13. Summer Memories

...

The pirate, wolf, and fairy fell silent and thought. Each of them pondered what the guardian of the wind forest said.

"I once felt hungry and thirsty when I was stranded on the beach for a month without having anything to eat..." thought the pirate.

"I once starved because I couldn't hunt..." thought the wolf.

"I once didn't eat during the winter because I couldn't fly to find food supplies before winter came..." thought the fairy.

While contemplating their respective fates. They finally looked at each other and talked.

The wolf spoke first.

"I'll give that little piece of bread to my fairy friend because my good wolf friend once did the same thing to me..."

"No. I'll just give my piece of bread to the pirates because humans don't have the strength of endurance like fairies... "

"How could I eat that bread?. I will give it to the wolf because he needs more strength to take us out of the cave. He is the only one who has sharp senses to find the exit from the cave..." said the pirate .

"No. I can't eat bread and only eat meat, so I'll give it back to the pirates..."

"I also can't bear a fairy who is smaller than me, so I'll just give her a piece of bread..."

"How could I eat while you good people have to starve for my sake?"

And in the end no one ate that little piece of bread.

The three of them fell silent and fell back into contemplation. Not only do they have the same fate, but apparently they have the same thoughts and hearts so that in general Indirectly, the three of them became close and developed a brotherly relationship.

"Okay. It's enough. You have answered honestly and you all have concern for each other. That reason is enough. You can pass through this forest..." said the guardian of the wind forest to the three of them.

Pirates, wolves, and fairies finally passed through the wind forest easily and arrived at the great wizard's place, but when they met the great wizard they were surprised because it was the great wizard who great is a flawed figure!.

The great wizard is blind, he can only use one ear, his mouth cannot speak, however-

"My Young Lady, you are here. Your father is looking for you. Let's go back inside..." said Vio who suddenly came over to us so His Majesty Yvone stopped telling the story for a moment.

"Oh. It seems your father thinks I kidnapped you, Young Lady..." said His Highness Yvone. He joked with his dazzling smile.

"Sorry to bother your time, Your Highness Yvone, but I have to take the Young Lady inside..." said Vio to His Highness Yvone.

"Of course. I also want to say goodbye. I have a lot of business tonight at the palace..." said His Highness Yvone.

When I arrived inside, Daddy immediately carried me and looked at His Highness Yvone with a cold gaze, but I don't think daddy was too angry. Dad's cold gaze at His Highness Yvone tonight showing a little warmth.

"Duke Leonhart, this party was quite enjoyable but it's a shame that I have to leave soon. Thank you for inviting me..."

"Yes. Thank you for attending this small party, Your Highness Yvone..."

"Okay, Young Lady, I must go now. Next time I will bring the story book for you so you will know the continuation of the story, okay?. See you later," said His Majesty Yvone.

After His Majesty Yvone went to go back, not long after, everyone slowly said their goodbyes because it was getting late and the party was ending.

"Ah!. That was so fun!" I muttered. I was so happy that I didn't want to sleep. Actually, I'm a little afraid that all these fun things turn out to be just dreams that have never happened in my life after I open my eyes after waking up.

I fell silent on the bed. My room was dark and there was only light from the full moon that filtered through the gaps in the curtains and closed windows.

For a moment, I thought about what happened earlier. About a merry party. New friends. Then the story of the great wizard is interesting.

"I seem to have heard a story similar to the story of the great wizard in my previous life, but I no longer remember the complete story... I only remember that the story of the great wizard in my previous life had a slightly unpleasant ending because it turned out that the great wizard was evil. Not a kind wizard like the great wizards in stories in this world..."

***

Duke Leonhart's office.

Leonhart sat in his desk chair and looked at several letters from people he met today at Cellia's party.

Leonhart read several letters which were about business or royal and totem matters.

"Earl Gareen and Earl Edgar's totem contract is about to expire, right?, and there is a request for totem taming for little Princess Vallois and little Princess Dominique..." muttered Leonhart. He then thought about Cellia and remembered something.

"Soon, Cellia will also have to enter into a contract and have her own protective totem..." thought Leonhart. He started to think and was about to write a letter to Duke Carrion.

Knock!. Knock!.

