Chapter 3: Reunion in the Forest (1)

Two years had passed.

“Mm… mm-hmm…”

Larie hummed a tune as her silver hair swayed softly.

The morning sun embraced the forest, filling the air with a lush, green scent.

Massive trees, their tops visible only when one craned their neck,

generously allowed sunlight to stream through their leaves.

Under that gentle light, countless lives breathed quietly.

It was the kind of beauty found only in myth—

but to her, it had become a familiar sight.

“Awuh…”

“You’re awake?”

At the small whimper, Larie gently lifted Rui from his cradle.

Her motions, now smooth and practiced, soothed the child with care.

“Did you sleep well? My sweet Rui.”

Holding him close, she stepped outside behind her quaint wooden cottage.

There, the trees bore fruit in abundance.

“Waa… ooh.”

“Yes, yes.”

Meeting Rui’s blue eyes as he babbled, Larie smiled brightly.

There was no trace of the shadow that had once clung to her entire life.

All of it—thanks to Rui.

At first, it had felt like duty.

Pity for a child who might have to live a life as painful as hers.

But as time passed,

the presence of that tiny life in her arms awakened something deep in her soul.

Even on the darkest nights, when she clung to the forest’s lifeforce to ease the pain,

Larie made a vow—

that Rui, at least, would grow up happy.

And she learned something painful and true:

everything her mother had done to her had been… wrong.

“What shall we eat today?”

A twinge of sorrow for her younger self lingered, leaving behind a strange emptiness.

Was she regretting not running to the forest sooner?

Or perhaps…

she was thinking of someone she left behind.

“Do you like apples?”

“Ah-ooh!”

“Alright then. Apple purée it is.”

Brushing aside the haze of melancholy,

Larie smiled again.

The fruit-laden branches welcomed the pair warmly.

Larie followed Rui’s tiny, pointing hand and plucked a ripe, red apple that had grown just within her reach.

Strangely, near the cottage where she had settled, all kinds of fruit trees flourished abundantly.

The fruits here were larger and sweeter than those elsewhere,

making them perfect to trade for necessities in the village market.

It was thanks to the villagers’ kindness that Larie had been able to settle here at all—

especially Grandma Emma, who had taken her in without hesitation when she first arrived,

shrouded in mystery.

“So many ripe fruits today. I should stop by the market.”

Larie murmured to herself as she looked at the apples that had fallen to the grass.

Each fruit lay perfectly on the soft green lawn, unmarred, glowing with ripeness.

“Ahh, ooh!”

Rui lifted his arms in excited babble, as if echoing her words.

A cool breeze blew, teasing through his silvery hair.

Larie smiled, watching the wind play with the hair that looked just like her own.

Though Rui’s blue eyes and facial features resembled him more—

Terian—none of it mattered.

He was simply her beloved child.

“My pretty Rui.”

“A-woo!”

“So you do know you’re adorable, huh?”

Touching her nose to his and grinning,

Larie suddenly realized something.

She was truly living for tomorrow—

for the first time in her life.

Each day overflowed with joy.

If only she could live like this quietly, forever.

If only it weren’t for one worry.

“Hmm. Let’s see.”

Back inside, Larie gently laid Rui on the table, just as she had a month ago,

carefully straightening his little body to measure his height again.

“…Why aren’t you growing, Rui?”

His height hadn’t changed.

“Ah… uhh…”

He kicked his legs and sucked his fingers contentedly,

but Larie’s smile faded into a deep frown.

A shadow of concern clouded her face.

Rui had stopped growing at some point.

He was a little over one year old now, yet his body had strangely remained the size of a six-month-old since then.

There was another baby in the village born around the same time as Rui.

The difference between them had become more obvious over time, and even the villagers were beginning to wonder.

Was it perhaps the environment of living deep in the mountains?

Larie made sure to feed him well, but maybe it hadn’t been enough.

Or… was it something stranger?

Something she might have passed down?

“……”

The frightening thought struck her, and Larie quickly pushed it away.

Her parents had never exhibited any odd traits,

which led her to believe she was a random anomaly—

a mutation.

She didn’t want to believe she had passed on something like that to Rui.

Even if she had, wouldn’t living inside the forest have neutralized it by now?

“…Maybe I really do need to move into the village…”

The villagers had started worrying about Rui too.

A few of them had even urged her to come down from the mountains and live among them.

Larie had turned them down every time—

afraid that Terian might find her if she lived too openly.

But maybe… it was time to let that fear go.

Judging from the whispers she heard,

it seemed Terian had long since stopped looking for her.

“…First, let’s get some breakfast, Rui.”

Breaking from her thoughts, Larie smiled softly once again.

