“Hmm? What is it, Princess Avira?” Mephilia cautiously positioned herself to shield Liana behind her. “What is it that you can’t say in front of me?”

Mephilia now looked exactly like a protective kitten guarding her food. “Princess Mephilia, if you want to know, then please join us. It’s nothing important anyway.”

“I just want to know what you’re planning to do,” Mephilia said.

“Just now in the meeting room, we were discussing Sephirena, weren’t we? I noticed Lady Liana seemed quite interested in this topic, so I wanted to chat with her about it. If Princess Mephilia is concerned, please feel free to join us.” Avira said.

Mephilia shook her head. “I’ll pass, but it’s currently five in the afternoon. If Liana hasn’t returned by eight this evening, I’ll come looking for her.”

“Rest assured, Princess Mephilia, I won’t take up too much of Lady Liana’s time. I believe we’ll finish quickly,” Avira smiled.

“Then I’ll just leave for a little while, Mephilia. I’ll be back soon.” Liana followed behind Princess Avira to a room.

“Now that it’s just the two of us in this room, I’ll get straight to the point. Lady Liana, have you met Sephirena?” Avira asked.

Liana had anticipated this question, as her earlier behavior had indeed shown concern about Sephirena.

But Liana would certainly not admit it.

Liana knew very well that Sephirena now harbored deep hatred for the Elf Forest. Arranging a meeting between them now might not be a good idea.

Liana shook her head. “No, I’ve never met Miss Sephirena. I don’t know her at all. In fact, this is my first time seeing elves.”

“Is that so?” Avira looked at Liana thoughtfully.

Liana must have met Sephirena, or at least knew something. She definitely possessed some information about Sephirena.

“Why is Princess Avira so certain that I know Sephirena or have met her?” Liana asked proactively.

“Because Lady Liana questioned me about matters concerning our Elf Forest from the very beginning.”

Liana said, “I was just curious, and since Princess Avira was concealing something from me at that time—hiding the existence of the Fourth Princess—it made me a bit concerned.

“After all, if there wasn’t some special story, you wouldn’t have hidden this from me, right? I was just curious. If I’ve caused a misunderstanding, I apologize.”

“Lady Liana is truly a strange person,” Avira sat across from Liana. “You were the one who initially seemed concerned about Sephirena, yet now it appears as if I’m the one eager to share information about Sephirena with you?”

“I didn’t say anything, it’s not my fault,” Liana maintained an innocent expression, looking completely harmless.

“Well, would Lady Liana like to know more? It’s a long story, so if you’re not interested, we can forget about it,” Avira said.

“If you insist on telling me, I suppose I could listen,” Liana agreed, feigning reluctance.

Although Liana, having read the original story, knew some details, this world had already been thrown into chaos by her actions. What if there were changes she wasn’t aware of? Wouldn’t Liana be in trouble then?

Avira began to recount the history of the elves.

The current elvenkind /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ had four princesses whose relationships were very close, much better than those in the Lisat Kingdom.

They weren’t competing for the position of Elf Queen; the Tree of Life would make its own selection when the time came.

What concerned them more was how to repair the Tree of Life.

Through their collective efforts, progress had been steady, and the Tree of Life gradually regained its former glory.

This continued for ten years, with predictions that if they maintained this progress, the Tree of Life would fully recover in about fifty years.

This was an extremely important matter for the elves, and they continued to work diligently toward this goal.

But one day, an accident occurred. The Third Princess, Tarashil, suddenly fell ill while repairing the Tree of Life.

Despite being sustained for a while with the help of the Tree of Life and the Spring of Life, she ultimately couldn’t survive.

Death by illness was a foreign concept to elves, yet Princess Tarashil had died this way.

This was something Sephirena couldn’t accept. Of course, the entire Elf Forest couldn’t accept it either. Everyone wanted to know what had happened that day, but despite exhausting all methods, they couldn’t discover the truth.

Sephirena was deeply resentful. Her relationship with Tarashil had been the closest, and she couldn’t accept this outcome.

Her relationship with Tarashil was far better than that between the eldest and second princess, as they were born almost simultaneously—Tarashil was only a few minutes older than Sephirena.

