“I’m such an idiot…”
Lin Nuo couldn’t help but tap his own head.
It wasn’t his fault for not remembering earlier—after all, the original storyline hardly had any descriptions about Princess Amidina’s Sacred Relic.
He only vaguely recalled that late in the story, Xiafuya was in a battle where her mana ran low.
While coaching the heroines to cast non-verbal water magic on each other, she suddenly ran out of mana mid-fight and literally went weak at the knees…
Princess Amidina then temporarily handed over her Sacred Relic to Xiafuya so she could replenish her mana.
As the overwhelmingly powerful Feng Aotian, Xiafuya didn’t even know the origin of the Sacred Relic…
Besides one brief appearance, it stayed with Princess Amidina the entire time.
The setting that “the Sacred Relic can influence the corresponding spirit with mental suggestion” never manifested with Princess Amidina.
So much so that Lin Nuo once thought the barely mentioned Sacred Relic of Princess Amidina was just a plot device to highlight the huge contrast when Xiafuya, who always helped the heroines cast non-verbal water magic and dug out little fountains, would run out of mana at the crucial moment…
By the way, what exactly was Princess Amidina’s Sacred Relic again…
‘Oh right!’
After pondering for a moment, Lin Nuo relaxed his brow, clasped his right fist into his left palm, and suddenly remembered:
‘It was a very simple item—a book!’
***
A lavish bedroom.
Finally back in his room, Lin Nuo took a deep breath of fresh air, carrying a faint but familiar subtle fragrance of a young girl.
XÄ« had likely tidied up his room again; the glass mirror on the dressing table was spotless, meticulously arranged by the cute priestess.
The usual weariness on his face vanished in the reflection.
Lin Nuo rose and went over to the bookshelf, casually pulling out a book to leaf through.
“Chirp chirp…”
Fatty Bird flew over and perched on Lin Nuo’s shoulder, spreading its wings to shield him from the harsh side sunlight.
His thoughts quietly drifted back to the night he first met Princess Amidina in the hut outside the castle moat.
No wonder she was so nervous and resisted when he reached out to take off her clothes that day…
Was it simply shy aversion to touch, or…
Was she actually hiding the crucial Sacred Relic on her chest?
That tall, ominous mound, teetering back a step, its bouncy curve vividly resurfaced in his mind.
Seriously…
Lin Nuo wiped his nose.
Was he really going to lay hands on the princess’s soft little sides?
Changing someone’s will, and then trying to knock down Princess Amidina, check that area, and steal her Sacred Relic—
One simply couldn’t…
Or at least shouldn’t.
“Master, I heard the princess has gone to bathe. Tonight’s princess will surely smell divine…”
“Madam worries Master might not understand the process of making children when he takes up arms.”
“Uh… It may be presumptuous of me as a maid to say, but if Master needs, I can give him some preliminary lessons!”
“……”
Lin Nuo put down the Book of the Saintess’s Tribulation and sighed silently at the trembling maid beside him…
Damn it, how dare she underestimate him!
He never imagined that his extensive knowledge on this subject would ever be questioned like this!
Glancing at the sunlight outside, Lin Nuo took a deep breath and double-checked the bookshelf.
He didn’t find the book XÄ« mentioned about the pure female spirits being forced by noble girls—somewhat disappointing, but not important.Â
He first sent away the flustered maid who fancied giving him special lessons, then randomly pulled another book from an inconspicuous corner.
He then headed straight toward the kitchen.
Cream pudding, cocoa bean cake, moonlight grass fruit tarts…
Sitting at the kitchen entrance, filled with the aroma of various delicious desserts, Lin Nuo opened the risqué book he had just grabbed to pass the time.
But upon opening it, he noticed the texture wasn’t like the books on his shelf made from ordinary parchment or moss paper.
This book… was very light.
Not because it was thin, but so light it felt almost weightless.
Lin Nuo touched the cover, which had an ancient, subtle roughness.
Opening to the first page was a drawing of an angel with outstretched wings holding a magic staff.
Beneath it were healing Sanskrit runes of magic, flowing with depth on the thin paper.
As he continued flipping, he discovered the entire back of the book was blank.
Flipping back, he vaguely recognized an angelic image, and on the previous page, mysterious and strange silver patterns formed the words—Natural Magic.
A spellbook?
Was that the book’s name?
“The cover even has a starry light array… This glowing thing clearly shows you accidentally brought it back from the Sacred Relic Hall again,” Lin Nuo said, rubbing the round head of Fatty Bird, who loved shiny things.
“Chirp?”
Fatty Bird jumped onto Lin Nuo’s wrist and used its tiny claws to compare the thickness of the spellbook, shaking its head as if to say it was too thick to carry.
As the two chatted idly, the sound of chewing from the kitchen behind them finally stopped.
After a while, sudden footsteps echoed.
“Tat tat tat…”
“Tat tat tat…”
“Stop right there.” Closing the book, Lin Nuo spoke firmly.
“Wuu~?”
Hearing someone blocking the way, the footsteps hesitated for a moment but then resumed at an even more hurried pace.
It sounded like someone was even more frantically trying to find the way out of the kitchen, possibly short-legged and still full from eating, stumbling and confused, with the steps becoming more rapid and uneven.
The footsteps kept coming closer… and why wasn’t this person slowing down at all?
Lin Nuo froze, then reacted and twisted to dodge, but the head came straight out of the kitchen first and collided with him.
“Pft—”
Lin Nuo never imagined he would one day be rear-ended by a washing board moving at light speed…
This person was way too flat!
There was absolutely no cushion in the impact…
Noticing the person sprawling over him, Lin Nuo recognized that unmistakably flat washing board figure.
He knew he had found the person he was looking for.
The girl, unaware her identity was about to be revealed, frantically covered Lin Nuo’s eyes with both hands, her soft, childlike voice panicked:
“Big Pot, don’t look back! I… I’m her sister!”
“……”
“Hey! Master!”
“Master, are you alright?!”
The maids who heard the commotion hurried over to help Lin Nuo up.
Two others caught the little thieves who dared to sneak into the castle kitchen, but when they saw that this person was the princess’s younger sister, they quickly glanced at Master for help.
Yulilian shook off the restraints with a small sway of her arms, pouted at Lin Nuo, and despite secretly being a little nervous about sneaking food, now that she’d been caught, she crossed her arms and looked triumphant.
Her lively apricot eyes stared daggers at Lin Nuo in a “I’m just hungry, alright!” sort of way.
Just then, a maid came out of the kitchen, as if reporting something to Lin Nuo, casting a shocked glance at her flat little belly.