Chapter 75
Translator: Latte Editor: Sasha
Elody quickly ran back to the lab with the matsutake mushroom in her hand. She glanced at Brien but soon ignored him.
“Madame, what’s going on?”
“Madame, what were you doing?”
As soon as Elody entered the lab, Anna and Dame Solar bombarded her with a lot of questions.
“You two! Come with me, quickly!” Elody said as she brought a few baskets.
The two were confused, but they still followed Elody nonetheless.
“Vice-commander, what are you doing there…”
“Quickly this way!”
On the way to the forest, they passed by Sir Brien who looked like he had been crying. Solar raised one of her brows as if she had seen something strange.
She wanted to ask him about what had happened, but Solar was forced to pass him by because Elody was her first priority.
“Oh, the forest….”
“…!”
Anna and Solar looked around their surroundings in wonder. The forest had drastically changed!
“Now, the two of you will be harvesting these mushrooms and berries! I’ll have to test if the mushrooms are poisonous, so you only have to pick one each.”
“…Yes, madame!”
“Understood.”
Elody gave the two baskets and began to gather mushrooms and berries together.
There were many big rocks along the way, but Elody skillfully walked on top of them.
She observed the mushrooms one by one to see if any of them were poisonous.
Fortunately, based on Elody’s knowledge regarding mushrooms, none of them were.
“It’s a reishi mushroom!”
Like ginseng, reishi mushroom was one of the things called elixir grass.
This mushroom is good for high blood pressure, so if you mix it with mulberry leaves that have the same effect, you will be able to make a high blood pressure medicine with excellent effects.
‘I’ll be able to earn as much profit as I did with the red ginseng!’
Elody’s heart shouted for delight.
* * *
As soon as Elody returned to her laboratory, she began testing the toxicity of the mushrooms right away.
‘I have to make it as good as possible before Sirka comes.’
She would make drugs beforehand and when Sirka returns, she would sign another contract with him right away.
The hair loss pills were already being mass-produced with upgraded magic tools. Of course, the side effects had already been eliminated and they were now made into small pills to enable long-term use. That way, the medicine would surely sell for a long time.
“Madame, are all these fruits different? Can I eat them?” Anna, asked with her curious look on her face.
“This is raspberry, and this is black raspberry. They look similar, but their effects are a bit different. This magnolia berry, on the other hand, is good to drink with tea or alcohol. Would you like to try it?”
Elody was excited to be able to obtain fruits with different effects.
“Wow, it’s so sweet!” Anna exclaimed after eating the raspberries.
“I want to try it too,” Dame Solar said.
Then, Elody put a raspberry in her mouth.
“You’re right. It’s sweet!”
“I’ll call the maids tomorrow so that we can make different types of drinks with this. Oh, and let’s make jam too!”
“Jam? Alright! I think it will be fun!” Anna said while clapping her hands, “But, madame, there are a lot of huge rocks in the forest. Don’t we have to remove them first?”
“I’ll call the apprentice knights and ask them to get rid of the rocks!” Solar replied enthusiastically.
Elody could only laugh at the two while nodding her head.
* * *
After dinner, Elody told Caville all about the forest while drinking tea.
Caville smiled at Elody. His wife looked so cute whenever she was excited.
“There were a lot of fish in the river! I’ll have to tell the servants to go there tomorrow!”
“To catch fish?”
“Yes!”
“Shall I catch one for you, my wife?”
“You want to go fishing? Aren’t you busy?”
The servants were able to have fun with Elody, and Caville didn’t want to be left alone.
So Caville nodded, saying he wasn’t busy tomorrow.
If Lewis had seen him right now, he would have scolded him for running away from his duties.
Caville was motivated to impress Elody by catching her a huge fish.
And today…
“My wife, shall we go to our bedroom now?”
“Huh?”
“From today onwards, we promised to sleep together in the same room,” Caville said with a chuckle.
Seeing her bewildered expression, his wife seemed to have forgotten.
“Come.”
“Ah… uh, alright.”
Elody got up awkwardly and headed to the second floor with Caville.
Marie’s eyes lit up after hearing the sentence ‘sleeping together in the same room.’ It seemed that she had been planning something.
* * *
At the moment, Marie was helping Elody take a bath.
However, something was strange.
“Why the rose petals?”
Instead of answering, Marie smiled and kept sprinkling more petals over the bathtub.
What was she trying to do…?
It wasn’t just that. Marie dripped a few drops of perfume on her skin as well.
“Madame. You may have been educated since you were young by the Count, but you’re still lacking in a lot of areas, so I’ll tell you this one more time.”
“What do you mean?”
Marie whispered into Elody’s ear, sending her subtle glances.
As Marie continued, Elody’s expression began to redden.