"Come in"

"Excuse me, my lord. Your Highness Yvone left this for you before going back..." said Vincent. He handed over a letter envelope sealed with His Highness Yvone's seal.

"Your Highness Yvone?"

Leonhart's hand stopped writing and immediately unsealed the letter from His Highness Yvone and began reading it seriously because the contents of the message there also involved something valuable to him.

"My lord. Are you okay?. Your face looks pale..." said Vincent. He knew that Duke Leonhart had not rested all day because he was taking care of Cellia's party, plus his health condition had not completely recovered after dealing with Earl Lucca's out-of-control totem last week, so Vincent was worried.

Leonhart ignored Vincent's question. Instead, he preferred to continue writing the letter to Duke Carrion and then hand it to Vincent.

"Give it to Duke Carrion tonight and prepare the horses for tomorrow morning's journey to His Highness Yvone's castle."

"Yes, my lord..." Vincent went out, but before leaving he went back in. He was still worried about his Master's condition.

"My lord, should I call a doctor to check your condition?. Your face is really pale. If you have business tomorrow morning, you should have an examination and rest tonight..." said Vincent.

"Hm. Alright. Call him to come ..."

"Yes, my lord. Excuse me"

After Vincent came out, Leonhart read the letter from His Highness Yvone once again. More precisely, he read over and over a paragraph of the message which made him have mixed feelings.

      I've been feeling the presence of dragons lately. I thought you could come and talk about this. King Yevonia is still waiting for his totem and I think you will also get a clue about your wife, Lady Aliciaa.

"Aliciaa... I will definitely find you and save you. Please hold on a little longer. Wait for me..." muttered Leonhart. He was sad when he remembered an incident that didn't seem like long ago because at that time Cellia was only two years old.

A year has passed since the black dragon kidnapped Lady Aliciaa and Cellia lives without her mother's presence.

"My Dear Cellia, Daddy will definitely find mommy. Daddy will also not marry anyone. Daddy only loves you..." whispered Leonhart to Cellia who was already sleeping. When Cellia fell ill, Leonhart realized that he had been stupid by accepting Lady Helia's marriage proposal.

"At that time my mind was very confused, so I only thought about Cellia's fate, but I was selfish and didn't think about Cellia's feelings so I fell for Lady Helia's seduction, which I think took advantage of my guilt over her husband's death..." Leonhart thought. He looked at his daughter's face which was very similar to him.

"Why don't you look like your mommy honey? Oh no. I think she inherited Aliciaa's traits while her face is more similar to mine..."

Leonhart stroked the head of the daughter of his love for Aliciaa. He recalled a little of his meeting with Aliciaa when he was still studying at the magic academy.

"If at that time my sister Freya hadn't brought Aliciaa home during summer vacation, I will definitely never meet Aliciaa and Cellia will never exist in this world..."

Eleven years ago.

At the Leonhart Family Manor.

A man with a mane of silvery, back-length hair was swinging his sword without caring about the hot air and sun or the sweat that soaked his exposed upper body and showed off his perfect muscles. It was quite a hot and hot scene in summer.

"Where is the bathroom?" said a beautiful young woman with long wavy fair hair.

The young woman seemed to be looking for the bathroom, but her two amber beads accidentally caught the figure of a man in the yard who was busy with his sword. For a moment, her stared at the man and thought

"Why is he swinging a sword at this time of day?. It's summer. Is he crazy?"

While the young woman was busy thinking about the crazy man who was training during the summer day, the man who was called crazy suddenly stopped swinging his sword so the young woman started thinking again in surprise.

"Oh?. Has he finished practicing?" the young woman muttered. She also thought that the crazy man seemed to have realized that he was crazy and started to stop practicing his sword, but everything was not as the young woman thought.

"Why is he walking backwards like that?" the young woman muttered. He then slowly approached and continued to get closer to confirm something that was bothering him.

And this time the young woman's feelings came true. The mad man stopped swinging his sword not because he was aware of his own madness, but because he was starting to lose consciousness from swinging the sword in the hot summer afternoon.

The crazy man now started to stagger and walked towards the shade of a shady tree like a drunk man.

Bruk!.

The two of them fell together. The young woman ran when she realized that the crazy man from the Leonhart residence had a heat stroke, so now she was able to catch the crazy man's large body which had collapsed due to the heat.