30화
Chesha’s face turned pale in an instant.
Her life as a tumultuous enchantress had been full of ups and downs.
She had crossed countless thresholds between life and death, but this crisis was a first.
Memories of pretending to be a baby in front of Hailon, cooing and babbling, flooded her mind like waves crashing in.
It wasn’t just about her identity being exposed and the problems that might follow.
If Hailon found out…
It would be so humiliating that even on her deathbed, she’d bolt upright, screaming and tearing at her hair.
‘No way! Absolutely not!’
Chesha racked her brain faster than ever before.
Unfortunately, her body was changing even quicker than her thoughts could keep up.
‘Nooo! This can’t happen!’
Just as a faint pink glow began to shimmer over her skin.
Chesha acted on impulse, summoning her power without hesitation.
Flowers and butterflies exploded forth like fireworks, and the illusion realm unfolded.
The fairy’s power momentarily severed the Chains of Condemnation.
Hata, freed from the chains, flopped down onto a massive flower.
Before she could even check on Hata’s safety, Chesha immediately trapped Hailon in a pile of flowers.
Hailon, suddenly buried under the cascading blooms, looked a bit flustered.
But there was no choice.
‘That was way too close…’
While Hailon’s view was blocked for that brief moment, Chesha hurriedly transformed from a baby back to her adult form.
She was tearfully grateful today for the fact that she could change her appearance at will within the illusion realm.
Hata, whose ears and tail had been standing straight up in shock, let out a sigh of relief upon seeing Chesha safely transformed and collapsed onto the flower.
‘But why did I suddenly turn back into a baby?’
Maybe it wasn’t a properly made potion after all.
She’d have to ask Hata to figure out exactly what had happened.
As she caught her breath, Hailon emerged, slicing through the flowers with his holy sword, and brushed off the petals clinging to his uniform.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking.”
She wasn’t thinking anything in particular; it was just to hide her baby form.
Unable to tell the truth, Chesha merely rolled her eyes.
The Chains of Condemnation extended from Hailon once more.
The pure white chains bound everything in the illusion realm.
Torn dolls, broken toys, even the giant chess pieces.
Having encircled the entire illusion realm with chains, Hailon declared indifferently.
“You won’t escape today, enchantress.”
Hata leaped down from the flower and rushed to Chesha’s side.
Hata hid behind Chesha and barked fiercely.
“Don’t bully Lichesia!”
It was like a small dog backed by its owner.
Watching the scene, Hailon silently furrowed his brow.
He stared intently at Hata clinging to Chesha.
In response, Hata pressed even closer to her, growling defiantly.
“You white-haired jerk! Hata is Lichesia’s most cherished puppy!”
Chesha reached out and patted Hata gently.
With a gesture meaning to stop, Hata huffed and clamped his mouth shut.
Chesha herself wanted to criticize Hailon if she could.
But her current situation was quite precarious.
‘If the illusion realm lifts, my baby form will be exposed just like that.’
She had to resolve this within here, one way or another.
“Um, Hailon.”
“…”
“Look, I have some circumstances today. How about we part on good terms?”
Swish.
Instead of answering, Hailon sliced through the thorny vines creeping toward his feet with his holy sword.
The thorny vines screeched pitifully and slunk away to a corner, thoroughly cowed.
Chesha sent a sympathetic glance to her poor pet plant before turning back to Hailon.
‘As expected, talking it out isn’t possible.’
With no other option, she played the card she’d been saving.
“I’ll give back Rubius’s Spear.”
At Chesha’s words, Hata, standing behind her, flinched in surprise.
Rubius’s Spear was a holy relic of the Holy Empire.
In the past, the enchantress Lichesia had stolen it.
Strictly speaking, she hadn’t stolen it; she’d just picked it up.
She’d merely dealt with the leader of the Holy Knights who came to kill her, and the spear he carried happened to be a holy relic, so she took it.
The Holy King was furious beyond measure at the fact that a holy relic had fallen into heretical hands.
He raged and commanded them to retrieve it immediately.
It was also the reason the bounty on the enchantress Lichesia skyrocketed.
However, there was no way a human could retrieve an item stored in a fairy’s illusion realm.
Chesha occasionally pulled out the holy relic to tease the Holy Knights, making good use of it.
