Chapter 5
Let’s Be Strangers Now
Episode 5
In the rear garden of Solteir Palace, which the late Emperor Bernhardt had granted to Elisha, there was a tall ivy maze.
Elisha enjoyed sitting deep within that maze to read.
In a space where no one could disturb her, she would hear the cries of a maid calling her name to find her.
The rustling sound of grass brushing against her hem, and the humid warmth of the summer wind sweeping through her hair.
And as she read through her books in that setting, a certain voice would eventually drift in.
‘Do you want to read, or do you want to play hide-and-seek?’
The blunt voice of the young Prince.
Each time, Elisha would let out a small sigh, take her eyes off the book to look at Erich, and give him a half-hearted response.
Usually, it was something like, ‘You’re interfering with my reading, Your Highness.’
‘Hide-and-seek?’
Of course, there were rare moments when her curiosity was genuinely piqued. It was whenever Erich brought up a new word.
‘What is that?’
‘What? You don’t even know that?’
The young boy asked back, shrugging his shoulders in a boastful manner. Elisha simply tilted her head in silence instead of answering.
‘Your Highness—.’
It was the moment Elisha began to speak softly.
‘To put it simply, it’s a game of hiding and finding.’
Erich cut her off and launched into an explanation before she could continue.
Judging by that expression of his, he surely would have spat out some sharp tongue if she hadn’t stopped him.
So, he decided to intercept her before she could speak.
It was a skill of sorts that Erich had mastered after living with her for a few months.
‘One person becomes “it,” counts to a hundred, and then finds the people who are hiding.’
Naturally taking the spot next to the girl, Erich’s black hair fluttered in the wind. Elisha stared blankly at him before blurting out a remark.
‘I wasn’t hiding to play a game.’
‘…….’
‘Since Your Highness said you keep following me, I moved away first. But now Your Highness is following me.’
At her tone, which sounded as if she were stating a simple fact, Erich’s cheeks flushed red.
Elisha watched him intently, her eyelashes fluttering.
It was exactly the color of the roses blooming in the garden.
‘It’s only because you’re in such an easy place to find that you caught my eye for no reason!’
As if trying to hide his embarrassment, Erich shouted again.
Elisha replied calmly, as she always did.
‘The maid couldn’t find me.’
‘That’s because I’m smart and fast…….’
‘Come to think of it, Your Highness seems quite good at lying.’
As soon as Elisha finished speaking, Erich’s face crumpled once more.
Elisha watched his face closely and continued.
‘I didn’t hide to play a game this time.’
‘…….’
‘Next time we play this “hide-and-seek,” I’ll make sure to hide very well.’
At Elisha’s words, Erich bit his lip hard, then spoke in a voice filled with determination, as if his competitive streak had been ignited.
His topaz eyes, clearer than the sky, were fixed on Elisha.
‘Then let’s do it now, hide-and-seek.’
‘…….’
‘You’re going to stop reading anyway.’
Erich lifted his chin, staring at the neatly folded corner of her page.
Folding the corner of a page instead of using a bookmark.
It was a habit Elisha had whenever she paused her reading.
‘……If I win.’
Elisha finally opened her closed mouth and made a calm proposal.
‘You have to eat all your carrots today, Your Highness.’
‘What?’
‘His Majesty worries every day. He wonders if you’ll ever grow tall with such picky eating habits, or if you’ll waste away and die…….’
‘You made that last part up!’
‘You’re mistaken.’
Elisha said, fixing her blue eyes on Erich.
Her gaze remained devoid of emotion, but for a split second, Erich discovered a tiny sparkle within her eyes.
The boy, staring as if possessed, soon nodded.
‘Fine. If I lose, I won’t pick them out and I’ll eat all the carrots today.’
‘…….’
‘Instead, if I win, you have to eat all of my carrots.’
As if expressing his firm resolve, Erich clamped his mouth shut after speaking.
Elisha blinked without any heat in her eyes before speaking lightly.
‘Honestly, this is a bet where I gain nothing even if I win.’
‘You’re the one who suggested it first!’
‘Yes, that’s true. So let’s do that.’
Elisha eventually gave a small nod.
‘Since I’m going to win anyway.’
She wore an expression that looked slightly amused.
‘You’re the one who should get ready to eat carrots.’
After shouting with a face full of confidence, Erich covered his face with his palms and began to count.
He would be the winner of this game in the end.
That girl had only stayed here for a few months, but he had lived here his entire life.
So, he would have to tell the chef to put plenty of carrots in tonight’s dinner.
And that evening.
Erich had to swallow tear-soaked carrots down his throat.
“The breakfast menu is uniform stew.”
