Page 65

"T-This is too much to count further," I muttered softly as I saw the spirits forming a long line in front of the three butterfly spirit sisters.

To the Goddess’s words, several spirits who were bound by contracts with the holy women from the Aurora Goddess Shrine approached the three butterfly spirit sisters.

Their physical statures that had grown large were forced to shrink due to the limitations of the Royal Palace grounds.

When I walked out through the Royal Palace hall door, Zoe had been waiting for my arrival with her physical appearance resembling mine.

"Zoe, what happened to you?" I asked Zoe because the sight in front of her seemed to attract attention.

A spirit and a little girl from the Aurora Goddess Shrine, when seen from a distance, it looked like a little girl who was kneeling for something with her thunderous crying voice.

"I beg you! Please don’t attack Visilica again!" said the little girl as she knelt in front of Zoe.

"…" Zoe’s facial expression looked normal, more precisely she didn’t care about the little girl’s pleas by indifferently standing still.

"Oh! My Master! You’ve come!" Zoe exclaimed happily and run towards me.

"Y-You! Y-You’re her Master, right? Please stop your spirit’s actions that attack my heavenly dragon spirit!" realizing my late arrival, the little girl started to stand up and approach me. The blush on her face was covered by the sand.

"What have you done, Zoe?" I said while glancing at Zoe who wore an innocent face.

"I don’t know, she’s been like that since her dragon spirit was battered," Zoe replied with a satisfied smile.

"You must be enjoying this delicious revenge, right?"

"Yes, I enjoyed it, my Master."

That satisfied smile was visible on Zoe’s face. Her body shape which was not much different from mine looked very scary, especially with her red eyes that looked like a Villain.

Ah! Speaking of Villains, it seems that the blessing from the Demon Queen has been fully activated.

Could Zoe be a reflection of myself filled with honorable bad actions?

I don’t know for sure.

Now I looked at the frightened little girl. Her gaze shifted between me and Zoe.

I quickly took out my handkerchief and walked over to her.

"N-No! Don’t come any closer!" she exclaimed, her body trembling with fear.

"You don’t know what disaster has happened!"

"All the spirits of my holy sisters have gathered in this place, so this place is finished!"

I ignored her sentimentality that didn’t know the situation. Whether in a panic or calm state, these many spirits seemed to indicate inevitable destruction.

However, this wasn’t destruction.

They had come to apologize directly to the three butterfly spirit sisters for the guilt that had bullied them when they were low-level caterpillar spirits.

"Calm down first, this isn’t what you think," I said to calm her down.

"How can I be calm when my life is hanging in the balance like this? All the spirits of my high-level sisters have come to this place and their auras are so terrifying!"

I could see her eyes covered with tears.

Because her eyes were closed, she didn’t realize that the spirits who came to the courtyard of the Royal Palace had shrunk their bodies and lined up while kneeling in front of Zeta and Zara.

I immediately wiped her tears using my handkerchief.

The distance between me and her was very close. She didn’t even realize it when her eyes were covered by her tears.

"Before you give up on something, at least look around you, not everything you think about giving up on will actually happen," I said while wiping her tears using a handkerchief.

After her tears were wiped away, I could see her light blue eyes filled with enthusiasm looking at me calmly. The little girl who came from the Goddess Aurora temple had medium-length blue hair that was clipped with a hair ribbon. Her temple uniform which looked like a Shrine Maiden radiated her purity that had not been tainted.

I immediately wiped the sand and dust that stuck to her cheeks.

"At least look at the conditions first before giving up," I said while directing her gaze to the row of spirits sitting kneeling in front of Zeta and Zara.

"Hue? W-What happened?" she said with an overly panicked expression.

"Like what I said, right? What you think is not entirely true. They just came to apologize to my spirit that they bullied in the past timeline."

"Ahh..." the girl fell silent.

"..."

"..."

"..."

We were silent for a long time before Zoe touched my shoulder.

"Master, are you sure you’re doing something like that in front of your twin step-sisters?" Zoe asked in an awkward tone.

"What’s wrong, Zoe? Is there a problem with that?" I replied while glancing at Zoe, right behind Zoe’s body, I could see Alice and Alyssa with dark facial expressions.

"My Master, I know you’re popular with the ladies. But it would create a big misunderstanding if you add more ladies," Zoe said while returning to her butterfly spirit form.

"What does that mean, Zoe?" I tilted my head to try to digest Zoe’s words.

