Chapter 44: Chapter 44

I was pretty shaken up at what I just saw that I was silent for a moment. The goosebumps at the back of my neck and on my arms didn’t go away even as I tried to rub them.

Fical has the chalice and we accused the wrong person.

“Come out now, little one. I think he’s gone.” I flinched as Ingka started to speak. At first, I thought that he was speaking to someone else, but then I saw through the gaps of where I was hiding that he was looking right at me. I stood up and shamefully looked at the ground. I don’t even know what I was supposed to say to him.

I gulped as I slowly lifted my head and found the old man sitting peacefully on the ground with his back pressed against the wall. His hands were tied in front of him. We were separated by a bunch of bamboos that were being used as bars of a cage. There wasn’t a torch on his side of the cave, but I was able to see that he was giving me a warm smile despite everything.

“H-Hello, mowtal. It is I, goddess-”

“I know who you are, your highness.” He whispered loud enough that only I was able to hear it. My mouth paused in mid sentence as I gaped at him. A question formed in my lips, but before I could even ask, the middle aged man in front of me answered, “The nymphs informed me a few weeks before that you would be arriving. I did not realize that it was you at first, but when I saw you drinking from the chalice and was not affected by it, I immediately knew that it had to be you.” I didn’t answer him, but I closed my mouth and stared at him dubiously.

I don’t even know what to say. I don’t want to confirm his claims and I think denying it would somehow make me seem defensive. Instead, I said, “I want to know how to wetuwn back to nowmal.”

Ingka cocked his head to the side as he seemed to notice my current form at the moment. “Have you drunk the water inside a glass tube?”

“That sh*t fell on me.”

He opened his mouth in a silent ‘ahh’ with a slow nod. “My guess was right. That formula that dropped on your head is a diluted solution of the legendary fountain of youth. It does not exist anymore, but I am trying to recreate it in hopes that it’s magic property can somehow reverse the curse on us all, just like it is reversing the age in our body.” He says. Then looking back at me, he corrected himself. “Was actually.”

“Sowy.” I said shamefully as I just figured that I ruined some valuable research.

“It is alright. I already stopped long before you arrived.” He admitted and shifted his sitting position so that he was a bit closer to the cage.

“Do you know how to tuwn me back to nowmal?” I asked again with a hint of a pleading tone. “I pwomise to talk to the chwief latew to let you go. And I am sowwy fow doubting you.” I said the last part with regretfully because I really do feel bad and stupid. I should have known that not all television logic applies in real life.

Ingka raised his palm up to stop me from further speaking. “It is quite alright, your highness.” He says. I searched his face and found that there was no hatred in there. But I found a hint of gratitude in them. “I am just glad that Jalu and Cain are safe. Somehow, I do feel like I am also at fault here so I guess I deserve being locked up as well.”

Oh great. Even though he told me not to worry about it, I still worry! To think that I accused such a selfless old man of attempted murder is really making me feel like sh*t.

And speaking of sh*t. Fical really is a piece of sh*t. He stabbed his father and had the guts to cry in front of me. Pleaded me to help his father. What a psycho.

“As for your current situation, your highness. I believe that you will return to normal in just a few hours since the solution is diluted.”

Hesitantly, I walked closer to the cage and stopped just a few feet in front of him. “What do you mean it is also youw fault? And what is youw niece twying to accomplish by stealing the chalice?” I demanded.

“I-...I told him what I know of the chalice even when his father warned me that he was not ready.” A frown was forming on his forehead as he looked at the ground. “I told him more than his father knew. A knowledge that a certain knight once told me. That this village was once a civilization living at the surface alongside with spirits. Kind of like yours, your highness. The chalice is an old item entrusted to your family in order to return the magic of a certain person or being.”

One sentence that he just said caught my attention. “Did you just say wetuwn!?”

“Yes.” He says. “With the right incantation and with a blessing of a royal’s blood, we may return to how we once were. Upon your arrival, my niece got too excited at the arrival of the goddess. He thought that maybe you would be able to purify or bypass the laws and restore our magic.” He let out a heavy sigh. “I told him not to get greedy and have his hopes up because we were placed here for a reason. Whether it was to wait for you or to simply keep the chalice safe. At the night of your feast...Fical tried to talk to you privately but your friends somehow blocked him. He must have been so desperate and thrilled about the idea of having magic that an evil spirit somehow feasted upon his greed.”

“So wight now, he’s aftew me too.” I mumbled.

