“Jesse, our child, my poor little baby…… Losa.” Christanne Venetiaan called out in a weak voice. The hand that once held a sword was shaking weakly while holding the flower that no longer had even a bulb. Red blood was dripping down to her elbow but she did not even realize her condition.

Elise quickly shook her head and approached her mother on the bed. “Mother. It’s okay. I’m sure Jesse is fine. Jeanine, the Royal Doctor!”

“Yes, your Royal Highness.” The attendant received the order and quickly left the banquet hall.

The crown princess first picked up Cornelisse. The child grumbled as it was not time to wake up yet, but she had no choice. She didn’t want her young sister to see their mother looking weak like this. Her sister had received so much trauma already despite only being eight.

The staff who ran over at Jeanine’s command received the second princess and quickly rushed out.

“Usil, your younger brother has to deal with things like this again……!”

The Queen raised her voice. Her apricot-colored eyes were full of sorrow and despair. The sharpness that she showed last night was no longer present. Christanne teared up while gently placing her hand on her daughter’s face. The heir to the throne, whose skin was as white as marble, became covered in her mother’s blood.

“I lost that person that way… How can this be? How can he do this to you all as well…… How can this be?!”

“Mother, they are just useless schemes.”

“What do you mean by his memories are not fully there? Explain, quickly explain yourself.” Christanne asked Maartje with her blonde hair in a mess. Her gaze wandered in the air and the conversation quickly changed topics. She still showed no care for her own injuries.

The knight respectfully knelt down under the platform and bowed. The woman’s voice was shaking as if there was an earthquake.

“Last summer, when we visited the Riester Imperial Palace…… His highness bestowed a magic tool, a heat generator, to me. It seemed to be a massager.”

“……Ha.”

The mother and daughter duo both fell into shock.

Around ten years ago…

Maartje was struck by an arrow with demonic beast blood and a critical poison while protecting the prince. Since then, she had not been able to use any magic tools. The traces of the demonic beast that remained in her body caused them to malfunction. There was no way that Jesse would not know that. They could still clearly see how worried he had been about her pain whenever it rained or snowed.

Maartje clenched her fists and gritted her teeth as she spoke.

“I had already been feeling that the way his highness spoke was a bit different from when he was with us in the Holy Kingdom. But then to see him bestow an item like that to me with a warm and bright expression on his face…”

“No, no, there’s no way……”

Christelle shook her head. Elise clenched her teeth and held onto her mother.

“When did my son lose his memories?! I don’t care about anything else, just tell me when it was!” The Queen started throwing a fit. Blood splattered all around.

“Please kill me, your Majesty.” Maartje asked to be punished for her sin.

“I’m sure there was an error or something, mother. Maybe the wrong present was given to her.”

Elise did her best to act rationally. Her mother did not let go of the tulip despite the situation. Elise only opened up her left hand. The blood had splattered so much on her that it was hard to tell who was injured now.

The crown princess checked the scratch and continued to say the same thing.

‘I’m sure it is nothing much, mother. Please don’t worry, as Jesse will be fine.’

“How can he not remember? That child helped us take care of Maartje. So how could he forget, hmm?”

“Mother, Jesse was healthy when I saw him.”

“My precious daughter, you know it best, don’t you? Jesse is not someone who would even harm a fly!”

“You are right, mother. So please calm down.” The Queen was darting through topics. Elise did her best to ignore that fact.

“Maybe he got sick and forgot? Is it possible he ended up consuming some poison again?”

“No, mother. The Empire’s Imperial family is thoroughly checking all of the food……”

“Michael?”

A name that was both loved and hated came out of her mother’s mouth. She felt suffocated.

“Michael.”

Suddenly all of the light in the world became dim and all sound became distant. The mother fondly touched her daughter’s lips. Her eyes were not focused at all. Elise slowly closed her eyes. The taste of blood was in her mouth.

“Michael, I’ve missed you so much. My love……” She felt a heart-crushing pain. Maartje silently sobbed.

*

‘It must have been father.’

– Baaaaang!

“Your Royal Highness, you can’t do this!”

She was certain that her father was behind this incident.

“Your Royal Highness!”

“Move.”

A low voice echoed through the room.

The Spear of the Almighty God, the Vicious Manifestation of the Headwind, flashed in its master’s hand. The crown princess, who had spent the night in the banquet hall, was barging into the Prince Consort’s bedroom in a gown. Her golden hair, which was always neatly braided down, was long and free that it almost touched the ground, and her frosty gaze was so sharp it looked like it would slice anybody and anything that went against her.

The underlings of the Venetiaan Royal Palace all shook in fear. Their opponent was a strong warrior of the Holy Kingdom, and a fire attribute Cardinal at that.

“H, his Royal Highness has ordered us not to let anybody inside, including you and her Majesty, your Royal Highness.”

The Prince Consort’s Chief Attendant bowed down at her ankle. The old man could not raise his head at his master’s wrath but still slowly finished what he had to say.

