Chapter 91
“Although I really want to stop her, there’s no way I can break your sister’s stubbornness this time.”
Herace, who knew Leira well, seemed already resigned.
Arjeo, pressing his forehead in thought, followed Leira back to the mansion without protest.
Herace immediately began preparing to return to the duchy, while Leira and Arjeo took only the seeds and departed first.
Unlike their journey to the capital, this time they used a spatial teleportation artifact to return to the duchy.
They had come to the capital for a banquet, but now, time was of the essence. Perhaps they could help the imperial troops stranded by the epidemic.
After taking the seeds back to the duchy, Leira and Arjeo headed straight for Citadel Island.
Hoehn, the person Leira had asked to take care of the herbs, was already there, tending them carefully every day.
But as time passed with Leira gone, the plants began to lose their vitality.
“…Huff.”
Hoehn sighed deeply, looking at the herbs with a face that seemed about to break into tears.
‘Please come back quickly, Princess…!’
As if responding to Hoehn’s wish, Leira and Arjeo arrived on the island.
Hoehn’s face brightened upon seeing the two enter.
“Princess! You’ve returned! You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting!”
With tears welling in his eyes, Hoehn clasped his hands together and fussed in excitement.
“Is there something wrong with the herbs?”
“They were fine for a while, but since you’ve been away so long, they’ve gradually started to wither. No matter what I do, they won’t recover…”
Hearing Hoehn’s trembling words, Leira immediately walked toward the herb garden.
She approached the withering herbs, placed her hand on the ground, and channeled her energy into them. Gradually, the once-drooping herbs regained their vitality.
“Oh…!”
Hoehn, watching nearby, couldn’t help but clap in joy.
Holding the seeds given by the old woman, Leira ventured deeper into the island with Arjeo.
A quiet spot among the towering trees. Leira surveyed the area and chose her place carefully.
There was only one Leven seed. Thinking there wouldn’t be another chance, she felt a tension in her chest.
Sensing her nervousness, Arjeo gently patted her shoulder.
“It’s okay.”
It was such a simple phrase, yet it calmed her.
Leira carefully dug into the soil and placed Leven’s seed inside. After covering it and tapping the soil twice, she placed her hands on the ground and infused it with her energy.
A turquoise glow seeped into the soil, but nothing seemed to happen.
“…It’s not blooming.”
Despair flickered across Leira’s face. Arjeo dug up the soil she had covered.
The seed remained exactly as it had been.
“Why isn’t it blooming…?”
“Hmm. I thought your power could make it bloom.”
Leira studied the seed intently once again.
The Flower of Life, a flower that contains life, a flower that gives life—a miracle flower.
There were many descriptions for Leven, but none of them fully explained it.
“Hmm… maybe it’s not supposed to bloom in the ground?”
“Then where should it bloom?”
The two of them pondered together, trying to figure out why the seed wouldn’t bloom.
Leira held the seed and stared at it intently. It almost looked like a piece of gemstone.
She held the diamond-shaped seed between her fingertips, and without realizing it, she had gripped it a little too tightly.
“Ah.”
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
A drop of blood from her fingertip seeped into the seed.
Startled by the sharp sensation, Leira dropped the seed, but Arjeo quickly caught it.
“Did you get hurt?”
“I don’t think I gripped it that hard…”
Seeing the concern in his eyes, Leira carefully picked up the seed again.
This time, the seed faintly glowed.
“Huh?”
As she studied it more closely, a word flashed through her mind:
‘Contains life.’
The seed shone after absorbing her blood.
‘Could it be…?’
Entranced, Leira planted the seed again.
“Are you planting it again?”
Arjeo asked, and Leira simply nodded.
This time, she pressed both hands to the soil and poured in twice the energy she usually used when nurturing plants.
Normally, a sprout would immediately emerge and grow, but even with this effort, nothing happened for a few seconds, and she almost gave up.
Just as she was about to withdraw her hands, a sprout peeked out from the soil.
Seeing this, Leira excitedly poured even more energy into it.
The tiny sprout grew, a bud formed, and soon a flower bloomed.
A flower with deep blue petals. Its petals were soft and lush.
Truly called a flower that holds life, its beauty was almost intoxicating.
