Chapter 35

Talli had barely spent a few days recovering in the elf territory before she was ready to leave. The Elf Clan Chief tried to persuade her to stay, and after Talli’s magical bloodline awakened, they could also sense her elven heritage. They still hoped to have her remain and become the next goddess.

Once again, Talli firmly refused.

The Elf Clan Chief saw her determination, sighed, and finally made an important decision:

He gave her the Goddess Crossbow.

“You are her daughter, and that has become increasingly undeniable since your elven bloodline awakened.” The Elf Clan Chief looked at her, as if seeing the girl from back then, his eyes full of affection. “…We won’t force you to stay, but this is hers. As her daughter, you should have it.”

Talli took the Goddess Crossbow.

This time, it was no longer something Talli had “borrowed”, it was truly hers.

“There’s just one thing.”

The Elf Clan Chief gently patted her hair and sighed lightly. “When you return to the human realm, we hope you will visit her grave and offer your respects. Although you never met her, she is still your mother, and she gave you life… You left her side as soon as you were born, and it’s very likely that she had some unspoken hardship…”

Talli said, “You don’t need to remind me. I will visit her grave and pay my respects.”

The Chief’s hand paused, then he gently patted her head before retracting his hand. “Good child. As long as you don’t hold a grudge against her.”

—

Grudge? Rather than a grudge, Talli didn’t have any particular impression of this so-called “mother.”

She had never seen her mother from birth, so how could there be any grudge? How could there be no grudge? A person’s emotional bond in this world is built on daily interactions and the accumulation of small moments, just as it had been with her own family in the original world. If there had been no interaction, how could there be any emotion?

“What are you thinking?”

A hand waved in front of Talli’s face.

Under the shade of a tree, footsteps crunched on the fallen leaves, making a soft rustling sound. The afternoon sunlight was somewhat elusive, and the shadows of the trees danced across the scattered leaves.

Talli turned her head and saw the young man walking casually with his hands behind his head. Suddenly, she thought of something and didn’t answer his question. Instead, she asked:

“Dusk, do you have any other relatives in this world?”

“What?” He opened one eye slightly.

“Relatives,” Talli repeated, unsure how beasts were born, so she tried her best to describe it. “Your mother, father, or maybe brothers and sisters born with you.”

The young man averted his gaze, seemingly thinking for a moment before he spoke slowly, “…I guess I do. She created… gave birth to me, along with my other eight brothers. When she was around, we were all part of her, following her commands.”

Talli sighed, “What a wonderful parent. How’s your relationship with your brothers?”

The young man curled his lips slightly, “Not great.”

He thought for a moment, then shot a glance at Talli and added, “The relationship between you and those two kids from the Fred family is the same as mine with my other brothers.”

Talli recalled Carl and Theresa.

“Then it must have been hard for you, all these years?”

There was a hint of sympathy in her tone.

A troublesome parent, difficult brothers.

A vast family, like a curse that had entangled for a hundred years.

“Anyway, it’s all in the past.” Deritz spoke indifferently. “Besides, they’re no longer in this world, and my impression of them has faded. Most of the unpleasant times we had together, I can hardly remember.”

“—But you,”

The young man paused as he spoke. They walked out of the dense forest and saw the people from the Witch family patrolling the open area. He turned and smiled at Talli.

“You’re about to leave the illusion. Have you figured out how to deal with those annoying people?”

—

Three days after the rift in the secret realm was patched, the people from the Fred family were still searching. They hadn’t come up empty-handed.

“Some assassins from enemy political families?”

Carl, who was hiding outside the door, heard this news and hurriedly left. He went to find Theresa and explained what he had heard.

Theresa’s hands and feet were cold.

“If that’s the case… then I’m afraid I won’t be able to forgive myself.” She paced restlessly in the room. “Talli once told us that she didn’t return to the Fred family willingly. If… if she could have lived peacefully, but as the daughter of her father, she was brought back and didn’t die because of that terrible beast—she died because of the family conflict… And back then, I even said such things to her. I’ve wronged her so much…”

Carl squeezed his sister’s hands. Her hands were cold, trembling slightly, and she sat pale in the chair, drained of color.

“It won’t be like that… It definitely won’t. This time, our people are conducting a thorough search in the illusion… Even if she’s dead, we should be able to find her body. But no news has come, so there’s still hope.”

He tightened his grip on Theresa’s hand. “Besides, this isn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself.”

Theresa sobbed, her eyes red, but she refused to say more.

In the afternoon of the third day, news finally came—fortunately, it was good news.

The second daughter of the Fred family, who had been trapped in the illusion for nearly half a month, miraculously returned alive and made her way back to the Imperial City.

The news spread like wildfire throughout the entire Imperial City. Everyone was incredulous that a useless second daughter without magical ability had survived in the perilous illusion for so long and had finally come back alive.

Along with the disbelief, there was much curiosity and speculation. This included students from the Imperial Academy, who had changed their attitude toward her since Talli had saved them from the claws of ancient beasts. Hearing that she was still alive, they were excited and eager to visit her.

