing the ingredients.
“Next, finely grind the dry ingredients…”
How long has it been since she became absorbed in making potions?
“My dear.”
She was startled by Elliot’s voice and looked up to see that the surroundings were dark except for the table where the heating lamp was turned on.
“Ah, the sun has already set.”
“I was wondering where my lovely rain was…”
Elliot closed the door to the shed and he came over to her and kissed her forehead. The emperor and empress must treat each other with respect at official gatherings. But he said that even when it was just the two of them, he would call her dear with affection like this, and he would treat her with respect. It was honestly nice to hear.
“What were you doing here?”
Elliot asked, parting his lips from hers.
“You’ve arrived just in time.”
She held up two small bottles containing freshly finished potions in front of him. Inside the bottle, the light blue and pink potions were swirling exquisitely without mixing. It was completed exactly as written in the recipe.
“It looks good on the surface…”
What if the medicine has no effect?
“Will it really work?”
She mumbled nervously, and Elliot smiled as he held the pill bottle.
“There’s only one way to find out.”
“Oh, wait!”
He brought the vial to his mouth without hesitation and gulped it down in one gulp. Then he brought another bottle to his mouth.
“Huh, what if you drink that too, sip…”
Elliot’s lips overlapped her open mouth. Her vision became dizzy and her mind went blank. She had no choice but to obediently accept the potion that fell into her mouth and drink it.
Elliot, who had handed over all of the potions to her, curled the corners of the eyes, smiled, and parted his lips. He wiped her wet lips with his thumb…
“Oh!”
He carried her like a princess and headed to the Grand Duke’s bedroom. Two empty glass bottles were rolling around on the table. In the end, that day…
Hmm, hmm.
Anyway, she couldn’t have dinner with the chestnuts. There was another use for the snake’s legs. She found out about this thanks to a magic merchant who visited me just a day before leaving the Grand Duke’s residence. He handed me a parchment scroll, saying it was something he had found with great difficulty.
“Wow, have you forgotten this and figured it out yet?”
She didn’t need it anymore… She thought so, but her thoughts changed the moment she unfolded the parchment.
“They say the snake’s bridge can briefly connect two disparate worlds.”
She immediately ran to Elliot and explained. Unlike her, who was excited, Elliot’s expression gradually darkened.
“…what’s the matter? Isn’t that good?”
For some reason, he looked at her with disappointed eyes for a long time and then asked cautiously.
“Do you want to go back to your house?”
What? She was speechless for a moment, having never thought about that.
“If you really want to go, I can let you go. Instead, promise to come back…”
“What do you mean, going back home? Now where you live is my home.”
Elliot, who had the expression of an abandoned child, finally smiled brightly.
“Then what do you plan to use it for?”
“To connect this world and the afterlife.”
“This world and the next? Why?”
“Then Elliot and Chestnut will be able to meet their parents.”
As soon as she said what she had been thinking since she opened this parchment, the puzzlement in Elliot’s eyes disappeared and his eyes began to water.
“Thank you so much, but…”
But she was confused because he seemed to be trying to refuse.
“But?”
“If I use this, I will lose one of my children. Because you said you wanted to have up to four children.”
“Oh, no…”
Since snakes had four legs, then they could give birth to four kids, right?
“I’m sure you had done calculations before…”
“I really don’t plan on having four.”
“Really? If that’s what you think.”
Elliot looked at the parchment, lost in his thoughts for a moment, and then he asked her.
“Then can we have two children?”
“Two? Why?”
“I was wondering if it would be a good idea for one of us to use the snake’s legs, and one for you.”
Elliot looked at her blankly and he asked.
“There is someone you want to meet too?”
Yes. There was someone she really wanted to meet too. She nodded and reread the instructions on the parchment scroll.
“They say the ritual must be performed on the night of the full moon.”
“Then it’s today.”
So they decided to meet the people they missed tonight. It was a fitting finale before leaving the home where he was born and lived his entire life. That night, when the moon rose, the four of them headed to the garden to avoid people’s eyes.
“Ugh, it’s cold.”
“Sister, look at my breath.”
It was too cold to perform the ceremony outside. Instead, we went into the greenhouse and stood in the moonlight pouring in. Elliot took out a snake’s leg from the box he was holding. When she put her hands together like a bowl, he placed the snake’s legs inside them.
“Okay then, let’s try it now.”
After she finished speaking, there was silence where no sound of breathing could be heard.
“Whoa…”
She took a deep breath and looked at the snake’s legs, which were dyed bluish in the moonlight.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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