Chapter 36 Another drawing: Pay attention to the materials! ...
"Excuse me for interrupting your monologue, my lord. But perhaps you haven't noticed, Her Majesty the Queen is watching online via Rainbow Communications," Lucas said slowly. "Your Majesty Melia, as you can see, your brother has presented the truth to everyone in detail."
“Aidan,” Melia said in disbelief, “is this true? How could you destroy a tradition that has lasted for centuries of our people?”
Aidan's face contorted. "Tradition has stifled our inspiration, Melia! You're too sorrowful to see that!"
The voice of another elf came from within the rainbow.
"Good heavens! Uh, Your Majesty, should I... ah, go and call the guards? This... seems quite serious."
“Nonsense, Zelan,” Melia said irritably. “Get to the garden now.”
The rainbow disappeared, and Lucas turned to Aidan, his smile vanished.
"Please tell us how to undo the effects of the amnesia potion." His tone was unusually cold.
“Of course,” Aidan quickly recognized the situation, “provided you let me go.”
“Wishful thinking,” Ashlin said immediately. “You’ll be heading to the dungeon, Grand Musician.”
Aidan shrugged.
"Alright then, you'll lose your memory in five minutes."
After that, the three of them fell into an awkward and strange atmosphere, waiting for the other elves to arrive. Aidan knelt in the cage, but showed no signs of frustration. Perhaps he had other plans, Ashlin thought, but in any case, he was now bound.
“Listen, Ashlin.” Lucas took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I was blinded by emotion.”
Ashlinn didn't look at him.
"You don't need to say anything, I'll forget everything right away."
“You won’t forget. If there’s anything you can’t remember, you can ask any other elf. After all, we were arguing so fiercely just now that the whole Elf Valley could hear us.”
Ashlin looked at him now, her expression serious.
“Just kidding. I was just trying to ease the tension,” Lucas quickly said.
"Haha, that's hilarious."
“What I’m trying to say is that if you forget, we can share our memories with magic.” Lucas hesitated for a moment, then spoke faster than a jingle, “Ashlin, I’m a selfish, ungrateful child who took your company for granted. In reality, you can go to the ball with any person or elf, and there’s no need for you to risk your life for me. Even if I really turned into a cat, it’s not your fault.”
“I’m very sorry for the hurtful things I said. If you don’t forgive me or decide not to help me anymore, I can completely understand. Please go back to Sanova, and I will go north on my own.”
Ashlin stared at him, speechless with shock at the last two sentences.
Is he serious?
Lucas looked at her earnestly with his sky-blue eyes, his lips pressed into a thin line, and his hands constantly brushing his slightly dried bangs back.
Ashlin was genuinely worried that if he kept flipping his hair, he'd end up bald like Nicholas II.
What an idiot.
She was momentarily distracted and relaxed her control over the thorns.
Taking advantage of the situation, Aidan pushed aside the plants, ignoring the scratches, and ran in the opposite direction of the garden.
Ashlyn and Lucas gave chase, but the problem was that neither of them could be considered athletic, and Ashlyn's long dress was clearly not designed for chasing criminals.
Before long, the two of them were exhausted and panting heavily.
She looked at Lucas's blue cloak in front of her, suddenly stopped, and grabbed him.
Ashlinn didn't say anything, but simply ripped his cloak off.
She ignored him, pointed her cloak at Aidan's back, threw it hard, and added a wind elemental spell.
The cloak, like a blue bird net, landed precisely on Aidan's face.
The elven musician suddenly stopped, shook off his cloak, and the cat hair began to take effect.
He sneezed and sniffed. It's a pity that even with allergies, he could still keep running; perhaps the elves have a good habit of maintaining physical exercise every day.
The cat fur on the cloak was different from that of a real cat, and it didn't have as much of an effect on him as it had when he fought the three-headed dog. They gave chase, but still couldn't catch him.
Aidan wiped away his tears, and his figure gradually disappeared into the darkness.
However, the cat hair did slow him down, at least increasing the chances of him being caught by the knights.
“Hand him over to Melia,” Lucas said. “Where can he run to? All of Ilovia knows about his plans now, and all the knights in the city are searching for him. Running away would be tantamount to deceiving himself.”
"For example?"
At this moment, Ashlin suddenly felt a little lost.
What are she and Lucas doing standing here? Just a second ago, she was drinking in the banquet hall.
“Ashlin,” Lucas said anxiously, grabbing her hand, “quickly use the memory-sharing spell on us.”
"What?"
"There's no time, hurry!"
She had no choice but to comply. This time, she learned the whole story from Lucas's perspective.
Memory sharing is considered a relatively objective form of mind magic. She couldn't know Lucas's inner thoughts, but only understood the sequence of events from his memories.
Lucas crouched behind the statue and, before Aidan could reveal everything, used the Moonlight Rainbow to whisper to Melia, telling her not to act rashly before knowing the whole truth, lest she alert the enemy.
The video feed from Rainbow Communications was blurry, but the audio was crystal clear; Melia hadn't missed a thing. She heard every word Aidan said.
“You were just trying to tell Aidan what else he could do,” Lucas reminded him.
Ashlin patted her leg.
“Yes! Knox! He and Knox are allies, remember?”
“Then this is Aidan’s only way out,” Lucas said. “Contact Knox. How do you think they’ll contact him? Through a text-transmission spell?”
They exchanged a glance; the letter must be in Aidan's room.
Aidan's music is magical, and he now has the magic flute. Perhaps he cannot defeat all of Melia's men, but it is not impossible for him to bypass a few guards and enter his room.
He didn't live in the main hall, but in another small palace next to the Crystal Tower, and it would take Melia's elves some time to get there.
