Chapter 438. Dolshi’s Drawing (1)
Translator: Aura / Editor: Tiny Zebra
“Why are you coming in here like this?”
I asked coldly to hide how embarrassed I was after he caught me smelling the book.
“Aren’t you working? You know you don’t have time to play these games.”
Heinley, still in Queen form, pretended to laugh by shaking his wings, then he closed the curtains with his beak, and returned to his human form.
“I came here because I want to show you something. Besides, there’s a matter we need to talk about.”
“What is it?”
“You have to come with me to see.”
Heinley walked over to the window and grabbed the curtains with a wide smile.
“I’ll wait for you outside. Will you join me, My Queen?”
Once I nodded, Heinley turned into a bird again, opened the curtains with his beak, and flew through the window. He hovered by the window, flapping his large wings as he stared at me, as if to urge me to hurry. What could it be? I couldn’t guess, but I went outside and circled the building to meet Queen.
He was flying in circles while he waited. When he saw me, he signaled for me to follow and flew off somewhere.
I followed him down a narrow path behind the palace. After a while, the path opened up to a flat area.
This area showed signs of former glory, but now only the old columns that once supported an ancient building remained.
‘Why did he bring me here?’
Although I’m open-minded, I didn’t understand why he brought me to see some ruins. As I looked around in bewilderment, Queen flew to the top of one of the columns.
I stared at it, wondering what I was looking at…
“Is it… is it a nest?”
It looked like a nest made of intertwined branches. As if he had heard my murmur, Queen nodded and perched on the nest. From the distance, I thought I saw a smile spread across his face.
‘It can’t be. Did you bring me all the way here just to show off your nest?’
I couldn’t even see the nest properly from the ground. All I could see was the jewels encrusted in the column, surrounding the nest.
Queen flew into the bushes nearby. After a while, Heinley emerged in his human form, wearing clothes.
“It’s a nest for our baby, My Queen.”
“…”
“What do you think? Do you like it?”
Heinley’s smile shined with pride, so I couldn’t ask whether he had lost his mind.
However, I had to find a way to make him understand that I didn’t like it.
“Isn’t it too… high?”
I didn’t like it at all! Does he want our baby to sleep on some twigs?!
“It’s normal. Babies belonging to our tribe love high places, My Queen. The bravest babies throw tantrums and demand to have their nests built in the highest places.”
“If our baby falls—”
“It will fly.”
“… If the baby falls from up there, it will die. Even birds can’t fly when they are babies.”
“The birds in our tribe learn to fly earlier than normal birds, My Queen. They learn to fly before they even learn to talk, so you don’t have to worry.”
How can he ask me not to worry when he built a nest for our baby in such a tall column? It’s absurd!
So should I accept that our baby will sleep in such a place? I didn’t want that. Not only would my baby sleep in a dangerously high place, but despite the pretty jewels, did Heinley seriously think that my baby could sleep on a bunch of dirty twigs?
But if I get angry, he might think that I don’t care about his tribe’s customs.
As I pondered, Heinley’s proud expression faded and his mood became serious.
“My Queen. There’s another matter requiring a serious discussion.”
“I think this also requires a serious discussion!”
“Do you think we should add more jewels?”
“The problem is not the decorations…”
It’s how high it is! It’s too high!
I had a headache. Thanks to this, the discomfort I felt about my confrontation with Sovieshu disappeared.
I sighed, sat down on a rock, and asked.
“What is it that we must discuss?”
‘I doubt that any matter he wants to discuss would be as serious as the matter of the nest.’
“It’s related to the phenomenon of mana decline.”
The matter was more serious than I expected.
Heinley had avoided this topic as much as possible, even after I discovered his involvement. He admitted that he was responsible, but that was all he said. I didn’t ask any more questions either.
It was the first time he brought it up on his own, so I naturally became nervous.
“What happened?”
“My Queen, as you know, I didn’t cause the phenomenon. All I did was speed it up a little.”
I don’t think he sped it up just a ‘little’.
“I know.”
However, I just nodded. I decided to let his excuse slide. It no longer matters whether he sped it up a little or a lot.
“Mana stones are used to cause mana decline. As soon as I gave up on the war, I began to retrieve all the mana stones that were easy to obtain with the help of my tribe and the Underground Knights.”
“I see.”
“But not all the mana stones have been recovered. It’s impossible to do this in just a few days, as they have been hidden in many places, and it took years to place them all.”
“I see…”
“Emperor Sovieshu seems to have deduced that the mana stones have something to do with this phenomenon ever since the incident of the mana necklace. He has temporarily prohibited the use of mana stones in his country and at the Magical Academy.”
“How serious is it?”
“Since he has suspicions, he has continued the investigation into mana stones. The scholars from the Academy are cooperating.”
The situation was not good. I had unconsciously clasped my hands, so Heinley raised his eyebrows and placed a hand over mine.
“You don’t have to worry so much, My Queen.”
“But if you get caught…”
“That’s the reason I am telling you now, My Queen.”
“Huh?”