MCFATTKM

51

The carriage came to a stop as it entered the main street of the capital. The wagons in the front, which were at the outskirts of the capital, arrived separately to drop Lelia.

Getting off the wagon, Lelia picked her light luggage.

"Will the travel expenses be enough? It must be difficult to stay with you because you are busy with work."

"No, uncle, thank you so much for taking me here. I'll see you at the estate later."

"Well, we'll talk later then. Take care of yourself."

"Yes, I'll be careful."

Her uncle was in a hurry, so he dropped off Lelia. He set off straight to where his wagon was waiting.

Lelia looked around her with a puzzled expression. The capital had changed considerably over the past nine years.

"......."

It felt strange to think that she had once been left alone in the middle of the capital. She felt scared yet confident for some reason. Her grandfather tried to send servants and knights with her, but Lelia refused. It would have interfered with her plan. When she said it was because of the ingredients of the alchemy pills, her grandfather reluctantly agreed and understood her situation.

The capital city was quite noisy.

News had come out that the warriors of the five empires would soon return from defeating the Light Dragon.

Everyone seemed busy preparing for the festival.

The faces of merchants, customers, commoners and aristocrats were all bright and hopeful.

Feeling somehow alienated, Lelia sank under the hood of her robe.

***

She decided to unpack at the luxury inn where nobles and merchants stayed.

She was relieved because there were guards to protect her.

In fact, her uncle and her aunt said they could not leave Lelia alone, no matter what she thought, and they tried to follow her, but they were too busy to leave the place easily.

Above all, Duke Superion had agreed upon letting Lelia go alone. He wanted them to believe in the special abilities Lelia had with her. Duke Superion believed that Lelia had some sort of mystical powers beyond her alchemy powers. Not to mention, Lelia had made a lot of alchemy pills in just one night. Even in the secret alchemy room that the Duke had made for Lelia, there were not many traces of her research. Once again, he brought an alchemist he knew.

[T/N: I think it refers to the alchemy powers Elizabeth had. Like mother, like daughter.]

He was always there to help Lelia with anything. However, Lelia did not converse much about her alchemy. Duke Superion must have noticed something roughly through the process. However, he did not pry upon Lelia's matters much. It was just that Lelia resembled her mother in many ways and must have inherited her magical powers. So he had no worries about letting Lelia go alone.

He even ordered that she would return with her uncle Carius, who would stop by the capital. Lelia knew the trust her grandfather had on her.

[And he never asked me where I spent all the money I earned....]

[I'm sure he must be curious about it, though...]

Over the past few years, Lelia has earned a lot of money. She sold pills that worked the best, and had no side effects. Thanks to this, their credibility was quite high among his acquaintances. She gave a share of the earned money to her grandfather's acquaintance, who helped her with the distribution and she took care of the rest of the money. Her grandfather watched her, but he didn't ask how Lelia handled her money.