Chapter 263 – Former Crown Princess Oriel’s Fate

I woke up with a jolt. 

“Big Sis Lyra!” Ein quickly realized that I was awake as he called out to me. 

“How did it go?” The Divine Doctor, Eltharion, seemed to be flustered as well.

Fenrir and I turned to look at the figure lying on the bed. 

She still hadn’t woken up, which worried me at first, but then I noticed that her expression no longer showed that she was suffering, unlike the one she had before Fenrir and I entered her subconscious mind and interacted with her. 

Noticing this, I relaxed slightly and decided to wait.

Not too long after, I saw that the curse marks all around Maiara’s body started to fade away slowly, as her eyelashes twitched. 

Then, she slowly opened her eyes as she stood on the bed, her hand quickly rested on her forehead, as if she was having headaches.

“Oooh!!” Divine Doctor Eltharion exclaimed in joy.

“She’s awake!” Carbuncle chimed in.

“Her curse mark’s fading out too!” Ein added.

“…Hng… Doctor… Tharion…” 

Maiara said with a very hoarse voice, as her gaze fell on Eltharion’s figure.

“Yes… it’s me! Are you alright?” Eltharion didn’t dilly dally and quickly went over to the patient’s bedside. 

“My head… hurts… Feels like it’s splitting…,” Maiara said with a weak voice.

“I’ll prescribe a medicine right away!” Eltharion quickly grabbed a glass of water and a medicine pill for Maiara to drink.

Maiara obediently received the water and pill and drank the pill without hesitation.

“How do you feel? It was a fast-acting analgesic,” Eltharion asked after a few moments of silence.

“Mhm, I feel better indeed… But my memory’s still all jumbled up…,” Maiara said.

“That’s natural. The Thunder Miracle Herb’s still working to clear your body from the curse’s remnants. I will prescribe additional medicine to help with the recovery,” Eltharion said. 

As Eltharion moved to mix some medicine, Maiara’s gaze finally fell on us.

She smiled weakly as she said, “Thank you for your help. However… apologies, my memories’ all jumbled up and… There are a few things I need to confirm with the doctor… Can we be left alone?” 

“That’s right. It’s also in the middle of the night. All of you are still in your growing phase, so it’s better for you to get some rest. We’ll continue the talk in the morning, how about it?” Eltharion paused his medicine mixing activity and turned to us.

I glanced towards the clock in the room and noticed that it was already 3 AM. 

Though I was technically inside Maiara’s consciousness and dream, it didn’t mean that I was rested. My body might be resting, but my mental totally wasn’t.

While I was a bit eager to unravel the whole truth right here and right now…

I looked at Maiara who seemed like she was still confused and tried to put her memories in order. She still had her hand resting on her head, even after she claimed that the medicine Eltharion gave helped her with the splitting headaches.

“…”

Right. She definitely needs some time to put her jumbled memories in order, and process things as well.

Perhaps there were a few matters she had to confirm with Doctor Eltharion as well, being the doctor who was assigned with helping the survivors of the fire incident. 

She must have regained her memories, seeing how she feels a bit different.

No matter what it is, it’s clear that Maiara has some connection to the previous Crown Princess of Cielle, Oriel. 

We’re so close to the truth, I think I can wait a bit more just so she can sort herself first. 

I held my breath as I left the room.

Maiara’s eyes caught my gaze as I exited.

Her grey-colored pupils gradually grew their colors back. While I couldn’t really see what color it might be, I could tell that those eyes were the eyes of someone who was determined, not one who despaired.

Right. By now, she surely has the strength to face what happened, right?

Somehow, her gaze made me feel like she’d be alright now.

As I closed the door behind me, I saw that Maiara’s previously washed away blonde hair started to gain their luster back.

***

“Thank you for waiting for me to sort my memories and confirm a few matters with Doctor Eltharion. Now, what you’re about to hear… you absolutely must keep it a secret. And I need you to keep it a secret that I’ve been cured. I heard that you can do illusion and transformation arts. Can you help me with that, Lyra-san?” 

I was sitting nervously across Maiara and Doctor Eltharion. 