“Just don’t worry about it too much, alright? It only hurts the first time,” Marie said, gently patting Elody’s arm.
“Marie, are you insane?”
“What?”
Elody bit her lips, her blush spread from her face to her neck and ears.
“Ca-Caville is just a child!”
“Oh, no. He’s not.”
“Yes, he is!”
Elody was stubborn about it.
‘Caville’s fate is to be with Princess Larissa. Not you!’
Again, a small voice echoed inside her head.
“My destiny does not intertwine with his.”
“What?”
Marie was surprised by the sudden change in atmosphere.
“Ah…”
Elody furrowed her eyebrows when she felt a throb in her head.
She heard it again. That voice…
“Madame, are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Anyway, Caville is still young, so don’t say things like that.”
“…Yes, madame.”
Marie was confused at Elody’s sudden pale complexion.
‘What was that?’ She thought.
* * *
Despite Marie pressuring her to wear a nightgown, Elody flatly refused.
Thus, she ended up wearing pajamas instead.
Even though the pajamas were the same ones she used when they were young, she still felt a bit awkward.
They weren’t that exposing… Rather, it was a comfortable pajama that covered every inch of her body from her neck to her wrists and ankles.
Nevertheless, she was still anxious.
‘This is all because of what Marie said…’
Elody ended up blaming Marie for her nervousness.
After entering the bedroom, Elody found out that Caville was still bathing.
Thus, Elody opened the window to cool her red cheeks.
Even though years had passed by, the room was still the same as it used to be. Except for the fact that it had one more bed.
However, the two beds were almost joined together with only a small gap.
‘Isn’t this too close?’
Elody was worried about it, but Elody decided not to express her feelings out loud.
“……”
While waiting for Caville, Elody recalled her husband’s passionate confession.
But then, a weird voice plunged into Elody’s head again.
‘Caville Cernoir’s fate is to be with Larissa Dayev…’
Elody had been hearing weird voices ever since Caville’s confession.
‘He doesn’t love you…’
Click.
The voice disappeared the moment Caville opened the bathroom door.
As Caville approached, Elody finished her thoughts and looked at him.
“Wife.”
Caville was likewise dressed in comfortable clothes.
He wore soft pajamas instead of his usual attire, and his chest was more clearly revealed than usual.
‘He’s grown a lot…’
“Caville, I’ll use the bed that lies near the window.”
“Yes, my wife.”
Caville smiled as he knew why Elody chose the one by the window.
She wanted to protect him in case an assassin invaded their room through the window.
If they went through the door, they would probably be spotted by the knights, that’s why she thought that the window was more dangerous.
But of course, the window was completely safe.
Because Ifrit was guarding it.
‘How cute.’
Caville was desperately trying to protect her but Elody was acting so cute and lovely. He genuinely wanted to bite her nose.
But on the other hand, he was also nervous and anxious.
His wife was not an object that he could monopolize to stay by his side forever.
As Ifrit said, he should look more like a reliable man that she can trust… If things kept going like this, the possibility of her liking him back was slim.
It seemed as though desperate times call for desperate measures.
Caville laid on his bed and scooted near Elody’s bed as close as possible.
“……”
Meanwhile, Elody glanced at Caville while lying in the middle of her bed.
Caville was sleeping sideways facing her.
“Caville, are you comfortable sleeping while looking at this side?”
“Yes. I’m more comfortable this way.”
“I see…”
Elody looked at the ceiling with her blanket covering her body all the way to her neck. She could feel Caville’s intense stare at her but pretended not to know.
“My wife, good night.”
“Uh… Caville, you sleep well too.”
Elody closed her eyes and Caville did the same.
But she couldn’t sleep.
After a long period of tossing and turning and rearranging the pillows, Caville asked Elody if she was having trouble sleeping.
“My wife, you can’t sleep?”
“Huh?”
“Shall I sing you a lullaby or give you a hug?”
“Oh, no! It’s okay.”
Elody remembered that those were the exact same words she used to say to Caville whenever he had trouble sleeping.
“Caville, would you like me to sing you a lullaby? Or do you want me to hug you instead?”
Caville had always wanted to grow up fast, and look at him now. He became a tall, handsome young man, and quite a bold one too.
But…
“……”
Every time she saw Caville, her heart would start beating like crazy.
Elody turned her head and looked at Caville who was staring at her.
His eyes…
Caville’s gaze towards her was full of affection. It seemed like he really loved her.
“Oh, no. Come on. Let’s get some sleep, Caville,” Elody said as she turned her back to the other side again.
After a while, Elody was barely able to fall asleep.
And the night passed.
Unlike Marie’s wishes, the two had a peaceful first night.
Thus, it was natural that Marie felt resentful about it the next morning.
“Does His Grace have some sort of problem with his…?”
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