“Mother, I’ll come again after class.”
Leon bowed his head and moved away from her embrace.
Even though she had said he could keep playing, Leon only took three days off before going back to his regular routine.
Elisha felt sorry for him, but she also respected Leon’s decision.
However, her eyes were slightly drooping, which was a rare expression coming from her, making it difficult for others to recognize her.
“Was I not fun to be with?”
Abused by Baron Obern before she was noticed by Archmage William, Elisha, who had spent her entire childhood in the tower, had no idea what games she could play with her child.
Someone appeared before Elisha, who just remembered the need to learn to play.
It was Jane-Marie, the maid of the 2nd Empress’ Palace.
“Your Majesty the 2nd Empress, it is already too late to start preparing for Prince Leon’s birthday banquet. What should we do?”
Elisha paused.
“Should we just proceed as you instructed us to do the other day?”
The rough plan had already been made, so Marie confirmed it again.
The 6th birthday of a prince is significant.
Having survived without being poisoned, ill, or killed by any accident means that you have the minimum strength to continue to survive in the Imperial palace in the future.
This is because the matter of one who sits on the emperor’s throne is recognized as a matter of public recognition.
“Hmm.”
Elisha lightly tapped the table with her fingertips.
The atmosphere felt turned somewhat dry and heavy.
It was definitely a different feeling from before. A cold wind would blow if anything was bothering her, which drew attention from the people around her.
When one of the people gathered looked over as if trying to check her expression, the unpleasant atmosphere disappeared at once.
The master of the 2nd Palace, who had been acting like a changed person since a week ago, had caused quite a stir in the palace. But Marie thought that as long as she did her job properly as a maid, it would be enough.
However, she, too, could not help but be surprised by the words of her master that followed.
“Ask Leon first.”
“… Yes?”
Whatever Marie’s reaction, Elisha thought this choice was natural.
In the past, a party that was held luxuriously as a means to show off the 2nd Palace’s might and supposedly attended by many people was messed up by the 1st Empress Isabelle’s trickery, making the child have to spend his worst birthday in an empty party hall.
Hence, for Elisha, there was no need or reason to repeat the same thing.
“I’m celebrating Leon’s birthday, so I’ll have to ask Leon what he wants to do first.”
“I understand, Your Majesty.”
Marie came to her senses and replied.
In any case, Elisha drank the tea in front of her, and turned the page of her book to the next.
***
That night.
“The birthday banquet will be held soon. What do you want to do?”
Elisha pulled out Leon’s quilt from the bed and covered him tightly up to his neck, then she asked.
“I’ll do what Mother likes.”
“Is there no one you would like to invite?”
Leon blinked as if asking why.
His eyes were so big that it took up half of his round and small face. How pretty he is.
“Leon, it’s your birthday.”
Elisha combed the child’s hair with her fingertips and waited for an answer.
Her answer came after quite some time.
“Don’t worry about me. The banquet hall will be full even with only those invited by Mother.”
“…”
Leon, who had been hesitant about how to accept his mother’s silence, raised his blue eyes and met his mother’s gaze.
“I’m really fine. I’m glad that you asked me like this first.”
Whether those words are true or not, a blush spreads across Leon’s cheeks, as light as a peach.
Ah.
It was like that.
Elisha found another small piece of the past that she had missed.
“Then let’s try to decorate this birthday with this mother’s greed. Once you see it and don’t like it, please tell me later. After that, on next year’s birthday, Leon, we will do whatever you want.”
“Alright, Mother.”
He didn’t expect that something would change next year, but Leon still answered so.
Then, his mother’s eyes bent a little and softened.
Feeling embarrassed for some reason, Leon pretended to be tossing and turning and pulling up the blanket more to cover his face.
“You must be tired. Go to sleep.”
Elisha patted Leon on the shoulder.
She wanted to sing a lullaby, but she couldn’t do it because she had never heard it in her life.
The world was unfair.
What you have never received, you cannot give to your children.
But, it’s okay.
You can fill in what you don’t have.
In fact, learning and mastering was one of the things Elisha did best.
As long as the direction is not wrong, Elisha would always get the desired result.
The next day, when Leon went to class in the morning, Elisha moved to do her own work.
This is the first time she went out of the 2nd Palace since returning to the past.
When she was first greeted by the still intact Imperial Palace, which had become a mess in the past as the battle with Emperor Kaiden began in earnest, she felt strange.
