Doted Villainess

Chapter 191 – Reading in the forest archives

Thirteenth arc – Eleventh chapter

“That smells good…!” One fairy exclaimed.

“Everything over there are sweets, right? I want to eat them!” Another fairy said.

The excited forest fairies were peeking at Tiararose’s store, the Fairy Dust Sweets, from outside the window.

They usually don’t like appearing in front of anyone other than Tiararose, but the sweets inside the store were really attractive to them.

“I have a good idea!” One of the fairies suddenly shouted.

“What is it!? What is it!?” Another one asked.

“Tell us!” A third fairy said.

The first fairy giggled, “If we want to eat sweets, then we should just ask Tiara to make them for us!”

The other fairies were taken aback by the sudden proposal for a second, but then… “That’s right!” they all exclaimed that in unison.

******

While the forest fairies were planning on asking Tiararose to make sweets, Tiararose, Aquasteed and Liliarge had gone to Keith’s castle.

Their purpose was to try figuring out how to create a new fairy, as not even Liliarge knew how to do it.

They tried asking Grail about it first, but he too had no ideas, so they decided to read the archives within Keith’s castle to see if they could find something.

“A new fairy, huh?” Keith wondered out loud while looking at the books of his own archives, “Is it even possible for one to be born?”

Tiararose became worried after hearing those words. If even the Fairy King doesn’t know about it, then the chances of his library having the information they needed were slim.

“It’s alright! I’m sure we’ll find at least a clue here!” Liliarge exclaimed.

“… That’s right. Let’s do our best to find it!” Tiararose was re-energized by Liliarge’s words, so the two of them started reading any book their eyes landed on.

While watching over Tiararose and the others, Keith got closer to Aquasteed and asked, “Is she alright?”

“Yeah. Her memory of the incident is vague, but we told her everything about it.” Aquasteed replied.

Keith was worried about the time when Tiararose became a giant cat after losing the ring of the Starry Sky.

Right now she was wearing the ring though, and she was also wearing gloves on her hands, so as to not need to worry about someone taking it off from her hands again.

“Mmmmm… I guess that’s fine, though really, a new fairy… That’s quite the idea alright.” Keith muttered.

“Well, we’re still fumbling around right now, but we decided to bet on any possibility that we can think of.

“After all, the option of giving Tiara’s power away to her children was lost on the moment we realized her children already had a strong magical power.” Aquasteed replied.

“I suppose so.” Keith chucked for a bit after that, but then his expression turned serious again, “Though do understand that I have witnessed the birth of fairies many times, and all of them were forest fairies without exception, so there should be no way to give birth to a new fairy through mutation. Otherwise I’d have surely seen several mutated ones by now.”

“I’ve never seen a different type of fairy either…” Aquasteed muttered.

He thought that if he had at least seen one unusual fairy, then the possibility would be more realistic, but he never saw any that diverged from the norm.

“There is also another important thing to think about.” Keith said.

“What is it?” Aquasteed asked.

“Who will be the new Fairy King?” Keith replied.

Aquasteed’s eyes went wide for a second, but then he realized Keith’s statement made sense. If a new kind of fairy would be born, then it’s only natural that a new Fairy King would also be necessary.

However, there was another problem that needed to be solved before even that, “How does one even become a Fairy King though?” Aquasteed asked. He realized that there were way too many things that they did not understand about fairies.

But when faced with Aquasteed’s question, Keith could only scratch his head, “I’m not quite sure either, I mean… I was already born as a Fairy King, so I’m a special fairy of sorts.”

“That’s interesting…” Aquasteed muttered.

He started wondering if a new Fairy King would naturally be born if a new kind of fairy was created.

But then, Aquasteed remembered another thing, “What about Pearl? Wasn’t she the third generation of Sea Fairy Queens?”

“She is. On the case of sea fairies, the most powerful fairy ends up becoming the queen and receives the name of Pearl.” Keith explained.

“I see…” Aquasteed muttered.

So, essentially, a fairy could either be born a King, or become one due to specific circumstances.

“Though I wonder what kind of fairy would be born-” Aquasteed started saying.

“Meow (Ah).” Tiararose suddenly meowned.

“Tiara?” Aquasteed said.

After hearing the cute meow from behind him, Aquasteed turned around and saw that Tiararose had become a cat again.

“Meeeoow (I’m sorry, Aqua).” Tiararose said.

“It’s alright, come here.” Aquasteed picked up Tiararose and started scratching her chin.

“M-meeow.” Tiararose said.

She felt quite good right now, so her expression changed to that of a smirk.

At that time, Tiararose thought, ‘I came here to learn about fairies, not to be pampered!’ but she was also feeling too comfortable at Aquasteed’s hands, so she couldn’t help purring.

“Meeow! (I can’t even maintain a neutral expression like this!)” Tiararose said.

“Hmm?” Aquasteed said.

Even if she tried making a serious expression, Tiararose couldn’t do it in these circumstances. Her face was also bright red, though it wasn’t easily visible, since she was a cat right now.

“Would you look at that. Let me touch her too.” Keith started stroking Tiararose’s head.

“Meow!” She said as he tickled her forehead with his fingertips.

But then, Aquasteed’s hand immediately stopped Keith’s hand, “Too much touch.” Aquasteed said.

