The warm morning sun shines on her face through the gap in the window. Galey is beside her casting a healing spell when Rose opens her eyes. The black cat, Rinka, is grooming herself next to Rose.

"Good morning, Princess Rose."
"Good morning, Galey. Good morning, Rinka."

Rose greeted them.

"Good morning, how are you feeling?"
"Hmm, my head feels heavy. But I'm hungry."
"Your fever is still high. It's gone down compared to yesterday, though..."

When Rose answers, Rinka looks at her.

"You should get plenty of rest today."

Rinka and Galey have been taking care of her since yesterday.

Growl...

"Hahaha, that's a wonderful sound, Princess Rose."
"Hmm. I'm embarrassed."
"No, no, that's a sign you're getting better. Please wait a moment, I'll go ask the kitchen to prepare breakfast."
"Yes. Thank you."

Galey smiled and left the room. People could be heard talking outside, and it was quiet.

"What about Efergan and the others?"
"They've already gone to the mayor's place."
"Did I oversleep that much?"
"I didn't wake you because you're sick and need to rest. Efergan and the others were very quiet."
"That's right. It would be better if you enjoyed the hot springs more."
"It's fine. We all went to the hot springs. Because all the baths at this inn are hot springs."
"Haha, that's right."
"Let's go in together again when Rose gets better."
"Yeah."
"I think we'll stay in this town longer because there's an investigation and trial."
"I see."
"Kerzek told me yesterday that Efergan sent a request for security and Black Ops support to the lord and the palace."
"I see."

Rose was looking at Rinka. She thought that Efergan and the others looked like they were having a hard time.

"They suspect this may be a treason."
"That's terrible."
"We're still investigating the fake Bara."
"Yeah. Even though she's fake Bara, she doesn't look anything like me."
"Yeah. Rose is cuter."

Rinka kissed Rose's nose with her cold nose. She's a cute black cat.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Galey entered the bedroom with the other guests. He brought a variety of dishes.

"It smells good."
"Okay, let's start with the delicious herbal soup."
"Okay. Let's eat."

Galey woke Rose up, propped her up on a pillow, picked up the bowl of soup, and put it in her mouth little by little with a spoon. It was warm and delicious, Rose thought. After she finished drinking all the soup, he fed her porridge. The porridge smelled similar to the herbal soup but had eggs and boiled meat. It was very delicious. Rose ate all the porridge that Galey had prepared.

"I'm glad you have an appetite."
"Yes. It was very delicious."
"I can see on your face that you want to eat more, but let's hold off for a while. I'll have someone make you some delicious food for lunch, so please look forward to it."
"Yes."
"Let's take the medicine."

Galey handed over the medicine. Rose stuck out her tongue, saying it was bitter, and Galey laughed, taking a small bowl and opening the lid.

"Here, something sweet."
"Yay."

It was a pudding-like dessert with honey on it. It had a very gentle taste, and it was sweet, and Rose thought it was a good way to cleanse her mouth from the bitterness of the medicine.

"Did Galey suggest these dishes?"
"Yes."
"It was very delicious."
"That's great."
"Do medical doctors study these dishes?"
"They do study them to a certain extent. After all, patients should heal their bodies with delicious food."
"That's amazing. I want to study too."

Rose was looking at Galey.

"I'll teach you a little bit when you get better."
"Yes, please."
"Then let's get some rest."

Rose nodded. Then she noticed something in the room. It was a bunch of bouquets. There were many flowers in vases, some were just ordinary plants, but some were beautifully tied with ribbons.

"What are those flowers?"

"They're gifts from the townspeople. They're bouquets of flowers to thank you for helping them and to get you better soon. There are also a lot of letters."
"Wow."
"I'll leave the fruit in the next room. You can eat it little by little when you get better."
"Yes."
"It was a gift of money, but it was forbidden by His Highness's orders."

Galey said with a smile, and Rose laughed.

