Chapter 5: [SIDE] Meanwhile, In the Elven Kingdom (1)
At about the same time that Lydia was reluctantly parting with the boy Leohart.
A harvest festival was being held in the Elven Kingdom.
Countless stalls lined the royal capital, packed tightly with freshly harvested vegetables and grains, along with autumn delicacies gathered from the mountains.
In the plaza, musicians played while children danced about.
Blessed with a bumper crop rarely seen in recent years, the elves wore beaming smiles.
“Well now, I wondered what would happen after Lady Lydia disappeared, but it turned into a wonderful year.”
“Indeed. This is all thanks to Saint Veronica.”
A celebratory banquet was being held in the royal palace, where the nobles lavishly praised Veronica.
“The effects of Lady Veronica’s saintly prayers are truly extraordinary.”
“Far more effective than the fertilizer Lady Lydia used to make.”
Veronica lowered her eyes modestly.
“Oh my… my sister’s abilities were wonderful as well.”
“No, no, Lady Veronica’s are far more splendid.”
At that moment, Gilbard appeared.
“Veronica, may I have a word?”
“Yes, of course.”
As Veronica and Gilbard walked away, the people began whispering among themselves.
“The next queen is surely Lady Veronica.”
“Yes, she must be beloved by the World Tree.”
Hearing those voices behind her, Veronica smiled smugly.
‘It really worked out perfectly.’
She had always been jealous of Lydia.
Her sister had been born with an enormous amount of magical power, excelled at pharmaceutical arts, and was promised the position of next queen.
Compared to that, Veronica’s magical power was only average.
No matter how hard she worked, she could never surpass her sister.
On top of that, Gilbard, whom she had loved for so long, had been taken from her as a fiancé.
“I want to knock my sister down no matter what.”
Just when she was thinking that, she obtained an old book.
It had been sleeping deep within the forbidden archives of the library, and it recorded a hidden history of the Elven Kingdom.
Deep within the forest along the border between the Elven Kingdom and the human nation, there existed a magic spring.
The ley lines flowing from the magic spring nourished the Elven Kingdom and supported the nation’s prosperity.
And if a magically powerful elf were sealed as a sacrifice inside the giant tree growing above the magic spring—the “Giant Tree of Silence”—the spring would be activated, the ley lines flowing through the Elven Kingdom would be revitalized, and abundance would be guaranteed.
This sacrificial system had continued as a matter of course until a thousand years ago, but the elf used as a sacrifice went mad from loneliness and poured a curse into the ley lines, nearly driving the country to ruin.
Terrified, the elves of that era believed they had “incurred the wrath of the World Tree” and declared the sacrificial system an absolute taboo.
Upon reading this account, Veronica made her decision.
Lydia was the elf with the greatest magical power in this country.
She would seal her away, activate the ley lines, and claim the results as her own power and achievement.
From that point on, she chose no means.
She seduced Gilbard and brought both him and his father, the Chancellor, onto her side.
She advised that poison had been mixed into the King’s medicine and bribed the Chief Pharmacist to fabricate evidence.
In the audience chamber, she pretended to protect Lydia while having her confined within the “Giant Tree of Silence.”
Furthermore, she called herself a “priestess who had received divine revelation,” traveled from place to place offering prayers for abundance, and claimed that the effects of sealing Lydia as a sacrifice were the result of her own power.
‘It really went laughably well.’
Veronica smirked.
She would keep Lydia confined there until her death and reign over the Elven Kingdom herself.
Incidentally, she had told the King that Lydia would be spending some time in a remote rural area.
In addition to false periodic reports claiming Lydia was living safely, she also forged letters supposedly from her.
As a precaution, she had even placed a girl magically disguised as Lydia to live in that area.
‘This will be fine for quite some time.’
As she wore a malicious smile, Gilbard whispered into her ear.
“It’s going exactly as you planned. All that’s left is for Lydia to behave herself.”
“Don’t worry.”
Veronica smiled brightly.
“You saw it, didn’t you? Even I, one of the kingdom’s foremost mages, couldn’t make so much as a single hole after pouring magic into it. There’s no way that woman, who’s bad at offensive magic, can do anything.”
“That’s true.”
The two of them laughed cheerfully together and slowly walked deeper into the royal palace.