In any case, Rubius’s Spear was a priceless treasure…
But to wrap up this incident and safely get Hata out, she was more than willing to toss it away.
“Take this and leave the backworld. And just in case you make the wrong call, I already informed your lieutenant.”
She’d sent a letter via butterfly, containing the offer to trade with Hailon for the holy relic.
“And that if you don’t accept, I’ll destroy the holy relic.”
The Holy King wouldn’t stand by and watch Rubius’s Spear vanish in vain.
He’d already caused a massive uproar by bringing Holy Knights into the backworld.
If he went as far as damaging the holy relic here, even Hailon would be in deep trouble.
She was confident he’d have no choice but to accept…
But for some reason, Hailon didn’t react as expected.
Instead, he looked at Chesha with eyes that seemed to be pondering something deeply.
Chesha absentmindedly almost rubbed her cheek with the back of her hand but stopped herself.
‘Is it because I’m acting differently from usual?’
If she’d behaved like the true enchantress Lichesia.
She would have smashed the warehouse to bits with Hailon, shattering the illusion realm into pieces, fighting until the bitter end.
Trying to resolve it through talk, offering the holy relic to end it…
‘It’s completely unfamiliar, I suppose.’
As expected, Hailon gave a curt assessment.
“You’re acting out of character.”
“Hmm… Lately, I’ve been a bit worn out.”
Pretending to be a baby had been exhausting.
In that instant, Hailon’s gaze sharpened.
“Are you being pursued?”
“Huh?”
“Is that why you’re running and hiding?”
It seemed like during the time Chesha was out of sight, he’d built up a solid misunderstanding on his own.
Chesha was speechless and couldn’t respond.
He appeared to take her silence as affirmation.
The chains vibrated finely, echoing their master’s unrest.
The clinking sounds disoriented her ears.
“Who dares to chase you?”
Hailon’s voice sank low.
A chilling blue light glinted in his eyes.
“I’m the only one who will capture and confine you, enchantress.”
At the ominous warning, Chesha couldn’t help but laugh.
Feeling sorry for his futile search, she advised him.
“Don’t look for me for a while.”
And then Hailon went ahead and asked that question.
“Does this involve your child?”
“…”
He still believed in that utterly ridiculous misconception.
Chesha let out a deep sigh.
Now she really needed to get home.
She didn’t have time for pointless conversations to clear things up.
“Stop with the weird thoughts. Let’s end it here, Hailon.”
Chesha burst all the flowers in the illusion realm.
Petals scattered wildly, snapping the chains that stretched like spiderwebs in every direction.
Shattered chains and petals flew everywhere.
At the unilateral declaration, Hailon twisted his face.
He, who rarely showed emotion, called out her name in a heated voice.
“Lichesia!”
The illusion realm shattered.
Hailon reached out, but fragments of illusion obscured his vision.
Chesha tossed Rubius’s Spear at him.
And before Hailon could discover her turned back into a baby.
She immediately moved to Hata’s hat shop.
“Waaah, Lichesiaaa…”
As soon as they arrived at the hat shop, Hata burst into sobs.
“Because of Hata, the Ru-Rubius’s Spear… Hic, Hata is a bad puppy…”
Hata drooped his large ears completely and sniffled.
“It’s okay. That thing was useless anyway.”
As she comforted him generously, Hata whined and burrowed into Chesha.
Chesha patted Hata’s back.
It was a bit overwhelming in her baby body.
Chesha, who had spread her arms wide to hug him, eventually plopped down on her bottom with a thud.
“Oopsie.”
When Chesha sat back abruptly, Hata finally snapped out of it.
Hata quickly wiped away the tears streaming down like beads and stared at Chesha with wide eyes.
“Uh…”
He lifted Chesha up with both hands, tilted his head, and asked.
“But why did you turn back into a baby?”
“I dunno.”
“Did you drink a weird potion? I labeled the adult potion. It said for the baby fairy…”
“I dwank dat one, but I ended up wike dis.”
“Huh… Why though?”
Hata, flustered and at a loss, said.
“Hata made the potion properly…?”
At Hata’s words, Chesha was greatly alarmed too.
‘It wasn’t incomplete?’
She had drunk a fully completed potion, yet she’d reverted to her baby body.