With a gruff voice, a plate of stew was shoved in front of Elisha.
Elisha stared at the plate of stew before her, slowly closing and opening her eyes.
After leaving the Imperial Palace and heading straight for the city streets, she had entered this place after seeing the small description on the sign.
She thought it would be similar to the Imperial Palace since they provided both lodging and meals, but…….
‘If I had known it would be like this, I should have enjoyed a last supper last night.’
A stew without a single piece of meat.
She picked up her spoon, stirred the stew, and let out a faint breath.
She had to get used to this now.
It was just that her sense of reality had vanished after living in the Imperial Palace for so long; most humans likely lived like this.
At least, that was the case in the books she had read.
‘I’m glad Erich is royalty.’
Erich, who loathed vegetables, wouldn’t have been able to endure this.
Elisha thought as she scooped up a half-submerged piece of carrot with her spoon.
He would probably cry. Or perhaps he would collapse after stubbornly refusing to eat.
Either way, it was equally bothersome.
“You clearly look like you were raised refined, which is strange.”
While Elisha stirred her stew with the spoon, the man standing in front of her spoke.
“There’s no way a noble lady would stroll through town without even an escort.”
Elisha shifted her eyes slightly to look at the man standing before her.
So, was he the owner of this building?
“Did you run away from home?”
He asked, stroking the tip of his beard with his finger.
Elisha merely fluttered her eyelashes without giving any answer.
To call it running away from home, the Imperial Palace had never been a ‘complete home’ from the beginning.
Elisha was well aware that the reason she could live in the Imperial Palace for so long was ultimately because she was a useful person.
At the same time, she knew.
She would have remained a useful person among people indefinitely.
‘If nothing had happened, I probably could have stayed in the Imperial Palace for the rest of my life.’
So, in a way, it could be seen as running away from home.
“Or, were you kicked out?”
The man, taking Elisha’s silence in another way, asked again.
Elisha didn’t open her mouth this time either, but tilted her head to the side.
‘Was I kicked out?’
This was also partially correct. Although it was conditional.
Regardless, the moment to keep her promise with Erich eventually arrived, and so she left the Imperial Palace without lingering.
Of course, she hadn’t left without any preparations.
Fearing he might be assassinated while she was gone, she had installed safety devices just for Erich throughout the palace.
Dante Renaud would succeed her as the Chief Archmage, so there was nothing to worry about there.
She even left behind the staff she used for the people who might be bewildered by her sudden disappearance.
She had even placed a spell on it that would increase the user’s mana capacity and magic casting speed by one level.
‘Dante Renaud will probably use that.’
After finishing her thoughts, Elisha let out a light breath.
Whether she ran away or was kicked out, the conclusion was the same.
She was not going back there.
“Were you really kicked out?”
In the meantime, the man frowned and spoke again.
Elisha gave a small shrug and gripped the spoon she had momentarily set down.
There was no reason to tell this story to anyone.
Especially not to someone she was meeting for the first time.
“……Hey, lady.”
But just before Elisha could take a spoonful of stew, the man snatched the plate away.
Elisha immediately furrowed her brows and looked at the person in front of her.
“I didn’t bring up the matter of payment in advance because you looked like a noble, but if you’ve been kicked out, the story changes.”
“…….”
“Do you actually have money?”
The man asked with a threatening look in his eyes. He seemed ready to throw her out immediately if she had no money.
Elisha blinked vacantly and began to organize her thoughts.
This man provided her with a place to sleep and food.
So, his desire to receive the corresponding compensation was not wrong.
Furthermore, Dante Renaud had said that ordinary humans were so fragile that their breath could be cut short with a single gesture.
To be precise, it was, ‘With one flick of your hand, hundreds or thousands of people would be introducing themselves in the afterlife, you know?’
And he had added this:
‘If possible, solve things through conversation. Dialogue, negotiation, amicable agreement, a happy ending.’
If that doesn’t work, then you wipe them out.
“……I don’t have money, but.”
Elisha finally spoke calmly after finishing her thoughts. At that, the man’s expression distorted even more fiercely.
“Then get out of my inn this inst—”
It was the moment the man was about to lose his temper while pointing toward the door.
“I have something like this.”
Elisha fumbled in her robes and pulled something out, placing it on the table.
It was an artifact with a purple mana stone embedded in the center of a delicately crafted gold frame.
“Inst……ant……ly…….”
The man’s brown eyes wavered for a moment after confirming the artifact.
“I shall put some meat in your stew.”
He then folded his finger back and smiled more graciously than ever.
Elisha nodded, her eyelashes fluttering a couple of times.
That’s something Erich would be happy to hear.
Though Erich would be eating much better meat than this.