Maiara was now recovered, and there seemed to be clarity in her vivid grey eyes. Her pale blonde hair seemed lustrous as well, and it was no longer like it was fading.

Then, she began narrating, together with Doctor Eltharion, in a very serious tone.

“I was Oriel-sama’s aide, and in that fire incident years ago… Oriel-sama survived, only…”

“She’s been in a coma ever since,” Doctor Eltharion sighed.

I gulped. 

I wasn’t surprised by the revelation that Maiara was Oriel’s aide. It was so obvious. 

But their next revelations caused my heart to be lifted before it got dropped to the pits.

“Doctor… If an elf has been in comatose for more than a decade… How high is her chance of waking up?” Ein asked. 

Eltharion heaved a long sigh and shook his head, “We can only wait for a miracle.”

It felt as if a cold bucket had been poured over my head.

The good news is that Oriel’s still alive, but… she might as well be dead, huh?

At that time, I thought of Celeste. 

Would it be crueler for her to find out that her mother’s already dead, or that she’s in a vegetative state with little hope of waking up? 

I remember reading and watching series that covered someone being in a vegetative state. In some series, a miracle happened and the person woke up and recovered. In other series, the family members had to decide whether or not they should turn off the equipment that kept the person alive, and if they chose to let the person go, they should be the one to turn off the equipment, ending the comatose person’s life for good.

Then, another possibility crept to my mind.

“Doctor, Maiara-san… Where is Oriel-sama’s body being kept?” I asked the question that might help me decide whether the possibility that I thought of was high or not.

“…King Deus kept her location hidden,” Doctor Eltharion said before shaking his head, “Even I do not know where she is currently being kept.”

Could it be…?

Hearing Doctor Eltharion’s answer made me think of a possibility.

Could it be that Celeste found out that her mother’s in a vegetative state and was being kept by her uncle, King Deus?

And King Deus somehow used it as a leverage against Celeste, leaving her with no choice but to obey him?

At that moment, I realized that there was still a part of me that held on to the belief that Celeste might be forced, and that she wasn’t really malicious to the extent she’d willingly trick and betray my eldest brother and my friends. 

I still remember Maiara’s broken heart due to a betrayal by someone she fully cherished and trusted. I wouldn’t want that on someone else, especially not my own family member…

So long as the possibility that Celeste was forced into it existed, I should cast aside my hatred and negativity towards her.

What if she were a victim in this, too?

“Doctor, the motive behind this is…?” I nervously asked Doctor Eltharion, whose look seemed as if the world was bleak.

“While I normally try to keep it hidden, I lean towards Oriel-sama’s belief that elves and Oni could work together to coexist without any conflicts due to our differences. I believe that, however, King Deus thinks that light and darkness can never coexist peacefully, and that elves and Oni are destined to be at odds…”

Hearing Doctor Eltharion’s words made me think of the innocent little prince, King Deus’ son, Prince Manasye.

If that is the case, what will become of the son with a contrasting view than his father? 

His dream of being friends with the Oni… will surely be crushed with this revelation, right?

To think that his father would hate the idea so much that he would make a move against his own sister, Prince Manasye’s aunt…

“That, and,” Maiara then added, “Combined with what I know, we came to a conclusion that King Deus might have manipulated Pilvi to help bring the fire incident to life.”

“We also think that there’s the motive of getting the throne by eliminating Oriel-sama, who was in his way,” Doctor Eltharion leaned towards us and whispered gravely.

This…

This is the worst of the worst!!

What am I to do when the truth that I pursued leads me to this conclusion?!

Not only I still couldn’t solve the matter at hand, I was faced with a truth that was difficult to accept.

What to do in this situation?

Only a miracle could solve this situation by waking Oriel up.

But what if she never wakes up? Or if it takes too long for her to wake up?

I panicked.

It was only at that time I realized one thing.

In the first place, trying to affect a kingdom’s decision of war or truce was by no means a trivial matter. 

Right. It was only then that the gravity of the situation finally dawned on me.

As the train of thoughts grew longer in my head, suddenly it was cut off before I even noticed.

***

“Lyr…”

“Nn??”

“Lyr!!”

“H-huh?”

