Cristae
Stories
14
Chapters
2,598
Words
4.8 M
Comments
0
Reading
16 d, 18 h
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Episode 180 Quick-witted Terry swiftly brewed a fresh pot of tea and quietly left the room. After seeing Lady Cherry out as well, I found myself alone, face-to-face with the crown prince. A brief silence fell between us, as though we were trying to gauge each other’s intentions. Our last meeting hadn’t been particularly pleasant, so I found it difficult to speak first. It was Mikhail who broke the silence. “Today, I’m not here as the crown prince, but as your friend. So let’s…
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66.2 K • Ongoing
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Episode 179Even without going through Mikhail, there was a way to verify whether the First King’s prophecy was accurate. That was by asking Giuseppe, who currently possesses the “gift of prophecy,” whether he too had seen the kingdom’s calamity. However, if Giuseppe truly had seen it with his prophetic gift, I couldn’t approach him recklessly. If I made a mistake, he might discover that Leo was the Star of Heroes. ‘I can’t be sure, but I’ll try probing for a reaction by letting…
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66.2 K • Ongoing
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Episode 178“They say that a child born under the Star of Heroes, chosen by its light, bears a mark upon their body. I had my doubts—but Leon Blanche has that very mark recorded in the prophecy, right on the back of his neck.” A curse rose to the tip of my tongue, but I managed to choke it back. There was no use in denying it. Mikhail had clearly finished his investigation and was merely informing me of the truth. In this moment, the man before me was not my childhood friend Mikhail, but…
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66.2 K • Ongoing
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Episode 177As if scalded, I hastily withdrew the hand I had stretched out toward Lady Cherry. ‘How can she look so unconcerned?’ Fanning my burning face, I shot a glare at Lady Cherry, who only seemed as calm as if she’d been exchanging polite greetings. It was all because of Lady Cherry that I found myself clutching the folding fan I’d tossed aside when disabling the translator. Yet this infuriatingly buggy AI of a person kept stubbornly staring only at my hand as she asked, “My…
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66.2 K • Ongoing
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176 As summer drew to a close in the north, we began preparations to return to the capital. Of course, Sir Cherry was going with us, and since he was to enter the capital under his true identity this time, there was much to be arranged. At last, the day came for us to leave Valua-Shuten Castle. “My lady, I entrust our lord to your care.” Sir Fenadel implored me earnestly, like a parent leaving a child at school. I turned his words over and over in my mind, then replied. “Sir…
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66.2 K • Ongoing
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175I made sure Leo had firmly covered both his eyes and ears, then turned to face Sir Cherry. In his crimson eyes, I could see emotions seething like a volcano on the verge of eruption. All I had done was meet his gaze. “It’s because I love you, my lady.” His confession from that day lingered in my ears, tickling them. It felt as if I were about to crush a red flower that had finally bloomed after a winter spent holding its breath, but I opened my mouth to speak. “Sir Cherry, to…
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Episode 174 Leo rubbed his cheek, mumbling as if the inside of his mouth felt strangely itchy. “Do you remember the morning after Sir Knight and Lady Belinda left for the Warded Forest, when I said I thought I’d encountered a demonic beast?” Cesar didn’t reply, but Leo went on speaking. “At the time, I thought it was a demonic beast—but now, I’m not so sure. Because, just now, he touched my cheek behind the curtain, just like you did. So, if that person is really my…
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Episode 173 Leo went on to explain the reasoning behind his assumption. “That’s why I could walk freely through the Enchanted Forest.” There are two families welcomed by the Enchanted Forest—the descendants of the First King, who created the forest, and the Valuashuten lineage, his younger brother’s house. Leo had chosen the former. While Leo’s expression was solemn, I had to bite my lower lip to keep from laughing. Whether he noticed or not, Leo leaned in with a very serious…
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66.2 K • Ongoing
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Episode 172 Regrettably—or perhaps fortunately—Cesare never saw the expression on Belinda’s face as she looked at him. “You really are… hopeless, Sir.” Her words were a whisper, laced with a touch of laughter. “Why would you say something like that at a time like this? It’s just so…” Like a death flag. Belinda bit back the words. At some point, she realized Cesare was now lying with his eyes closed, exhaling faint, shallow breaths. The hand she held in her own was…
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Episode 171 Night descended upon the Enchanted Forest, without exception. Belinda and Cesare sat side by side, conserving their energy by speaking little. Cesare reassured her, insisting that if northern knights were on their trail, they would surely find them. For those knights, the forest was an ancient enemy—sometimes, they could see through its secrets even better than an old friend. The only problem was time. ‘They must find us before the poison reaches Sir Cherry’s…
