#374. so many sins
* * *
“Did that happen?”
[Because it is. How much I suffered thanks to you.]
“That must have been a big deal.”
[Is it just a big deal? Now, the princess won’t believe it even if I make soybean fermented soybeans!]
I believed Li Qingyu’s words that I could help Limon as if I was just going to get some fresh air, but I almost went to the nether world again.
Looking at Yuna-gyeong grumbling, Syr, a witch with dark red hair and tear spots, smiled.
“Didn’t you tell me to stay and be my assistant?”
[I didn’t expect to go through such an uproar…]
It almost caught on fire.
Aren’t you about to be silenced?
Aren’t you caught up in wars and duels?
Such as carrying out rescue activities in the stomach of a predator.
Yuna-kyung complains that she doesn’t know how many times she almost died on this trip to Africa.
Hearing that, Shir gave a strange smile.
‘Whoa, he’s a fun kid too.’
I’m just saying it lightly.
What Yuna-kyung went through is enough to cause even a high-level player to die a few times.
It was a strange thing even for the legendary great witch Sir to see that such a baby bird survived.
‘As well as the talent for magic.’
Surprisingly, that’s not all.
Yuna-kyung’s magic is already at a level comparable to witches of the 27 genealogies of magic.
It was a bit clumsy because it was learned so fast, but considering that it had been less than a year since I started magic, it was a truly phenomenal talent.
Of all the witches she taught, even the Archwitch, few learned magic so quickly.
Is that talent innate?
Or was it acquired by a human soul dwelling in the descendant of the familiar?
Or is there another reason?
‘If you try an experiment, you’ll find out…’
He pondered for a while out of curiosity.
Sir finally patted Yuna-kyung’s head with a sigh of regret.
“You also met the owner well.”
[What do you mean by that? There is no one who treats pets as cruelly as the team leader!]
Seeing Yuna-kyung grumbling, unaware that she was spared from being an experimental animal thanks to Limon, Shire chuckled.
And I picked up the small box that was lying next to Yuna-kyung.
“Anyway, good job. Thanks to you and your baby, you can finally make Dagda’s Cauldron.”
[Oh, are you ready now?]
“Of course.”
While Limon and Yuna-Kyung suffered in Africa, the rest were not idle either.
Li Qingyu has been collecting other materials by all means, and Shir has finished his research on Dagda’s Cauldron.
It was possible because they were the princesses of the Seven Dragons and the legendary great witches.
Two problems remain.
It was to get the most important material….
“Feathers given by the turkey bird that just finished shedding. There’s no way you can say that you can’t make it when you’ve been looking for such rare ingredients.”
[Is this so precious?]
“It’s not so precious.”
The true value of the seven-colored bird is the mysterious life force that is close to immortality.
That’s why even feathers have different conditions depending on how long they have left their lifespan.
Even if you forcefully pull it out, the quality is greatly reduced.
Extremely, for example, if the feathers plucked from a corpse are leftover ashes, the feathers given by a turkey bird that has just shed are no different from gold.
“The turkey bird is not a bird that gives away its feathers carelessly, but it seems to have liked it quite a bit.”
[Uh… Maybe it was a reward for freeing him from being trapped?
]
[Really?]
I even scratched my head while watching Sir admiring that he has never seen feathers in such good condition.
Yuna-kyung said comfortably.
[Anyway, that’s good. Doesn’t that
mean that making Dagda’s cauldron would be easier if the ingredients were good?
He said that as long as he had this much material, he would never know if he would ever come out with a masterpiece throughout his life as a witch.
Sir, who smiled and said, added one more word.
“Now, only the baby needs to finish preparing.”
[Didn’t the team leader say that the team leader would have to
work hard to prepare?]
[…The team leader is busy too.]
Yuna-kyung put on a tired expression.
Limondo must have accumulated quite a bit of fatigue as he spent several nights preparing for war and running around to fight predators.
As soon as I came back like this, I went back to work.
He didn’t know whether to admire his infinite stamina or lament over his accumulated work.
However, when Sir actually heard that, he made a strange expression.
“Well… I guess there are people who are really busy.”
[What do you mean?]
“There is such a thing.”
You don’t have to know about Yuna-kyung.
Sir, who made the baby bird, who was a solo mother, tilt her head by saying it meaningfully, thought to herself.
‘Anyway, that baby is guilty as ever.’
* * *
Dalgrak.
The drawing room of Leviathan.
She was moving slowly in the most luxurious space of the best hotel.
Heat pots and cups.
Put the tea leaves with a teaspoon.
wait for the car to come out
Stir lightly in the teapot.
Until pouring through a tea strainer.
Neat and tidy, never rushed.
After brewing clear black tea with the utmost elegance, she finally lifted the teapot and poured the tea into two cups.
“It’s a blue blend. It is black tea made from five types of tea leaves from all over the world.”
“Is this really the blue blend?”
The black-haired girl on the other side.
Li Qingyu held up the teacup that had been poured in front of her.
Then, after slowly smelling the scent and tasting a sip of black tea, he said calmly.
“It’s great too. It’s understandable why they treat only distinguished guests visiting the Countess Sea Serpent’s family.”
“The amount is not enough, so we don’t distribute it outside, but there is no particularly great reason.”
“That is great.”
Li Qingyu chuckled.
Of course, it can be made because it is the blue dragon clan that can move in space and has a distribution network all over the world.
Because it took a lot of work and could only be made in small quantities, this blue blend was the black tea that the British royal family refused to supply.
