Chapter 156

About four months after settling in the mother’s womb, the creature would normally have grown large enough to be born at any moment—or at least be voraciously devouring the mother’s nutrients. But this one had only just taken the form of a baby, still barely the size of a fist. It didn’t even have much of an appetite. Although it had been well over two weeks since leaving Norella, it was still slowly and sparingly consuming the magical energy that Rezette had left behind.

It wasn’t because of the father’s sharp warning not to trouble the mother—if anything, it didn’t seem to listen to that at all.

“Still,” Sameshita murmured thoughtfully, “it’s strangely calm. Maybe it just really likes the mother’s side?”

Unlike ordinary dragons, which lacked intelligence, this one had developed its senses in just four months. It had probably started paying attention to outside sounds quite some time ago. Yet the only thing it seemed to react to sensitively was Elise’s mood, her emotions, and her physical condition.

Moments ago, the dragon quietly sent magical energy under the table, hoping Elise wouldn’t notice. At first, it hesitated, unsure if this magic was the same as Rezette’s it had been conserving. But then, unable to resist the temptation of the ample nourishment, it began to suck it up little by little.

However, the moment Elise sharply snapped, “Stop daydreaming!” the baby spat out Sameshita’s magic.

Then, with a blank expression as if nothing had happened, it acted nonchalantly. It was easy to guess whose temperament it had inherited. Sameshita couldn’t help but laugh quietly, bending over with a soft chuckle.

But that was all.

After all, it was a newly birthed life. Once the food ran out, would it be able to resist stealing the mother’s magic?

If Elise returned to her twin now, within a few months one of them would definitely die.

“Oh, or maybe not,” Sameshita said lazily, stretching and letting out a slow breath. “Not two, but one of three will die, I guess.”

It seemed this game wouldn’t last much longer.

***

Tall trees densely surrounded them on all sides, filling the air with the fresh scent of the mountains.
Elise rode alongside Barnon. Since leaving Tentaluna, she had grown quieter, and her silence worried him, so he kept up a steady stream of conversation.

“Are you alright, Your Highness? We’re almost there,” Barnon asked gently. “We just need to find the official messenger now.”

Elise, her face hidden beneath a deeply pulled hood, only gave a faint nod in response.

Unable to ride alone, she leaned heavily on Barnon, but even then, the pain in her waist and back was so severe that moving her lips to speak was difficult. Traveling by land had drained her far more than she had expected. The journey was so grueling that even ordinary women would struggle, and those watching worried deeply for her.

It had been a week since they left the Tentaluna Peninsula. The group had reached near the northern border of the Kingdom of Everil, just as planned. They were greeted quietly by a mysterious expanse known as the Valley of Thousand Years, named for the ancient trees growing there in Grandel.

The knights who had ventured deep into the forest to scout returned with flushed faces.

“It’s here, Your Highness!” one knight announced breathlessly. “As you ordered, His Majesty’s official messenger is waiting!”

Sure enough, a white dove perched like a delicate painting on a rock along the steep mountainside. It was one of Andrei’s messengers. When Elise raised her hand high into the air, the dove took flight gently.

Soon, wrapped around the dove’s ankle, was a rolled-up piece of paper.

As soon as Elise touched it, the paper unwound by itself. She felt the familiar magical circle curl into her palm—it was a teleportation spell she had seen before.

Clearing her hoarse throat, Elise warned, “Once the magic activates, it might be hard to keep your balance, so everyone dismount.”

Barnon carefully helped her down from the horse. She planted her feet firmly on the ground and opened her fist, palm facing downward.

This might be the last magic I can use, she thought.

If she hesitated, the spell would fail—and there would be no second chance.

The magical circle spread widely across the dirt beneath her. As magical power infused what had been just a simple pattern, the lines forming the shape began to glow softly.

Her noticeably swollen lower belly throbbed painfully. A dark wave of guilt washed over Elise, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Sorry. Let’s endure just a little longer,” she whispered to herself.

The magical circle expanded until it covered everyone’s feet, then stopped growing. Cold sweat broke out on Elise’s forehead and the nape of her neck. She parted her lips, numb from the strain, and spoke in a hoarse voice.

“Finally, I get to see you again… ‘Andrei.’”

My beloved brother. Please, pray that this magic succeeds.

Suddenly, a dazzling flash burst forth from multiple points at once. Like a lie, magical energy poured wildly from her body.

It felt as if her blood was being drained alive. Yellow flashes flickered before her eyes, and nausea rose like a tide. The life that had taken firm hold inside her writhed, trying desperately to reclaim the nutrients being sucked away.

Until now, Elise had kept reassuring herself that everything would be fine—but this time, she couldn’t remain calm.

The baby’s sense of crisis refluxed like bitter stomach acid.

Perhaps she fainted for a moment.

The instant Elise lost consciousness, the change happened immediately.

The clean forest scent that had gently drifted to her nose vanished first, replaced by a refreshing mountain breeze that opened her lungs. The cold temperature around her softened into warmth and comfort.

The dense forest disappeared as if washed away, revealing a massive canyon below, with a winding river flowing through it.

