The Mark

Before Serea could carefully examine the information about the Elf Tree and the Blood Elf Tree Nest, loen spoke up again.

“With this, my final mission is also complete.”

As he spoke, loen’s body began to dissipate, and before long, even his final consciousness would completely fade away.

“But in the end, I still have a personal request.”

“Please, say it.”

“Because Lola was unaware, she handed all my clan’s royal marks over to you. Now that you already possess the Elf King’s power, the ‘Queen’s Mark’ doesn’t have much purpose for you anymore, so I beg you, please return the Queen’s Mark to Lola.”

“No problem.”

“It seems you are not a greedy person; with that, I am relieved…”

Those were Loen’s last words; as soon as he finished speaking, his consciousness completely dissipated.

Watching Loen fade away, Serea felt the brand-new power within herself. Although she didn’t yet know how to use it, that power was incredibly strong.

With Loen’s disappearance, the mental space shattered as well, and Serea fell into a deep sleep, until she felt someone gently calling out to her.

……

She opened her eyes to the sight of a brown tent ceiling.

“Queen!”

Seeing Serea awaken, Lola cried out excitedly. Serea, feeling the gentle power of holy light within her, turned her head and saw Celia healing her with Holy Healing.

“No need to waste your mental power healing me, I’m fine.”

As Serea spoke, Celia stopped channeling Holy Healing.

“Queen, I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. It was me who let you use a power you’ve never used before, which led you to this state. Please, queen, punish me.”

Lola bowed herself down. Since Serea was lying on the ground, she could clearly see Lola’s ‘cute’ expression as she knelt and lowered her head. For a moment, Serea’s heart skipped a beat.

“Ahem, it’s alright, this isn’t Lola’s fault. Besides, I still have something to…”

Serea began. She was about to return the ‘Queen’s Mark’ to Lola, but inadvertently glanced at Celia beside her and quickly swallowed her words. After all, returning the ‘Queen’s Mark’—if it wasn’t being inherited through bloodline—required ‘that kind’ of method…

“Uh… It’s not urgent. We can discuss it later.”

Serea immediately changed her tone. Though her words sounded a bit awkward, fortunately, neither Celia nor Lola noticed anything strange.

“You should also take care of your body. Stop making us worry about you.”

Celia said coldly, but Serea already understood Celia’s tsundere personality well.

“Don’t worry, I’m really fine.”

As Serea spoke and was about to get up, Lola tried to persuade her.

“Queen, you’re already very tired. You should rest a bit longer.”

“No, compared to you all, I’m actually quite relaxed. Besides, our home hasn’t been built yet; we need to hurry and finish the camp’s basic facilities.”

Serea spoke, but Celia interjected.

“You want to make everyone who has worked all day continue working overtime with you so late at night?”

Hearing this, Serea was taken aback for a moment, then looked outside the tent. All she saw was darkness, with only a few scattered lights.

“Huh? No way, it’s already night? I actually slept that long!”

Serea had been completely unaware.

“It’s night already. You should rest. I’ve already taken care of the construction work.”

“Really? Then thank you, Celia.”

Since everything had been handled, there was nothing left for her to worry about. She could resume construction tomorrow.

With that in mind, Serea prepared to rest, just as Vina walked in.

“The tent’s been borrowed. Although it’s a bit damaged, if we just make do, the three of us should be able to sleep in it.”

Just as she finished speaking, Vina noticed that Serea had awoken.

“Queen Serea, you’re alright!”

“Yes, I’m fine. But I can’t help but mind what you just said—something about the three of you sleeping?”

Serea asked, to which Vina replied.

“Since the houses in the camp aren’t built yet, we can only sleep in tents for now. But there aren’t enough tents at the moment, so we have to make do with some old, damaged tents.”

As Vina spoke, Serea glanced outside in the dim light and saw the ‘damaged tent’ Vina mentioned, already with a gaping hole.

“You plan to sleep in that kind of tent?”

“Mhm, it’ll be fine.”

Lola answered. But just as she finished, a sharp, chilling wind blew through the tent. The air, almost winter-cold, struck Lola. Unlike Celia and Vina, Lola, as a priestess, didn’t have much physical toughness, and she couldn’t help but tremble.

Seeing Lola shiver, Serea counted the people in the tent—three in total. Glancing at the size of her own tent, there was plenty of room for four, so Serea asked again.

“Then, what about me?”

“Queen, naturally you’ll sleep here alone.”

“Is it really okay for me to take up such a large space all by myself?”

“You are the Queen, you should of course have a place of your own.”

“In this situation, though, isn’t that too extravagant…”

Serea murmured. Then, another blast of cold wind blew in from the tent entrance. Serea made a decision.

“Forget sleeping in those kinds of tents—let’s all sleep here together.”

“Um…”

Lola and Vina exchanged glances, considered it for a moment, then Lola replied first.

“Queen, you don’t have to worry about us. As the Queen…”

“Since you all say I’m your Queen, of course I have to care about your feelings. It’s such a waste to sleep alone in this spacious place, so why don’t you sleep here too?”

“But…”

“That’s settled.”

Serea’s words left everyone unable to object—because Serea was the Queen.

“Celia, you don’t mind?”

“I’m fine with whatever.”

“Alright, then it’s settled.”

Hearing that, Lola and Vina could only agree.

“Yes.”

Before long, Lola and Vina brought bedding and spread it out on the ground, quickly setting up a sleeping place for the night.

“Let’s all rest, then. We have a lot of work waiting for us tomorrow.”

“Yes, good night, queen.”

“Good night, queen.”

Lola and Vina replied, then quickly lay down to sleep.

Celia, too, naturally pulled up the bedding and lay down next to Serea, uttering before falling asleep.

“Good night.”

“Oh.”

Realizing she’d been staring blankly at Celia, Serea quickly turned to lie down.

But just as she turned her head, she saw Lola’s delicate face, so close at hand. In that instant, Serea’s thoughts returned to earlier—had she, perhaps…

No, no, stop fantasizing. That was just Lola entrusting the Queen’s Mark to her.

But speaking of which, Serea had promised ‘Loen’ to return the ‘Queen’s Mark’, and now seemed like a good opportunity…

(To be continued)

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