Already, Shasha was staring at the cake in the box with sparkling eyes. As soon as she received it, she opened the lid, revealing a truly beautiful cake. On the white sheet, yellow cream was embroidered like flowers.

“It looks delicious.”

“Why does that look delicious? The palace food must be much better.”

Saliva was already dripping from Shasha’s mouth. Reldero, who had been making a slightly displeased face since Melkin appeared, also kept stealing glances at the seemingly delicious cake.

“Stop talking like that and let’s share it. Go to the mat and play. If you’re just sitting there, Melodin will come and cut it for you.”

“Yeah! Unnie!”

“Well, saying that, I’ll specially follow along.”

Shasha and Reldero spoke consecutively. Melkin just followed along with Shasha, and naturally, Sehelus took a seat on the opposite side of the empty tea table.

“Melodin, go and cut it. Prepare cake and something to drink for the children, and here, prepare tea and cake.”

“Yes.”

Even though Melodin was a person in the star palace, he seemed quite unresponsive. Despite hearing that I would become the Empress under the decree, he didn’t seem particularly pleased.

To the extent that it felt unpleasant.

‘Maybe there’s someone behind Melodin after all.’

Since the last time Melodin spoke, I thought there might be an emperor behind Melodin, but it seems unlikely.

‘Who could it be? Someone who conveys stories known only to the emperor and me, someone who dislikes me becoming empress.’

Is it the one the emperor loves? Behind Melodin, the mother of Reldero, who is hiding her appearance, might be the mastermind.

Thinking simply, it was her, and thinking complicatedly, no one came to mind.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh.”

Looking at Melodin moving away, lost in thought, I quickly shifted my gaze to Sehelus at his call.

“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”

“No, not really. By the way, Sehelus, I thought you might not come by now, but you came.”

“Did you wait for me?”

“A little.”

“For a moment, my heart fluttered.”

He smiled at my words as if he felt good.

“Is that so?”

“It’s a pleasant thing to say. Isabella hoped that I would wait for her.”

Then he moved his hands gracefully. As he did, a bouquet of flowers appeared from nowhere.

“What’s this…”
“The decree came down that you will become the Empress Mama. So, is this a congratulatory… gift?”

While mentioning it’s a congratulatory gift, his expression seemed somewhat lonely.

“It’s a congratulatory gift, right?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t seem to be celebrating much.”

“Now I feel like I’m becoming someone who cannot be overlooked.”

In response to his smoothly delivered words, I found myself smiling involuntarily.

He truly has a way with words.

But there seemed to be sincerity in his words. Perhaps feeling a bit embarrassed, I glanced him up and down.

“Now you’re not wearing clothes like on the first day?”

“Oh! Yes. I don’t particularly like going around pretending to be a wizard.”

“Then why did you come like that on the first day?”

“It was our first meeting, so I wanted to at least look like a wizard. Not just any wizard but one who appears quite competent. Did it work?”

I nodded slowly. Smiling like a child, yet entering like a man, he seemed to be in a good mood.

However, looking at his cheerful smile, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad.

“Why do you see me like that? My heart doesn’t seem to remain intact today.”

“I’ve investigated you to some extent.”

Then, Melodin arrived at that miraculous timing with cake and tea. Afterward, he headed towards the mat where the kids were playing.

The kids, who were sitting and playing on the mat, immediately grabbed forks and started devouring the cake like a pack of little lions as soon as it appeared.

While watching those kids, I poured tea from the teapot and offered it to him.

Only then did Sehelus open his mouth again.

“So, if you got to know me, did your feelings about me change a bit?”

“Was that the purpose of investigating me? Investigating me… for that reason?”

I looked at him and couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Maybe a bit of both? Isabella, I hoped you would show some interest in me.”

“Ah…”

Unable to say anything, he looked at me, and seeing his reaction, he grinned.

“So, did you find out something?”

“I just brought the answer to the question of how you could vote on the matter of the Mastopju. Since only that wouldn’t be enough, I delved a bit deeper into our conversation.”

“Did you find out?”

Looking at him, who seemed pleasantly amused, I smiled widely.

“Is it sincere?”

There was a bit of doubt. What he initially asked me to find out was how he could vote at the Mastopju meeting.

But that alone was not enough. Asking for a wish was too embarrassing and felt like an easy and inappropriate answer.

Just saying to live a long life wasn’t enough.

“I’m not sure.”

Looking at him dragging the end of his sentence, I realized that the answer he wanted was not that.

“Seems like you wanted to hear the conclusion.”

“What did you find out about me?”

“Helion. That your name is Helion and you were the disciple of a wizard named Rediak, who revealed his appearance 300 years ago. That you were ruthlessly exploited by him as he researched eternal life… I couldn’t find out how you survived all these years to become the person you are now. I wonder if the last disciples of Rediak really knew about eternal life…”

“How was the fake eternal life created?”

Continuing like he was checking homework, he kept talking.

“Well…”