Chapter 143

Jun-sang looked on sternly as the Queen, who couldn’t say a word and was frozen in place, slowly descended onto the table and collapsed. The Queen, with a dazed expression, sat blankly and muttered, “I’m… a pet…?”

Then, she looked at Mong-mong and the Elemental Dragon, who were busily eating their share of food on the table, and then at the necklace around Henes’s neck, who was looking at her with a worried expression. The Queen easily recognized that the leather necklace around her neck was the same one Jun-sang had put on her.

“Could it be… that this was what it meant?”

Realizing this, she quickly reached out to take off the necklace. Of course, it was a futile attempt. The Queen, who had struggled for a while trying to take off the necklace, realized anew that this was not a simple necklace.

“This can’t be… how could this happen?”

In the Fairy Realm, perhaps if she had been wearing her circlet, there might have been a chance, but in her current state, the Queen had to admit that there was no way to take off this leather necklace.

Jun-sang quietly watched her as he drank his coffee. He opened his mouth again only after all her attempts had failed and she had stopped, seemingly resigned.

“Are you done?”

“…”

The Queen bit her lip and glared at Jun-sang. “What… are you going to do to me?”

Of course, Jun-sang was not the kind of person to even flinch at such a glare.

“That depends on you.”

“What do you mean…”

“It means it’s up to you whether you live comfortably as a pet and eventually return, or if this is the last time you’ll ever see the outside world.”

“…”

The Queen’s face contorted in a flash. “A-are you saying… you’re going to seal me away like this?”

Jun-sang smirked at her serious expression. “Does it matter? You called a thousand years of sleep ‘nothing.’ You can just think of this as a slightly longer nap.”

“…”

The Queen was speechless once again. In fact, it was not her intention to sleep for a thousand years; it was just something that had happened. The words about Jun-sang being irresponsible had just blurted out because she had been frustrated with her own situation. But being put to sleep and being sealed away with all her senses erased and being forgotten were completely different matters.

“I, I just…”

The Queen tried to say something again, but Jun-sang cut her off firmly as she stammered.

“First, we need to change your title.”

“What?”

“I am your master. And you, at the moment, are just an annoying pet to have around.”

“What?”

The Queen flared up and tried to yell, but Jun-sang held up his hand and stopped her again. “If you don’t like it, you can just go back. I don’t have to see a bothersome gnat buzzing around, and you don’t have to be humiliated. It’s a win-win, isn’t it?”

“…”

To dare call her a bothersome gnat… The Queen trembled with rage, but she couldn’t refute Jun-sang’s words. All she could do was shed tears, lamenting her fallen state.

As the Queen sat there, unable to speak and crying, Henes, who had been watching, quickly tried to calm Jun-sang. “Jun-sang… that’s enough now. Please stop.”

“Alright.”

The whip was enough for now; it was time for the carrot. Jun-sang entrusted the rest to Henes and slowly took a bite of his bagel sandwich.

Henes asked the water spirit to clean the empty cream container Jun-sang had used, poured some warm milk into it, and offered it to the Queen. The Queen glanced back and forth between the milk and Henes who offered it. In a situation where emotions clashed fiercely, saying this and that could be like adding fuel to a fire. In times like these, it was more helpful for both parties to calm down by drinking a warm beverage before continuing the conversation.

“…”

Just as expected, when the warm milk was placed in front of her, her body reacted first. The Queen, who unconsciously swallowed her saliva, realized she was incredibly hungry. Why wouldn’t she be? She hadn’t had a single drop of food in almost a thousand years, and after waking up, she had been screaming and letting out all her emotions. Anyone, not just the Queen, would be hungry.

Gulp.

The Queen unconsciously swallowed her saliva again and glanced at Jun-sang. The indifferent Jun-sang was reading the newspaper that had been delivered with the meal, as if he had no interest in the Queen anymore.

The clever Henes, seeing the Queen’s reaction to the milk, now cut a small piece of a freshly baked scone, spread clotted cream on it, and placed it in front of the Queen again.

Gulp.

It was hard enough to hold back her saliva with just the milk. With the added aroma of a freshly baked warm scone, it was truly unbearable for the Queen. In the end, the Queen couldn’t suppress her appetite and reached for the food.

“Ah…”

What was this warm and soft taste? And what about this tender food? The former Queen, Lyches, forgot all the dark emotions that had been tormenting her and focused on her first meal in a thousand years.

Even as a Queen, a fairy was still a fairy. It seemed she was not free from the weakness of gluttony. Henes let the Queen eat her fill. When the Queen finished her meal, Henes refilled her empty milk container and spoke.

“Your Majesty.”

