He had kidnapped Ceres’s younger sister and thrown her into the Forest of Ice Trees. He thought the child would die there, and that Ceres, consumed by rage, would finally reveal her true self.
He wanted to see the full extent of her abilities. The ideal outcome would’ve been for Ceres to lose control in the forest, clash with the S-rank monster that ruled it, and die there.
But once again, things didn’t go according to his expectations. The Master of the Forest protected Ceres’s younger sister instead. Not only that, even when Ceres appeared, it quietly retreated.
Those who witnessed the scene were said to be stunned. It was the first time the Master of the Forest ever acted that way. After all, it never once spared anyone, whether human or monster, who showed even the slightest hostility toward it.
“It’s not an ordinary monster.”
Veilks clicked his tongue. His plan failed, and he gained none of the information he wanted.
“People from the Temple have arrived.”
“The rumors about the Saintess have spread quite a bit.”
“It seems I’ll have to leave the Principality of Persia soon.”
Yuness frowned. She wanted to leave only after securing Grand Duke Persia’s feelings toward her.
“Your task is to establish your position within the Temple as well.”
“I know.”
Yuness nodded with an unhappy expression.
“Don’t forget what you need to do.”
“Don’t worry.”
A beautiful smile spread across Yuness’s lips. She raised her left arm.
“I’ll make sure to fill it completely.”
A satisfied smile appeared on Veilks’s lips at her confident declaration.
***
“These cookies are delicious.”
“Of course they are. Do you know who made them?”
At his disciple’s words, Ceres looked toward Julia, who was crouching in front of the kitchen hearth.
The child was badly shaken by the kidnapping and spent some time sick after returning to the Grand Duke’s residence. She ran a fever and suffered from body aches for two days, waking up crying throughout the night. But after that, she gradually recovered and could sleep peacefully without any trouble now.
Since Julia wanted to try making cookies herself, Ceres let her use the kitchen. She had been baking there since early morning.
“But why didn’t you leave?”
Early that morning, Saintess Yuness and the Temple officials all left the Grand Duke’s residence.
“I’ll see you again in the Empire.”
Yuness left the estate with a lingering sense of regret, telling Kainel that they would meet again as she looked at him with wistful eyes.
“They came here to escort the Saintess, after all.”
“That’s right.”
With everyone else gone, only Ersi remained at the Grand Duke’s residence.
“There wasn’t enough room. One of the carriages was broken.”
The Temple delegation had arrived in four carriages. They had brought extra ones because they needed enough space to take the Saintess back.
However, when they went to the carriage area that morning, they found one of the carriages damaged. In the end, everyone had to split between the remaining three carriages. Since the number of people who had originally needed four carriages now had to fit into three, there was no room for everyone. Ersi was the one who stayed behind.
“Everyone keeps saying it’s too cold here.”
“What about you?”
“I’m not really affected by the cold.”
“Hmm. Is that because you’re a vampire?”
“Vamp—”
I’m not a vampire! Ersi wanted to protest loudly, but he swallowed his words when he noticed Julia sitting by the hearth.
“But.”
“Yes?”
“Why do you think a perfectly fine carriage suddenly broke?”
The carriage was completely intact just last night.
“Right?”
Ceres stared at Ersi as he tilted his head and blinked innocently, pretending he had no idea what she meant.
“Do you remember? Back when I was Grace, I once sent you to another region on an errand. But on the day you were supposed to leave, every carriage was broken.”
“Did that happen? I don’t really remember...”
“So it turned out you were the one who broke them.”
Because you didn’t want to go.
“You said you couldn’t use a teleportation scroll because it made you sick, so I ended up going myself.”
“Ha... haha.”
“.....”
Ersi gave an awkward laugh, but eventually lowered his head under Ceres’s cold stare.
“I’ll pay for the carriage.”
“That’s not important anymore. Why did you do it?”
Why would you break a good carriage?
“Because I didn’t want to become the idiot who escorted a fake Saintess.”
He was talking about Yuness. After Ceres casually mentioned something that happened long ago, Ersi already seemed convinced that she was a fake.
