“Lin Nuo brother, can’t you just tell me which classic book records that kind of alchemy that can create metal out of thin air… Huh? (High School Chemistry)?”
“Could you at least tell me who the author is… People’s Education Press? Which magic professor uses such a strange title!”
“Just say it out loud, maybe someone can understand… Do you have to memorize the Elemental Periodic Table first to learn this? But I’ve never even heard of it!”
“Then, then help me write it down, please!”
So, Yulilian’s little eyebrows shot straight up as she held Lin Nuo’s handwritten “Hydrogen Helium Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon…” and, after two days of pondering with a group of little elves, they gave up.
On the third day, the sky was still clear and the weather warm and pleasant.
“Chirp chirp…”
On the cool corridor.
Lin Nuo skewered a piece of candied fruit with a bamboo stick and tossed it into the air.
Fatty Bird spread its wings and dove, catching it in one bite.
A scene of peace and tranquility.
When there were guests at home, they usually ate together at the long table.
But Princess Amidina had spent the past two days alone in her room.
Their parents, who had just returned from the Capital and knew that both of them were somewhat injured, didn’t bother with unnecessary formalities.
Only that little girl, who had been following Lin Nuo like a shadow ever since he safely brought her sister back, was now holding her own tin tray and joining the duo of one person and one bird.
“This is the gift my sister gave you… I don’t even have one!”
“It shines rainbow colors under the sunlight!”
“So pretty!”
Yulilian’s large apricot eyes brightly stared at the small, round bead strung on a delicate chain made of precious metal around Lin Nuo’s wrist.
This bead was called the Rainbow Crystal.
Its appearance was like a soap bubble blown under sunlight, or like a rainbow crushed and painted on its surface.
The transparent surface shimmered with colors that seemed to slowly flow.
Not sure if all girls liked these kinds of beautiful, rare, and practically useless things, but… well, if you want to fool Yulilian, this gift was just right.
It required no magic.
With a thought, Lin Nuo made the Rainbow Crystal reflecting Yulilian’s surprised face vanish from his wrist.
“Lin Nuo brother, why did you have the Duke who went to the Capital blatantly tell all the dukes that the Clemence Family would take over Angekesai House’s secret plan to cultivate Elf Assassins using the Elf King’s Curse and the Sacred Relic…”
“Cultivating power this way is really not something to show off, and it would only make the unaware Elves hate you.”
“I just thought, why not just burn the contract in the record and free all those Elves instead…”
Yulilian cupped her cheeks and watched the more than twenty children playing and laughing in the garden, their slender ears gradually recovering under the Healing Mage’s care.
“Only my sister told me you’re very smart.”
“She said that the nature of the Elf King’s Curse means Elves born with Sacred Relics can be exploited by those with ill intent. So releasing them directly isn’t safe.”
“But if the Clemence Family monopolizes this power, then if other families want to steal the Elves’ Sacred Relics, they have to get your permission first. Plus, Clemence can openly intervene in such immoral acts…”
“If my sister hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have thought of this… No wonder the Duke and Duchess both agree with your idea, and so many Elves trustingly hand their lives over to you.”
“So you’re really that wise!”
Yulilian babbled on for a long time, her starry eyes fixed on Lin Nuo without blinking, fully acting like a little fangirl.
Lin Nuo glanced at her, reached out to pinch her tender cheek, and when Yulilian frowned, clearly about to protest with “I’m not an adult yet,” he pinched twice and then let go.
Though still soft and bouncy, it felt somewhat unreal.
Lin Nuo knew that day in the Mist Forest, he had definitely been poisoned.
The apothecary’s examination confirmed it was poison, but what kind exactly would take a couple more days to analyze.
But he was told clearly that the residual poison in his body was surprisingly low.
Lin Nuo couldn’t help but wonder—Vitz seemed no small player.
That black aura on him looked like a curse from an evil god?
Could the Water Saint Elf’s blood that Princess Amidina gave him really have easily lifted such a person’s poison?
Uncertain, but since waking up that day, his body hadn’t felt any obvious abnormalities.
And…
What exactly did Princess Amidina say that night?!
Lin Nuo, groggy and dazed, once thought it was just a nightmare.
But, the next day when he opened his eyes, the fragrance from the girl’s hair draped across his chest, lying quietly beside him, her two warm hands holding his through the entire night—
And the reality of her soft cherry lips swollen and reddened from his sucking—
Constantly reminded Lin Nuo that the scene of Her Highness the Princess pinning him down… until he almost suffocated… had really happened.
Amidina said she was awake the whole time when she went over him from head to toe that day…
Lin Nuo barely understood.
After all, thinking it through, Princess Amidina had indeed behaved unusually that night.
Even Feng Aotian had fainted like that, and still remembered her butt being smacked.
Forgetting the whole process wasn’t surprising.
Lin Nuo just assumed she had guessed.
Stealing socks… he also figured she must have guessed.
Later, she said something else, but his memory was fuzzy.
The gist seemed to be…
That Princess Amidina sounded like she’d known him for a long time?
Did this fit the original storyline logic?
White silk can’t be ridden by a sister!
With another flick of his will, Lin Nuo looked at the Rainbow Crystal reappearing on his wrist.
Since his father and mother trusted him, knowing he had really solved such a big problem with Amidina and seeing the gift she gave him, their attitude was that matters of affection could be left to them to slowly cultivate.
A marriage contract filled with time and love was far happier than forced arrangements…
They sounded quite optimistic about him and Amidina.
Although Lin Nuo felt the engagement would still probably fall through, his time with Amidina had indeed passed in a way he had never imagined and that fit much better than the original story.
That soft, pink, fragrant lips image floated through his mind again…
…And somehow, Lin Nuo inexplicably felt he would still have contact with Amidina in the future, which meant there was a high chance of running into Feng Aotian again.
If sticking to his original mindset, having gotten close to Feng Aotian’s woman and then being found out and pinned to the bed by her woman… kissed until fainting.
Lin Nuo’s little heart might find it hard to accept.
But after being involved in this mess, he no longer had the mindset to avoid facing it.
Since the “win the defense” plan had hit some minor snags, then finding a way to learn magic to enhance his strength was also a way of lying low, but even more reliable!
Maybe even letting Amidina and Feng Aotian go on maternity leave together…
‘Ugh! Why do I keep thinking about this!’