Chaos.

Afterward, His Majesty stepped in on the Prince’s behalf, explaining the situation. Sitting across from Rylee, separated by the table, the Prince finally calmed down.

When Rylee’s name was mentioned, Gadiel’s eyes widened in surprise. In the meantime, His Majesty had ordered the guard to bring over chairs.

The guard began arranging three chairs at a slight distance from the table, but Lovell waved them off with a “Two will do.”

“Elen’s on my lap…”

Lovell smiled, reaching to lift Elen up—only for Elen to slap his hand away with a sharp “Tap!”

“Father, let go already.”

Elen marched over to her chair on her own, though it was a bit too tall. She hopped a little, floated down gently. At moments like this, she really, truly thought—*good thing I’m a spirit.*

Elen noticed the guard beside her fighting hard not to laugh, her peripheral vision catching the poor man’s strained expression, but she ignored it, puffing out her chest with feigned dignity. Behind the chair stood Kai and Van, too.

Lovell stared at Elen, dazed, after being clapped on the shoulder. Sauvel, watching from the side, let out a long, exasperated sigh.

"Seriously, you should treat Elen like a lady by now. You’ll end up making her hate you like this."

Sauvel said that, then sat down on the chair. Only then did Lovell snap back to reality and shriek.

"What the hell are you doing, cozying up right next to Elen?!"

Sauvel, seated in the middle of the three chairs, had casually claimed the spot right next to Elen, who was sitting at the far right.

Seemed to be trying to keep Lovell at arm’s length out of concern for Elen, but Lovell quickly thought on his feet, grabbed the spare chair placed to the side, moved it to Elen’s side, and sat down.

Elen and the others stared, utterly baffled by the举动.

"Lovell... you haven’t stopped clinging to your childish ways, have you? Elen’s not a child anymore, you know."

Lovell answered with a huff, unimpressed by the king’s words.

It's not that I can't. I just choose not to.

She declared it with confidence, crossed her legs, and gave Elen a playful smile.

Elen’s face was all wrinkles, like she was trying to say “get lost” without words.

Watching the scene in silence, Rüül stared, and the King let out a sigh, introducing Lovell with, “This is our hero.”

"Hero Lovell...?"

"Yeah. Just a parent who can't let go, plain and simple."

It's my daughter's fault—she's just too cute.

“Cut the blame-shifting. It’s annoying.”

A sharp, unrelenting jab from the Queen and Elen, but Lovell, delighted to have Elen’s attention, melted into a sweet, “Sorry, sorry,” grin.

“Let’s move on, then. You said you were brought here by a spirit. Where’s that spirit now?”

The Queen turned back to Rüel, smiling.

Rüel straightened up, and began to explain.

“I tried asking Lore to bring me here, but she said she didn’t have enough strength to fly this far… so I ended up asking the Great Spirit. But when I thought I’d arrived in an instant—there was a huge noise, and Lore and the others were gone. The sound brought the soldiers….”

“Caused a commotion, then.”

“Yes… I’m so sorry.”

“A noise… Van, do you know where the Great Spirit who brought them here is?”

“Please wait a moment.”

Van answered Lovell’s question and closed his eyes. After a moment, he replied, “It’s Lord Hoze. He’s at the Spirit Castle.” They seemed to be communicating telepathically with one another.

They said that when we brought those spirits over to the castle, two other spirits were repelled. Since the spirits passed out right after, they’ve been resting in the castle ever since.

"Pushed away?"

Sauvel’s question seemed to spark a memory in Lovell, who let out a soft “Shimatta.”

"...Father?"

"Ugh... Spirits, stay back... put up a barrier..."

Lovell quickly looked away, drawing everyone else’s attention to her.

Elen asked, "Barrier?" and Lovell let out a sigh.

"Set up a barrier so the spirits wouldn’t accidentally get near any royal family members. Nothing to worry about with great spirits, but weaker ones… they can’t resist and just get swallowed by curses… that’s the problem."

Elen nodded, understanding dawning as Lovell scratched her head.