“…”

The Queen, who had been patting her belly and expressing her satisfaction with the long-awaited meal, was startled and looked tense when Henes called her in a quiet voice. Henes smiled slightly at her and said, “Your Majesty, why did you want a consort?”

“That’s…”

In truth, that was something even the Queen couldn’t easily explain in a few words. Should she say she was envious, or should she say that the loneliness suddenly became overwhelming the moment she realized she had been alone for too long?

Seeing the Queen falter, unable to answer easily, Henes spoke again. “First… let me tell you what the Fairy Realm is like now.”

Henes briefly explained that the wolf girl Rysis had become the new Fairy Queen, that the frozen Fairy Realm and Spirit Realm had returned to normal, and that the aide and other fairies were working together to handle the tasks she had been doing.

The Queen listened quietly to Henes’s explanation and then asked, “What are you trying to say?”

When she finally got a response, Henes quickly replied, “I want to say that this could be an opportunity, depending on how you think about it.”

The Queen frowned and asked again, “An opportunity?”

Henes then began her persuasion in earnest. “Your Majesty, you’ve been in the Fairy Realm all this time, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Although you are formally under the restriction of being Jun-sang’s pet, don’t you think it might be lighter compared to the other restrictions that have been weighing you down all this time?”

“…”

That was true. Although she had the title of Queen, she thought it was just a facade. In reality, it was just a series of unchanging days, trapped in the prison of the Fairy Realm, buried under a mountain of work.

When the Queen fell silent, Henes spoke to her quietly again. “You said you wanted to find a consort, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Jun-sang is a person who constantly travels between different worlds.”

“…”

“If I may be so bold, wouldn’t it be better to travel to various worlds yourself rather than just waiting in the Fairy Realm?”

“That…”

It was a valid point. Of course, she had thought of this before, but the position of Queen and the responsibility for the Fairy Realm were too heavy. But what about now? She had already cast off the position of Queen and the responsibility for the Fairy Realm.

Instead, she had fallen to the status of a pet. But seeing this young girl wearing the same pet necklace, she could easily realize that her treatment could change depending on how she behaved.

“Hmm…”

The Queen glanced at Jun-sang again. Jun-sang was still holding up the newspaper, staying out of the conversation between the Queen and Henes. The Queen looked back at Henes. From the atmosphere just now, it was likely that these two were lovers.

To be outdone by such a young girl… She felt a little bad, but when she thought about it seriously, it would also be a big problem if her consort was a man who was so light-assed that he would be tempted by her even though he already had a lover. No matter how desperate she was, it was not good if he was just any man. Realizing that, the Queen finally admitted that she was too lacking in common sense about men.

“Hmm…”

The Queen took a sip of the milk that Henes had poured for her, and then slowly opened her mouth. “That… doesn’t sound bad.”

Henes smiled brightly at the Queen’s words and replied, “Right?”

“Well… I guess so.”

“Then you’ll be with us from now on, right?”

“For now.”

Her answer was not very enthusiastic, but a positive response was still a positive response. Once the persuasion was over, Henes began the introductions.

“My name is Henes Brea. I’m from Ibellua.” After introducing herself, Henes looked at Jun-sang and said, “This is Park Jun-sang. His family name is Park and his given name is Jun-sang. For your reference, he is a member of the royal family of the thousand-year-old Silla Kingdom.”

“Oh…”

Even though she had been persuaded by Henes’s words, the Queen, who was secretly displeased with the fact that she was being used as a pet by an ordinary human, nodded her head upon hearing that Jun-sang was of royal blood. In a way, she felt that a person of that status was acceptable. Of course, Henes had a hard time suppressing her laughter when she saw the Queen nod as if satisfied with the mention of a “thousand-year-old kingdom’s royal family.”

“And this is Mong-mong. He’s probably our senior as a pet.”

“…”

“And this pretty one is the Elemental Dragon. She hasn’t been named yet.”

“Oh…”

To even have a rare Fairy Dragon as a companion… The Queen had to admit that Jun-sang was a much more impressive human than she had thought.

Once Henes had successfully concluded the negotiation with the Queen, Jun-sang finally checked the Queen’s information.

Pet Information

Name: Lyches Ruathemis

Type: Fairy Queen

Level: 99Lv

Experience: ?

Grade: Unknown

Category: Composite

Growth: Late Bloom (Transcendent)

Attribute: Divine

Skills: Magic 99Lv (-50), Miracle 1Lv (-1) [Information]

Favorability: 60

Loyalty: 20

Card Slots: 10 [Information]

Description: The former Queen of the Fairy Realm. Exhausted from a millennium of work, she fell into another thousand-year sleep and has just awakened. She is a true demigod, but her power is restricted outside of the Fairy Realm.