"It’s okay, my Master. You’ll realize it when the time comes."

"Huh?" I frowned and tried to understand Zoe’s words but I got no definite results.

My hand which was still cleaning the face of the frightened little girl was stopped by Alice’s hand.

"Onee-sama, that’s enough to clean this little girl’s face," Alice said in a cold tone with a dark expression on her face.

"Lily-nee, let me clean Lily-nee’s handkerchief. For now, use this handkerchief of mine," Alyssa took my handkerchief and gave her her clean one.

The frightened little girl suddenly started crying again after Alice and Alyssa appeared.

"What’s wrong this time?" I muttered in a thin tone.

"It seems like you have a talent for crying, so cute…" I said while pulling her chubby cheeks.

"P-Please don’t pull my cheeks like that! Sob!" replied the little girl in a stuttering tone because she was crying.

"Did you cry like that on purpose?" said Alice who also pulled her chubby cheeks.

"You know about Onee-sama’s kindness and are trying to get her attention like a helpless little girl, right? Quite an effective tactic if I look closely. Your little idea is also good..." Alice continued while pulling her cheeks until they were too stretched and leaving a red rash.

"I-It hurts.. Uhh... Please don’t pull my cheeks like that," the little girl screamed when both of her cheeks were pulled simultaneously.

I immediately released the pull on her cheeks which did not leave a trace of a red rash.

"Forgive my little stepsister’s behavior, does it hurt that much?" I immediately stopped Alice’s hand movement that was pulling her cheeks.

"O-Onee-sama?" Alice was a little surprised by my action of stopping her.

"That’s enough, Alice. Her cheeks look painful. It wouldn’t be funny if she had trouble eating, right?"

"I-I understand," Alice obeyed my words with her cute pouting face.

Pat.. Pat...

I immediately stroked her head after obeying my words obediently.

"Good little sister, you obeyed your big sister’s orders without refusing," I praised while stroking Alice’s head.

"Lily-nee, am I a good little sister too?" Alyssa said while pulling my arm.

"Alyssa is also my good little sister," now both of my hands were stroking the head of my twin little sister.

Zoe who had transformed into a butterfly form that had perched on my head suddenly trembled and whispered to me, "You are great at controlling this heated conflict situation, as expected by my Master, so amazing!"

I could hear Zoe’s whisper.

"Now, how about we discuss their harsh treatment in the past timeline?" I asked while turning towards Zeta and Zara.

In front of Zeta and Zara, a row of spirits were kneeling and bowing to them. It looked very funny because they forced their forms to remain small to fit the Royal Palace courtyard. If their large forms were used to kneel, it would destroy the Royal Palace outdoors.

"Uhm… M- My name is Myoko Hana, a Saintess who has just been assigned after being appointed by the King and Queen of the Aurora Kingdom. A-Am I a little late in introducing myself?" Hana said in a trembling voice because she had woken up from her sobbing.

"It’s okay, I’m also late to introduce myself. My name is Lily De Rommel from the Marquess Rommel family. Right next to me are my twin little stepsisters named Alice De Rommel and Alyssa De Rommel," I said in reply to the introduction given by Hana.

"Ahh! I-I understand, Lily-sama."

"Lily-sama? Why so formal? You can call me Onee-san if you want!" I said jokingly.

"Hurk! Cough!"

"Huh! Cough!"

Alice and Alyssa suddenly looked like they were choking after hearing my joking words.

"Are you girls okay?" I asked while looking at Alice and Alyssa.

"Do you want me to get you some water?" I said while looking for the drinking water that had been provided by the Royal Palace Maid.

Alice and Alyssa tried to calm their sudden choking coughs.

"Onee-san! No need to bother, I can bring out holy spring water to drink!" said Hana who suddenly called me Onee-san with her sparkling eyes.

Meanwhile, Alice and Alyssa struggled with all their might to get rid of their choking coughs.

I could feel a surge of magical energy centered on Hana. The traces of her magical energy felt tight and refreshing, it seemed to be a characteristic of holy magic that could create ready-to-drink holy water.

The clumps of water that slowly gathered formed a ball of water floating in the air. I immediately looked for an empty glass as a container but it was stopped by Alice and Alyssa.

"We don’t need drinking water! Don’t take our beloved older sister, you thieving cat!" said Alice and Alyssa simultaneously.

"E-Eekk!!" Hana looked panicked when she heard Alice and Alyssa’s screams.