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170 Something warm as a spring day’s sunlight kept tickling my eyelids. Frowning in my sleep, I tried to block out the light with the back of my hand, but for some reason, my whole body felt bound, unable to move a single inch. Groaning weakly, I gave up on moving and burrowed my forehead deeper into the bedding. “My lady! That’s the forest’s boundary!” Flash. At the sound of Penadel’s voice—the words I remembered hearing before losing consciousness—I snapped my eyes…
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Chapter 169 Soon, his aura chillingly cold like a shard of ice, his left hand touched my cheek with utmost care. “I’ve said this before, haven’t I? Lady Blanche is more precious to me than anything else in this world.” A whisper, tender as a lover’s secret words slipped into a beloved’s ear. But Sir Cherry had never spoken those words before. That night, on the balcony, his revelation, though desperate as a sinner in confession, was at once solemn as a knight’s vow. So I…
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168At that moment, someone stepped in front of Caesar. “Your Excellency.” Caesar and Penadel’s gazes met in the void between them. Though the whites of Caesar’s eyes, glimpsed through the mask’s slits, had not yet turned completely black, the signs were ominous. Once the whites went jet-black, the beast’s transformation would progress to the physical form; at that point, not even the Valuaachten family’s abilities could reverse it. Penadel placed a cautious hand on his sword…
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Episode 167 As with any beast wounded and driven to the edge of a precipice, the creature facing Caesar bristled with an extraordinary wariness. Yet, the reason it did not flee into the forest just behind may well have been instinct: somewhere, it sensed that the moment it set foot in the woods as a beast, it would never return. But Caesar, too, had no intention of letting the beast retreat to the woods. This was an affair that had to be ended by his own hand. Gazing at an old…
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166 ‘…Mion.’ Someone called Leo by an unfamiliar name, gently caressing the child's cheek with the back of their hand. Leo, still drowsy with sleep, murmured vaguely. ‘That’s not my name.’ Yet, the warmth of the hand stroking his face seemed achingly familiar. Leo even knew that the reason the person used the back of their hand was to keep the rough, callused palm from scratching his delicate skin. ‘En…on.’ ‘My name is Leo.’ At the very moment Leo…
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165The name Theodore had given soon became the child’s nickname. So time passed, and in the year Cherry turned ten— During summer, the only season in the North when snow is rare— Just like the first snow falling without warning, the lingering curse was suddenly lifted from the child’s eyes. The Grand Duchess, at last able to embrace her son with blue snowflowers blossoming in his gaze, did so; and the Grand Duke, placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder, spoke aloud, for the first time,…
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Episode 164 That evening was more delightful than any we’d had in a long time. Dame Cherry hurried back so quickly that she didn’t even bother to brush the snow off her shoulders, yet, as always, she ate her meal in silence. “So, the knights tossed me up into the air, and I flew so high that I nearly met Lady Belinda’s eyes from up on the second floor!” Leaving out the part where I scolded the northern knights so harshly that their ears must have bled, Leo eagerly chirped on,…
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Episode 274 Epilogue. “Alright, let’s begin the meeting.” Seated in my office, I activated the video communication magic device. It’s often called a “video orb” for short; this was one of the latest developments from the Mage Tower. As long as its internal mana held out, we could meet face-to-face and talk remotely like this. “Yes, Grand Mage. I’m quite used to these video meetings by now, hohoho.” Edelain grinned brightly. Today was the day of the Arcadia…
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413.4 K • Ongoing
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Episode 273 “So then… who do you think I’d like?” Khalid spoke, furrowing his brow. I blinked at him, dazed. “Th-then why haven’t you said anything until now?” We’d had countless opportunities to confess our feelings. I’d been waiting for those chances like a hyena! If he liked me, too, shouldn’t he have pounced on those opportunities like I did? Instead of running away! “I thought… if I were to confess to you, I’d need the proper status… a…
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413.4 K • Ongoing
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272 “Oh, how frustrating. I could spoon-feed it to him, even chew it for him, and he still wouldn’t get it!” Sevelena, somehow irritated at the end, stormed off. So the gathering awkwardly dispersed. I was almost glad—I’d been so mired in self-doubt, wondering what on earth I was doing here, that I could hardly focus on anything around me. “Oh, these are fresh.” On my way home alone, I wandered past the shops, browsing here and there. Maybe because it was spring, the…
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413.4 K • Ongoing
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