Chapter 70: Chapter 70

Translator: Latte Editor: Sasha

“Don’t worry. I’ll figure out a way to get rid of the side effects,” Elody said to the two eyebrowless barons.

“That’s alright. We can just draw our eyebrows.”

“That’s right. Men also wear makeup these days. I’ve been trying to improve my makeup skills lately.”

“…Oh, I see,” Elody nodded.

Truthfully, the side effect could have caused them to live the rest of their life without eyebrows…

Though, seeing their happy expressions, it seemed that the two barons couldn’t care less.

“If you need our assistance, please feel free to call us again.”

“Yes!”

Elody nodded once again.

In her entire life, she had never seen people who were so eager to become experimental subjects…

‘Now that I have found out the side effects, I can further improve the medicine.’

Elody then sent the pink roses she had in the garden to both barons as they returned to their estates.

“Madame, what are the replacements for the flowers in the garden?”

“.….”

At Anna’s question, Elody pondered for a moment. Initially, she wanted to plant Aperia flowers…

But she felt irked because it reminded her of Princess Larissa.

“How about tulips?”

“Tulips?! Alright!”

Anna clapped her hands at Elody’s suggestion. They seemed to be Anna’s favorite flowers.

Elody immediately called the servants to order and buy the tulip seeds.

“Oh, madame, will you plant them yourself?”

“You’ll get hurt! We’ll do it, so please just take a rest, madame.”

“Uh… it’s alright.”

Despite the servants’ words, Elody still decided to sow the seeds with them.

She was now used to the servants’ overprotective actions which had become even more severe over time.

But… the servants weren’t as gloomy as they were before. In fact, they looked incredibly happy.

‘Are they that happy to see the guests leave…?’

Well, they weren’t ordinary guests, they were guests of the Imperial Palace and the Temple… The servants’ should have had lots of workload at that time.

‘I have to give them more bonuses.’

After planting the seeds, Elody reached out and began injecting mana into the ground.

The purpose of that was to even out the energy of the earth.

She couldn’t infuse the energy of mana into the entire land, but her power to fuse a small garden or greenhouse was more than enough.

As she closed her eyes and infused more and more mana, Anna’s voice could be heard from behind.

“Oops! Madame, it’s a sprout!”

Elody immediately opened her eyes and looked at the garden.

Surprisingly, the sprouts were growing right away. All the servants were surprised and looked at the garden with their mouths open.

‘What?’

Elody was also surprised.

She stretched out her palm and looked down. Elody was born with the mana of land and wind properties.

She felt that her magical power was increasing every time she planted new plants in the greenhouse or the garden…

If there were levels corresponding to her power, it would initially start from 0 and that increased 1 by 1. But now… it felt as if her level had increased by 10 all at once!

This was a great improvement for Elody. As her power increased, she could make a lot of medicines that are way more effective than the ones she had made before!

Elody then headed to the greenhouse to try other plants.

And…

Something very shocking was waiting for her in the greenhouse.

* * *

Meanwhile, Caville had been unable to sleep properly these past few days.

When he closed his eyes to sleep, he kept seeing his wife running away from him. His worst fear was that he would be abandoned by Elody forever.

‘This is insane…’

If his wife knew of this, she would get bored of him for being so obsessed with her!

Caville sighed.

“Your Grace, did you not sleep well yesterday?” Lewis asked while bringing him his hot tea.

“I’m fine.”

“Is there something on Your Grace’s mind? Please do not hesitate to tell me.”

Lewis was Caville’s aide.

Since Caville was also the leader of the Order of Knights, his workload was far too excessive.

Therefore, to lessen his burdens. Elody asked Caville to choose an aide to help him with the job.

Among the candidates that Elody gave to him, Caville selected Lewis.

Thus, that was how Lewis was appointed to be the duke’s aide and would often take over the duties of the lord.

A good thing about him was that he was fast at doing his job and was quick to notice his mistakes.

Caville also liked the fact that he, unlike the knights, had never complained about the workload.

“If you have any concerns, I will help you solve it!”

Lewis was a handsome man with light brown hair and gentle eyes. Although he was a bit short, he was surprisingly popular with the young maids for some reason.

“Alright, now get out.”

“……”

At Caville’s answer, Lewis left the office a bit dismayed.

‘I’m afraid that my wife will leave me and run away.’

This was not something that he could recklessly tell to his subordinates.

Caville groaned and leaned over the desk.

He couldn’t live like this forever.

These days, not only at night but also during the day, he was endlessly afraid that his wife would run away.

‘But I can’t be in a slump like this every day…’

He was fortunate enough to have meals with her three times a day.