It felt incredible. She had finally made it bloom—the legendary flower she had dreamed of since learning about Leven.
Leira reached for the flower. Unlike the sharp-edged seed, the petals were incredibly soft.
Gently caressing it, she whispered softly:
“I’m sorry.”
She then plucked the petals and used them to create new seeds.
Once all the petals were taken, the original Leven flower withered as if its duty was done.
Even though the flower had many petals, Leira couldn’t restore it entirely with her power. But since she left the petals, she could create new seeds from them.
Seeds without infused blood would not bloom.
While Leira focused on the flower, infusing it with her energy to bloom Leven, Arjeo sighed deeply.
After plucking the petals, she converted half into seeds and kept the other half as petals.
When she finished, Arjeo quickly grabbed her wrist.
“Is it done now?”
Yet his eyes seemed strangely upset.
“Jeo, are you angry?”
Leira asked, eyes wide, and he exhaled deeply with closed eyes.
“Because you’ve done this to your hands.”
Looking at her hands, he saw the marks left from pressing the seed to infuse it with blood.
“Ah… I didn’t realize it would be this bad.”
“You never think to take care of yourself, do you?”
Arjeo gently pressed her hands with a handkerchief, showing his slight frustration.
“We’ll treat it as soon as we get back.”
As he led her away by the hand, Leira asked curiously:
“Why didn’t you stop me and just wait quietly?”
Arjeo looked at her with a sulky expression.
“Because you looked so beautiful when you were focused.”
And without realizing it, he had been watching her, seeing the blood on her fingertips, yet her expression was full of life.
Leira blushed at his words, despite his gruff tone.
“Jeo, hearing that from you makes me flutter.”
“What? Really? You never fluster me, but now you do?”
“My expression isn’t entirely neutral.”
Leira’s reply made Arjeo lift her chin gently.
“Of course it’s not neutral. You rarely show your feelings like this.”
Leira rolled her eyes, unsure of her expression.
“When your cheeks flush like this, it’s unbearably cute.”
Smooch.
Arjeo suddenly kissed her, and Leira’s eyes widened.
“It’s nice when you approach me suddenly.”
Leira, surprised, squinted and lightly pushed him away.
“Hey, don’t push because of your hands.”
He used her injured hand as an excuse to cling even closer.
In a kingdom on the brink of collapse, the imperial troops left in Nita’s port city called it just that.
The wounded soldiers had barely managed to move from the castle to the port city. Any further movement would have meant death.
Most of the imperial troops stayed in Nita with the patients.
A few had returned to Valua with Lloyd, unable to be away for too long.
After the brief joy of celebrating their victory, the soldiers gradually lost their energy.
Doubt spread among them—would the emperor really bring them back to Valua?
Some were too sick from the epidemic to move or think clearly. Several doctors said there was no way to treat them.
Although they were supposed to guard the patients, the soldiers felt that once infected, it would be the end.
Naturally, few cared for the sick.
The patients’ conditions worsened day by day, and hope faded.
They had come to a foreign land at the emperor’s command, fighting on the front lines—and now, they felt death was the only option.
The demotivated soldiers spent their days idly, away from the patient barracks.
“After we die, they’ll probably come to collect the bodies.”
“They’ll take us back if we’re healthy, won’t they?”
“If we’re not ordered to return, we’ll rot here for life. Nita is now Valua’s vassal. They could make us stay here forever.”
Though they laughed it off, unease lingered.
A few soldiers, escorting patients back, frowned as they passed the idle troops.
“What excuse will you give His Majesty if you waste your time like this?”
“Do you really think we can return? To a land infested with disease? Even if the emperor calls us back, the locals would treat us as carriers.”
No one could argue—it was partly true. But not all of them felt the same.
“We went to war for the empire. Not everyone sees it only that way.”
“For the empire? Not for Princess Forestia?”
No one could answer the sarcastic remark. After all, they all saw this war as Princess Forestia’s revenge.
“…His Majesty promised to find a way to bring the patients back to the empire. He wouldn’t say that lightly, so believing it isn’t so bad.”
In truth, they had no other choice. The argument was meaningless.
The soldier exhaled from deep in his chest and nodded, conceding the point.