As Elisha recalled the past, she headed to where the Ministry of Magic was at this time.
The guards at the entrance of the Ministry of Magic looked bored.
Then, their faces flashed at the presence of someone approaching.
“Oh? Look there. Who is that beauty?”
“You bastard, is it common to have silver hair and blue eyes? There must be only one person like this in the whole empire.”
“Do you mean, it’s the forgotten empress who is coming?”
“What empress. You never know when she’ll be thrown out.”
The eldest of the three flirts tilted his head.
“By the way, she’s been out of touch for so long, so why is she here now?”
To his murmur, another knight answered.
“You can find out about that soon enough.”
There was a hint of fun on the faces of the knights.
The Ministry of Magic itself is a place where wizards who deviate from the mainstream of the palace’s tower stay, and for strictly confidential matters, they use their personal wizards and communication tools.
Such a high-ranking person who was worthy of attention would not be able to leave the Ministry of Magic without leaving any traces and attracting attention.
As a knight in the palace who had the responsibility to check and guard the entire palace, he set the order and stood alert.
When Elisha approached right in front of them, he said with a strong force on purpose.
“Stop. Please state your identity and why you came to the Ministry of Magic.”
However, the opponent was the problem.
Elisha scanned the three knights from left to right.
Sky blue is not light blue.
The bright and clear sky blue didn’t shine on the opponent, but was reflected and bounced off.
[T/N: I think this is talking about how the knights’ bravado doesn’t work and is countered by Elisha instead. Sky blue is Elisha’s eye color, ‘Sky blue is not light blue’ perhaps is saying that she’s not a lightweight.]
The knights were taken aback by the reaction different from what they had expected, but then raised their momentum and suppressed Elisha.
“Did you not hear me?”
“I heard you. But, I’m too surprised to think that there are people, standing on guard as knights, who don’t even know the face of the empress within the Imperial palace.”
The knights turned to each other because of Elisha who responded with an indifferent expression that was not at all surprised.
The oldest among them spoke,
“It’s not that I didn’t recognize the 2nd Empress, but there are several procedures within the Imperial Palace. This was just one of them.”
“I came to the Ministry of Magic to use the magic communication device, should there be other reasons? Is there a procedure that the empress must inform one of the knights of the contents of the communication? I did not know this until now. I’ll talk to the wizard in charge.”
“Y, Your Majesty, that’s…!”
The knights called her urgently.
Not only was such a procedure impossible, but the wizard and the knight were in a bad relationship to the point resembling dogs biting each other.
The 2nd Empress herself is nothing to be afraid of, but if she goes inside and talks to the wizard and they get caught, once they return to the Knights Order, they will not be able to raise their face at all.
The moment when the knights who hesitated opened their mouths again.
“What is it? You’re not even the wizard in charge, and I don’t think they instructed those guarding the entrance that one has to get permission first before entering, right?”
A thin silver wick sprang up in Elisha’s sky-blue eyes.
“… Euph!”
Beyond emotional embarrassment, the knights opened their eyes as goosebumps rose on their skin with a real sense of intimidation.
“Are you still trying to stand in front of me?”
Then, they unconsciously bit their tongues at the cold tone.
Who is the dark, inflexible, stupid woman from the rumors outside?
It should never be the woman before them right now.
Elisha passed through the entrance to the Ministry of Magic, not paying attention to how they looked at her.
“T-There is no need for Your Majesty to tell the wizard in charge. It’s just a common matter where we overlook some noble people, there is no need to pay this matter too much attention…!”
Behind her, one of the knights spoke quickly, but as if she did not hear, Elisha moved away from them.
***
The wizard, who breathed in mana to activate the magic communicator, glanced at Elisha again and again.
Then when their eyes met, he gave out one big, hoarse cough before turning her face away.
“It’s done.”
At his words, Elisha nodded and stared at him quietly.
“Oh, I’ll go out then. You’ll be connected soon.”
With an awkward expression as if he had forgotten, the wizard went out.
As soon as the door was closed, blue and purple light intertwined and spread from the mana-infused communication port, and a human face appeared immediately.
「It’s been a while, Elisha.」
“Yes, Master.”
The face reflected in the large telecommunication sphere placed on the central table was the Archmage William.
「Did you call me when it was time to die? You want to count on the old relationship?」
The owner of one of the three towers in the Atien Empire and a 7th class wizard, who was closely related to the western nobles, Marquis Rwanda and Duke Verdin.