“Honestly, it’s more than enough to get in return for just a cup of coffee.”
“Never mind. Wasn’t it me who promised good tea in the first place?”
When Limon became a concubine.
Recalling the promise she had made to Li Ching-yu, who served her coffee instead, even though she could have held herself accountable, Rose responded calmly.
And he had a light smile.
“Above all, I don’t think there is a need to discuss such things among friends.”
“…That’s a statement that makes it impossible to argue.”
It’s like being caught off guard.
Cuckoo and laugh for a while.
After taking another sip of the black tea, Li Qingyu continued, savoring the scent.
“Honestly, I felt sorry for you, Rose.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t know things would grow this big until I asked to accompany the swordsman.”
Li Qingyu sighed softly.
In the first place, the goal was only the turkey.
Even if things got twisted and they collided with Hasneti, it was a trip they thought could be completed properly if Rose interceded.
But as a result, a war broke out that swept the continent.
It was a result that she could not have imagined even as the best strategist of the Seven Dragons.
“When the Swordsman became Hasneti’s concubine, Rose, there was no one to blame even if you just stepped back.”
The fact that Rose accompanied Limon in the first place was to maintain a neutral position.
So whether it’s for the Seven Dragons.
Whether for your own clan.
It was best for Rose to let go then.
“Even so, in the end, you rescued the swordsman from Hasneti’s hands even while preparing for war, so I can’t help but feel sorry and grateful.”
Maybe it’s because I heard something so unexpected.
Rose, who was looking at Li Qingyu with lake-blue eyes, lifted the teacup and opened her mouth after a while.
“…Don’t take it to heart. I just did what I had to do.”
“Wouldn’t that be neutral?”
“But as a friend, it’s something you can do.”
“is that so?”
“yes.”
For a moment, look at Rose, whose face is not visible because she slightly lowered her head to smell the aroma of the black tea.
twirling
Li Qingyu said with a smile.
“I have good friends.”
“…I think I have a friend I deserve.”
Rose smiled lightly.
In fact, a friend was a stranger to her.
The princess of the Seven Dragons, who was born with the most noble lineage in the world, has only subordinates and subjects.
Even a close aide who had been with them all their lives could never be equal, and the princesses of other clans were also opponents to be wary of before becoming comrades.
But I never thought that the day would come when another princess would say that Li Qingyu was a friend.
It was more than unexpected, it was even surprising.
Even so, the unfamiliarity is nice.
Exchanges away from Tasan are fun.
warmed my heart
…so warm that it hurts my heart.
But Rose swallowed the pain with black tea and kept a smile.
There was something more important than this warmth to her, who had already been corrupted and had abandoned her clan’s beliefs.
The princess of the Seven Dragons.
As a venerable aristocrat.
Rose talked to Li Qingyu like that, hiding her heart with a smile as always.
No, I was trying to share.
That is until Li Qingyu opened his mouth as if he had just remembered.
“To celebrate becoming friends with Rose, can I tell you a funny story?”
“What kind of story is this?”
“This is the content of a novel I recently read.”
“A novel… you mean?”
“yes. It’s a really interesting novel, so I really want to share it with you.”
“I wonder what kind of content it is because it is a novel.”
Rose laughed.
I thought that having a chat over a novel was only possible between friends.
“Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess.”
“And there was a prince from a neighboring country who loved that princess.”
“Unfortunately, the relationship between the two countries is so bad that the prince and princess couldn’t have a relationship.”
Rose, who had no idea that Li Qingyu had a hobby of reading fairy tales like this, made an unexpected expression.
“But is there any destiny?”
“One day, when the princess’ country was in danger because of a scary monster, the prince set out to defeat the monster despite the opposition of his servants.”
“So I defeated the monster after many sacrifices beyond the blazing river and the icy forest.”
“That relationship enabled the prince to be betrothed to the princess.”
If the story ended like this.
Rose must have smiled and nodded her head while contemplating where this novel was interesting.
But fortunately.
Or unfortunately.
Li Qingyu’s story was not yet over.
“But what about this?”
“It wasn’t just the prince who was after the princess.”
“The Grand Duke of the North, the King of the Desert, the High Priestess, and even the Demon King. There were a lot of people who were after the princess from before.”
“So they threatened the prince with every means.”
It was from then.
Rose’s smile started to fade.
“As the country was in danger, the prince had to lead the army to the battlefield.”
“But the prince was worried that something might happen to the princess while he was away.”
“So before leaving for the battlefield, I asked someone to protect the princess.”
Li Qingyu paused for a moment.
And he looked straight at Rose with eyes as deep and dull as obsidian.
“To the kingdom’s number one knight and his most trusted friend.”
“…”
The drawing room with silence.
A voice that resounds quietly.
“Actually, the king of the desert kidnapped the princess, but the knight defeated the king of the desert and saved the princess, just as the prince believed.”
“But there is a problem.”
“Even the knight fell in love with the princess while they were together.”
Tea slowly cools down.
Air that cools together.
“The knight, who could not suppress his affection even with friendship and loyalty, finally confessed to the princess.”
“The princess was sad, but said that since she had a prince, she couldn’t accept the knight’s heart.”
“But it was a mistake.”
“Rather than fulfilling the request, the knight kidnapped the princess and fled to a distant country.”
For some reason.
I lost my usual smile.
Look at Rose, whose face hardened.
With a most beautiful and gentle smile.
Li Qingyu said.
“Like a crazy bastard who couldn’t get along.”
