Eat Together

"Lelitia, may I know the reason why you and the others are so kind to me? I mean, I'm a human like the people who have been attacking Audoran Forest, right?"

Lelitia's body stiffened for a moment when she heard Kenneth's question. The elf's eyes stared at Kenneth with a deep gaze. Lelitia looked like she was having trouble answering that simple question. But after a moment, the elf closed her eyes and answered the question with another question.

"Kenneth, do you believe in fate?"

Kenneth didn't like fate. But as long as Kenneth was alive, he knew that there were some things that were bound to happen no matter how hard he tried to prevent them. Kenneth finally nodded. To him, fate was something that was born when humans were born into the world.

"Are you saying that your kindness and the others are part of fate?" Kenneth asked again. This time, Lelitia nodded. What she said now was part of the truth she had been hiding from Kenneth.

When Lelitia opened her eyes again, the elf stared at her reflection with a complicated expression. The elf scooped up water with both hands, then used it to wet his face and remove the wrinkles between his eyebrows.

"You can think of the encounters and whatever you experience as part of fate. I, you, and everyone else are just acting according to their respective roles. There's nothing special, so you don't need to think too much about it."

After saying that, Lelitia got up from her sitting position to end her bath. The elf was silent for a moment when she could see Kenneth's ears getting redder, while the man suddenly became stiffer as Lelitia started to get out of the hot spring. Lelitia ignored Kenneth's nervousness and started to put her clothes back on. Only when she was done did Lelitia finally walk in front of Kenneth to see how the man had closed his eyes since Lelitia got out of the hot spring.

Although Lelitia usually didn't have any feelings for humans for hundreds of years, Kenneth's strange reaction unknowingly made a thin smile form on the beautiful elf's face. It felt like it had been a long time since Lelitia had met a human with such a pure aura as Kenneth. The longer Lelitia looked at Kenneth, the more she felt she understood why she had decided not to kill Kenneth until the very end.

"I'll go back first. Enjoy your time here, Kenneth."

"Ah, okay!"

Kenneth answered quickly but still did not open his eyes until Lelitia finally stepped away. Only when Kenneth was sure that Lelitia had truly left did he finally open his eyes again. Kenneth was slightly pensive as he recalled his conversation with Lelitia. "Fate, huh..." he said in a low voice.

***

Although Lelitia should have returned via the same route as Kenneth, Kenneth did not hear Fay or Gaia say anything about Lelitia, so he assumed that the elf had left without the other two fairies knowing. Just like usual, Kenneth ate with Fay and Gaia before he finally retired for the night.

"Kenneth! Come on, get up! Kegan and Gaia will punish you again if you are late to the training grounds!"

The next day, Kenneth was still asleep when Fay came to wake him up as usual. Fay had also brought Kenneth breakfast, so Kenneth only had to clean himself up and eat breakfast with her after he woke up. The two were ready to start breakfast when Kenneth suddenly stopped. Since Kenneth had met Lelitia, the prince suddenly became curious about where the other elves had gone.

"Fay."

"Hm?"

"Can I know where the other elves went? I've been living here for over a month. But until now, I haven't met any other elves besides Lelitia."

Fay, who had been about to eat an apple, struggled to let go of her hold on the apple when she heard Kenneth's question. Fay's face turned sad, making Kenneth start to wonder if he had just asked something he shouldn't have asked.

"Ah, haven't I told you yet, Kenneth? Lelitia... she's the only elf left in the Audoran Forest. Since hundreds of years ago, no more elves have been born from the Tree of Life. The number of elves has also continued to dwindle due to human attacks on the Audoran Forest. Because of that, now only Lelitia remains in this place."

"Eh?"

The Audoran Forest was so vast that all this time, Kenneth thought that he had just not met any other elves. But thinking that Lelitia was the last elf made Kenneth's heart throb in pain. For hundreds of years... Lelitia had probably been guarding the Audoran Forest as the last elf living in that place.

"To be honest, everyone thought that the Audoran Forest would be over once the Tree of Life no longer gave birth to new elves in this forest. But Lelitia always tried to convince us that she would live for thousands of years. Before the Audoran Forest had a guardian as strong as her, she would not die and leave us all."

The more Kenneth heard, the more complicated his feelings for Lelitia became. The prince stared at the food in front of him before he made another decision.

"Fay, is Lelitia always at home when she doesn't need to fix the damage in Audoran Forest?"

"Yes, that's true," Fay answered innocently. Kenneth nodded confidently. The prince got up from his sitting position and then looked for a basket that could be used to carry the fruits he had to take with him.

"Kenneth, where are you going?"

"Isn't it obvious? Let's take Lelitia to breakfast together, Fay. She must be lonely having to live alone all this time."

"But..."

Kenneth didn't notice Fau's hesitation as he focused on putting all the food into the food basket he found. Fay also fell silent because she had to weigh everything carefully. However, once the wind fairy was finally sure of her decision, she immediately flew in front of Kenneth to stop the prince's intention.

"As I thought, we can't, Kenneth!"

"Why, Fay?" Kenneth asked, dissatisfied. Even he who lived with his mother and Uri often felt lonely when he was living in his large palace. Now, how could he ignore Lelitia's condition when he already knew the truth?

Lelitia was not someone who deserved to live in loneliness after what she had done for the Audoran Forest. At least, Kenneth was sure of that.

"Although Lelitia was always kind to us, she forbade us from visiting her unless it was for urgent matters. Everyone who lived in the Audoran Forest knew how Lelitia disliked it when someone interfered with her private life. That was why... even though I knew that she would be lonely living alone... I never dared to visit her if she didn't ask me to."

"Well, I don't know yet how she'll scold me if I'm the one who interrupts her private time. Don't worry, Fay. I'll make sure that Lelitia doesn't get stuck in solitude anymore."

After Kenneth talked to Lelitia yesterday, he felt that Lelitia was a very kind elf. Although Fay had tried to remind him that Lelitia would be very angry if he came suddenly, Kenneth felt that even if he had to be punished, the punishment given by Lelitia wouldn't be as severe as others had thought so far.

"Do you want to come, Fay?"

Fay looked at Kenneth, who was already standing at the exit, then finally resigned herself to flying towards the prince. Fay tried to push away the memory of Lelitia's cold face when Fay tried what Kenneth did in the past. The wind fairy tried to convince herself that Kenneth might be right. After all this time, Lelitia might have started to feel lonely and no longer rejected their sudden arrival.

"Don't say that I didn't warn you, Kenneth!"

Although Fay finally chose to sit on Kenneth's shoulder, she still gave Kenneth a warning one last time. Kenneth just smiled when he heard Fay's words. "Alright. I promise to bear Lelitia's anger if she doesn't like our visit," the prince promised.