After assigning the task, Enya put her hands on her hips, lifted her chin slightly, cleared her throat, and said,
“Just tell me, are you going to learn or not?”
“……”
Pandrake didn’t say anything, only silently picked up the book.
Enya didn’t care whether she would read or learn it, and directly exited the consciousness space.
Back in reality, she sat in the chair at her desk, dazed for a while, as if making a major decision.
She opened the desk drawer and took out stationery and a pen.
Enya smoothed out the snow-white paper, and as the tip of her quill touched it, a tiny blot of ink appeared on the page.
Enya’s hand holding the pen paused, then she lifted it again, but at this moment she hesitated.
She knew she wasn’t in a good state right now.
She could handle ordinary people, but those high-ranking enemies—given her current condition—it would be difficult to deal with them.
So, Enya decided to ask someone for help.
But after she’d sworn so confidently before that she would shoulder everything herself, now she was going to ask for help.
Wasn’t that a bit…
“If I write this letter, what will they think of me?”
Enya didn’t plan to ask Vivienne, since when she last saw Vivienne, Vivienne said herself that next time she saw Enya, she’d tie her up.
Enya didn’t know what kind of attitude Vivienne would have towards Rosily.
She clearly wasn’t the same as before; in the past, Vivienne couldn’t keep her in check.
Beyond the northern mountains lies the Forest Elf Kingdom…
“No, no, no, forget it, I can’t ask her either!”
The Saintess of the Church of Nature, the future queen of the Forest Elves—Enya didn’t intend to trouble her, either.
As for the others, either they were too far away, or Enya didn’t want them to know what state she was in now.
After weighing her options, it seemed there was only one candidate left: the Great Sage Antiros, also known as the Great Witch, an ancient loli with over a hundred thousand years of history.
She had helped Enya a lot on her cultivation path, and could be considered Enya’s teacher.
Having decided who to send the letter to, Enya began to consider how to write it.
After thinking for a long time, she finally finished this plea for help.
In the letter, she made it clear that Antiros herself didn’t need to come—just send money… oh no, just send some miraculous magical items.
In summary—I, Enya, need money!
After writing it, she stuffed the letter into an envelope, and also took out a black heart larger than her own head—the heart of the demon she killed beneath Red Pine City.
This thing was useless to Enya herself, but Antiros could turn it into a very handy artifact or magical tool, so handing it over to her was the best way to handle it.
Enya transformed the demon’s heart into a sheet of paper, folded it up, and stuffed it into the envelope.
After sealing it, she took out a candle.
Enya placed the candle at the corner of the desk, twisted the wick between her fingers, and after letting go, a moment later, a black flame sprang up on the pale blue candle.
The black fire suddenly flared up, as if doused in oil.
A patch of black flame transformed into a crow, which stood on the desk with its head tilted, its bright eyes staring straight at Enya.
It opened its beak and spoke.
“Who’s calling the fleet?”
“……”
Enya froze for a moment, then realized this was a mistake from her youth.
She ignored the crow’s words and simply held the envelope to its beak.
“Don’t stare, just get the delivery fee from Antiros.”
“……”
A flash of speechless humanity appeared in the crow’s eyes, but it still took Enya’s envelope in its beak, then pounced towards the candle.
With a flap of its black wings, the crow turned back into black fire, enveloping the envelope, and in an instant, it became a small flame once more.
Enya didn’t blow out the candle, but let it burn there.
Her golden-red slit pupils watched the dim black flame as she murmured to herself, “Doesn’t this look like I’m asking family for money?”
Enya felt it really did.
She used to ask Antiros for things a lot, because as long as Antiros handed over some magical artifact, there was no difficulty Enya couldn’t overcome.
This later led to her developing a dependency, and it wasn’t until she fully matured that she gradually broke the habit of running to Antiros for every little thing, and instead learned to solve problems on her own.
Getting up from her chair, Enya planned to get ready—tomorrow, she’d head to the northern mountains.
Leaving the study, she quietly went upstairs.
As she passed Rosily’s room, she carefully opened the door and peeked at her sleeping daughter.
After returning to her own room, Enya took out the clothes she used to wear on her adventures, only to be surprised to find they were a bit small—especially tight around the chest.
She stared at herself in the mirror for a long time, and when she snapped out of it, she helplessly picked up a needle and thread.
This was the pain of growing up—she had to learn to accept it.
…
Hena looked up at the sky.
The countless stars illuminated the earth.
She lowered her gaze and walked toward the house ahead.
At the door, she paused for a moment, but finally pushed it open and walked in.
A girl with long wine-red hair sat under the magic lamp in a short nightdress, carefully applying potion to her body—alone, tending to her own wounds.
When she heard the door open, her hand trembled as she dabbed the medicine, then put down the cotton ball, but didn’t turn around to face Henna.
Hena closed the door.
Though it was warm in summer and the girl’s body was not fragile, she closed it instinctively, because she didn’t know how to begin, and could only busy herself to stall for time.
Then, one with her back turned, and the other staring at that back, both remained silent.
Until the girl spoke in a trembling voice.
“Sis, did you come to scold me?”
“……”
The girl’s back was slender, the scars on her fair skin adding a splash of color.
She slowly turned around, her reddened eyes looking at Henna.
Yelena bit her lip.
Seeing Henna not answer, she let go and tears streamed down her face.
With a last bit of hysteria, she shouted at Henna.
“Why am I so mediocre, why, just why! Sis, tell me, why am I so mediocre, why is it?!”
After saying that, she seemed completely deflated and began to mutter over and over,
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
Henna hugged Yelena, saying nothing, just gently stroking her hair.
In the end, it was she who had made Yelena this way.
Yelena was her cousin.
Yelena’s parents were the former lords of Asades, and her older brother was the brightest genius of the Asades family.
But they all died by Henna’s sword, because they had fallen into heresy and would rather die than repent.
After Yelena’s emotions calmed down, Hena spoke softly.
“Yelena, is there anything you want to do? I mean, besides sword practice—something you’re interested in.”
“……”
Yelena couldn’t answer.
Henna continued,
“Yelena, you have nothing to apologize for—I’m the one who owes you. I shouldn’t have put the burden of the future on you. Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll take you somewhere.”
Henna planned to take Yelena to Enya’s place.
She needed to formally apologize for her own mistakes.
Yelena quietly leaned on her shoulder.