“Wake up already, Lyr!!”

I woke up after Carbuncle shook my body.

“K-Kuu-chan?!” I was having trouble following what was happening. 

Did I black out because my mind couldn’t take the grave situation? Or because I was thinking and panicking too much?

I still could feel the sweat I had from all that unease…

“You’re that tired? I thought you were dying to find out what happened,” Carbuncle said.

“Huh? Excuse me, what?” I blinked real hard.

“You told me that you might not be able to fall asleep due to the curiosity last night,” Carbuncle explained.

Did… did time get rewinded or…?

“Ah, you also seemed like you were having a nightmare. So I had to shake you to wake you up,” Carbuncle added.

“N-nightmare?” I had a premonition…

But everything seemed so vivid!

Is it true that everything was just a dream? Or was it merely a premonition of the future, or I just experienced a time slip?

I still remembered how real the ‘dream’ was. 

Urk, now it’s making my stomach churn!

“Hurry, wash up and let’s go to the dining room!” Carbuncle’s words made me realize that there was nothing I could do at the moment, other than wash up and go face the truth.

Whether or not my dream was a prophetic dream or that I experienced a time rewind, I will find out after I go to the dining room and meet with Maiara-san, so I should focus my mind on how I could hurry and go there!!

I washed up quickly before going to the dining room.

Apparently, it was already time for lunch. 

Doctor Eltharion had gone to inform all of us to gather and eat.

Yes, I seemed to have slept through it. And Carbuncle was the one to notice and wake up.

To think that one day I would be the one to oversleep, while Carbuncle was the one to wake me up…!

By the time Carbuncle and I went to the dining room, Ein was already sitting there. Minny the Mooch was on the floor, in front of the dog bowl.

“Big Sis Lyra!!” Ein cheerfully motioned me to sit next to him. 

He went as far as to hold the chair for me, so I politely sat down next to him, while Carbuncle quickly took the seat next to me. 

The table’s configuration was a 2-2-1 seat, so the remaining 2 seats would be for Doctor Eltharion and Maiara-san.

Doctor Eltharion could be seen in the kitchen right next to the dining table. 

He was in the middle of setting the food and plates, and apparently, he was just taking the last batch of food from the kitchen to us.

The food laid in front of us looked so appetizing!

“Doctor, you cooked all this?” I asked in amazement.

“Hoho, yes. I like cooking,” Doctor Eltharion seemed to be proud of his cooking. 

He began introducing the food one by one.

“This is Silvergrain Porridge that was slowly-cooked since last night. It contains local berries and honey from mana-rich flowers grown around here. You can say that it’s a comfort food that many like.”

“This one here is Forest Stream Fish. It’s made from freshly caught fish that’s grilled lightly and wrapped in leaf parchment. Of course, I wrapped it in the leaf of a herb that can boost our body’s health! Hohoho!!”

“Here is Spiritleaf Greens. Though it’s made from medicinal herbs that are lightly blanched and dressed with citrus sap, I guarantee that it doesn’t taste like medicine. This is a comfort food believed to calm our minds.”

“And the drinks here are Clearwind Elixir and Everbloom Wine.”

W-we’re having a feast!!

I was stunned, but all the dishes looked like they tasted amazing. Even the smell comforted me.

I momentarily was distracted from my anxiety about what truth was going to unfold, and gulped at the sight of the food. 

“Oh? I like Silvergrain Porridge, Spiritleaf Greens, and Everbloom Wine. Tharion, you know I’d miss them, huh?”

A voice that sounded familiar, yet different, could be heard from behind where I was seated.

The voice sounded like Maiara-san’s, yet at the same time, it sounded different.

I was unsure if it was indeed Maiara-san’s voice after she recovered or if it was someone else’s, so I turned around to see the source of the voice and…

I froze.

The elf woman that was approaching… 

Her skin was smooth, milky white with no trace of hideous curse marks ever being there in the first place. Coupled with a simple sleeveless verdant green dress with a flowy skirt that only extended until her knees and the translucent shawl that draped over her neck, she looked breath-taking and completely different from Maiara-san who was always wearing clothes that covered most of her skin, even her head.

