She was still savoring the way Lisa had caught Vian just now.
It had clearly been done with one hand, and Lisa had still been holding a teacup, yet her movements were so steady that it looked as though she had rehearsed them beforehand.
That meant similar things must have happened countless times already.
After lunch, Elia finally found some free time and planned to continue refining the answer outline Kiz had called “too official.”
But just as she sat down at the desk, before she had even taken out her quill, someone knocked on the door.
She got up and opened it, only to find Alicia, the maid whose name was very similar to her own, standing outside with a somewhat peculiar expression.
“Saint Lady… Miss Lillian was stopped by nine elves at the Royal City’s north gate. Ah, don’t worry, don’t worry. It’s not a big deal. They’re elves from the Eastern Region, and it’s their first time in the Royal City, so they might not recognize Miss Lillian. There was just a small misunderstanding… The guards have already gone to handle it, but Her Highness Princess Lola told me to come and inform you.”
“Understood. I’ll go take a look.”
Elia hurried to the north gate, where she saw three elves dressed in the Eastern Region’s traditional travel clothes, looking like a family of three.
There was a mother, a young girl, and a little girl who looked younger than ten.
Several travel bags lay piled at their feet, and their expressions were a mixture of panic and confusion.
By then, the Royal City guards had stepped between them and separated the two sides, but the atmosphere remained tense.
Lillian stood expressionlessly behind the guards, holding her Moonlight Stone in her hand.
On the ground in front of her was a fresh scrape, seemingly left when someone had fallen and scraped their hand against the ground.
The youngest elf girl clutched her mother’s hem, staring tearfully at the Moonlight Stone in Lillian’s hand.
The older elf girl beside her was still whispering something to their mother.
The Captain of the Royal City Guards was a veteran elf. When he saw Elia approaching, he visibly relaxed, quickly stepped forward, and gave her a formal salute.
“Saint Lady… These people are from a small village under the Radiant Tribe in the Eastern Region. They said the stone in this silver-haired young lady’s hand just absorbed the Corrupting Breath clinging to them… They’ve never seen anything like it, so they thought it was some kind of attack. That’s how the misunderstanding occurred.”
Hearing this, Elia glanced at Lillian.
At the same time, Lillian was looking at her too. There was no grievance or panic in her eyes, only a hint of confusion, as though she were wondering whether she had done something wrong.
“What did you just do?”
Elia walked over and asked.
“They came out of the mist. There was a lot of purple stuff on them, and they seemed uncomfortable… My stone could absorb that stuff, so I helped them a little, and then they fell over.”
As Lillian spoke, she looked at the Moonlight Stone in her hand.
The stone’s glow was slightly brighter than usual, and a faint trace of purple lingered within it, but the gold light was quickly neutralizing it.
Elia patted her shoulder, then stood up and turned toward the family.
The little girl had stopped crying by now, but she was still clutching her mother’s hem and secretly peeking at Lillian with one eye from behind her mother’s leg.
Still, there was much less fear in her eyes now and much more curiosity.
The mother seemed to have mostly calmed down. She gave Elia a slight bow and asked, “May I ask who you are?”
“My name is Elia. I’m this child’s temporary guardian. That’s a Moonlight Stone. You should recognize it, right? Any Corrupting Breath that touches a Moonlight Stone is automatically purified. That’s a property of the stone itself. There was too much mist clinging to you, so she simply used the stone to absorb it for you. She meant no harm.”
The mother was stunned for a moment, then looked down at her robe.
The pale purple stains that had covered her cuffs and collar had indeed disappeared, and even the fine purple lines were gone.
She then pulled her daughter’s little hands over to inspect them and discovered that those purple marks had vanished as well.
Finally, she looked at Lillian.
“Did you purify the Corrupting Breath for us?”
The mother remained silent for a long time before bowing solemnly to Lillian.
“I’m sorry… We came from the Eastern Region. Halfway here, the mist suddenly grew thick, and all three children got that purple stuff on them. By the time we reached the city gate, they were already feeling dizzy. You helped us, yet we misunderstood you. I’m truly sorry…”
In the end, Lillian said only a few words.
“You were uncomfortable.”
After saying that, the mother pulled the little girl closer again.
“Go on, say thank you to the big sister.”
The little girl timidly stepped out from behind her mother’s leg and looked up at Lillian.
“Big Sister’s stone is amazing… Are you an elf too, Big Sister?”
“No, I’m of the Blood Clan.”
“What is the Blood Clan?”
“It’s… the kind that sucks blood.”
The little girl blinked.
An answer like that would usually scare a child to tears, but the little girl’s reaction completely surprised everyone.
Her eyes lit up, and she actually took a step closer.
“Then whose blood has Big Sister sucked? Does it hurt? Mom says Blood Clan bites hurt a lot~”
Elia narrowed her eyes and stared intently at Lillian.
‘Huh? Are you sure? Who was it in the Domain who nearly drained me dry?’
“I’ve never bitten anyone.”
Lillian answered very seriously.
The older elf girl beside them finally couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing with a “pfft.”
After laughing, she quickly covered her mouth and put on an embarrassed expression.
The Captain of the Guards also turned his face away, his shoulders shaking once, but he quickly regained his professional composure.
Once the misunderstanding had been completely cleared up, the Captain of the Guards arranged for someone to escort the family of three to a temporary lodging facility in the Royal City so they could rest.
As the little girl left, she looked back at Lillian. After walking several steps away, she waved.
“Bye-bye, Big Sister! Come find me in the Eastern Region to play sometime!”
Lillian tried to wave back, though her movements were stiff and the rhythm of her waving was a little off.
After the family had gone some distance away, she lowered her hand, looked down at her Moonlight Stone, then raised her head to look at Elia.
“I think I made a friend.”
“Yes, that’s right. You made a new friend.”
“A friend is someone who is kind to you without needing a reason. I asked Laura before, and that’s what she said.”
“Laura is right. That little girl really does like you. She doesn’t need a reason. She simply likes you.”
Lillian then closed her hand around the Moonlight Stone, watching its light pulse gently at a frequency resembling a miniature heartbeat.
After that, she didn’t speak again.
But Elia noticed that her grip on the stone had relaxed a little.
Lillian had made a new friend today… That fact seemed to make her Moonlight Stone shine brighter.
Perhaps that was enough.
At least for now, beneath the sunlight at the north gate of the Elf Royal City, a girl who had once not understood what it meant to “like” someone had just watched a little child leave after inviting her to play together again next time.
That was what Elia thought.
This was the most important thing at this moment.