She pressed a kiss to the baby’s sweet-smelling hair,

her face once again peaceful.

***

At the same time…

“Y-Your Majesty, please have mercy!”

The man groveling on the floor of the imperial hall sobbed for his life.

But Terian simply leaned his cheek on his gloved hand, staring down with a bored expression.

It had been two years since Larie vanished.

Two years since she’d vanished like mist, as if the heavens themselves had swallowed her.

And still, not a single report had come in to say she’d been found.

Terian’s eyes glazed with thought, completely indifferent to the minister trembling at his feet.

For Larie to remain hidden this long—

it was no longer normal.

Something was deeply, disturbingly wrong.

Even after his coronation, Terian’s top priority was always to find Larie. His aides, now loyal to the imperial faction, found this curious but chose to ignore it.

On the other hand, the nobles could no longer disregard Terian’s intent.

After becoming emperor, sweeping reforms and purges took place. In just two years, imperial authority had become unfathomably powerful, soaked in blood. The immense power of the once-dominant Avnir Grand Duchy had been absorbed by the imperial family, making the disparity even more pronounced.

Though he now commanded a military force incomparable to before, the search for Larie remained painfully slow. They had combed every mountain range connected to the forest where she vanished, to no avail.

What especially irritated him was that some soldiers who had ventured into the forest returned babbling nonsense. As if a vanished nymph was toying with him.

Of course, it was all nonsense.

“O-Oh, Your Majesty. Please have mercy!”

Just then, a count who looked like a blot of filth in the otherwise spotless imperial hall opened his mouth.

Terian’s cold gaze finally fell on the man’s face in response to his vile excuse.

“You embezzled that much money like a pig, and call it a misunderstanding?”

“Th-that’s…”

“Three villages suffered mass starvation because of it… and yet the Count dares to utter such disgraceful words.”

“…Hrk…”

His obsession with purity was worsening by the day. Terian had always had the power to treat flaws as flaws. After becoming emperor, he became the very standard by which all others were judged.

And so, he found it increasingly intolerable. The nobles who committed vile deeds behind his back.

The fact that Larie was no longer by his side.

“Remove him.”

“Y-Your Majesty…!”

That man’s guilt was crystal clear, but he also served as bait to drag out something even bigger.

A preliminary move to completely cut off the lifeline of the kingdom’s most parasitic filth: Tromperie.

“……”

It was impossible for Larie to evade so many soldiers on her own. Thus, Terian’s initial suspicion had now solidified—Tromperie was hiding her.

That was why, ever since ascending the throne, Terian had focused entirely on cutting off Tromperie’s limbs.

As if fate itself were aiding him, everything fell into place. Tromperie’s greatest backer, the enemy nation Shupetania, was still embroiled in war. Their invasion of a small kingdom had turned into an unexpectedly prolonged conflict.

Thanks to that, Tromperie couldn’t easily rely on diplomatic pressure via blue coal. As war material, blue coal was now difficult for them to import as well.

The Laxtreen Empire had nearly faced a freezing winter because of it, but Terian found a solution. While not as abundant as Shupetania, he was able to strike a dramatic import deal with another source of blue coal.

Meanwhile, he accelerated the development of railway infrastructure. Other empires and kingdoms were showing interest in the fast and high-capacity trains. Along the expanding railway network, many resources beneficial to the empire were pouring in at rapid speed.

As a result, Tromperie’s once-vaunted financial power had been utterly diminished. Now, just a bit more pressure, and they could be erased completely.

“Your Majesty, it is time for the council meeting.”

“……”

Knowing all this—why was he hesitating?

The task could’ve been completed half a year ago, yet he was only now bringing it to the table. Was it because he found something odd in Tromperie continuing to pretend Terian was hiding Larie, even after being cornered this far?

Or was he simply afraid—afraid of the day she might return from wherever she was hiding?

She, who had once been so close to her family, would never forgive him for destroying her clan.

“I’ll go.”

He answered, but even after that, Terian remained frozen on the throne for a long while.

Ever since donning the emperor’s crown, the image of Larie’s back had haunted Terian like a phantom. He remembered her face clearly, yet only the sight of her turned away lingered around him—like now, where she seemed to sit at the far end of the imperial hall, bathed in sunlight.

“……”

With an aching thirst rising inside him, Terian continued to gaze at the illusion he was allowed.

He longed to see her green eyes.

***

“Step right up, take a look! Rare goods from the Rashium Empire!”

It happened to be the season when traveling merchants visited the lower village.

Contrary to its initial impression, the village below Larie’s forest home was actually of considerable size. Nestled right at the base of the mountain, it wasn’t expansive in area, but several trade routes converged there, making it a lively crossroad.