But it wasn’t enough.

He wanted to make his wife small and just carry her in his bosom.

Or maybe he could become smaller and live in his wife’s pocket forever.

“……”

Caville agonized for a while and then ordered a servant to call in the elite knight, Solar.

“The madame’s escort?”

“Yes.”

The castle was safe, but something could happen. No one would ever know.

Solar was the most reliable escort for his wife because she was a woman and she had excellent skills.

“Understood.”

Solar’s mouth was twitching.

She couldn’t believe it.

‘Finally! I can become that cute madame’s escort!’

In Solar’s eyes, Elody was just a cute girl like her younger sister.

“If my wife plans to go anywhere, then you must report it to me right away.”

“Yes? Go where?”

“Everywhere.”

Solar’s eyes narrowed.

“…Is Your Grace trying to spy on the madame?”

Caville’s eyebrows wrinkled at Solar’s question. He wanted to say no, but truthfully, her guess was right.

“No, I want you to protect her.”

“…Alright.”

Caville was relieved. His first problem was solved.

Now, all that was left was to finish the main problem.

‘I have to combine our rooms.’

To prevent him from having anxiety at night, he had to stick to his wife’s side.

All the time.

* * *

After entering the greenhouse, Elody was left agape over the shocking scene she saw.

“What in heaven’s name is….”

The peach tree seed which she planted a while ago had grown tremendously large!

It was so large that it was ridiculous!

But it did not just solely grow, the peaches were ripe as well. The fruit was so big that it was probably as big as a child’s head!

“Holy mother of…”

‘Am I dreaming right now?’

Elody pinched herself while blinking like crazy because she didn’t believe what she saw was real.

‘It was nothing but a small sprout yesterday, so I injected a lot of mana to help its growth…’

She used only one drop of the growth promotion ampoule. And the ampoule was not supposed to help them grow this fast in the first place.

And what’s also surprising…

“Ifrit…?”

Was the puppy lying on the ground underneath the peach tree.

“……”

Ifrit was currently sleeping, but weirdly enough, he looked… chubby.

Next to him was a bunch of peach seeds.

In Elody’s eyes, Ifrit looked like a stray dog’s dung. Except for the fact that he was red.

‘Ah! I completely forgot to lock the door yesterday!’

“Ifrit, wake up,” Elody spoke, contemplating if he were the one that caused the peach tree’s insane growth rate.

“Hmm…”

“You sh*tty dog, get up!”

“Wha…?”

Soon, Ifrit opened his eyes as Elody kept poking his stomach with her fingers.

“Hey, benefactor. What did you just call me?”

“I called you a sh*tty dog. Don’t go into the greenhouse without my permission next time. Understood?”

“……”

“And this, did you make it grow this big?”

“You mean this peach tree?”

“Yes. Did you make it grow with magic power?”

“No? You’re the one who injected mana into the soil.”

“But… it wasn’t that much.”

“It must be because your power has increased.”

“So suddenly?”

“I don’t think it’s sudden. It could have just been blocked for some reason in the first place.”

“……”

Elody glanced at Ifrit.

Was there a connection between her incurable disease and magic power?

As her health got better, her magic might have also grown significantly.

Elody fiddled her fingers.

Come to think of it, it had been a long time since her fingers felt numb as a rock.

Meanwhile, Ifrit picked up another peach that fell to the ground and took a huge bite.

“This peach is fantastic! I don’t need that nasty guy’s mana anymore.”

Ifrit was a spirit king who regained his powers, but he had to live his entire life dependent on Caville’s mana.

After coming to the estate, Caville had an annoying expression whenever Ifrit visited him because he needed mana.

When he thought about that time, Ifrit would cry out of misery.

‘How dare he do that to me?! My poor self…! Boohoo!’

Recently, he even had to give him love advice just to get on his good side.

However, this fruit was his savior!

The peaches were more than enough to become a replacement for Caville’s mana.

‘Freedom…!’

“You try it too, benefactor!” Ifrit said with an ecstatic expression.

‘Sweet and soft… This peach is the best!’

Elody looked at Ifrit’s tail that was shaking constantly.

Thus she decided to pick up a peach.

Then she wiped it with her sleeves and took a bite.

“…!”

The sweetness of the peach juice was spilled all over her mouth. The taste that hovered on her tongue was ridiculously sweet. And the texture was much sweeter and softer than other existing peaches.

“I want to change my contractor with you, benefactor,” Ifrit said while eating a big peach with his small mouth.

Elody stared down at the peach she had created with her mana. It was addictive indeed.

‘Won’t this make a lot of money…?’