Chapter 10

Inside the barrier, it was neither hot nor cold, always maintained at a comfortable temperature.

In that barrier, Alm was sleeping soundly.

"Hey! Hey!"

"...Huh?"

Pulled from her comfortable sleep, Alm opened her eyes.

"What are you sleeping for! Bring me some food!"

Looking up, she saw the residents of the slum who came every day shouting at her. Alm rubbed her eyes and tilted her head.

(These people come several times a day, but don't they have jobs to go to?)

It was understandable if they were hungry, but she wondered why they kept coming back with more than enough crops every day.

"Hey! Hurry up!"

Shouted at loudly, Alm frowned. Being forced to produce crops multiple times a day felt a bit off. She didn't have any obligation to feed them. She had given them food because they were in need, but why did they keep demanding more when she had already given them more than enough?

"Hey, didn't you take a lot just a while ago?"

"Shut up, just grow more trees!"

"...Actually, using my power makes me tired too. I can't produce a large amount of crops multiple times a day."

In fact, because people kept coming to take crops one after another, she didn't even have time to relax and have a cup of tea. However, when the gathered residents heard Alm's words, they started to curse her harshly.

"Just move your hands a little!"

"Don't be so stingy!"

The barrier prevented them from entering, but if it weren't there, they would have trampled the fields.

(I don't like this...)

Alm felt uncomfortable with the residents' attitude.

At that moment, a particularly ornate carriage came rushing in and scattered the residents gathered around the barrier.

"Oh! Holy Alm! I never thought you would be in such a place!"

The one who got off the carriage with a dramatic flourish was a prince with a beauty that was almost blinding.

(Huh? Who is he?)

Alm didn't recognize the prince's face. To be precise, she didn't have the time to remember it.

"Poor thing... I heard you were expelled from the Great Cathedral. Really, the priests of the Great Cathedral should be punished for expelling a Holy One. Come, Holy Alm. Let's go together. Don't worry, I won't let anything bad happen to you again. I will protect you."

Prince Wendel, the first prince, extended his hand to Alm with a beautiful smile. It was the kind of smile that would make most women blush, but it didn't resonate with Alm at all. No, only the words "Great Cathedral" and "go together" rang clearly in her mind.

Rumble...

"What, what is this!?"

Suddenly, the ground shook violently, and Wendel let out a cry of shock. A giant tree root emerged from the ground and enveloped Wendel's body.

"Ugh... What is this!?"

The tree root lifted Wendel into the air and continued to wrap around him.

"Stop, stop it!!"

As the tree roots entangled and formed a wall around him, Wendel struggled in fear. However, the tree roots didn't budge and formed a cocoon-like shape around him.

"Ahh... L-let me out!! I am the first prince!!"

A large number of leaves fell on Wendel's body, covering everything but his face.

"Aaaaah!!"

A tree root struck Wendel's body over the leaves.

Puff puff.

"Ughhhh!!"

Puff puff.

"Stop it!!"

Puff puff. The tree root continued to strike Wendel's chest in a steady rhythm.

"Huff huff...?"

Exhausted from struggling, Wendel suddenly realized something.

Since the beginning, the tree roots had only restrained him and hadn't tried to hurt him.

No, rather—

"Warm...?"

Wrapped in a bed of tree trunks and a blanket of leaves, and gently patted on the chest in a lulling rhythm, Wendel felt a strange sense of security.

Wendel had no memory of being embraced by his mother. His mother, who became the second queen, was the most beautiful woman in the kingdom. She was forcibly taken by the king because of her beauty, and she didn't love the king, nor did she feel love for the king's children.

Wendel, who had only met his mother a few times since he was old enough to understand, resented her. He also hated his father, who had made his mother unhappy. Perhaps because of this, he hated the women who were attracted to his inherited beauty as much as he hated his father. He resented the women who flaunted their beauty and overlapped them with his mother. His revenge was to play with and discard these women with a fake smile.

His not-so-beautiful, high-born, and headstrong fiancée scolded him for his debauchery, but nothing she said resonated with him.

However, now, enveloped in the warmth of the tree, his mind became hazy, and a nostalgic memory seemed to resurface.

Yes, it was when Wendel was still a child, hoping for his mother's love.

Feverish and feeling lonely, he cried for his mother. His nursemaid, who had put him to bed and stayed by his side, patted his chest gently from over the blanket.

The same gentle sensation.

(Ah, that's right...)

Wendel realized.

His true wish before his heart was clouded by resentment and hatred.

(I just wanted someone to be by my side...)

Wendel closed his eyes with a sense of peace, as if his heart had been cleansed.

That day, in the royal palace of the Holy Chastel Kingdom, there was a commotion as a giant tree root had attacked from nowhere.

However, the tree root, without hurting anyone, gently placed the first prince, who was sleeping peacefully in a wooden cradle, on the ground and quietly returned to where it came from.