Chapter 54

“Huh? Phoenix Rose! I really got it! It’s not a dream.”

Luciel smiled broadly and muttered with a happy face. The emeralds resonated in the air with a bell-like vibration and fell down to the floor. Having made a bunch, Luciel quickly put them in the chest of drawers and opened the door.

The three men who were still outside looked at Luciel with worried faces.

“Child!” (Louivid)

“Little one!” (Gillard)

“Luciel, are you okay?” (Kizef)

Luciel smiled bashfully and held out the Rose of the Phoenix she was holding in her hand.

“I went to the underground passage and met the real phoenix in the altar. I also got the Rose.”

“You fainted on the altar. What happened?”

“After meeting Phoenix at the altar, I woke up in my room. It felt like I was possessed by something.”

At Luciel’s words, everyone, including Gillard, were amazed in wonder. The more they saw, the more mysterious Luciel was.

“Huh……It’s a mysterious thing. Luciel, you really did it. I’m proud of you. You got the Phoenix Rose. This is truly a blessing.”

Gillard stroked Luciel’s hair and praised her, even Louivid said with a look of disbelief.

“You worked hard, Luciel. I wonder if our new daughter-in-law really fell from the sky.”

“Oh, by the way, we should hurry up and go to the West Tower. To wake up Madam Evelyn.”

“Come with me, Luciel.”

“Yes, Grandpa!”

The two hurriedly climbed the mobile portal to the west tower and arrived at the tower. Luciel, who finally faced Evelyn, said.

“I should say hello first.”

Luciel approached Evelyn and greeted her politely.

“Hello, Evelyn. My name is Luciel.”

“…….”

“I brought the Rose of the Phoenix!”

Luciel approached Evelyn, and held out the rose close enough to touch her breath. So that she could smell the scent.

This time it worked.

In an instant, a mixture of blue and purple mana filled up like a misty energy around the Rose in her hand. Her heart was pounding again.

“……What is this?”

As Luciel turned to Gillard, he said.

“It’s Evelyn’s Dragon Mana.”

Soon after this, Evelyn slowly lifted her eyelids and soon opened her eyes. She had blue eyes that sparkled beautifully like the deep sea. It was so beautiful that the viewer seemed to be sucked into another world.

“Oh!”

“Evelyn!”

She really woke up. Luciel was startled, and Gillard walked up to Evelyn. Blinking her eyes, she looked around for a while before she found the faces of Luciel and Gillard. She smiled. It was an elegant smile like a goddess. It was as if the lights had been turned on.

“Thanks for waking me up, sweetheart. Honey, can you help me get up?”

“Oh, right away!”

Gillard, who was only looking at her in surprise, approached to give support.

“I’ve been sleeping for three years, and my whole body feels stiff.”

Still drowsy, she stretched and turned her back while yawning. Gillard’s expression turned into a tearful face.

“I thought I would never see you again. I can’t believe we are able to meet so soon….Evelyn, I’ve always wanted to see you.”

“I missed you too, Gillard.”

A couple facing each other hugged. After the deep hug, Evelyn met Luciel’s eyes.

“……I’m glad you woke up.” (Luciel)

“Honey, thanks to this child you woke up.”(Grandpa)

Gillard told me about Luciel’s activities and what she had done in the past.

“That’s right, thank you very much. I thought that maybe I would never get to see Gillard again…….Thank you very much, sweetheart.”

She was genuinely happy and emotional to help the two meet again, but Luciel almost fainted from holding back her emotions. More than anything else, she was glad that Evelyn, another Bellstein, was not a scary person.

Evelyn approached Luciel. She was also slender and tall, making a perfect match for Grandpa Gillard.

Beautiful blue eyes intently looked at Luciel.

“…You’re really a small and cute child. What is your name?”

“My name is Luciel. Madam Evelyn.”

“Oh, you are that Luciel. Thank you. You are a very special child, noticing the dragon mana I put in my bookmark, meeting the phoenix, and even getting precious and rare flowers.”

“Ah……”

“Usually, it’s not something people can feel or notice. But I don’t think you’re a dragon…….”

Luciel couldn’t open her mouth because it was difficult to answer that question. Fortunately, she didn’t ask any more.

Gillard also said he was proud of Luciel.

“Evelyn, our Luciel has pure and strong mana.”

Evelyn closed her eyes for a moment, felt the flow of Luciel’s mana, then shook her head. All of a sudden, the dragon mana that had wandered around Luciel dispersed into the atmosphere and disappeared. Albeit invisible to the eyes, the mana could still be felt.

