Chapter 49

“Then I shall go and fetch Lady Aria.”

Whoosh!

Urged by my words, Ahel cast magic in a hurry and vanished from sight. He must have found a renewed burst of energy upon seeing hope to save the children. But the moment Ahel departed, I remembered something I had forgotten to mention.

“Come to think of it, I forgot to tell him how to bring her!”

Perhaps because our Aria was a bit wary of strangers, she rarely listened to anyone other than me. At the very least, Yul and Miel saw her often and were close to me, so she listened to them.

It would be a miracle if Aria even remembered Ahel’s face.

On top of that, I had thoroughly educated her to never follow suspicious people under any circumstances, so if she looked at Ahel—who looked shady no matter who you asked—she might just burst into tears on the spot. Though, with Yul around, I figured things would somehow work out.

“Still, I’m worried…”

Whoosh!

Then, before I could even finish a single sentence, Ahel returned, bringing Aria right along with him. Wait, how on earth did he get back so fast?

“I have returned, Young Lady.”

“………”

Well, I’d like to return the worry I just had a moment ago. I thought to myself as I watched Aria nestled docilely in Ahel’s arms. Could it be that even this kid, girl though she was, had a soft spot for handsome guys? But the very next second, I shook my head as I watched Aria lift her head and keep shoveling yesterday’s raw fish sashimi into her mouth like a vacuum cleaner.

“Munch munch, the sashimi is delicious!”

No way that was it.

Staring at the fistful of sashimi clutched tightly in Aria’s hand, I glared at Ahel. Damn it, calling himself a genius and yet resorting to bribing Aria with food. I couldn’t help but admire his uncanny ability to pinpoint Aria’s absolute single weakness right off the bat.

Then again, Aria was to blame for falling for it so easily. Being this vulnerable to food every single day meant she’d probably follow the first kidnapper who offered her a piece of candy. Nah, scrap that—she’d probably wolf down the candy on the spot and make it impossible anyway.

“Aria.”

“Munch munch, gulp. Mommmy!”

The moment I called out, Aria checked my expression, quickly stuffed the remaining sashimi into her mouth in one go, and only then called out to me. Ugh, it was nothing major, but it still hurt my feelings.

“Mommy. Where are we?”

Are you only asking that now?

You must have been completely lost in that sashimi. Anyway, Aria didn’t seem bothered by the stench inside the cave at all and looked completely fine.

“Aria. Are you alright?”

“About what?”

She genuinely seemed completely unfazed. Could it be because she was a dragon? What an amazingly convenient race. If I ever ended up slipping back into a novel world next time, I really hoped I could become a dragon instead of a villainess.

Anyway, as a parent, I boldly made a request to Aria.

“Aria, would you mind giving Mom a little bit of your blood?”

Aria looked utterly startled by my words. Her eyes went so wide you could probably balance a giant pudding right on top of them.

“B-Blood?”

Seeing Aria stuttering so badly from shock, a wave of guilt—something I hadn’t even considered a moment ago—bubbled up inside me. A parent asking a child for their blood—what on earth would Aria’s parents up in the celestial realm think if they saw this scene? They had entrusted her to me all the way down to her dragon heart, asking me to take good care of her, and here I was fattening her up just to drain her blood like some wicked stepmother. Would they come flying down from heaven right this second to kill me?

“A-Aria doesn’t have any blood. She doesn’t eat well normally, so I probably won’t have any blood coming out.”

Seeing Aria spin utter fabrications just to wiggle her way out of it made my heart ache even more. To think my own daughter could shamelessly spout such absurd lies! If Aria wasn’t eating well, then absolutely nobody else in this entire world would ever be able to claim they were well-fed.

“I’m sorry, Aria. But to save those poor kids, Mom needs your blood.”

I explained the situation simply and with absolute honesty, expecting Aria to be moved by the plight and voluntarily offer her blood…

“Waaaaah! I still don’t know anything! Aria doesn’t have any blood! Waaaaah!”

She didn’t give it. Seeing Aria burst into tears and make excuses instead, the heartache I felt just a moment ago vanished as if it were all a lie, replaced entirely by pure, unadulterated anger.

Children her own age were dying out there, and here she was crying just to save her own skin! I honestly had no idea whose child she was.

“Miss Armienne’s daughter, of course.”

Interrupting me—perhaps because I had too few lines—Ahel chimed in out of nowhere, leaving me blinking in utter bewilderment.

“Did you happen to read my mind just now?”

“No. I can tell just by looking at your expression.”

Ugh, thinking I’d better watch my expressions a bit better from now on, I scolded Aria. They say a parent’s heart breaks when scolding their child, but why did I feel so refreshed instead? Could it be that I had unconsciously built up some stress toward Aria, who did nothing but consume food every single day?

“Aria! How dare you lie right in front of Mom! Are you going to cut it out right now or not? And kids are dying out here, so why on earth are you throwing a fit over a little blood and keeping this up! Is that how Mom taught you?”

At my words, as if by magic, Aria stopped her tears and answered with absolute confidence.

“Yes.”

Unbelievable. To think I taught her that. This had to be another lie. As if reading my mind, Aria shouted at the top of her lungs.

“It’s not a lie! You always said I should treasure myself above all else, Mommy! Waaaaah!”

Gasp! Was my thought process really showing on my face so clearly that even Aria could read my expressions now? Well, what she said was technically true, but that wasn’t what I meant for her to use in a situation like this. I had taught her that so she would understand that if she got hurt, I—her parent—would be heartbroken, but to think she’d pull that card out in a moment like this.

Watching Aria continue to throw a tantrum to wriggle her way out of trouble, I let out a sigh. I couldn’t drag this out any longer.

“Ahel. Grab her.”

“Pardon?”