Right… The elf woman standing in front of me no longer wore anything to cover her head, so my gaze was quickly met with her smile. Any trace of gloominess or heaviness that I could slightly sense from the former Maiara-san was no longer there. It was as if a burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

And… What stunned me the most was her eyes.

They were not grey colored like Maiara-san’s… but I never expected the eyes to be purple! That was just too different!

No, wait… It was more like lavender, so not the bright purple color, so perhaps there was indeed a hint of grey color… The eyes seemed familiar to me for some reason, but I couldn’t think of anything now.

Then, I also noticed that she had beautiful long, flowy, and wavy blonde hair. The bottom part or the inner part of her hair looked like it was colored with a tint of green. I thought it was due to her dress’ color at first, but it seemed like her hair was greenish blonde. 

Although the color of her eyes and hair, and the wavy hair didn’t match at all, for some reason, Celeste’s image overlapped with Maiara-san’s. 

What similarities do they even have?

I was flabbergasted at my thoughts.

But then…

Lavender eyes… greenish yellow hair… 

Finally, King Deus and Prince Manasye’s figures flashed in my mind.

Ah!! The lavender eyes and the greenish yellow hair are similar to the elven king and prince’s!!

Wait… Is this not Maiara-san?

I became suspicious at this point.

Suddenly, a soft chuckle could be heard.

“All of my little saviors are making such funny expressions. Do you not recognize me?” The elf woman asked.

‘My’ little saviors???

Who else did we save recently, other than Maiara-san?

But…????

My brain felt like it was exploding. It couldn’t process the information that was flooding with no clear conclusion.

“Please have a seat first, Oriel-sama.”

Doctor Eltharion’s voice could be heard from behind where I was looking. 

Immediately, I turned to look at the divine doctor with my eyes wide open, as if it could help me hear his words better.

Did he just… say… ORIEL-SAMA?!!

Draft 1: Scraped

I thought I couldn’t sleep after what happened, but it turned out that using Fenrir’s power accumulated fatigue even in me. 

Perhaps I was kept awake by the adrenaline, since by the time I relaxed myself on the bed, I quickly felt the fatigue and sleepiness creeping in.

That’s good… 

I thought to myself as I fell asleep.

It seemed that my mind thought of the incident more than I was aware of.

I woke up after dreaming about the incident and its following revelation. It felt as if my brain was connecting the dots and making a guess of the truth… or was this a prophetic dream? Was this a premonition?

Whatever it was, the dream helped me realize that I was actually not as prepared to hear the truth as I thought I was. After all, I was more bewildered and confused about what we should do after hearing the truth…

In my dream, it was revealed that Maiara was indeed Oriel’s trusted aide. 

Oriel was still alive, only… that she was in a vegetative state. 

And the comatose Oriel was being kept by none other than King Deus, who was the mastermind behind the incident that he orchestrated in order to get the throne for himself.

With the comatose Oriel as a leverage, he managed to control Celeste.

He happened to be an elf who believed that elves and Oni couldn’t coexist, that light and darkness would never be able to exist peacefully, which caused Prince Manasye–the elf with an abnormal affinity to Dark magic–to feel more in dilemma and pressure.

The situation in my dream was so bleak that I didn’t know what we should do at all in that kind of situation.

What if the truth leads us to a similar situation? Will we be able to solve things peacefully?

In the first place, trying to affect a kingdom’s decision of war or truce was by no means a trivial matter. It was only then that the gravity of the situation finally dawned on me.

But…

People said that a dream tends to be a manifestation of your subconscious. 

One thing that I was surprised of was how I saw Celeste as being forced to ‘betray’ my eldest brother and my friends. 

Perhaps I didn’t want my eldest brother to experience a true betrayal by someone he loved. 

I still remember Maiara’s broken heart due to a betrayal by someone she fully cherished and trusted. I wouldn’t want that on someone else, especially not my own family member…

So, I think I could cast aside my hatred and negativity towards Celeste, whose motive wasn’t proven yet. 

Still, the events unfolding in my dream felt so real and they made sense, so much that I became even more nervous to see Maiara and Doctor Eltharion to hear the truth later on.