“I will not listen.”

“Your Royal Highness.”

Elise released a murderous intent. “Open the door. Do you not see the future Queen of this land?”

“Huff, huff! Ugh!”

The old man clenched his neck as he rolled on the ground. He was being suffocated by a Cardinal’s pressure.

“Lord Chief Attendant!” The attendants gasped and screamed while holding him. Elise was not fazed.

Her gaze had no warmth at all as if she was a human sculpture carved by the Almighty God. Two of the attendants dangled on the doorknob with teary eyes. It was hard to open the door because their hands kept slipping. Click!

Babang!!

“Aaah!”

The door went flying as soon as they opened it. The youngsters screamed and fell to the floor. Elise kicked and destroyed the wooden door before going through with her weapon in her hand. The attendants and servants gasped and fell to the ground. Suppressed groans could be heard all around her.

– Babang!!

“Your Royal Highness!”

“Your Royal Highness, why?!”

Attendants holding basins, towels, and other items screeched once she broke the door to the bedroom. Thump! Water fell and a chair tumbled over. Elise flinched at the unexpected sight.

“Elise…… Our little princess is here.”

She heard a faint voice coming from the bed.

‘Our little princess.’ That was what her father had called her when she was still just the first princess.

The crown princess finally detected the scent of medicinal herbs and incense in the room. It was also weird that the bedroom was still dark despite it being morning. Her sapphire-colored eyes slowly opened wide.

“Father?”

Chh! Elise quickly opened the curtains to the bed. She was shocked.

“It seemed quite chaotic outside. Has something happened to her Majesty……?”

The face she had not seen in a while was covered in cold sweat. His pale and cracked lips were bleeding. The fingers that he barely managed to extend out of the blankets were completely pale as well.

The crown princess could not say anything for a while. She had never seen her father sick in her entire life. Her father was someone who never got sick.

So why…

“Why…… Are you so unwell, father?”

Her heart instantly became weak. Elise bit down on her tongue because she was angry at how stupid she was.

Werner’s eyes curled up.

“Last time…… After I hurt my hand, cough!”

“……”

She quickly recalled the day her father got hurt. Elise peeked at his hand. A red scar cut across his palm. It was the scar from when her father stopped her from harming herself with the divine item. Her arm holding the spear tightened.

“Cough cough! My heart was hurting, so I think my body became weak as well……”

“Please don’t say something like that.”

“Haha. Your father is getting old now I suppose. Cough! I’m definitely not like I used to be…… I’ve also lost my appetite since that day her Majesty did not allow me to dine with her.”

The man’s eyes weakly blinked. Elise was silent. She had too many strong memories of loving her father to say that it was the cost of his sins. He looked extremely helpless right now.

“Ahem, isn’t it soon your birthday, crown princess? Your father has not been able to pay it any attention due to my current state…… Have the preparations been going well? I’ll need to prepare a present for our little princess.” A smile that looked as if it would break soon followed.

‘My birthday has passed. The celebration has already ended.’

The crown princess suppressed an emotion bursting up inside her. She then glared at the Royal Doctor standing by the foot of the dead.

“How long has my father been this ill?”

“It is as your father answered, your Royal Highness. His health and food intake has decreased since late summer and he started with a light cough. His weight slowly decreased as well. The hallucinations became extremely bad since about twelve days ago……”

“The cause?”

“That… Seeing as how even the healing priests are unable to do anything about it…… I believe it may be an illness of the heart, your Royal Highness.”

The old man bowed his head. Something flashed in Elise’s mind. She recalled how her sister had mumbled about their Royal Father feeling down.

“……”

She had assumed it was the random mumblings of a child. She had no idea. Nobody around the crown princess had mentioned it. She barely managed to open her clenched teeth.

“Please get some rest, father. I will brew some sun halo weed and send it up.”

“Thank you very much. I’m sure you are busy……”

The man warmly answered. The crown princess left the room without showing her respect. It wasn’t like her at all, but wearing an embarrassing outfit with a spear in her hand at such an early hour wasn’t like Elise either. His daughter’s presence disappeared completely. The Prince Consort let out a deep breath.

“Haaaaaaaaaa…… Heh…… Hehehehe.”

The sigh turned into laughter. His chest bobbed up and down and his beautiful eyes filled with life again.

Chhhh! The man used the hand he had purposely pulled out to fan himself. The room felt like it was boiling as he had to pretend to be a patient. The Chief Attendant quickly approached and stood next to him. The Prince Consort opened his mouth without any hesitation.

“It seems like things are going well. Seeing her so emotional like this must mean that the Prince is in serious danger, even if he is not dead.”

“Yes, your Royal Highness.”

“Cough! Bring the antidote immediately. It feels so suffocating with my body like this. Lower the furnace as well.”

“As you command, your Royal Highness.”