“I told you it wasn’t confirmed yet.”
“That’s why I didn’t say anything to anyone else. I didn’t stop her from going to the capital either.”
Ceres clicked her tongue. She had told him to go to the capital and keep an eye on what Yuness was doing inside the Temple.
“You know you have a habit of ignoring what I say.”
He was always like this. He looked obedient and mild to everyone else, but in reality, he’s always been good at slacking off and doing whatever he wanted.
Everyone was completely fooled by him.
“Me?”
Ceres scoffed as she watched him widen his eyes, as if this was the first time he ever heard such a thing.
“Ceres! I think these are done!”
At that moment, Julia, who had been glued to the hearth, called out. Ceres gave Ersi one last glare before walking over to her.
The basket beside Julia was already filled with cookies. Since she had made them herself from start to finish, her eyes sparkled as she looked at the freshly baked cookies coming out of the oven.
“That’s a lot of cookies.”
She was so excited while making them that she ended up with far more than expected.
“I’m going to share them.”
“With who?”
“Uncle Kainel and Uncle Cheion!”
“Alright.”
Ceres held back the laugh that almost escaped. She suddenly remembered Cheion’s expression whenever Julia called him “uncle.” He always looked irritated by it.
“Julia, why do you call me “uncle”?”
“But I call Uncle Kainel that too.”
“He’s different. You can call him that.”
“Then Uncle Cheion is an uncle too.”
“Why?”
“Isn’t Uncle Kainel younger?”
“...No. He isn’t. Definitely not!”
Kai does look young, though.
Even before she stopped Kainel’s time, he already looked younger than others his age. People just didn’t notice because his expression was always so cold.
“Miss Julia, what about me? What will you call me?”
Julia, who had been nibbling on a cookie, looked at Ersi when he asked. She stared at him seriously, clearly thinking it over. Ceres leaned closer and whispered into the child’s ear.
“Call him Grandpa. Grandpa.”
“Why? Why am I Grandpa?”
“Don’t you have any shame?”
For someone who’s lived for over 800 years, being called Grandpa is already generous.
“Then Lord Kainel should be Grandpa too.”
“800 minus 300?”
“...500.”
“You know the answer.”
He had lived 500 years longer, yet he was trying to put himself on the same level as Kainel.
Leaving Ersi behind as he opened and closed his mouth in protest, Ceres casually left the kitchen with Julia.
***
“Ceres gave it to me!”
“I’m the one who gave that mana stone to Ceres. So it’s no different from me giving it to you.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Those two are fighting again.
When Ceres came into the living room with the cookies, she saw the two of them arguing just as loudly as ever. Ever since Cheion arrived, they had been like this.
They’re not children.
Ceres shook her head as she watched them. Somehow, the two of them always found something to argue about the moment they met each other’s eyes.
Yesterday, they were fighting over water.
“Why are you copying me?”
“Me? Ha! Who’s copying who? You’re the one copying me.”
“Don’t drink water here anymore. I don’t want to give you a single drop.”
“Wow, how petty. Fine, I won’t drink it either! Don’t even think about drinking water near my Magic Tower!”
During a meal, they had both reached for their cups at the same time and spent an entire hour arguing over who was copying whom. After seeing that, Ceres decided she would no longer interfere in their fights. She had no desire to become just as childish as them.
“Ceres gave it to me.”
“You only received it because I allowed her to give it to you.”
Today, the cause of their argument seemed to be the mana stone she had given Cheion before. Did they ever get tired of this?
“Stop fighting and eat the cookies. Julia made them.”
Ceres placed the basket full of cookies on the table.
“Julia made them?”
“Hmm.”
As if their argument had never happened, the two immediately stopped fighting and turned their attention to the cookies.
But...
“What are you doing? Take your hand off.”
“She made them for me.”
“What are you talking about? Didn’t you hear her? She made them for me.”
“Your hearing seems to be failing. Go back to the Empire and get treated.”
“You should get treated first.”
The cookies became another reason for them to fight in an instant. The two of them grabbed the basket from opposite sides of the table, and neither showed any intention of letting go.
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