However, an unexpected person appeared in the scene.

“Although our acquaintance was very brief, Princess Liana, you were a very interesting and excellent person.” Princess Avira of the Elf Forest, holding fresh flowers, came to Venus Manor and placed them at Liana’s grave.

Afterward, she approached Mephilia. “I never expected that you, Princess Mephilia, would give up your position as heir.”

“What? Are you disappointed in me?” Mephilia looked at her.

Avira shook her head. “Rather, I see the shadow of my sister in you, Princess Mephilia.”

“Your sister?”

“Yes, my sister, whom I mentioned to Princess Mephilia before; Sephirena,” Avira said.

Mephilia’s current situation was actually very similar to Sephirena’s. Both had lost important people, leading them to make some irrational and impulsive decisions.

“I’m sorry, Princess Avira, but giving up my position as heir was a decision I made after discussing it with Liana. It wasn’t an impulsive action due to her sudden departure. I just didn’t expect that I was still one step too late, or perhaps my actions accelerated things

“Perhaps this was why Liana always tried to stop me, but I didn’t understand. It’s my fault that Liana died.” Mephilia blamed herself deeply.

Self-blame...

The more Avira looked, the more Mephilia resembled Sephirena. She didn’t want to see another excellent person become self-destructive due to guilt and regret.

“I can understand your grief, but Princess Liana was an excellent person. She certainly wouldn’t want to see Princess Mephilia in this state.” Avira comforted.

“Thank you for your consolation, but please leave me alone,” Mephilia said.

“Princess Mephilia, please consider letting me meddle in your affairs.” Avira had no intention of leaving.

“Once, someone said the same to me. I didn’t take it seriously, and something happened that I deeply regret. Now, the story seems to be repeating itself before me,” Avira said.

“Is Princess Avira talking about her sister?” Because of Liana, Mephilia had gained some understanding of Sephirena.

“Yes, my sister was once like this too, but back then, I made the wrong decision. Sephirena was very close to Tarashil, while we two older sisters seemed more distant,” Avira’s eyes were full of regret.

“I regret not noticing Sephirena’s unusual behavior then, regret not standing up for her, not speaking up more for her.”

It was her inaction that led to Sephirena becoming like this, and a similar scene was appearing before her again.

She couldn’t ignore it anymore.

“So, why didn’t you talk things through with her back then?” Mephilia asked.

“I underestimated how traumatic the incident was for her, overestimated her ability to move forward. I forgot that she was just a child. Of course, the most fundamental reason was that we were incredibly estranged from each other,” Avira deeply regretted.

“It’s laughable, isn’t it? We were sisters, but our understanding of each other was pitifully little. I didn’t even know what she liked to play with or eat. I only had a superficial understanding of Sephirena, and most of that came from what others told me.”

“So when I wanted to comfort her, I didn’t know where to begin. That was my failure. If I had understood her better, perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out this way.” Avira’s tone was full of regret and self-blame.

“But aren’t we even more like strangers? Why tell me all this? You don’t know how to comfort me either, do you?” Mephilia asked.

“Indeed, my understanding of Sephirena is certainly greater than my understanding of Princess Mephilia. Back then, I didn’t know how to comfort Sephirena, so naturally, I don’t know how to comfort Princess Mephilia now.” Avira generously admitted.

“Then why are you still talking?”

“I just don’t want to see such an excellent princess become like Sephirena because of grief.” Avira said.

“Do you hate Sephirena now?”

“How could I? Sephirena didn’t do anything terrible. It was her choice, and she paid the corresponding price for it. Besides, would any older sister have the heart to blame a younger sister who made a mistake?” Avira said.

“Then why don’t you go find her?”

“Even if I found her, I wouldn’t know what to say to her. Besides, wouldn’t it seem strange if I sought her out at this critical juncture? Why look for her now, right when we’re forming an alliance, instead of earlier?” Avira said.

“Yes, so why didn’t you look for her earlier? I’m also puzzled.”

“Well, the truth is, I can’t find her.” Avira spread her hands helplessly. “Without her nature magic, she’s no different from humans. Plus, decades have passed, and my understanding of her is limited to the images in my memory.” Avira said regretfully.

“I see...”

Then how did Liana discover her?

Anyway, this wasn’t something Mephilia needed to consider. What she needed to focus on was trust Liana and go forward with one of their plans, which was to increase relationship with the elves.

“So what do you plan to do now? You don’t understand me at all, so how can you comfort me?” Mephilia asked.