The other two princesses were several decades older, so Tarashil and Sephirena often stayed together.

However, their personalities were very different. Tarashil was steady, gentle, and meticulous, often receiving praise from others.

Sephirena was the opposite—short-haired, always running barefoot through the forest, constantly covered in dirt, mischievous, fond of playing pranks. She didn’t look like royalty at all, not even like a proper girl.

But in her heart, she had always looked up to Tarashil as her role model. This was something Avira had secretly discovered.

It seemed Sephirena had been planning to surprise Tarashil...

But before she could deliver her surprise, Tarashil passed away. Sephirena stood alone at Tarashil’s grave for a very long time—about five years—without moving.

Her body even began to merge with nature, with branches entwining around her legs and birds nesting on her head.

During those five years, they couldn’t uncover the truth about that day. No one had witnessed what exactly happened, and it was finally ruled as... an accident.

Upon hearing this verdict, Sephirena finally moved. She couldn’t accept it. Something must have happened that day.

Tarashil wouldn’t have died without reason.

Sephirena accessed forbidden powers, hoping to see what had transpired that day.

Unfortunately, she failed. Not only did she fail, but she was also abandoned by nature, losing her ability to use nature-based magic.

After that, the Tree of Life began to wither again.

Many voices arose in the Elf Forest, the loudest claiming that because Princess Sephirena had used forbidden powers, she had angered the Tree of Life, resulting in its current state.

Since Sephirena could no longer use the power of nature, she could no longer be considered an elf. Her status as princess was revoked, and she was expelled from the Elf Forest.

“After hearing this story, does Lady Liana have any thoughts?” Avira asked.

It was pretty much the same as the original plot, since these events occurred before Liana’s arrival in this world.

“So, everything started with the mysterious death of Princess Tarashil?” Liana said.

“Yes, but no one knows the truth about what happened.”

“Not even those old folks? That seems unlikely,” Liana questioned.

“Though it’s hard to believe, it’s the truth.”

“...” Liana actually knew something, but if she spoke up now, she might be killed.

“I understand. Princess Sephirena must have been heartbroken. Even after using forbidden powers, being abandoned by nature, and being expelled, she still couldn’t uncover the truth. She must be deeply resentful,” Liana said.

“Yes, she must hate the Elf Forest now. Rather than being expelled, it would be more accurate to say she left the Elf Forest of her own accord.”

“Is that why Princess Avira claims not to care, yet becomes so agitated at the mention of Sephirena?” Liana asked.

“I just... feel somewhat guilty toward them because... that day, I was supposed to be the one repairing the Tree of Life.”

If she had gone instead, would the outcome have been different? Would Tarashil not have died? Or would Avira have been the one to fall ill and die instead?

“Princess Avira, you needn’t blame yourself so much. What’s happened cannot be changed no matter how much we regret it. All we can do is try to make amends as best we can. Besides, the fault wasn’t yours,” Liana consoled her. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

“Princess Tarashil couldn’t have simply died from illness. Something as important as repairing the Tree of Life would surely have been closely monitored.” Liana was being as tactful as possible.

“Indeed, Lady Liana is no ordinary person,” Avira had considered this perspective and had searched along these lines, but without results.

What could she do? She had no real options. After all, before the advent of spellcrafting, the status of the elders was supreme, especially those ancient beings who had survived from primordial times.

Their minds likely held magical knowledge not recorded in any books—who would dare provoke them?

But today’s events seemed to present a new opportunity.

“That’s just normal reasoning. Don’t think too highly of me,” Liana disliked feeling like others had expectations of her.

Plus, given Liana’s somewhat lazy disposition, if it weren’t for her need to survive, she would have given up long ago.

“At least you dare to speak up. That alone sets you apart from others.”

Indeed, due to being a transmigrator, Liana wasn’t as sensitive to certain aspects of this world.

“Before coming here, I gathered some information about the Lisat Kingdom—the three heirs and the five territories with influential figures. Among them, Lady Liana’s name was the most prominent.”

Liana waved her hand dismissively. “Prominent in a certain sense, perhaps?”