There was no way he could’ve liked it when Elisha, his disciple, married the emperor.
But what William felt most fortunate was when Elisha, as a sorceress who can rarely gets pregnant, had Leon, and surprisingly, succeeded in giving birth.
Because he couldn’t lose such a talented person who would become an archmage to the Imperial faction.
There was no way Elisha would be unaware of William’s judgment.
Above all, it was true that Elisha betrayed William first by going to Emperor Kaiden.
“Is there even a stain between Master and me? In the beginning, due to our contractual relationship, Master taught me magic, while I informed you of the magic formula I made and made it Master’s achievements.”
「You’ve never been cute since you were a kid.」
“I just wanted to make you feel comfortable. It’s nice not to have to watch a little girl walking around the tower with shaky legs.”
「So, why did you call me? I’m aware the coordinates are of the Imperial palace’s Ministry of Magic, but if this call is only to listen to you nonsense…」
“There seems to be a lot of talk inside the tower about how Master hasn’t announced new magic formulas for some time, isn’t it?”
「And what can you do about it? Do you want to say that you, a fool who can’t even lead the way of mana, have invented a new magic formula? That’s unreasonable no matter how genius you are at magic formulas.」
“I do. But why do you think I gave you all the formulas I made at the tower even though our relationship wasn’t that ‘good’? Don’t tell me you think I felt the slightest affection for my teacher who brought me out of Obern Barony, or thought that everything you’ve done was out of sincerity?”
「Of course that couldn’t be the case. I was surprised that you did something cute even though you put all kinds of restrictions on it. Quite so.」
William’s eyes widened.
“Should I give it to you right now so you may solidify your position a little bit more? What I want is nothing special, just please attend my cute son’s birthday party and brighten it up.”
「I just need to come and sit?」
Elisha curled up the corners of her mouth and snorted.
“How could that be possible? We’ll talk about the rest after you come to the Imperial palace.”
「Elisha!」
“Then, let’s stop here.”
「Ellie!」
Before he could even finish speaking, Elisha opened the door to the communication room and went outside.
A roar was heard over the communication port and then cut off.
“Mother, I’ll come again after class.”
Leon bowed his head and moved away from her embrace.
Even though she had said he could keep playing, Leon only took three days off before going back to his regular routine.
Elisha felt sorry for him, but she also respected Leon’s decision.
However, her eyes were slightly drooping, which was a rare expression coming from her, making it difficult for others to recognize her.
“Was I not fun to be with?”
Abused by Baron Obern before she was noticed by Archmage William, Elisha, who had spent her entire childhood in the tower, had no idea what games she could play with her child.
Someone appeared before Elisha, who just remembered the need to learn to play.
It was Jane-Marie, the maid of the 2nd Empress’ Palace.
“Your Majesty the 2nd Empress, it is already too late to start preparing for Prince Leon’s birthday banquet. What should we do?”
Elisha paused.
“Should we just proceed as you instructed us to do the other day?”
The rough plan had already been made, so Marie confirmed it again.
The 6th birthday of a prince is significant.
Having survived without being poisoned, ill, or killed by any accident means that you have the minimum strength to continue to survive in the Imperial palace in the future.
This is because the matter of one who sits on the emperor’s throne is recognized as a matter of public recognition.
“Hmm.”
Elisha lightly tapped the table with her fingertips.
The atmosphere felt turned somewhat dry and heavy.
It was definitely a different feeling from before. A cold wind would blow if anything was bothering her, which drew attention from the people around her.
When one of the people gathered looked over as if trying to check her expression, the unpleasant atmosphere disappeared at once.
The master of the 2nd Palace, who had been acting like a changed person since a week ago, had caused quite a stir in the palace. But Marie thought that as long as she did her job properly as a maid, it would be enough.
However, she, too, could not help but be surprised by the words of her master that followed.
“Ask Leon first.”
“… Yes?”
Whatever Marie’s reaction, Elisha thought this choice was natural.
In the past, a party that was held luxuriously as a means to show off the 2nd Palace’s might and supposedly attended by many people was messed up by the 1st Empress Isabelle’s trickery, making the child have to spend his worst birthday in an empty party hall.
Hence, for Elisha, there was no need or reason to repeat the same thing.
“I’m celebrating Leon’s birthday, so I’ll have to ask Leon what he wants to do first.”