“Aren’t I doing it right now? Since I don’t know what to say to comfort Princess Mephilia, I might as well chat with you. That way, I can at least distract you a bit, can’t I?” Avira smiled.

Mephilia knew that for the eldest princess of the elf race to do this much for a human was already quite rare.

“Then I really thank you.”

“For Princess Mephilia to have so many supporters at your age, I believe their judgment isn’t wrong. You’re an excellent princess, so I don’t want to see Princess Mephilia give up. After all, our...” Avira didn’t continue.

Now wasn’t the time to reveal it, but someone as intelligent as Princess Mephilia would surely understand what she meant.

The alliance that her people wanted was with a stable Lisat Kingdom.

From the three heirs Avira had seen before, only Mephilia met this requirement. Now, if Mephilia were to give up, the Elf Forest would have to reconsider the viability of this alliance.

After all, they hadn’t chosen Luska Kingdom because it was extremely unstable, prone to strange and wild actions at any time. That’s why they had come to Lisat Kingdom.

“Rest assured, Princess Avira, Father... His Majesty the King’s method of selecting heirs is very strict. Even with me, he was somewhat dissatisfied. If there isn’t a suitable heir, he’ll continue to be the King of Lisat. So, Princess Avira can trust our kingdom a little.”

Although Mephilia was dissatisfied with the old king’s actions, she could distinguish priorities. The alliance was not a bad thing for Lisat Kingdom, and with the demonkind about to come back, their mortal enemy, the elvenkind, naturally had more methods to deal with them.

Mephilia couldn’t possibly put the entire Lisat Kingdom in a delicate position because of herself.

“Even Princess Mephilia has aspects that dissatisfy him?” Avira was puzzled.

Originally, Princess Liana might have made the king dissatisfied, which Avira could understand, but now, Princess Liana was obviously a positive factor.

“Yes.”

“Is that so?” Avira looked at Mephilia. It seemed the situation wasn’t as simple as she had observed.

“If the next heir isn’t more excellent than me, they can’t become the monarch,” Mephilia said.

“I understand.” Avira nodded. “Since Princess Mephilia has given up her position as heir, it also means you should be much less burdened recently, not having to deal with so many troublesome matters. If you have time, you’re welcome to visit the Elf Forest.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Mephilia nodded.

“Also, if you find Sephirena, please let me know. I’ll give Princess Mephilia some rewards, and I promise you won’t be disappointed.”

“But we don’t even know if Sephirena is still alive now, do we? Moreover, the only clues to Princess Sephirena are memories from decades ago. How could I possibly find her?” Mephilia said.

“You’re right. I’m sorry for making an unreasonable request.” Avira sighed. The only person who knew about this was gone.

But given Princess Mephilia’s relationship with Princess Liana, would Princess Liana really not have told Princess Mephilia anything?

Back at Liana’s hideout, Loraviel addressed her mistress.

“Princess Liana, you’re really quite popular.” Loraviel came in carrying a late-night snack at this moment. “Even the eldest princess of the elf forest cares about you deeply.”

“It’s just a coincidence.” Loraviel didn’t know about Sephirena’s existence.

If she knew, she would probably be jealous, since Sephirena’s initial position was also meant to be Liana’s maid.

But later, she really had no talent, so they had to give up.

“A coincidence...”

Loraviel’s eyes dimmed a bit. She was well aware that there were some things she couldn’t access.

Between her and Princess Liana, there was an invisible chasm. Princess Liana was good to her, but she couldn’t overstep...

Being a proper maid was fine too. Being by Princess Liana’s side was already very satisfying.

“The feeling of not having to cook for myself is really nice.” Liana enjoyed the delicious food Loraviel had prepared for her.

“Doesn’t Princess Liana usually have servants to help with cooking?” Loraviel asked.

“How should I put it? Because of my special status, and I don’t really like having strangers moving around me, plus I quite enjoy cooking, I’ve been the one cooking all this time,” Liana said.

Is that so? It ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ seemed that she was quite important to Princess Liana.

But still.

“Except for that one time, I haven’t tasted Princess Liana’s cooking again.”

It’s not right—as a maid, she shouldn’t cause trouble for her lady, but she was also jealous of others. Why could others enjoy Princess Liana’s cooking?

“Alright, then I’ll prepare some small gifts for you tomorrow.” Liana thought for a moment. “It’s a completely new dessert. As the first person to enjoy this dessert, you should feel honored.”

“The first...” Loraviel’s previously dimmed eyes regained some light.