Liana doubted that news of her would elicit positive reactions in the Elf Forest. No wonder Avira had initially focused on her.

“Yes, that’s why I’m so interested in Lady Liana,” Avira said.

Liana didn’t care whether Avira was interested in her or not. “So you know about our human world? I thought you said you weren’t interested in human affairs?”

“We indeed aren’t interested, but not being interested doesn’t mean we don’t stay informed. This is necessary for survival,” Avira replied.

“It’s hard to imagine those words coming from elven royalty,” Liana observed. “But is it wise to tell me all this? I’m just a small fry, someone you could crush effortlessly if you wished.”

The elvenkind was arguably the strongest of the three factions, with much greater vitality than humans. Perhaps some ancient monsters were hiding among them—that wouldn’t be surprising.

Yet the elf race was now talking about what was necessary for survival.

“Lady Liana, or should I call you Princess Liana? After all, you’re a noble recognized by King Lisat. You could become a member of the royal family with just a nod, yet you refused.”

“Even if I were royalty, I couldn’t compare to Princess Avira. Besides, my abilities are what they are. Is it really okay to tell me all this?” Liana asked.

“Indeed, Lady Liana’s current abilities are quite weak, even weaker than those of a newborn infant in our Elf Forest.”

“...” Thanks, I feel offended.

“But Lady Liana’s way of speaking is intriguing, and your way of thinking is unique. This has shown me that magic isn’t solely defined by one’s magical power, but by imagination,” Avira said.

“Lady Liana, you’ve demonstrated extraordinary imagination by reversing spells—an extremely bold move. For the first time in a thousand years, someone has proposed changing incantations, and then within a short month, new ideas have emerged. Could it be that spellcrafting was also Lady Liana’s idea?” Avira inquired.

“You’re getting off track,” Liana didn’t want too many labels attached to her. “But I should warn you, not all incantations can be reversed.”

“It seems Lady Liana has tried and failed?”

“Yes,” Liana nodded. “But my failures so far haven’t had severe consequences, just doubled magic consumption and some side effects from excessive magic use.”

Avira nodded thoughtfully. “It seems this will be a lengthy research process. I was worried about how to deal with the demonkind’s revival, but now it appears we have some countermeasures.”

This was, after all, a world centered on magic, where all means of confrontation were magic-related. The demon race naturally had advantages in magic and employed terrifying spells never seen before.

With the ability to create and modify magic, perhaps they now had the means to resist.

Those who brought this about, Liana and Mephilia, should be regarded as heroes.

“Although Princess Liana is weak, I can see that you have a high affinity for magic. Though you started slower than others, you certainly won’t be inferior,” Avira said.

Liana took this as mere consolation from Avira.

Liana stretched lazily. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll head back now. Mephilia is waiting for me.”

Avira took out a bracelet woven from vines. “This is made from branches of the Tree of Life. Wearing it will slightly enhance your magic power and physical recovery rate. It’s also a symbol of friendship from our kind.

Other elves who see this will treat Princess Liana as an honored guest. Moreover, Sephirena knows about this item. If she sees it, she’ll know I gave it to you.

If you happen to meet Sephirena, could you let her send me the word that she’s safe? Or perhaps Princess Liana could check if she’s doing well.”

“I understand.” Liana looked at the bracelet on her wrist. It was beautiful, far more exquisite than many of the fine jewelry pieces in the human world, and comfortable to wear without feeling rough.

Liana could sense that after putting on the bracelet, her body felt more energetic. “Thank you for the gift, Princess Avira. I’ll treasure it.”

“Not at all. I should thank Princess Liana for listening to my ramblings for so long,” Avira said, somewhat embarrassed.

“It’s fine. I’ve learned a lot about the Elf Forest, and received a nice gift too.” Liana didn’t mind; having such a good item made the extra time worthwhile.

“Even if... we exceed the time limit?” Avira said. “Princess Mephilia did warn us earlier...”

“It’s fine. When it comes to the two of us, I make the rules! No problem, I just need to explain a little,” Liana said, feigning composure.

Oh crap! I’m going to be kneeling on the floor!