"Hahaha, that's typical of Efergan. But I'm glad I was saved. I don't want to receive gifts of money or goods."
"Yes. But the gift of baked goods was welcome... hahaha."
"Oh dear."
"His Highness said we should all eat together later."
"Yeah. I want to eat too. I need to get better soon."
"Yes. I'll come again at lunchtime."
"Thank you, Galey."

Galey bowed his head and left the room. Galey is a very kind man, a medical doctor, and a member of the Black Ops. Rose doesn't know what his Black Ops face looks like, but the faces he showed Rose were all very kind.

Rose shouldn't lie down immediately because she just ate, but she'll spend some time with Rinka. She'll get sleepy when the medicine takes effect, so she starts reading the letters she received from the townspeople before sleepy. Rose was moved as she read the letters, knowing that everyone had written them with all their hearts. She felt warm inside.

Tears flowed from her eyes as she read one letter. It was a letter from a mother. It said that her son had been turned into a magic stone and died. Rose remembered that it was the young man she couldn't save. When she removed him from the magic stone, he was unconscious. Perhaps his body couldn't withstand the forced extraction of his magic power. He didn't respond to the healing spells she used. Galey confirmed his death, and the townspeople carried him home. His mother was safe, living in a village on the outskirts of Galica. The man's mother wrote carefully that she was grateful that her son had returned home so that she could have a funeral with her family watching over them. It was sad. The grief of a mother who lost a child is immeasurable. When Rinka looked at Rose, who had started crying, Rinka rolled around and leaned against her. It was a cat-like way of comforting her.

After reading a few letters, Rose started to feel sleepy. The medicine was working. There was still a stack of letters to read, but it was too hard to keep her eyes open, so Rose decided to go to bed. She didn't know how long she had been sleeping. But when she woke up, it was already time for dinner. Rose felt like she had missed out on a meal for lunch.

"Your fever has gone down a lot since this morning."

Galey checked her temperature. She was told she could eat normal meals, but greasy foods were still not good for her. Then, Rinka wiped her body with a towel soaked in hot spring water. She felt good and refreshed. She changed her clothes and went to the living room where dinner was prepared.

Rose was still unsteady, but she managed to walk on her own. When she went to the living room, Rose noticed many boxes of fruits and baked goods lined up. They were gifts for Rose and Efergan. When she told Efain he could eat the fruit, he looked happy. Rose thought it better to ask Efain to help her because the fruit would turn bad if not eaten. By the way, Haintz seemed to have regained his energy. Galey said that his appetite had returned to normal.

Many dishes were brought out. Galey checked the dishes and chose the ones that were good to eat. It is said that medicines may not work as well if they are mixed with other foods. Of course, there is also a medicinal soup for Rose. Galey told Rose that she must have the soup first. Rose slowly sips the soup before moving on to the other dishes. Efain and Haintz are fighting over the food as usual. Rinka looks at them with an exasperated look on her face.

Galey eats quietly next to Rose while checking her meal. It is fun to eat with friends like this. Efergan and the others must be eating somewhere right now. He has been busy working in the mayor's office until late yesterday.

After a delicious dinner, Rose took her medicine. It was bitter as usual. But she was told she could eat sweet baked goods after the bitter medicine. She opened one box and found a lot of nuts, which are baked goods from this region. Sweetened with honey, it was very delicious. It was a baked good that felt different from Alhatross's baked goods, but she learned for the first time that nuts could be used this way. Rinka also savored the taste as she ate. She must be analyzing the taste.

Before the drowsiness caused by the medicine from Galey set in, Rose had a short conversation with Haintz and Efain. When she asked Haintz how he felt, he smiled and said he was fine. Rose looked relieved and said she was relieved. He's fine now. That's good.

When Rose asked Efain about the song of the Horned Owl people, Efain gladly taught her. He taught her a simple song that was easy to remember, and everyone there tried singing it. Rose thought it would be a better song if they had instruments. Surprisingly, it became a nice melody when several people sang it like this. It was interesting, Rose thought with a smile.

