Chapter 11
What happened at the lake soon became a rumor in the palace.
People heard that the Emperor jumped into the water to save his daughter.
Which clearly showed what the Emperor thinks of his daughter.
At the Emperor’s command, the knights began swimming in the lake wearing armor every morning.
When the rumors spread, some aristocrats thought the Emperor had adopted a pawn to perform a show for him and said that it was unreliable information. Nobles working in the palace claimed otherwise.
Even those who saw the scene themselves were shocked. No, they were just trying to revise their judgement on Elaine.
And the main character of the rumor was Elaine. She opened her mouth as she looked at the things piled up in front of her.
“What’s all these?”
“These are gifts from the nobles to you. They’ve all been wishing for your good health.”
“Oh? They were?”
“Yes, that’s correct. The nobles wanted you to take care of your health.”
“Really?”
Elaine snorted.
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t possibly take care of her health by eating chocolate and cookies.
She didn’t know anything anymore! She was just gifted with these, so she should definitely enjoy them.
Elaine opened the box of cookies and broke the chocolate chip cookie into bite-sized pieces.
Later on, Alice said, “What if your teeth get cavities…?” and “I’ll let you go just for today. But, you have to brush your teeth before you go to bed.” However, Elaine nodded her head as she kept eating the sweet desserts.
“Oh no. Instead of eating sweets, you should take a look at your new shoes!”
“New… shoes?”
Elaine, who was mumbling in daze, heard a “Ta-da!” before staring at the pair of yellow shoes with her mouth hung open.
She had not worn these shoes in a while, so she wondered if it was a different pair.
‘But the appearance of the shoes didn’t change?’
As Elaine looked around, Alice grinned and put on the shoes for her.
And then she said.
“A total of three magic spells have been added. When you fall into the water, you can breathe for a minute, and a signal goes off at the same time. Oh! And there’s a location tracking function, so we can come to you faster, right?”
“Huh?”
Elaine’s voice rang out.
Who turns a pair of shoes into a multi-functional artifact?
Elaine’s jaw dropped.
She began to sweat as she looked at the shoes.
“Oh, are you sure this is alright?”
“It’s pretty efficient… Are you worried the Emperor would be in a tight position?”
“But this is a bit too much…”
“It’s not too much at all. Rather, the Emperor himself allowed it, so please accept it.”
‘Huh? Is that correct?’
Elaine stared at the mountain of gifts.
She blinked at the fact that it consisted of snacks that suited her taste.
‘The Emperor is unexpectedly very nice.’
She felt better.
Come to think of it, it was the Emperor who saved her from drowning.
Elaine, who did not know that the Emperor would think of her fondly, could not hide her laughter that was rising from her stomach.
Alice looked at the cute child and said,
“I’ll get a drink to go with the cookies. You two watch over the princess.”
“Yes.”
“Leave it to us!”
As Alice left, Cathay and Bailey watched the surroundings with hawk eyes as if they were knights on a critical mission.
‘This is just my room…’
She wondered why they were all on guard even when Elaine wasn’t outside, yet her confusion died as she thought about how she almost drowned.
Perhaps even the edge of the table looked like a deadly weapon to the servants now. Elaine felt sorry, so she clenched her little fists.
She made a decision using the last incident as a lesson.
She needed to find her own strength.
Before returning, Elaine made a living as a mercenary.
And the power she used in her mercenary life was the power of the Spirit.
‘The Spirit of Water had matched with her well, except for the fact that she had almost drowned.’
In fact, there were times where she could do the impossible with the help of her Spirit.
In the event of a flood, she had enough power to stop huge waves of water that would come.
Yes, it was as powerful as that.
Elaine, who was only a little below from a Spirit Master, was the best mercenary at the time.
Elaine, who succeeded in evacuating the people, was drained and swept away by the surging current.
‘It’s not a good memory, but I can see ahead of time and find out the disasters that will happen in the future.’
Three disasters that devastated many countries, including the Kingdom of Astor. A huge flood and tidal wave had happened when she turned 30.
She was not sure if it was the beginning of another disaster, but she could still be prepared to some extent.
‘And if it’s not just that, then I have all the reasons to build up my strength.’
Emperor Benedict has a fickle temper, after all.
That was her first impression of the Emperor, which was universally known to people even before the regression. Elaine knew he was interested in her, but she didn’t know how long it’d last.
Of course, this is just a side reason since the most important thing is one’s status.
A royal family member. And a royal princess.
Later, when she becomes an adult, Elaine would definitely get into a politically arranged marriage.
As has been the case with numerous nobles and royal family members. Elaine will walk the same path as them.
But she didn’t want to live such a harsh life like that.
‘And what if he’s someone who’s…’
The world was too broad and there were many evildoers out there. This was an unchangeable fact that Elaine had experienced before returning.
‘You can never escape.’
She was grateful to the Emperor.
For some reason, he became like a father to her, and thanks to him, she would be sheltered from the terrible consequences of being taken by King Astor. Somehow, he seemed genuinely concerned about Elaine.
‘So even if you toss me aside later on…’
She decided not to hate the Emperor, who made her feel really happy even though it would only last for a short time.
‘…Rather, I should focus on how to build my strength.’
Elaine agonized for a moment.
Before regression, she was objectively loved by spirits.
Oh, of course, that didn’t mean that her mana from the spirits was able to complete such a feat.
(TL/N: Regarding turning back time.)
An expensive potion that could only be bought by nobility. If she drank it, her life might have changed, but it was already in the past.
Besides, she was a princess now, right?
Maybe once or twice, but there will still be a chance to encounter a potion.