However, the next day, the news that followed was that the Fred family’s second daughter had been severely injured and needed to rest at home and take a leave of absence from school.

Indeed, she needed rest due to her injuries, but it was strange that all the noble families who visited to check on her were turned away.

“As expected,”

Talli leaned against the window, gazing at the scenery outside, and sighed. “Being lost and then found again is a reason for them to be happy. After all, I’ve returned, so they don’t have to sacrifice their eldest daughter for the ritual. And with the previous assassin incident, it’s only natural that they would want to keep me confined under their watch, monitoring my every move.”

Deritz turned back into a small blue fox, lazily lying on the table by the window. He pawed at the flickering light coming through the window, yawning. “Are you just going to listen to them and obediently stay here?”

After they formed a bond, Deritz could communicate directly with Talli through her mind without needing to speak aloud. This not only made things much more convenient but also prevented any unnecessary misunderstandings from others.

“I wouldn’t do that.”

Talli placed both hands on the table and sat on it. “I told you I’d help you get your strength back, and you know who took it from you, right? Before we leave, this is the last big thing we need to do.”

She reached out, clenched her right fist tightly. “We’re going to take back the power that was stolen from you.”

The little fox’s ears twitched. “This might be difficult. Do you know who stole my power?”

Talli asked, “Who?”

“The person is someone you know. Not only that, but I’m afraid they also have quite a bit of hatred toward you.”

Deritz straightened up, lightly lifting his ruby-like eyes.

“And that person is currently inside this mansion.”

—

Six hundred years ago, the Undying Knight, Kristin, dissatisfied with his current situation, took advantage of the Lord’s slumber to steal the immortal power of the proud ruler. He fled the human realm and became an undead knight. Although immortal, every hundred years, he would change his appearance and name, losing all memories and starting over. The only power he retained was the “Curse of Undeath.”

In this generation, after his rebirth, Kristin was found by the Fred family, trained to become a skilled swordsman with no understanding of love, and on the birthday of the family’s holy maiden, Miss Theresa, he was given to her as her personal knight.

—This is the true origin of all the events.

Deritz had initially come to the human realm because of this matter and subsequently met Talli.

However, judging by the girl’s expression, she believed what he had told her earlier and hadn’t connected the fragmented, unclear words she had read in that book with what he had said.

Of course, no one would expect that a small magical beast was actually the incarnation of the proud ruler. To humans, the name “Deritz” was like a symbol, something only seen in books and temples.

They would never mention the name in real life, for humans regarded it as a taboo.

Things that were too abstract and unrealistic were rarely even remembered, let alone connected to their lives.

To Talli, this name had appeared only a few times in books and dreams, and her impression of it was perhaps entirely negative. Whether fear or pity, it probably didn’t even leave as deep an impression as the one Saimond had made on her.

…Deritz lightly lowered his body, flicking his tail.

His gaze slightly shifted to Talli’s backpack.

—Although he said that, he still instinctively didn’t want Talli to discover the truth.

The first thing to do was destroy that book.

The girl by the bed was carefully wiping her crossbow.

“I don’t think I’ve ever really tested this fine crossbow—Kristin must be cursing his luck. Defeated by the Goddess’s Crossbow, he doesn’t really have anything to be ashamed of.”

She stood up and adjusted the crossbow’s sliding mechanism.

“Perfect. It’s about time to fulfill that challenge I issued. I’ll settle both old and new grudges together.”

As her words fell, the small fox on the table slowly transformed, turning into a girl who looked exactly like her. With clear violet eyes, black hair, a slender frame, and fair skin, the girl sat cross-legged on the desk, leisurely swinging her legs.

Talli leaned in and scrutinized “herself,” unable to stop herself from exclaiming, “It’s so realistic.”

Even she herself couldn’t find a single flaw.

Deritz: “If you’ve seen enough, hurry up and go. Come back soon.”

“No problem.”

Talli jumped onto the desk, opened the window, and glanced at the few guards patrolling below. She cast a short invisibility spell and levitation, quickly disappearing into the air.

The invisibility spell didn’t last long.

After avoiding the guards’ patrol, Talli made her way to the Fred family’s training grounds. Usually, unless something special was happening, when Theresa went to school, Kristin would be training his swordsmanship at the grounds.

However, halfway there, she happened to run into the last person she wanted to see.

The golden-haired young man saw her, his eyes widened in surprise, and then he quickly walked toward her: “Talli—”

He excitedly grabbed her shoulders, seeming to sigh in relief. “You’re okay! This is such a relief… Father has been stopping me from visiting you these past few days. I thought you were seriously injured…”

At the same time.

The door to Talli’s room was carefully knocked on.

Theresa tiptoed, looking left and right to make sure no one was in the corridor before she quietly asked, “Talli, I’ve taken the day off from school without Father’s knowledge. I heard you were injured, so I wanted to secretly come see you. Can I come in now?”