Among the knights, murmurs and sighs of awe rose softly. Experiencing such a miraculous spatial transformation firsthand was a once-in-a-lifetime event.

But Elise herself couldn’t confirm the results of the magic she had cast. The severe ringing in her ears turned all surrounding sounds into unintelligible echoes buzzing in her head.

It felt as if her entire body had been completely emptied.

Not just her bones and muscles, but her heart that pumped blood, her lungs that breathed, all her internal organs—and even the baby—vanished from her senses all at once.

Elise was left as a thin shell, like an empty sugar cookie. Looking down at her hand, she saw it crumble into dust, swept away by the wind without a trace.

It was a moment when dreadful emptiness gave birth to pure terror.

Suddenly, someone limped through the knights and desperately embraced her collapsing body.

“Elizabeth,” came the hoarse, choked voice.

The terrifying hallucination pressing on Elise vanished the moment she heard it. Her senses returned, and she began to feel the weight of her body once more.

Before she could even see the other’s face, tears poured down her cheeks without warning.

Elise couldn’t utter a single word—she wept as if crying for herself. The embrace was familiar, that of a grown man’s comforting arms, filled with the calm assurance of someone she deeply trusted.

“Andrei…” she whispered, burying her face in his shoulders.

His own shoulders were wet with tears as well.

Elise had come back.

Before the harsh year ended, she had returned to her family— to her rightful place. It had been ten months since she let go of her twin’s hand that late winter.

***

“Glad you returned safely, Duke Conrad,” greeted the grizzled veteran Duke Bellator, placing a firm, weary hand on Barnon’s shoulder. The exhaustion Barnon had been trying to hide was evident in the veteran’s touch.

They stood before the emperor’s bedroom. Barnon nodded toward the door.

“Is he sleeping?” he asked quietly.

“They just fell asleep. Both of them,” Bellator replied in a low voice.

Through the narrow, slightly open door, the twins could be seen sleeping soundly, facing each other peacefully. Barnon smiled unconsciously.

“You both haven’t changed since you were children,” he murmured. “You always used to sleep like that, clinging to each other.”

The moment they confirmed each other’s safety with their own eyes, the sadness they had held back overwhelmed them. The brother and sister cried until their sleeves were soaked, unable to utter a word of the important conversation. Eventually, exhaustion claimed them, and they fell asleep.

“It’s rare to see His Majesty shed tears like that,” Bellator remarked softly.

Their emperor was a ruler who hid cold thorns behind a gentle, kind smile. On the day the imperial city fell, despite enduring brutal torture from barbarians, his mental fortress never broke—until the moment he confirmed his sister’s fate. Then it all shattered.

“…Has His Majesty’s condition improved even a little?” Barnon asked cautiously.

Duke Bellator shook his head, his expression darkening.

They spoke quietly as they stood there, discussing the medicine the emperor had been taking, the festering wound that had been spreading a severe infection for months, the doctor’s grim prognosis, and the limited time the emperor himself expected to have left…

“Now that the princess has returned, isn’t there any hope of improvement?” Barnon asked cautiously.

“Maybe,” Bellator replied. “But from where this old man stands, it seems His Majesty has already made a decision.”

“What kind of decision…?” Barnon pressed.

“Look at his expression, Duke.”

Bellator silently opened the door just a crack. Barnon caught a glimpse of his lord and longtime younger brother through the blankets. Then Bellator sighed quietly, a sound Barnon immediately noticed.

The emperor’s face, though sleeping deeply, was almost translucent—as if it might dissolve in the sunlight at any moment. At the same time, it looked peaceful, as if all his duties were finally complete now that he had found his sister.

When the twins were still young children—back before Andrei ascended the throne—they often shared a single bed, pulling the covers over themselves and whispering until dawn, eventually falling asleep without either realizing who had dozed off first.

Andrei was always the first to wake. Elise had almost never seen him asleep. He would rise hours before her, gently pat her a few times, then slip away to wherever he needed to be.

This was the first time Elise had ever woken before him—and the first time she quietly watched him sleep. She gazed at Andrei, who lay in a deep slumber.

He’s suffered so much.

Once the tears stopped and her mind cleared, that was her first thought. Though still too exhausted to move a finger, she no longer cared about her own weariness.

Biting her lip tightly, Elise studied her brother from every angle.

Andrei, who had grown with the same pale cheeks, gentle eyes, soft brown hair, and honey-clear golden irises he’d had as a boy, was a young man with pure, noble features—like an angel sent from heaven.

His delicate eyes, strikingly similar to Elise’s, and long lashes lent him an air of mysterious melancholy. His slender build and graceful movements were naturally elegant and refined… that was how he had been.

But the healthy, beautiful face Elise had once envied so foolishly was now pale and gaunt with illness.

She brought her hand to the crimson cloth crossing diagonally over his thin cheek and forehead—it was a blindfold. Beneath the smooth fabric, no matter how much she traced with her fingers, the place where his right eye should have been felt hollow, as if empty.

“It’s nothing,” Andrei’s lips moved, though Elise had thought he was still asleep.