It seemed that Evelyn reached the same conclusion.

“It really is. You have clear and pure mana, Luciel. My strength isn’t stable, so I can’t control my sleep phase at will. Thank you so much for waking me up. It was something no one could have done.”

“Ah…….I’m happy to help. It’s nice to meet you like this.”

Luciel couldn’t understand everything, but she sincerely thought it was good to be helpful to her.

“So am I. I never dreamed I would have such a lovely granddaughter-in-law.”

Evelyn welcomed Luciel and hugged her tightly saying she was happy to meet. It was a soft, warm embrace. Luciel was stunned and when the hug was over, she asked.

“By the way……if you’ve been sleeping all this time, how did you know about me?”

As Evelyn glanced at Gillard, she smiled.

“Every time he stopped by, he told me about you. My hearing works well even when I’m sleeping.”

The more she heard, the more she was amazed. She had only vaguely heard that a dragon was the most powerful creature on the planet, so to Luciel it was hard to believe that the woman in front of her was a dragon.

Holding out the butterfly bookmark she had brought with her, Luciel said.

“Madam Evelyn, I brought this back.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Evelyn’s gaze, glanced over the bookmark and also reached the book Luciel had brought.

“Madam, will I be able to see you again from now on?”

“Of course. Since you woke me up, I will now leave the West Tower and go to the Duke’s Castle.”

Evelyn smiled brightly. The three moved together to the castle side by side. After returning, she greeted her grandsons, the Duke, and servants of the Bellstein family.

Meanwhile, Kizef decided to go back to the academy after taking a good rest. He debated with the Duke whether to quit the academy the whole time, but in the end, it seemed that they had agreed to finish it by this month. It was a bit disappointing, but Luciel will be able to see him again soon.

Ellington, who handled the academy matters, brought a box along with Bell, the owl. Kizef gave it to Luciel.

“A farewell gift. See you next month.”

“Yes. Goodbye.”

The yellow box he handed over contained sweet and fluffy strawberry flavored cotton candy. Luciel couldn’t come to her senses at the sweetness that melted in her mouth.

It was too sweet to be a parting gift.

A grand dinner was held that evening to commemorate the return of the Elder Madam.

A lot has changed since Evelyn went to sleep. Eva and other servants of the castle seemed to be doing things more delicately and meticulously, and they were all busy decorating Luciel’s room and the castle.

Grandpa Gillard became a perfect lover and spent all his spare time walking and boating with Evelyn all day. Leoni was even fuller of life because of his grandmother, who took care of him.

The only thing that didn’t change was the Duke.

Although he was dealing with his mother, whom he had not seen in a long time, he did not show any signs of delight, as if he had just met her yesterday.

‘Well, he really did have that kind of personality. But somehow…….’

Luciel, sitting and drinking milk tea between Evelyn and Gillard, who read poetry to each other, suddenly remembered what had happened with the Duke yesterday.

He visited Luciel’s room for the first time in a long time, he asked her while looking at her desk.

“Aren’t you writing letters these days?”

“A letter? I write it sometimes.”

Luciel smiled as she pointed to her little Owl, but he didn’t smile.

“……Was it stolen?”

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

Having said that, the Duke glanced at the white rose Maid Rose had placed on Luciel’s desk and asked.

“What does a white rose mean?”

“……Oh, it means respect.”

Then the Duke silently took in the scent of the white rose.

“If you would like…….”

Before Luciel could finish speaking, the Duke took the white rose as it was.

Now that I think about it, I think he was sad because I hadn’t sent any flowers or letters written in flower language for the past few days. I was only writing to Kizef, so I didn’t send it to anyone else.

‘If I look at my father-in-law’s personality, he’s not very affectionate and sometimes it’s even confusing.’

Luciel drank a sip of milk tea, which was still warm, while hanging on to the mysterious question. As she was alone in thought, Evelyn handed the child a homemade cookie and said.

“My sweetheart, Luciel. Why don’t you go shopping with this grandmother tomorrow? It’s Family Day.”

“Okay, Grandma.”

She was not still familiar with the name Grandma. Above all, Evelyn was so elegant and beautiful that it was a bit embarrassing to call her grandmother. However, calling her grandmother made Evelyn look much brighter in joy.

‘Family Day. There were days like that.’

It was a small holiday that Luciel didn’t even know existed. Since the only person who she considered “family” was her dead sister, for Luciel, the existence of family was like a “sock” which she had never had in her previous life.

Just like Luciel was always barefoot without a sock to cover her sore feet, there was no family in her life to warm her heart.

‘Do I have a family now?’