She had to try to increase her mana by then.
‘And when I was a mercenary, the elves were strangely nice to me.’
The elves had antagonized humans.
However, Elaine was the only one who treated them properly.
She felt oddly good about something.
Come to think of it, it wasn’t the only strange thing.
Unlike ordinary people, Elaine recovered quickly.
So, although Astor had treated her severely in the past, her power will now not be a curse, but a great advantage and strength for her and the Emperor.
‘I think it’s worth it.’
She had already lived one life. In addition, the conditions are better now than they were in her previous life.
Elaine, with her fists clenched, raised her head slightly.
Bailey and Cathy, who still had their eyes on Elaine, were wary of their surroundings.
Elaine would like to summon a spirit right now, but…
‘It’s unnatural for a four-year-old to summon a spirit, even knowing how to summon one is very shocking.’
Maybe the people around would look at her as if she is a monster.
If not, they may try to prevent her from summoning the spirits entirely, saying how it’s dangerous.
If Elaine knew how to, they’d be closer to the latter, but…
‘Anyways, it’s better to summon the spirit when I’m alone later.’
Elaine tried to hide her excitement before she fell asleep. She decided to wait until late at night to summon a spirit.
It’s been a long time since she was this excited.
Alice, who was back again, brought something to Elaine with fresh fruit juice.
“Huh? What’s this?”
“On days when I face difficult challenges, I put this in my pocket. I kept it to give to you when you recovered.”
What Alice gave her was not cold enough to be a piece of ice, but a transparent and pretty stone.
‘You had this in your pocket?’
Elaine stared at the stone in a daze. A gemstone? She picked up the stone and giggled.
Clear and transparent gemstones looked like they had been used and lost all their power.
‘Wait. Are you really a spirit user?’
Come to think of it, it was only round in shape but it fairly looked like a Spirit Stone.
Above all, the feeling of cool water mana emitted from the stone.
Even though it has been a long time since she had been in contact with water magic, it may be a real spirit stone if she was able to feel this mana.
The Spirit Stone, which would summon the Spirit of Water.
‘I thought I saw a brightly colored stone before I drowned. Was that it?’
No. The thought was too far-fetched.
If she summoned the Spirit of Water and did her best to convince the spirit, wouldn’t a contract already have formed between them?
“…..”
Elaine looked at Alice and the two maids for a moment.
‘Fortunately, not all three of them were watching me.’
Elaine opened her mouth cautiously with the thought that she would have nothing to lose.
“I need to poo!”
She said that in a timid but precise voice.
However, the ensuing silence that followed was heartbreaking.
Alice, who was fixing the sofa cushion, had one hand on her waist. The other hand went to her mouth when she saw Elaine standing up.
“Princess, what did you just say?”
Tap.
“Oh no, nothing.”
“Please let me know if you need anything.”
“Uh, yes.”
Elaine saw Alice’ worried expression, which had transitioned to a sort of extreme sincerity, and took a sip of the juice to cool down her flushed cheeks.
She sighed as she felt her red face slowly cooling down.
‘Yeah, that can’t be right.’
No one else was embarrassed but her.
***
That night.
When everyone was asleep. Elaine opened her eyes wide.
“It’s time.”
Elaine jumped up from the bed and began to move quickly.
Fortunately, there were no clouds today, and the moon was shining brightly in the sky.
Step step step.
While she was hurrying along, she poured clean water in a small bucket and placed it on the ground.
She sprinkled the tea leaf powder she got from Alice dramatically onto the floor.
Of course the important thing was that she was not supposed to sprinkle it randomly, but to draw the spirit gate.
The spirit gate was almost destroyed because it was too sensitive.
However, with the help of the elves from her previous life, she worked hard to draw the shape of the spirit gate once more.
Finally, Elaine stopped moving and rubbed her nose filled with tea leaf powder.
“Ready!”
Finally, the time she had been waiting for has come.
Originally, spirits could not be summoned at such a young age, but Eliane has quite a unique constitution.
With her mind cleared, she gathered mana onto her palm.
‘All I want is the spirit of water!’
Before regression, the spirit of water was with Elaine for a long time.
There was no guarantee that the same spirit from before would be summoned now, but Elaine was eager to try it out.
Then it became a miracle and the spirit gate drawn with tea leaves began to shine brightly.
“Come on, holy spirit!”
Shaa-
“Huh…?”
But something wasn’t right.
‘Why was the light so intense? Wouldn’t people notice?’
Maybe it was because she summoned him during the day, so she didn’t think it was that bright. She never imagined it would be like this.
And sure enough.
Boom!
“What’s that light?”
“It came from the princess’ room!”
“Hurry! If something happens to her again…”
Bam!
“Princess!”
Alice came in with her pajamas, and Bailey with her messy hair. Even the knights rushed over.
When they all came to the princess’ room in great confusion, they saw that everything was normal.
“Oh my.”
“Princess. Did something happen?”
“Perhaps a sudden flash of light…”
“I don’t know… Err, you guys probably should go back to sleep.”
When she rubbed her eyes, Alice scratched the back of her head with a confused lool.
“I’m sorry to wake you up while you’re sleeping so soundly. Then we’ll go back quickly…”
“But I’m sure there was a flash of light…”
“I don’t think it’s here. Come on, let’s go back now.”
“Goodbye! Go to sleep, everyone!”
Elaine gave them a refreshing farewell even though they were still unable to think over what just happened.
The people moved out of the room as if a high tidal wave had receded.
Elaine, who was covered in her blanket, smiled back at the presence of a spirit in front of her.
“Hehe, operation successful!”
~To be continued~