Guinevere understood her son’s feelings. So she decided to research time delay magic. In the past, she had only cast time delay magic on Larisa’s organs, but this time she planned to cast it on the whole body to slow down aging.

It was about a month after Guinevere had locked herself up in her lab again. Siod, exhausted from single parenting, finally couldn’t take it anymore and knocked on the lab door.

Knock knock.

There was no response. Siod sighed heavily and said,

“Vera, it’s me. Can I come in?”

Opening the door and entering, he saw Guinevere sitting motionless in an armchair, staring blankly. Siod hesitated, then hurried over to her.

“Vera?”

There was no answer when he called. Siod, flustered, waved his hand in front of Guinevere’s eyes.

“Vera? Vera!”

Her focus didn’t follow his fingers. Siod finally realized that Guinevere was under the influence of magic.

“What kind of magic did you cast?”

Siod rummaged through Guinevere’s research materials carelessly. He needed to know what kind of magic it was to break it.

Of course, as a dragon, there was no magic he couldn’t break by force, but doing so might not be safe for Guinevere.

The first thing he found was Guinevere’s research notebook.

“Arendia Calendar Year 167, May 23rd, 10 AM. This is crazy.”

It was undoubtedly a record of when Guinevere had cast the magic on herself. And it was time delay magic.

After reading through the materials intently for a while, Siod let out a sigh of relief. The structure of the magic itself wasn’t too complex.

After breaking the magic by tracing the circuit in reverse order, Siod first checked Guinevere’s condition.

“Are you alright?”

Guinevere blinked for a moment, then slowly asked,

“What time is it?”

“Not what time, but what day. It’s been a week since you cast the magic.”

Guinevere stood up abruptly, then staggered. A firm hand caught her. Then came the scolding.

“How could you experiment with such magic alone without an assistant? You should have at least set up some basic safety measures.”

“I have you, don’t I?”

At that, Siod’s lips twitched. Guinevere stared at Siod, who was pleased but trying not to show it, then sighed.

“I must have used too much magical power. I had only expected the magic to last for a few hours. So today is the 30th?”

“Yes.”

Guinevere checked the clock, recorded the time and details in her notebook, then wrote ‘failure’.

“When applying time delay magic to the whole body, even the brain’s time slows down, making one like a doll. Judging from the lack of other physical symptoms, the magic was perfect, but there seems to be a temporary blood circulation issue when the magic is released.”

What should I do? Even if I apply the magic excluding the brain, the brain will still age. If we can’t prevent brain aging, we’ll just end up with young dementia patients.

Perhaps I should research how to apply time regression magic to just one person?

If we keep regressing Larisa, she would keep losing her memories, but at least we wouldn’t lose Larisa.

“Is that the only way…”

“Vera!”

Guinevere blinked as her wrist was suddenly grabbed.

“What?”

“Stop muttering to yourself and talk to me.”

“I’m busy.”

“The children are looking for you.”

Guinevere paused and looked at him.

“For me?”

“Yes. Research is good, but we should at least see each other’s faces as a family.”

“I… I need to find a way before Larisa gets older.”

Siod said frustratedly,

“Why do you always try to solve problems with magic?”

Guinevere thought blankly. How else could she solve it if not with magic?

“What if Larisa wants to grow old?”

“…”

“Let’s go out for now. If you insist, start your research after Larisa has grown up and then stop time. You made a vow, didn’t you?”

“Ah…”

She had vowed to Marina to let Larisa live happily for a long time.

“What’s the point if her childhood isn’t happy? Larisa is looking for you, so at least go out and show your face.”

Unable to resist Siod’s nagging, Guinevere left the lab. As they arrived at the reception room where the children were, she saw Larisa, who had been playing the piano, turn towards the door.

“Mother!”

Larisa ran over like a puppy meeting its owner.

“Mother, is your research finished now?”

“No.”

“Then did you come to see Larisa?”

“…Yes.”

Guinevere lifted Larisa into her arms. Larisa clung to her as if she had been waiting for this. The child’s warm body temperature spread an inexplicable sense of relief.

“Where’s William?”

“He’s sprinkling rain over the Rodante territory.”

It was Siod who answered.

“He’s starting to reclaim the wasteland in earnest. That boy is so busy every weekend that Larisa gets lonely by herself.”

Perhaps William was trying to keep his distance from Larisa in his own way. Guinevere intended to respect her son’s wishes.

“Vera, do you want to go see him too? He’d be happy.”

“He’ll manage on his own.”

But her resolve crumbled immediately at Larisa’s whisper.

“Mother, I want to see William too.”

