Chapter 33

I reported to Hakim and Chana that I had given the silk cloth to the prince.

"Hmm. The queen..."

"I'm sorry for not consulting you, Hakim and Chana. But once I knew she was suffering, I couldn't just ignore it, even if she is the queen."

Even if she is the queen, such a way of speaking is quite disrespectful.

"That's fine. It's Alesia's power, after all. If Alesia wants to help, that's fine."

"Considering the queen's position, if she's in such bad shape, it must be something that can't be cured by medicine, right?"

Hakim and Chana said that. But Isabelle looked worried.

"There might be an investigation, you know."

"Isabelle, the prince has been coming here for a long time, but he kept it a secret from everyone until the end. I think the prince won't betray us. No, I want to believe that."

"If that's the case, that's good. But the story of eating lunch here and using that silk cloth are quite different in scale, so I'm worried."

"Isabelle, we've been eating with the prince for a long time. He's a very nice young man. I think we can trust him. If the prince breaks his promise and tries to do something to Alesia, then we'll have to accept that we misjudged him. We can run away again. We've already prepared enough money for that."

"Yeah, I have too. Thanks to Alesia, our income has increased significantly. We have enough savings to escape secretly and do other jobs for a while. We can survive even without being farmers."

Father and Uncle Nathan were thinking the same thing. I also thought the prince probably wouldn't betray us. It's a dangerous bet, but I wanted to help the queen.

I believe that my happiness in this life, after committing grave sins in my previous life, is a sign from God that I should live this life without making the wrong choices.

I didn't think that 'only helping someone when my safety is fully secured' was the right choice.

For a few days, everyone was on edge, but nothing came from the government. I politely declined the prince's letter expressing his gratitude. Nothing happened after that. It seems the prince kept his promise to me.

Chana has been weaving the silk cloth ever since. Thanks to handling the silk threads and cloth every day, Chana is as healthy as a different person. She was happy when we compared heights yesterday.

"I've caught up to Alesia's height!"

Chana, who used to be small, has grown rapidly and is now almost the same size as me.

"I think this place is heaven," Chana says. I wish she wouldn't call it heaven because it makes me laughless in many ways.

"Alesia, can I cut the silk cloth today?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Isabelle has been cutting the finished silk cloth into various lengths and taking it out little by little for three years. We don't know who Isabelle is giving the silk cloth to. We only receive reports on how it was used and how it helped people with different symptoms.

"It's for your own good. If you don't know, you don't have to hide anything if questioned by officials. You all seem too kind to tell a good lie."

Indeed, none of us are good at lying.

One evening during dinner, Isabelle shared the results of the investigation.

"I've been telling people to report back the results if they use the cloth again. We've gathered a lot of information over three years about how many times it can be used and how effective it is. I've recorded everything."

"Hakim, what does that mean?"

Hakim leaned in to listen.

"This silk cloth seems to be effective for almost any illness or injury, but it has its limits. It can be used repeatedly for minor injuries or illnesses like broken bones, high fevers, cuts, and common colds, but it loses its effect after one use for serious illnesses or injuries."

Father nodded. I understood too.

"It can be used several times for minor injuries or illnesses, but it loses its power after one use for serious illnesses or injuries, right?"

"That's right."

"Isabelle, I'll keep weaving the cloth. Leave the weaving to me!"

"Chana, do your best. I'm counting on you. There are many homes I need to visit."

"I want to investigate the effects of the eggs too."

When I said that, Ethan said in a pitiful voice, "What? You're giving away eggs for free too?"

"We're shipping the eggs to the places we have contracts with, so that's not possible. We'll have to think about it more carefully."

When Father said that, Ethan looked relieved.

Yeah. Let's think about it more carefully. We still have a lot of time. Probably.