However, Rose didn't know the song of Alhathross. That's because she had never studied singing. She had never even sung a song before. With Rinka's help, she was able to sing a little. Rose felt pathetic that she didn't know much about her own country. She realized that she had to study more next time.

Rose felt that her eyelids were starting to get heavy. It seemed that Galey's medicine had worked, and after saying goodnight to Haintz and Efain, she went into the bedroom with Galey and Rinka. Her pulse and temperature were checked, and a healing spell was cast upon her. Then, before she knew it, she was asleep.

She was woken up by Efergan's presence in the middle of the night. Even if he came home late, Efergan always visited Rose's room to check her condition. She woke up when he touched her head and neck.

"Did I wake you up again?"
"Yes. But welcome back."
"I'm back. I heard from Galey that your fever has gone down. That's good."
"Yes. Thanks to everyone."
"You'll probably feel better tomorrow. That's good."
"Yes."
"I'm still busy for a while, so I can't go far with Rose, but forgive me."
"No. It's okay. I'll study a little tomorrow and finish my assignments. I think I'll write replies to letters from the townspeople again."
"There are a lot of letters, so don't push yourself too hard."
"Yes. But I want to write replies to people whose addresses I know."
"I see. I'll have someone prepare paper and an envelope tomorrow."
"Thank you."
"That's right. I told the mayor about the owl stuffed animal, and his wife made it for me. I'm keeping it as a gift for Rose."

Efergan handed Rose the box he brought. She found a cute horned owl stuffed animal inside when she opened the box. It was handmade by the mayor's wife and very well-made and pretty. It was made of fluffy cloth. It was a small stuffed animal, but it was comfortable to hug.

"Cute."
"Do you like it?"
"Yes. Very much. Thank you."
"Good."
"I have to thank her."
"I said. The lady asked me many times if this was enough. It seems she was one of the people Rose saved from the magic stone."
"Oh, really?"

Rose is looking at Efergan while holding the stuffed animal.

"She said she wanted to give a better gift to the person who saved her life, but when I told her that you liked handmade stuffed animals like this more than fancy ones, she was surprised."
"Haha, I guess I'm not normal after all."
"No, that's Rose's characteristic. You are very different from that fake. The more I investigate, the more I want to chop off that person's head. She's a scum, worse than an animal."
"What was her goal in the end?"
"Apparently she wanted wealth and fame... She teamed up with Goroe and gathered followers. After things didn't go well, she used illusion magic to gather money and valuables in various places as the Daughter of the Dragon God and changed her place of operation from place to place. Then, after a few months, she met Megikel in Galica. Goroe confessed that Megikel would cooperate if they exchanged magic stones for him."
"I see."
"They said that if they attacked a town, tied up people they liked with the necklace, and turned the rest into magic stones, they could create more powerful magic. Of course, the necklace wasn't cheap. They must have spent a lot of money on it. They calculated that the people tied up with the necklace would not do anything stupid because they valued their lives. They could use them to take care of their personal needs as slaves and also as comfort for their followers. Incidentally, the reason they kept the children alive was simply that they were the children of people who were being forced to work, and they were hostages."
"That's vicious."

Rose said, sighing.

"That's right. The fake Bara likes young men, Goroe likes young women, and those two surround themselves with people they like. And then we showed up just as they were about to move into another town."
"That's terrible."
"They were trying to take the money for the necklace back from the town."
"What kind of people are they? They did it under my name."
"Yeah. That woman's real name is Prina."
"I see. By the way, what happened to Megikel?"
"We're currently investigating. We've already put him on the nationwide wanted list. We've ordered that he be captured alive as a person of interest. But, we've added that we can kill him on the spot. We've also prepared a reward."
"Wow."

Efergan was bold, Rose thought.

"It would be terrible if something like this were to happen again."
"Yes. That's enough. I received a letter from a mother who lost her son. I read it and it made me sad."
"Let me see the letter."
"Yes."

Rose got up and took out the letter from a stack of letters nearby. She handed it to Efergan. He read it quietly.

