Chapter 599
“Tree Woman” Anastasia
Meanwhile, Eivass and Grace, who were directly teleported away, landed in a deserted field of wheat.
Upon landing, Grace’s first reaction was to check on Eivass’s condition.
After ensuring he was completely unharmed, the elven girl said with a half-joking tone, “Queen Titania has a rather charming personality, doesn’t she?”
“Indeed,” Eivass agreed, nodding his head.
Though calling an Archangel “charming” might seem strange, it felt perfectly fitting for Titania.
“Come with me first,” Grace said casually. “We can walk in any direction. If Her Majesty is willing, we’ll surely find Anastasia.”
*Is it really that magical?* Eivass wondered as he followed Grace.
After walking for quite some time, Grace, feeling a bit bored, fell a couple of steps behind, walking parallel to Eivass, and struck up a conversation. “Did you know, this generation’s Queen Titania is only a little over two hundred years old? She’s even younger than me.”
Grace’s opening words were quite unexpected.
Eivass was surprised. “This generation…?”
“You didn’t know? Elven Queens are all called Titania, and Elven Kings are called Oberon. For us kind and friendly neighbors, they can change their names anytime. But the name ‘Majesty’ is always fixed.”
Grace spoke with a hint of nostalgia. “When I was young and learning how to brew ‘Moonlight Wine,’ I once licked my fingers out of greed. After falling asleep, my soul drifted into the Fairy Kingdom.
“At that time, I happened to see a little girl. She was a half-elf… using human age as a comparison, she was probably only eleven or twelve. I was slightly older than her then, and we played for a long time until my mother caught me and took me back. I was scolded by my mother for a long time that day, and after that, I never made such a mistake again.
“When I truly mastered the inheritance, I was able to enter the Fairy Kingdom again with my own power. That’s when I saw her again.
“—At that time, she had already transformed into a fey, completely forgetting her name as an elf. The flower bud she hatched was a lily, hence her pure white dress; and I hadn’t condensed wings yet, my back was bare. Because I emitted a green light when resonating with the Path of Beauty… I called her Little Lily, and she called me Little Leaf.
“Not long after, I heard that a new Queen had been chosen. So, my mother took me to pay our respects… That’s when I learned that Little Lily had become the new Titania.”
Grace recounted these memories as they strolled through the wheat field.
Unlike her reserved demeanor outside, she became significantly more lively once she entered the Fairy Kingdom.
At this moment, Eivass’s expression was a little peculiar. “Speaking of which… how old is Anastasia?”
“Eighty-seven,” Grace replied immediately.
*Very well, a little older than Queen Sophia.* Eivass mused internally.
“And how old are you?”
“I’m over two hundred.”
“So, younger than Her Highness the Saintess?”
“Yes, about that. I should be a little younger,” Madam Grace said airily.
That meant she was younger than Pure White and Janis.
Eivass pressed on, “How old were you when you met Mr. Maxim?”
“Around one hundred and thirty, I was still a little girl then.”
Madam Grace said, clasping her hands behind her back and smiling. “I know what you’re thinking, Mr. Eivass. Indeed, Maxim was over three hundred years old back then… In appearance, he looked like my father.
“However, we fey are not quite like humans. We generally reach adulthood around the age of a hundred, so I am already an adult. It signifies the moment of breaking through from ‘double digits’ to ‘triple digits.’ It foreshadows the transition from ‘naivety’ represented by two in the Path of Beauty, to ‘responsibility’ represented by three in Devotion.
“At the same time, the ‘one’ contained within ‘one hundred’ is the Sacred Number of Love. Therefore, from a hundred years old onwards, elves are allowed to reproduce. Their physical development also begins then… Before that, both males and females tend to look small and slender.”
*So it wasn’t an illusion— Eivass had always felt Mrs. Grace looked quite young. Unlike the composed and steady Maxim the Mage. Previously, Eivass had thought this was due to Grace’s inheritance, but now it seemed she was genuinely young. She must have been less than half Pure White’s age when Anastasia was born.
No wonder, even with a grown child, she still possessed the childlike innocence to use elven magic.
“That’s why I hope Anastasia can live for a few more years…”
As she spoke, the smile on her face faded considerably, and her voice softened. “She started showing signs of petrification in her early thirties. Even by your human standards, contracting a fatal illness at thirty is still considered young, isn’t it?”
“…Indeed.”
“And for us elves, that’s only the first third of adulthood. By the time she reached her fifties, the petrification had already entered the second stage. Once it reaches the third stage, it’s practically impossible to awaken.”
“—I just hope she can live to adulthood.
“I just want to give her one hundredth birthday celebration… To celebrate her coming of age.”
Grace’s mood turned somewhat melancholic. “When you see her later, please don’t show any surprise, fear, or pity in your eyes… That child is very sensitive.
“I lied about something earlier. You guessed correctly, she did use ‘True Illusion.’ That is also an important part of the ‘Moonlight’ illusion inheritance.
“And the reason for using ‘True Illusion’ was because she felt she had become very ugly. Mr. Yunus said he encountered an ‘elven maiden,’ which means what he saw was definitely not the real Anastasia…”
Grace’s words abruptly stopped.
For they had seen a girl in the distance.
—Or rather, what *might* have been a girl.
She wore a light golden gown, long enough to cover her legs. It had been dragging on the ground for a long time, its hem worn and faded white, somewhat tattered and torn.
She did not possess the graceful, slender figure of a girl, but resembled a hunched and withered old woman.
Like a leafless sapling clad in a dress, standing under the moonlight.
She held her hands high, as if a tree raising its branches—her arms were covered in a layer of pale, dead bark that completely concealed her skin. Her left arm and right wrist joints were bent backward, with branches emerging from them.
But no butterfly-like fey perched on these raised branches.
She gazed blankly at her hands—a flower lay in her palm.
It was clearly not a flower that had grown from her body, but one brought by a fey.
At this moment, she was half-asleep, half-awake, bathing in the sunlight, emitting a peaceful drowsiness.
“Aya.”
Grace softly called her daughter’s nickname.
This young mother finally exuded a clear, gentle aura. Only then did Eivass truly feel… that she was a mother worried about her daughter’s health, not a girl who was still innocent and carefree.
“Mommy!”
Hearing the call, Anastasia startled.
She wanted to turn her head, but it was very difficult for her.
As she turned, a stiff creaking sound was emitted. As her skirt swayed, Eivass could see that her legs had already turned into tree trunks. Her face was also almost completely covered by bark. Only a central area of about a palm’s width on her face still revealed soft, bloodless skin, and her youthful and beautiful contours could be vaguely discerned.
It was like a petrified person, beginning to petrify from the extremities and gradually spreading towards the face… At this time, the petrification had reached its final stage, leaving only the face filled with fear.
She looked up at the sky and then at the hand she was holding up. She gazed at the sky in this manner, as if trying to break free from it.
Just trying to lower her head caused the tree trunks to emit terrifying creaking sounds.
Rather than saying she had transformed into a tree, it was more like a girl trapped within a twisted, terrifying monster tree—
Upon seeing Eivass, she was instantly startled.
In an instant, Eivass saw the “Tree Woman” suddenly become blurred and indistinct.
The next moment, a little girl in a light golden gown rushed over in a panic. “Mommy! Why… didn’t you tell me you were bringing a friend…”
She bore at least an eighty percent resemblance to Grace, like Grace’s younger sister.
Eivass approached with some surprise, only to find that she had body heat and a faint fragrance from her hair.
Everything felt real.
(End of Chapter)