“I understand, Your Majesty.”
Marie came to her senses and replied.
In any case, Elisha drank the tea in front of her, and turned the page of her book to the next.
***
That night.
“The birthday banquet will be held soon. What do you want to do?”
Elisha pulled out Leon’s quilt from the bed and covered him tightly up to his neck, then she asked.
“I’ll do what Mother likes.”
“Is there no one you would like to invite?”
Leon blinked as if asking why.
His eyes were so big that it took up half of his round and small face. How pretty he is.
“Leon, it’s your birthday.”
Elisha combed the child’s hair with her fingertips and waited for an answer.
Her answer came after quite some time.
“Don’t worry about me. The banquet hall will be full even with only those invited by Mother.”
“…”
Leon, who had been hesitant about how to accept his mother’s silence, raised his blue eyes and met his mother’s gaze.
“I’m really fine. I’m glad that you asked me like this first.”
Whether those words are true or not, a blush spreads across Leon’s cheeks, as light as a peach.
Ah.
It was like that.
Elisha found another small piece of the past that she had missed.
“Then let’s try to decorate this birthday with this mother’s greed. Once you see it and don’t like it, please tell me later. After that, on next year’s birthday, Leon, we will do whatever you want.”
“Alright, Mother.”
He didn’t expect that something would change next year, but Leon still answered so.
Then, his mother’s eyes bent a little and softened.
Feeling embarrassed for some reason, Leon pretended to be tossing and turning and pulling up the blanket more to cover his face.
“You must be tired. Go to sleep.”
Elisha patted Leon on the shoulder.
She wanted to sing a lullaby, but she couldn’t do it because she had never heard it in her life.
The world was unfair.
What you have never received, you cannot give to your children.
But, it’s okay.
You can fill in what you don’t have.
In fact, learning and mastering was one of the things Elisha did best.
As long as the direction is not wrong, Elisha would always get the desired result.
The next day, when Leon went to class in the morning, Elisha moved to do her own work.
This is the first time she went out of the 2nd Palace since returning to the past.
When she was first greeted by the still intact Imperial Palace, which had become a mess in the past as the battle with Emperor Kaiden began in earnest, she felt strange.
As Elisha recalled the past, she headed to where the Ministry of Magic was at this time.
The guards at the entrance of the Ministry of Magic looked bored.
Then, their faces flashed at the presence of someone approaching.
“Oh? Look there. Who is that beauty?”
“You bastard, is it common to have silver hair and blue eyes? There must be only one person like this in the whole empire.”
“Do you mean, it’s the forgotten empress who is coming?”
“What empress. You never know when she’ll be thrown out.”
The eldest of the three flirts tilted his head.
“By the way, she’s been out of touch for so long, so why is she here now?”
To his murmur, another knight answered.
“You can find out about that soon enough.”
There was a hint of fun on the faces of the knights.
The Ministry of Magic itself is a place where wizards who deviate from the mainstream of the palace’s tower stay, and for strictly confidential matters, they use their personal wizards and communication tools.
Such a high-ranking person who was worthy of attention would not be able to leave the Ministry of Magic without leaving any traces and attracting attention.
As a knight in the palace who had the responsibility to check and guard the entire palace, he set the order and stood alert.
When Elisha approached right in front of them, he said with a strong force on purpose.
“Stop. Please state your identity and why you came to the Ministry of Magic.”
However, the opponent was the problem.
Elisha scanned the three knights from left to right.
Sky blue is not light blue.
The bright and clear sky blue didn’t shine on the opponent, but was reflected and bounced off.
[T/N: I think this is talking about how the knights’ bravado doesn’t work and is countered by Elisha instead. Sky blue is Elisha’s eye color, ‘Sky blue is not light blue’ perhaps is saying that she’s not a lightweight.]
The knights were taken aback by the reaction different from what they had expected, but then raised their momentum and suppressed Elisha.
“Did you not hear me?”
“I heard you. But, I’m too surprised to think that there are people, standing on guard as knights, who don’t even know the face of the empress within the Imperial palace.”
The knights turned to each other because of Elisha who responded with an indifferent expression that was not at all surprised.
The oldest among them spoke,
“It’s not that I didn’t recognize the 2nd Empress, but there are several procedures within the Imperial Palace. This was just one of them.”