“Unfortunately, that is the case.”

‘Master? Master!’ Custard’s urgent voice inside my head suddenly snapped my attention away from Ingka.

‘What is it?’

‘The princes found out that I was carrying a fake. Now they are harassing people and demanding where you are. They’re scary.’ He whimpered and briefly sent me images of the princes calling out to me. Ace kicking invading other people’s property to search their homes, Ren sniffing people to find my scent, and Nate...well what do you expect? He would briefly call my name and pause to flirt with a pretty villager from time to time.

The connection was broken and I was back in the prison cave with Ingka. I gave him an apologetic look. He must have sensed what I was about to say because he just nodded.

“Go if you must, you highness. But be careful of my niece. He may seem evil to you now, but he really is a nice boy. He’s just simply driven by greed that the spirit is feeding him.” He says and even offers me a smile.

I really felt bad. How could I have suspected such a nice man like him?

I gave him my most sincere look as I said, “I pwomise to get you out.” And then I left the cave. The guards were still outside, but they were distracted with the screaming princes running around and demanding where I am. I started running towards PRINCE Ace, because he was the worst of them all. He kept screaming at yelling at people to let him inside their house to search for me.

Honestly, is this guy obsessed with little girls? I will have to watch over Nora whenever I get the chance.

I was briefly lost in my thoughts and the thought of coming after PRINCE Ace that I did not notice that some blocked my path. I am really proud to say that I was able to stop just in time so I wouldn’t collide with the rude person standing in front of me.

“Hey! Who do you think you-” I started to scold the guy and bit my tongue to stop myself from screaming. Fical was standing right in front of me with a casual look on his face and the same look of admiration that he always directed towards me.

“Goddess, I have been looking all over for you. Are you hiding from your friends?” His voice was polite, but I couldn’t help but remember the dark and echoing voice that I heard from him while we were back in the cave.

“W-what I do is none of youw business!” I yelled loudly to look a bit intimidating, but failed miserably as I took a step back.

Fical finds the gesture amusing as he chuckled. “Apologies for laughing. You’re just so adorable. Where have you been hiding that the others couldn’t find you?” He asked and as he looked up to follow the path where I had been, his laughter died. I balled my fist to my sides and gulped as Fical returned his gaze to me with an unreadable expression. I desperately called for Custard through our link and felt him panic a bit when he sensed my distress.

Fical had an unreadable expression on his face when he spoke. “You-” He started to say, but didn’t get to finish when a certain PRINCE rudely pushed him aside so that he was the one in front of me.

“Where have you been?!” He demanded and carried me into his arms. “Why are you shaking?” He asked, but there was a hint of softness in his voice. I was too surprised to speak that I couldn’t give him a proper answer. He looked back at Fical with a dead glare. “I will kill you if you did anything to her.”

My body started to ache all over and I feel like I was getting dizzy all of a sudden that I went limp and rested my head on Ace’s shoulder. He looked back at me. “Hey, what’s wrong with you?” He shifted me in his arms so that I would look at him. His brow creased with worry that I almost wanted to puke at the unnatural sight of it.

“What’s wrong with her?” I looked back and saw Ren and Nate coming over to us. Ren tried to snatch me away from Ace, but Ace gave him a warning glare that made him draw his hands back.

“I don’t know. But I saw her talking to that guy over there because she became like this.” Ace gestured towards Fical, who was now on his feet as he studied me.

My body began to shake and Ace drew me close as if he thought I was cold. He looked at the princes. “Dump some water on her. She’s cold. Quickly. If anything happens to this child then I will kill EVERYONE!”

A vein popped in my head at his absurd suggestion that I suddenly found the strength to lean back to glare at him. “LISTEN HERE YOU-!” As soon as I yelled, my vision momentarily blurred and I felt like my heartbeat paused as I felt my body changing.

Soon, I was staring at Ace and he was staring at me while still carrying a full grown me. There was a loud bark in the background and I soon felt my familiar calling out to me.

‘MASTER, I AM COMING!” He screamed in my mind. The princes and I looked back and saw Custard viciously running towards us that he tripped on his front paws. He rolled and tumbled on the ground until he came towards Ace and I, which made the three of us fall on the floor with a loud crash.

I groaned and gritted my teeth at my current position. Right now, I was sandwiched between my overgrown wolf and a very displeased elf prince, who seemed like he wants to murder both me and my familiar.

Somehow, I wished that I was a kid again.