“Yes, but come to think of it, you were also the first to taste the five-spice powder. But tomorrow’s item, you can’t flatter me just because I’m your lady. I want to hear the most honest evaluation,” Liana said.

“Mm, I understand.”

Loraviel didn’t want to flatter her; she wanted to...

Liana listed out a shopping list and handed it to Loraviel. “Since I can’t go out right now, would you go buy these ingredients?”

“Mm.” Loraviel nodded.

Liana went to the window. “By the way, where exactly is this place? I still don’t know.”

Since Liana had been brought here while unconscious and hadn’t left this area since arriving, she didn’t know where in Lisat Kingdom this was.

“It’s across the river from the forest behind Gran Town.” Loraviel said.

“Oh, Gran Town... Gran Town?!” Liana looked at Loraviel.

“Yes, exactly, it’s the Gran Town that Princess Liana is thinking of.” Loraviel nodded.

This was her hometown. Upon learning this news, Loraviel’s expression had been similar to Princess Liana’s current one.

This might have been deliberately chosen by Princess Mephilia.

“Then you must be very familiar with this place right?” Liana asked.

“I’m quite familiar with that forest, but as for across the river, this is my first time here.” After all, when she was young, she didn’t have the ability to come here, so she could only stand on the opposite bank, looking from afar. Plus, because of the forest, she couldn’t see clearly what was here.

“But rest assured, Princess Liana, there’s a barrier set up around us, and some powder has been sprinkled, which can effectively prevent beasts from entering this area.”

Liana wasn’t worried about that. She was mainly curious and wanted to see what Loraviel’s home looked like.

What if...

She sneaked out to take a look?

After all, the news of her death had just spread. With a little disguise, she shouldn’t be discovered.

But this idea was quickly rejected by Liana herself.

She couldn’t do something so risky and irresponsible.

During this time, she should obediently stay in the room and wait for Mephilia to return.

The next day, Loraviel had prepared the ingredients very early.

Liana put on an apron, poured milk into a pot, added sugar, and brought the milk to a boil. She kept stirring the milk until it thickened, then turned off the stove.

She then gradually added cocoa powder, and afterward, placed it in the refrigerator to freeze.

However, this “refrigerator” should be in quotation marks.

It was just a simple refrigerator made of an iron box with a magic stone of ice magic. She was only responsible for bringing up the idea; the improvement would be left to others in this world. She didn’t have the energy to research such things.

After about an hour, the item Liana wanted to make was completed.

“Try it?” Liana cut off a small piece and handed it to Loraviel.

Loraviel looked at the small, dark piece, not knowing what it was.

But this was something given by Princess Liana, so she had to take a bite no matter what.

“How’s the taste?” Liana asked.

“A bit sweet, and a bit bitter... a strange flavor,” Loraviel said.

“Strange?” Liana frowned. It seemed not everyone liked chocolate.

“I’m sorry, Princess Liana, perhaps my description wasn’t quite right.” Loraviel corrected herself. “It’s slightly bitter, but you can also taste the sweetness. It’s like getting a reward after a period of effort...”

As Loraviel spoke, her voice gradually became softer.

Princess Liana was giving her this thing to eat, and she had said these words...

Would Princess Liana find it strange?

“Is that so.” That’s more like it. But whether people would like it, Liana wasn’t quite sure. At least there was a new variety now, and others would more or less come to try it. She would see the reaction then. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Liana didn’t want the Angus Commerce Guild to prosper too much. Although she could slightly irritate the guild in the cosmetics market, it was far from enough.

She not only wanted to strike in cosmetics but also in other fields against the Angus Commerce Guild.

“Thank you, Princess Liana.”

“That’s a bit too formal.” Liana smiled at Loraviel. “I only did this because I like to.”

“I like it too.” Loraviel came in front of Liana, stuck out her tongue, and licked Liana’s cheek.

“Aaaah?!” Liana quickly stepped back. “Loraviel?”

“Princess Liana should be more careful; it got on your face. It’s milk, you know. The taste... is very sweet.” Loraviel smiled.

Had she overstepped again? Taking advantage of Princess Liana’s kindness, she kept doing such things to her.

Liana raised her hand to touch where Loraviel had just licked. “Thank you...”

She’s thanking me for this too?

Princess Liana was indeed strange. After all, it was she who was being disrespectful to Princess Liana.

“This dessert isn’t enough to get a full stomach isn’t it?”

“Let me handle the cooking now.” Loraviel’s hand grasped the knife in Liana’s hand.