There were spirit mages and their bonded spirits living in the castle. The mage towers were placed at the far edge of the castle, so the royal family wouldn’t come too close.

Still, those fickle spirits wandered around unpredictably. If a royal was near, they’d sense the curse and flee—but accidents happen. That’s why Lovell had personally cast barriers around each royal’s room and even around the royals themselves.

The great spirit had transferred to a location near the king’s chamber. That’s probably why it rebounded.

"Are the Lores okay?!"

When she heard the spirit had been knocked unconscious and fainted, Ryle couldn’t stay calm.

She scrambled up from the sofa, only to be stopped by a guard as she tried to rush toward Lovell.

“Trying to break into the castle just to get to her…?”

Van tilted his head, listening to the words.

Apparently, once the spirits who’d been knocked out regained consciousness, they’d gone wild—worried about Ryle, left behind in the castle.

“Feels kinda like watching someone else’s drama, doesn’t it?”

Sauvel’s comment made the men around Elen quickly look away. Guess they’d realized it too.

“Should we tighten the royal barrier? Van, can you summon the spirits here?”

“Let’s inform Lord Hoze.”

Before the conversation ended, a massive spirit suddenly appeared in midair—and casually tossed Lore and Tets into the air.

“Waaahh!?!”

Tets’s scream echoed through the room, and every guard present instinctively gripped their sword hilts.

Even after being tossed into the air, Lore twisted mid-flight and landed with a soft *shut*, like a feather settling.

“Lyr! You okay!?”

Lore, the black cat, called out, and the surrounding crowd murmured, startled—realizing she was a cat.

“Lore! Is Tets alright!?”

Lyr smiled in relief—just as Lore, eyes locked on Lyr, bristled up in an instant.

“Cursed one!!”

Lyr flinched, startled by Lore’s snarl and bared fangs.

“Cut it out already. Seriously…”

Hose grabbed Lore by the back of her neck. She dangled, flailing, momentarily frozen—what the hell was going on?—before shrieking, “Let go!!” and kicking wildly. Tets, meanwhile, was surrounded by guards, completely trapped.

Red lines traced faintly across Hōze’s face and hands. Probably from Lore’s scratches.

Hōze glanced at Rūru, then tossed Lore toward him with a flick. Rūru hastily caught the squirming Lore, who yowled in panic.

“Freaked out over you. Honestly…”

Letting out a weary sigh, Hōze turned toward Elen and the others.

Their eyes met. Elen gave a small, cheerful smile.

“Hōze, you did it.”

“Oh, Your Highness. You’re here after all.”

Hōze gently stepped before Elen, bowing slightly. Then, as if remembering something, he raised his scratched hand.

“Your Highness… could you do it?”

“Huh?”

“No joke.”

He held out the hand marked by Lore’s claws.

Elen chuckled wryly, taking it.

“Ow, ow, ow—get it away, get it away!”

Elen said that, and poured her strength into Hozé’s wounded cells.

The wound softly glowed, then vanished.

“Oh! The pain’s really gone!”

The scratch had been a dull throb, and Hozé was delighted.

Pain disappears when healed, sure—but since spirits have never tried anything like this before, they sometimes get playful and beg Elen to do it again.

It all started when Raffilia, after getting a wound during training, had Elen heal it—and Van and the others found that hilarious, and it caught on.

Elen’s power had been slowly expanding since awakening her goddess-given abilities: from elements, to electrons, now even cells.

Still far from life’s Reven or healing’s Creen, but small wounds? She could just energize the cells with her power and make them heal right up.

Elen’s surroundings watched the exchange with a fond smile, as if it were perfectly normal—but the King, the Prince, and Lüür were stunned into silence.

But this whole thing was embarrassingly awkward. Elen noticed the way everyone was looking at her and flushed crimson.

“Healed a wound… a spirit…? I mean… really…?”

Only now did Lüür—completely unaware of Elen and the others—finally speak up.

Elen realized, with sudden clarity, that she and the others would have to explain themselves from here on out.