บท 16: "That...Is A Cat, Right?"
"Are you sure about this decision, Julia? So that you know, I don't have enough money to pay you for your wage since I spent my money on what I can do to support myself here. I barely have enough money for myself even," Elaina is trying to discourage her loyal made to revoke her decision.
"Don't worry about it, Master. You are not obligated to do that even if you don't pay me. If not for you, I wouldn't know what my future holds. Something unfortunate would've happened to me if I hadn't met you on that faithful day. So even if I pay with my whole life repaying it without a wage, that is not enough to pay for all of the good things that you have done for me," Julia expresses her dedication to Elaina, that her service is not something so materialistic that she needed money for it."
Elaina has known Julia since she cared for her since she was still a young kid. Julia is very much stubborn in her decisions so even if anyone tries to persuade her, as long as she is staying on that path, then no one can stop her from doing so. Of course, it only happens in certain conditions and that happens if Elaina is involved in this matter.
"Master. I know you are hiding from the Emperor but I swear he didn't hire me to find or tail you. If you don't want to go back to the castle, I won't force you. Just please, let me stay here with you. Don't worry, I will take care of you especially since you are pregnant. According to the books, pregnant women shouldn't be left alone, especially in the late stages of pregnancy. With my help, you will be much safer and I can respond to you if you need help."
Elaina sighed. Julia has a point and with her staying, Elaina will not be too worried about who will look for her farm temporarily if she is unable to work now. Not only that but she will be a tremendous help as well. And with her company, she won't get lonely all by herself in the future.
"If that is the case, then carry your luggage to the room. This house has only one room at the moment but the bed is big enough so we can share it."
"Ooh, sleeping together in the same bed as Master, ooh, how I longed for this feeling..." Julia giggled.
Elaina can only shake her head but she didn't stop the young girl from being like that. Besides, the two of them shared the same bed a few times before so this is nothing new for Elaina.
With Julia unpacking her bags, Elaina continued her sorting process got interrupted when Julia arrived so that she could ship all the items she needed to put in the shipping bin.
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...
...
The evening finally came and both Elaina and Julia were outside, cooking the meat of the Hybrid Direwolf into a stew.
"Wow, with a farm this big, it only needed work and love to make this place flourish!" Julia is marveling at Elaina's farmland as she controls the intensity of the fire under the pot of stew.
"Yep. It was a pretty lucky stroke of luck that there is a farm like this. It was something I didn't expect but it was like it was built for me in the first place.
"Guess your dream to own a farm and live a slow life is going to be a coming true now."
"You still remember that random rambling of mine?" Elaina chuckled after hearing Julia about it.
"How could I not remember it? It was one of the things that I keep remembering that I thought you would buy a farm after you became an empress. I was surprised you didn't fulfill that dream of yours back then."
"Eh, too busy to be honest and there are more business that the emperor is handling that he is so bad at doing so that I have to take over just so it won't collapse or anything. Speaking of the emperor, how is the situation back in the castle? I left the castle without them knowing so I am pretty sure that the situation is pretty much on fire already."
"You are right about that, Master. The emperor has made all of the workers and soldiers do double time to find you. However, due to how good you are at erasing your traces, they have a lot of trouble tracing you back. You even eliminated any items that you previously owned so that your husband couldn't follow you or even track you down. If not for how close we are, I wouldn't even know how to find you either. Thankfully, I know you pretty well, and using my knowledge of magic, I easily got to where you are on the first try."
Elaina is still wondering how Julia seemed to be able to use a high-rank magic but since she doesn't have much idea about it, she decided that it's not worth asking. She can ask later about it but for now, she wanted to at least know the situation back in the castle.
"How is Alfred right now? You said you submitted your resignation papers right? That must mean you meet him in person."
"Yes. He looks so haggard right now and he looks like he hasn't slept for days. He is also looking so tired as well that I kinda pity him. Oh, and it seems the news that you are pregnant is also brought to light as well, Master."
"He already knows? Did he call the doctor and talk to her about it?"
"I don't know if the news I received was the right thing but according to the info, the doctor herself came to let the emperor know about the state of your pregnancy which was a big reveal even for him. And I don't know if it was real but according to the rumors, you are carrying twins. Is that true?"
"Yes. That was true. It is also a good thing that I left the kingdom as well or else, the church would definitely chase me down and condemn me and my babies about this matter."
"A good decision, Master. Anyways, where are we by the way Master? I didn't recognize where we are and it seems to be far from the kingdom."
"We are currently in the Darcero Kingdom. It is a far neighbor of Luminiera Kingdom but it was the only place that Alfred wouldn't think of me going due to how far it was and he also knew that Darcero Kingdom is a place I don't have any properties owned so he also won't think of this place as a place I will be retreating into."
Elaina opened the lid of the pot and saw the stew was almost ready. The smell of the fresh ingredients and the meat is wafting around and the two are already salivating from the smell of it alone.
"Enough talk, let's eat!"
Julia nodded and happily handed her bowl to Elaina while anticipating the stew's flavor. The two didn't notice the approaching creature behind them who swiftly jumped in between them and caught the bowl that was currently in Elaina's hands full of stew.
"Wha?" Elaina was shocked when the bowl of stew was gone while Julia stood up and ready her magic spell, that is already aiming at the snatcher.
"Stew thief! That is mine!" Julia is angry and is ready to fire her magic if not for Elaina's intervention.
"Stop Julia. Don't fire. It's fine."
Elaina turned to the creature that snatched the bowl which is now currently eating the contents within it. It was clear as day for Elaina but she wasn't expecting to see a creature like that before her. It was clear that the creature before her was the cat that took shelter inside the broken doghouse but after seeing its full form, Elaina was not sure if she could call it a cat anymore.
After all, it might look like a cat but it has a few body features that cats clearly don't have like wings and horns. But for this creature that looks like a cat, it has all of those that are mentioned and it even has two tails behind it as well wagging happily as it consumes the stew with happiness.
"Master...That... that is a cat, right?" Julia was also a bit confused as she looked at the creature before them.
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