It was a sparkling gaze that she couldn’t refuse. Thinking of the child who must have been lonely for a month, she couldn’t ignore it.

Finally, Guinevere reluctantly opened her mouth.

“…Really? Shall we go see him now?”

“Yes!”

They teleported to the wasteland together. However, the place they arrived at was not the wasteland they had known before.

A gentle breeze carried the scent of flowers. For a moment, Guinevere was speechless at the stunning landscape that moistened her dry emotions.

“Wow. Flowers!”

Purple flowers were blooming as if to fill the wasteland. It must all be thanks to William’s month-long rain.

“It’s a sea of flowers, Mother!”

Larisa jumped out of Guinevere’s arms and began running through the flower field. The laughter of the young child seemed to resonate in their hearts.

“See, isn’t it beautiful? William wanted to show this to you too.”

Siod said proudly.

Guinevere quietly crouched down and stroked the flowers growing on the cracked earth. She remembered this place before the war.

It had been a pastoral village landscape. It must have been a peaceful place. Until she erased it with her wide-range Meteor magic.

“To think flowers would bloom again.”

Guinevere muttered with a heavy heart.

“It’s just a low rainfall area, but if it rains, flowers would have kept blooming and wilting, right?”

Is that so.

Were the flowers always blooming…

“Mother?”

It was William’s voice. Guinevere slowly stood up and turned to face William.

“Hmm, you came?”

He seemed somewhat embarrassed. What would he want to hear at a time like this? Guinevere hesitated, then carefully expressed her honest impression.

“It’s beautiful.”

“What?”

William looked at her with a surprised face. Guinevere looked into the distance with a face full of regret and said,

“I thought this place was beyond hope.”

William had sprinkled rain so evenly that flowers filled the landscape in all directions. Looking at that dreamlike scenery, Guinevere said,

“Right after the war, no one dared to think of entering this land. Saying it was the witch’s land. I too thought no one would want to live in such a desolate land.”

But if it’s this beautiful…

“…Would people want to live here?”

Siod wrapped his arm around her shoulders. William approached her and said,

“Actually, there are quite a few people who want to live in our territory.”

“…”

“So, Mother.”

Guinevere turned to her son again. William was looking at her with a determined face. She swallowed hard.

‘Right, he said he had a lot he wanted to achieve in the human world.’

She felt oddly nervous. Her son was dreaming of ambitions different from hers. William would surely usher in a new era.

This one word now would surely become an important cornerstone…

“Can you give me some money?”

That belief…

“Huh?”

“Money.”

“Uh…?”

*

“You really put it all into Larisa’s dowry annuity?”

William cried out with an utterly disappointed face.

“There’s really not even a little bit for me?”

“No.”

“How could you do this?!”

Guinevere, who hadn’t expected to fight over money, closed her mouth with a blank face.

“Then what about you, Professor?”

“Me?”

“Yes. If you have any inheritance or something, can you give it to me in advance?”

“I’m a dragon… I don’t use human currency.”

“No, in fairy tales, dragons pile up treasures in their caves. Don’t you have any old gold coins or something?”

Siod said with a hurt expression,

“That seems like a bit of a stereotype.”

“What have you been doing for 5000 years?”

Siod also closed his mouth with a gloomy face.

“With the million linars I have, I’ll go bankrupt after building houses for these people.”

William sighed, showing the list in his hand.

“After building houses and registering them, we need to pay taxes too. Where do I get money for taxes? Mother, can’t we take out just a little from the money you put into Larisa’s dowry annuity?”

“It’s a state pension, so it’s impossible. There is one possible way, though…”

“What is it?”

“If you get engaged to Larisa, it would be possible.”

William gave her an insolent look. It was an expression that suggested he would have cursed if she weren’t his birth mother.

“Please don’t play dirty tricks.”

“William. Dirty tricks…”

“Professor, you stay out of this.”

Siod backed off with a yelp. A teenage son was a fearsome existence.

“Then what about the Magic Tower operation fund? It should be possible to borrow from there, right?”

“I’ve already established a foundation and entrusted its operation to someone else.”

“To whom?”

“Hedel.”

“Argh!”

That miser wouldn’t lend money. William stomped his foot in anger.

“Isn’t this too much? I’m! Still! Your only son!”

“…I’m sorry.”

Guinevere quietly apologized.

“Okay, a loan! It should be possible to borrow money in your name, right?”

“A loan?”

“Yes!”

“If you have something to use as collateral, it might be possible, but as you know, the mansion belongs to Larisa and my territory is… a wasteland.”

It was as good as a worthless object. William sighed with a disappointed face.

Larisa, who had been quiet all this time, poked her head out and said,

“Then can I borrow?”