At this point, they can't be sure if Aidan knows that Knox is also looking for the Magic Flute, but by the time Melia catches him in his room, Knox will likely already know everything.
Ashlyn and Lucas arrived at Aidan's residence and, unsurprisingly, found all the guards on the road lying on the ground, fast asleep and snoring loudly.
Aidan hypnotized them all.
The door was locked, but it was useless.
Because it was a wooden door.
Anything made from plants is helpful to Ashlin.
Ashlin was filled with rage at the thought that Aidan, her famous idol, had deceived her for so long, claiming that he was infatuated with her and had danced with her.
They had traveled a long and arduous journey, with some elves even dying, only to waste all their time on a musician who had gone mad from a loss of inspiration.
A green light flashed in her eyes, and the wooden door exploded as she commanded, scattering wood chips all over the ground, even startling Lucas.
“You really are a lock-picking master.” Lucas looked at the sawdust and said sarcastically, “Now Aidan definitely won’t know we’re here.”
"Shut up."
“Okay.” He responded quickly.
Given how loudly they opened the door, they made no attempt to conceal their entry and swaggered in.
The silver-haired elf was deep in thought, staring at the few sheets of paper on the desk.
"You're at your wit's end, my lord?" Ashlin said, causing all the potted plants on the windowsill to grow towards Aidan. "Listen to me, give me back the magic flute, and go back to the main hall to catch up with your sister."
They had a clear advantage: Ashlyn's magical plants were incredibly fast and much more precise to control than before, while Aidan would probably have to play for a while to defeat her with music. Controlling him would be a piece of cake.
Aidan, however, acted as if he didn't see them, focusing intently on his desk.
“Seven, seventeen, seventy…” he said in a dreamy tone, “No matter which seven it is, it is full of magic, isn’t it?”
“Ah, maybe he’s finally gone completely mad.” Lucas shrugged. “Just take him down, Ashley.”
Ashlin nodded, and the plant immediately rushed towards Aidan, but the elven musician nimbly dodged it, gently raising his hand to reveal a piece of paper.
At first, she thought it was letter paper for sending text messages.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t be so impulsive, Ash.”
Ashlin felt nauseous.
“Don’t call me Ash.” Then she looked at the paper; there were no words on it, only a drawing. “Wait, what’s that…”
“Yes.” Aidan smiled happily. “Another one of our unruly Laurel’s creations.”
He moved a little closer, and Ashlind could see it more clearly now: what he was holding was the same sketch that Ashlind had seen in Laurel's studio that day.
Lucas's sketches.
In the painting, he is depicted in the main hall promising Melia a gift, exuding confidence and elegance.
“No way,” Lucas was the most surprised of the three. “This is me?”
Ashlin waved her hand impatiently; her only wish at that moment was to strangle the musician with plants as soon as possible.
"It's just a Lucas painting. What are you trying to say?"
“It’s not just painting,” Aidan said. “If I’m not mistaken, Lucas de Vere… you’re turning seventeen this year, aren’t you?”
“So what?” Lucas asked, then frowned. “No, you’re not implying… but the relationship between art and age is just a rule for elves, and humans are unaffected.”
Ashlin felt her temples throbbing.
She never expected that Aidan would use the sketch Laurel had drawn for Lucas on a whim to deal with them.
Indeed, they couldn't be sure if what he said was true or false. Has any human in history had their soul affected by the number seven while in the Valley of the Spirits?
She glanced at Lucas, who also seemed quite bewildered, staring intently at his sketch, as if he were uncomfortable seeing his own face elsewhere.
This time they can no longer compete in speed; Aidan can tear Lucas's sketch to shreds before Ashlyn's vine attack can even begin.
“That’s right,” Aidan said with satisfaction, “Put down the magic, or I’ll tear his soul apart!”
Just then, a flurry of footsteps approached. A strikingly dressed red-haired elf burst into the room, dropping his flamingo mask to the floor.
She held up a pencil, pointing it at Aidan: "Don't move!"
“Uh, Laurel, you’re threatening him with a pencil,” Lucas pointed out.
As soon as he finished speaking, Lucas relaxed and nodded leisurely.
“It’s alright, sir, go ahead and tear it,” he said, as if discussing the weather.
Ashlyn and Laurel turned around in surprise at the same time: "What?"
Aidan narrowed his eyes.
Are you sure?
Lucas said to Ashlin, "Just bind him, Ashlin, don't hesitate."
Just as she was wondering what was going on, he winked at her and mouthed a word:
plant.
Then he looked firmly at his sketch.
Ashlin understood in less than a second.
Laurel said that Lucas used papyrus for his sketches.
Papyrus is made from the inner stem of the papyrus plant, which is also part of the plant.
Even if Lucas's soul is harmed after Aidan tears up the sketch, Ashlyn can restore it.
Therefore, everything happened at the same time.
Ashlin's magic erupted wildly. With a tearing sound, Aidan ripped the painting apart, and Laurel screamed in agony. Ivy bound the elven grand musician, and the shattered face of Lucas in the painting gently drifted away.
The real Lucas screamed and turned deathly pale.
"What's wrong? Are you alright?" Ashlin tightened the vines around Aidan, stuffed the magic flute into her spatial backpack, and turned to look at the human prince.
"What's so scary?" Ashlin was completely baffled.
Lucas waved his arms exaggeratedly, gesturing to the surrounding environment.
Ashlin stared at him as if she were watching a disaster scene.
This was one of the most horrifying scenes she had ever seen.
He stared at her with wide blue eyes and upturned eyebrows, his earnest gaze transforming him from a cat into a dog.
It was definitely not Lucas himself.
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