“I said grab Aria’s arm. How much blood do we need? Do you happen to have a sharp blade?”

I felt genuinely sorry for Aria, but I decided to harvest her blood by force. At my command, Ahel grabbed hold of Aria. Aria threshed and struggled, but realizing it was impossible to slip out of Ahel’s grip, she burst into tears all over again.

Still, I couldn’t afford to care about her crying anymore. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel bad for Aria at all. If there had been any other way, my heart of hearts would have preferred to use it. But right now, the only method capable of saving those dying children was an Elixir brewed with Aria’s blood.

Of course, I did secretly plan to pocket a little extra if there was any left over.

“Aria. Mom is truly sorry. Once we get home later, I’ll let you eat so much sashimi you’ll pop.”

At the magic word “sashimi,” the eyes of Aria—who had been wailing her lungs out just a moment ago—instantly lit up.

“R-Really?”

“Of course. Our Aria is being such a huge help and is so adorable, do you really think Mom wouldn’t do at least that much for you?”

Besides, the ones who would actually suffer were the chefs back at our estate.

“Aria will bear it for Mom.”

It was probably entirely for the sake of the sashimi, but hey, if Aria was willing to calm down even like this, it was a winning trade. Fortunately, the amount of blood required for the Elixir was very small. Dragon’s blood was a supreme medicine in its own right, but its potency was so extreme that if too much of it was added, it would end up creating a lethal poison rather than an Elixir, Ahel explained.

“Then let’s begin.”

I made a tiny, minuscule cut on the tip of Aria’s finger to draw her blood.

Thankfully, even in her human polymorphed state, the essence of Aria’s blood was still dragon’s blood, allowing the Elixir to be successfully brewed without a hitch.

The brewing process simply consisted of Ahel snapping his fingers, causing the ingredients to combine and brew automatically right before our eyes. Seeing things like this made it abundantly clear that magic was infinitely more convenient for daily life than a sword.

What good is that when it takes forever to gather mana, and passing the next circle requires you to keep studying that damn mathematics.

Of course, if Aria hadn’t eaten the dragon heart and left it behind, things might have been different, but as things stood, it was impossible for me to ever reach Ahel’s level of mastery.

Of the three completed bottles of Elixir, I handed one over to the boy named Camile so he could feed it to the children outside, gave the second one to the kids lying here, and decided to just keep the final bottle for myself.

“Uoooooh! I feel like I could fly!”

“I’ve been brought back to life!”

“Resurrection!”

Are these kids out of their minds?

The children who had consumed the Elixir instantly shed their rotting skin, growing brand-new skin right before our eyes as if the agonizing pain and vomiting blood from just moments ago were all a sick joke. Energy surged through them as though they were ready to take flight. If you told them to go fight a knight right now, they looked ready to beat a knight to death with their bare fists.

“Um, isn’t this effect a bit too overpowered?”

I asked Ahel, watching the children who had consumed the Elixir. Those weren’t just kids anymore; they were maniacs high on pure vitality.

Even Ahel seemed to think the Elixir’s efficacy was beyond anything he had imagined, as he tilted his head in bewilderment.

“Strange. For an effect of this magnitude… it’s as if we used the blood of an Ancient Dragon-class entity. If I may ask, Lady Aria, what is your age?”

At his question, I briefly mentally calculated Aria’s age. It had slipped my mind because it was so shocking, but Aria was over 490 years old—technically a grandmother if you judged purely by the number of years. However, to dragons, 490 years old was roughly equivalent to being about 10 years old in human terms.

“Aria is, um…”

“Did you happen to forget?”

The moment I hesitated, Ahel asked with a subtle smirk.

How exactly does this guy view me?

“Ah, I remember! I’m 497 years old.”

Promptly correcting me with an air of proud dignity, Aria provided the right answer.

“Aria is 498 years old.”

“…………”

Ugh, had my memory been getting worse lately or something? Once I got back home, I really needed to start eating foods that were good for memory retention. Anyway, Ancient Dragon-class, huh? There was only one possible explanation that came to mind: the fact that Aria had consumed an Ancient-class dragon heart.

Damn it, the more I thought about it, the more it stung. That was supposed to be a health tonic for me to boil down and drink.

Thinking of the dragon heart that had already flown away for good, I muttered as I watched the kids running around like absolute lunatics out front. Even the smart kid who had explained the Black Death to me was currently hanging from the ceiling and screeching at the top of his lungs.

I was terrified that 101 Dalmatians wasn’t what was going to haunt my dreams, but rather 101 raving lunatic children.

“What do we do about this?”

At my words, Ahel broke into a bright smile and replied.

“It will naturally resolve itself once some time passes.”

“How long?”

When I asked, Ahel seemed to ponder it for a moment before cold sweat instantly began to break out on his forehead.

“Probably at least a week… or perhaps up to a year, depending on how it goes.”

At his words, I shook my head, and right at that moment, the shrieks of knights echoed from outside the cave. Camile must have gone ahead and fed the Elixir to the kids out there, too.

“Argh! The kids have gone completely wild!”

“They’re too strong!”

“Ghk, I lost.”

What an absolute madhouse. Since things had come to this, there was only one solution left. I grabbed Aria’s soft hand and spoke.

“Aria. Let’s go home.”

“Okay, Mommy.”

They were cured anyway, so they’d figure things out on their own. There didn’t seem to be any need to keep coddling kids who could effortlessly beat down our knights.

“Mommy, we’re going to eat sashimi, right? Right? Hehe.”

“…………”

Aria. After you eat this upcoming batch of sashimi, I really think I’m going to have to do something about that endless appetite of yours.

“Of course. Our Aria worked hard today, so shouldn’t you get to eat until you pop. Heh-heh.”

I’ll let it slide just for today.