“I came to the Ministry of Magic to use the magic communication device, should there be other reasons? Is there a procedure that the empress must inform one of the knights of the contents of the communication? I did not know this until now. I’ll talk to the wizard in charge.”
“Y, Your Majesty, that’s…!”
The knights called her urgently.
Not only was such a procedure impossible, but the wizard and the knight were in a bad relationship to the point resembling dogs biting each other.
The 2nd Empress herself is nothing to be afraid of, but if she goes inside and talks to the wizard and they get caught, once they return to the Knights Order, they will not be able to raise their face at all.
The moment when the knights who hesitated opened their mouths again.
“What is it? You’re not even the wizard in charge, and I don’t think they instructed those guarding the entrance that one has to get permission first before entering, right?”
A thin silver wick sprang up in Elisha’s sky-blue eyes.
“… Euph!”
Beyond emotional embarrassment, the knights opened their eyes as goosebumps rose on their skin with a real sense of intimidation.
“Are you still trying to stand in front of me?”
Then, they unconsciously bit their tongues at the cold tone.
Who is the dark, inflexible, stupid woman from the rumors outside?
It should never be the woman before them right now.
Elisha passed through the entrance to the Ministry of Magic, not paying attention to how they looked at her.
“T-There is no need for Your Majesty to tell the wizard in charge. It’s just a common matter where we overlook some noble people, there is no need to pay this matter too much attention…!”
Behind her, one of the knights spoke quickly, but as if she did not hear, Elisha moved away from them.
***
The wizard, who breathed in mana to activate the magic communicator, glanced at Elisha again and again.
Then when their eyes met, he gave out one big, hoarse cough before turning her face away.
“It’s done.”
At his words, Elisha nodded and stared at him quietly.
“Oh, I’ll go out then. You’ll be connected soon.”
With an awkward expression as if he had forgotten, the wizard went out.
As soon as the door was closed, blue and purple light intertwined and spread from the mana-infused communication port, and a human face appeared immediately.
「It’s been a while, Elisha.」
“Yes, Master.”
The face reflected in the large telecommunication sphere placed on the central table was the Archmage William.
「Did you call me when it was time to die? You want to count on the old relationship?」
The owner of one of the three towers in the Atien Empire and a 7th class wizard, who was closely related to the western nobles, Marquis Rwanda and Duke Verdin.
There was no way he could’ve liked it when Elisha, his disciple, married the emperor.
But what William felt most fortunate was when Elisha, as a sorceress who can rarely gets pregnant, had Leon, and surprisingly, succeeded in giving birth.
Because he couldn’t lose such a talented person who would become an archmage to the Imperial faction.
There was no way Elisha would be unaware of William’s judgment.
Above all, it was true that Elisha betrayed William first by going to Emperor Kaiden.
“Is there even a stain between Master and me? In the beginning, due to our contractual relationship, Master taught me magic, while I informed you of the magic formula I made and made it Master’s achievements.”
「You’ve never been cute since you were a kid.」
“I just wanted to make you feel comfortable. It’s nice not to have to watch a little girl walking around the tower with shaky legs.”
「So, why did you call me? I’m aware the coordinates are of the Imperial palace’s Ministry of Magic, but if this call is only to listen to you nonsense…」
“There seems to be a lot of talk inside the tower about how Master hasn’t announced new magic formulas for some time, isn’t it?”
「And what can you do about it? Do you want to say that you, a fool who can’t even lead the way of mana, have invented a new magic formula? That’s unreasonable no matter how genius you are at magic formulas.」
“I do. But why do you think I gave you all the formulas I made at the tower even though our relationship wasn’t that ‘good’? Don’t tell me you think I felt the slightest affection for my teacher who brought me out of Obern Barony, or thought that everything you’ve done was out of sincerity?”
「Of course that couldn’t be the case. I was surprised that you did something cute even though you put all kinds of restrictions on it. Quite so.」
William’s eyes widened.
“Should I give it to you right now so you may solidify your position a little bit more? What I want is nothing special, just please attend my cute son’s birthday party and brighten it up.”
「I just need to come and sit?」
Elisha curled up the corners of her mouth and snorted.
“How could that be possible? We’ll talk about the rest after you come to the Imperial palace.”
「Elisha!」
“Then, let’s stop here.”
「Ellie!」
Before he could even finish speaking, Elisha opened the door to the communication room and went outside.
A roar was heard over the communication port and then cut off.