The old man bowed and moved away. It was fine since Elise saw him like this. Everything was going according to plan until here.

Werner Venetiaan smiled brightly while being frantically attended to by his underlings.

*

This dangerous cat-and-mouse race had already continued for a few hours.

– Shaaaaaa, shaaaaa, shaaaaaaaa……!

“Ah, she’s catching up again!”

Christelle urgently extended her hand toward the sea. Splash! The open sea underneath the main character’s small hand flailed wildly like a foal and pushed the pirate ship forward.

I quickly grabbed her elbow.

“Ugh.”

Swoosh! A significant amount of ether left my body at once, making me dizzy. Christelle thankfully did not seem to have heard my groan as she was focused on her own Divine Power. I tightly held onto Tithé to persist. The divine beast looked up at me with concern.

– Oo……

“Don’t worry. Big bro is super strong.” I smiled and whispered. In fact, I was more concerned about Christelle. She had said that turning the water vapor into drops was simple. She also said controlling it was not hard.

But moving the sea according to her will was completely different in size and scale. The currents, tides, sea creatures and terrain were all things that could resist her. This was a crazy ordeal that used up a significant amount of ether!

– Baaaaang!

“They fired a blank!” Isabelle, who was looking into a magic stone binocular, calmly shouted.

I quickly looked around at my friends. Nobody was tired yet, but the issue was that they would soon be tired.

The Duhem siblings, who had cast a defensive magic circle, exchanged anxious gazes. They could see the Navy speed boats that had departed from Zeboim beyond the torches lighting up the pirate ship. Admiral Corleone was standing at the bow of the boat in the front. She was taking turns running on the water and getting on the boat to recover her stamina and mana. She also switched her hook with the extra her subordinates brought for her.

‘At this rate her chain will eventually reach us!’

“When the Admiral approaches us…… We may have a chance if I make a Divine Oracle. But I guess letting such a person approach us is a dangerous idea.”

– Aaarf!

I mumbled and Tithé flailed as he responded. The circle’s protection ability wouldn’t work because they had no intention of ‘harming’ us.

– Swooooooosh!

Sir Johann was creating a tailwind for us but even a Cardinal like him wouldn’t be able to continuously use his Divine Power like this. It was the same for the crown prince, who was using a threatening flame to prevent the Admiral’s group from approaching. To make matters worse, Percy was unable to use his powers. He seemed to have used up all his strength flying through the Empire.

I looked toward the little troublemakers who were gathered together in front of the cabin. It was sad seeing them all dozing off like this.

“Who knew it would be so hard to lose her?”

We could not attack and should not attack. They were the Empire’s troops in the end.

‘What can we do to not harm each other……’

– Ploooop!

Something fell by my feet at that moment. I gasped and looked at the deck.

Flapping squids, cutlass fish, abalone…… All sorts of sashimi cuts as well.

“Tithé?”

– Aaarf

The harp seal immediately answered. I hugged him and quietly chuckled. I did not want to break Christelle’s focus.

“I guess you want to help.”

– Oong.

“But you feel annoyed that you don’t have the power to do so, right? Our Tithé is still young.”

– Aarf……

His black round eyes started tearing up. I touched my nose to his and calmed him down.

“It’s okay. You are warm so big bro is not cold. Tithé, your existence alone is a big help for us.”

– ……

“Little kids just have to be healthy. Leave the difficult things to big bro and big sis.” I smiled brightly. The divine beast stared at me before shaking and looking at Christelle, who was releasing ether. He then looked toward me. His large eyes were glowing with determination.

– Aaaaaaaaaaaaarf……!

The harp seal flapped his front fins and raised his voice.

I hugged the little guy with both hands in shock. The ether being transported to Christelle finally stopped. She staggered and plopped down on the deck.

Tithé’s cry echoed through the dark waters. “Aaarf, arrf, aaaaaarf……!”

“Shhh, big bro is right here. It’s not scary at all, right?”

I checked Christells’ condition and tried to soothe the divine beast. The Imperial Crown Prince suddenly interjected.

“The Admiral will probably think differently.”

‘Huh?’

Ooooooooo—

The sea resonated at that moment. I got chills all over my body as I exchanged glances with the young man. Both us as well as the boats chasing us were stunned to silence. Sir Johann slowly withdrew his wind. Everybody could tell even without a warning.

Something was coming.

“Everybody, be careful……!”

– Baaaaaaaang!

Water shot up as high as an apartment complex.

Splash, splash! The ship felt like it could flip over at any moment. Sir Johann flew over like a gale to hold Christelle while the Duhem siblings protected Isabelle and Ellen. I threw my body on instinct to support the divine beasts. An unbelievable sight happened beyond my bent elbows.

– Chhhhhhhhhhhh!

– Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa……!

A Blue Whale the size of a mountain sparkled in the moonlight as it shot up into the night sky.

—
Translator’s Comments

A large whale? Are we going to go into the belly of a whale?

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