"That was a really horrible story."
"Yeah."
"I have to be strong for people like her. For Rose too... You must have cried after reading this."
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"There were a lot of tear marks on the paper. They were from dripping and drying. Normally you wouldn't send a letter on such crumpled paper. Because it would be rude to send a letter like that to Rose, who is of high status."
"I see. I still don't know the extent of rudeness. I don't mind crumpled paper like this."
"It's a matter of feelings. After all, Rose wrote me letters on clean paper, right? You rewrote it on clean paper when you made a mistake, right?"
"I see."

Rose nodded. That's true, she thought.

"Right? And when you're sending a letter to someone of higher status than you, you should be careful. That's how I knew. These were Rose's tears."

Efergan hugged Rose.

"You shed tears for the people of Suzukinoyama. Thank you."
"No. Her son got caught up in this because an impostor of mine appeared."
"You shouldn't think that if only you weren't there."
"..."
"You were thinking that, weren't you?"
"Yes..."
"Even if Rose wasn't there, those scum would impersonate someone else and do evil."
"..."
"So Rose isn't to blame. Don't blame yourself."
"Yes."
"You need to take better care of yourself and love yourself more."
"But... it's painful."
"I understand."
"There might be another impostor somewhere."
"We have no choice but to eliminate them one by one."
"More victims will come."
"That can't be helped. That's why I sent a letter to His Majesty the Emperor. I asked all the lords to look for information on the fake Dragon God's daughter."

Efergan stares at Rose.

"I see."
"If His Majesty the Emperor orders it, then crackdowns can be carried out nationwide."
"Yes."
"Besides, if we make Rose cry too much... I'm scared to imagine what Rocco might do."
"Oh, yes..."

That may be right. It seems that Rocco is being watched very closely. By defeating the monster with that one blow, he has become even more of a threat than the monster itself.

"So, don't worry. From now on, you can safely assume that these kinds of suspicious religious groups and fake Dragon God Princesses have no place in this country."
"But we must also protect individual freedom. It's up to each person to decide which God they want to worship."
"Of course. His Majesty will definitely take that into consideration. In this case, there were deaths, so we must take measures and establish laws to prevent it from happening again."
"I see. It's tough."

When Rose said that, Efergan smiled.

"That's true. But that's not Rose's job, so don't worry. I just want Rose to live happily in this country."
"Please share your troubles with me."
"I've already shared mine. You've cried a lot for me, haven't you?"
"Huh?"
"Even if I want to cry, I'm in a position where I can't. I have to make calm decisions, I have to see things from a neutral standpoint. Sometimes this is really painful."
"I see."
"Only my few servants and Rose understand my pain, but that's enough."

Efergan holds Rose's hand.

"Efergan..."
"Because of my position, there are more people who wish for my death."
"I wish for you to be safe."
"Thank you. I wish for Rose to be safe too. We are both in danger."
"Yes."
"That's right. I know the names and addresses of the people who died, so I'll show them tomorrow. I think it would be good to send them condolence letters and bouquets. I'll write the names too, so let's write them together tomorrow."
"Okay. What about work?"
"I'll just wait for the report tomorrow, so I'll just go to the mayor's office in the afternoon. The trial will be the day after tomorrow."
"I see."
"I want to spend some time relaxing with Rose tomorrow. So you should take today off. It would be terrible if your fever rose again."

Efergan put Rose's hand on his face.

"Um..."
"What?"
"Please teach me a song next time."
"I'd be happy to."
"Thank you."

Efergan hugged Rose tightly again. Then he kissed her gently.

"How long do you guys intend to hold each other?"

Rinka can be heard sounding in a bad mood. Outside, Olefa and the others can be heard giggling.

"I'm leaving now."
"Get out quickly, hissss!"

Rinka the cat chased Efergan away.

"Goodnight, Efergan."
"Goodnight, Rose."

She heard the door close and obediently crawled under the blanket. She needed to get better quickly to have fun with him tomorrow. And today, she felt like she'd learned something new about him. She hugged her cute stuffed owl, closed her eyes, and decided to go to sleep.

Rose (93) Galica (6)