“What’s up with that? She’s really small right now, so this much should be fine.” Keith replied.

“Too much.” Aquasteed stated again.

And then, sparks were flying between Aquasteed and Keith again. Tiararose could only smile wryly at that.

She used to get worried when they had this kind of exchange, but she was used to it by now.

However, she wished that they wouldn’t have this kind of ‘staring context’ while still holding her.

And while Tiararose thought about that, Liliarge, who had been reading a book, suddenly jumped up, “There it is!”

“Eh!?” Tiararose, who was surprised by Liliarge’s voice, suddenly turned back to human form.

“Whoa!” Aquasteed, who was hugging the cat Tiararose, was now holding her in a princess carry, which made her become even redder than she already was.

“L-let me down, Aqua!” Tiararose exclaimed.

“You’re gong down already? Too bad.” Aquasteed chuckled, then lowered Tiararose to the ground.

“L-lady Lilia, did you really find it!?” Once she was on the ground, Tiararose asked that.

“I didn’t expect her to find something…” Keith muttered.

“Yes! This should be it!” Liliarge replied.

While Tiararose ran closer to Liliarge, Keith just peeked at them with interest. Even though the book she found was within his archives, Keith seemed to have completely forgotten about it.

So, he picked up the book and read the title, “… Sprouts of Happiness? Is this the book that explains how fairies are born?”

The book was actually a picture book.

It showed a girl that lived in a dry land and had very little to eat.

She cried a lot, as she was always starving and each day was painful.

And the same was true for the girl’s family. The girl wished that her younger sister, younger brother, father and mother could all eat to their hearts’ content.

That was what the girl thought of.

One of the few pleasures the girl had in her life, was watering the small sprouts that were able to grow in that rough land. She had to draw water from a distant river to let the sprouts grow bigger.

And then, one day, the girl noticed a mysterious power within her.

She wanted vegetables to grow and for the land to become fruitful… When she made such a wish, the precious sprouts that she had always taken care of ended up becoming Forest Fairies.

The Forest Fairies gave blessings to the earth, growing plants and creating a rich land.

The girl was then able to get plenty of food, and her whole family lived happily ever after.

“Happily ever after, huh? How should I say it… Isn’t this a pretty ordinary story?” Keith commented.

He was a bit shocked at it. If this was how fairies were born, then that would also mean…

“So this is the secret of Keith’s birth…” Tiararose muttered.

Though she wasn’t sure if it was really a secret.

But at the same time, Tiararose looked at Keith and wondered how come he didn’t remember it… Perhaps it was because he just didn’t seem to care much about himself.

“Oh, right, this place was a terrible wasteland back when I was born! I still remember how hard it was to make it become an actual forest!” Keith suddenly exclaimed.

“You actually forgot about it…?” Liliarge muttered.

“Lady Lilia…” Tiararose could only avert her eyes from Liliarge, who made such a blunt comment.

“Well, let’s not worry about the details of Keith’s birth. What’s important is that the girl had a mysterious power that gave birth to fairies.

“I think it’s possible to assume that her power was actually magical power.” Aquasteed said.

“I agree!” Liliarge nodded, “If fairies are born just like this picture books says, then it should be possible to make a fairy for as long as one has magical powers, right?”

“I don’t think there are any problems on the having magic aspect, since the power of the Starry Sky is tremendous.” Tiararose commented.

So the problem is on what should the fairy be born from.

Keith came from the forest, Grail from the sky, and Pearl from the sea.

It’s easy to imagine what would have served as the mediator that led to their birth, and they are also all important and indispensable to people’s lives.

“So… A fairy would be born out of something that is important to me?” Tiararose mused.

“I guess so. You can probably just try pouring your magic onto your target, and if it goes well, a new life will start dwelling on it and be born as a fairy, but… I’m sure it will be impossible with half-hearted feelings or little magic.” Keith replied.

If all you needed was to pour magical power on the things you love, then this world would be full of fairies. Tiararose understood that, so she nodded at Keith’s words.

Everyone then started thinking on what would be the proper vessel for the new fairies…

There are fairies for the forest, the sky and the sea… And now, the next ones should be…

Tiararose fairies, Aquasteed decided.

The Tiararose flowers were the national treasure of Marineforest, and they now bloom everywhere across the country.

So, he suggested it, “How about the Tiararose flower? A fairy could be born out of the flower, as it is a natural object, just like what gave birth to the other fairies.”

“That’s a good idea! Those flowers are really beautiful!” Liliarge exclaimed.

“I guess you should try pouring your magic on your flowers then.” Keith told Tiararose.

Tiararose nodded at those words. She thought that a fairy born from her flower would be extremely cute.

The national flower of Marineforest, the Tiararose flower… A large pink flower born out of Tiararose’s magical power. It had a cute pink color, sweet petals, and high-quality sugar could be derived from the flower itself, making it a very Tiararose-like flower.

It was perfect for making sweets and was also incredibly pretty. It was definitely a well-loved flower.

At first they had only been grown on the gardens of the royal castle, but now they could be seen all over Marineforest.

Tiararose got excited about it. She was looking forward to meeting a new type of fairy.

Of course, she was mainly doing it for her magical power problem, but her heart was still pounding with excitement.