The Tarka royal family had a complicated household.
The king, having lost his queen who died giving birth to the princess, had brought his long-time mistress into the palace to fill the void.
The mistress had three illegitimate children with the king. Still, the king—clinging to his last shred of conscience—insisted that the throne would go to the crown prince born of the true queen.
That had kept a fragile peace until recently.
But last winter, the crown prince went out hunting in the forest alone and met a pointless end.
Why had he ventured into the woods without even a single attendant? Why enter a bear's winter den, of all things?
There were countless suspicious details, but the knight order in charge of the investigation failed to uncover any clear cause. In the end, the incident was dismissed as an accident due to the prince's recklessness.
With the succession left in limbo, dark clouds began to gather over the palace.
By church law, marriage was a bond forged by the gods, and divorce was forbidden under any circumstances.
"The queen made a pact with the devil to destroy the kingdom! Her frail health was proof—she sacrificed it to the demon!"
"I heard the crown prince was secretly colluding with the empire to sell out the country and got what he deserved from heaven."
"The princess is learning black magic to sacrifice our people as fodder for demon summons."
To counter this, the mistress and her allies began slandering the late queen, the crown prince, and the lone ten-year-old princess, claiming their marriage was invalid from the start.
"Everyone, shut your mouths!"
Fortunately, the king's roar temporarily quelled their filthy schemes.
But the king was old and ailing. The princess, his only child by the queen, was too young.
The nobles, sensing the kingdom's power structure was about to shift, had long since allied with the mistress.
It was only thanks to the palace guard commander—who had served the crown prince—and his faction supporting the princess as the next in line that the royal house endured, however precariously.
Yet even that delicate balance...
"Gahk—!"
"Your Majesty?! Poison! Call for help now!"
...crumbled like a sandcastle when the king collapsed.
It happened during tea time with the princess. The guard commander's swift action prevented the worst, but...
"You said he had passed the crisis! Explain why His Majesty won't wake!"
"This poison doesn't harm the body—it attacks the mind."
"...What does that mean?"
"It induces a deep slumber, making the victim believe they're dead. Since there's no physical injury, holy magic and medicines are useless."
Despite summoning countless priests and pouring in every herb imaginable, the king never opened his eyes.
"Then what must we do?!"
"We need to awaken his mind."
"How—"
"The Great Forest."
The royal physician—who alone had diagnosed the king—met the guard commander's frantic gaze and spoke calmly.
"We need Awakening Herb from the Great Forest."
That was why Princess Veronica, now cut loose and adrift, had come to the Great Forest as the head of the delegation.
* * *
Veronica ran through the forest.
Her body, tumbling from repeated falls, was covered in bruises and scrapes. She kept wiping her sleeves across her face, but the tears wouldn't stop.
"Hic... sob..."
She repeated it endlessly in her mind.
Why. Why did it come to this?
.
....
To wake Father, they needed a herb found only in the Great Forest. Fortunately, the kingdom had a treaty with the elves, so with their help, it should be easy to obtain.
Her stepmother had assured her of that. Veronica need only show her face at the negotiation table as delegation head.
"We've never heard of such a herb."
But what was supposed to be simple went awry from the start. The elves claimed no Awakening Herb existed in the Great Forest.
The knights who had come as her escorts—former guards of her brother—barked threats, but the elves' answer didn't change.
"...Perhaps the physician misremembered the name."
"We even asked about similar herbs. They said no such thing exists."
"Could the physician have lied—"
"You know he's not the type."
After agonizing debates, the delegation decided they needed more details from the physician back home. As they prepared to return...
"I have a word in private."
"What is it?"
Late that night, a black-hooded elf man slipped into their temporary camp.
He faltered briefly under the knights' unified glares but soon steeled himself and spoke gravely.
"Awakening Herb ...does exist."
Tension crackled through the tent. As if on cue, the knights closed the flap and offered him a seat.
"...Speak."
When the lead knight asked in a lowered voice, the elf nodded faintly and began his cautious tale.
.
In truth, the elves knew of the herb the kingdom sought. But they aimed to gain the upper hand in relations this time. To do that, they first needed to eliminate the obstructive king.
"...So they pretended ignorance."
"A few days ago, I saw a suspicious figure colluding with the council of elders."
"Must be that witch Kristin's lackey."
The mistress's faction had moved first, ahead of the delegation.
.
The knights swallowed grimly upon learning the truth.
"Then where is the Awakening Herb?"
The elf hesitated, then squeezed his eyes shut.
"In the Sanctuary."
"...I see."
The elves' Sanctuary—a place guarded around the clock by forest rangers, entry strictly controlled.
The kingdom had sworn never to violate elven territory, especially the Sanctuary. Breaking that could spark war.
As the knights sighed in resignation...
"I'll help you."
The elf, watching them, subtly revealed a pure white wooden plaque from his robes.
The badge of a forest ranger captain. He identified himself as one patrolling near the Sanctuary and spread a map on the table.
"During my squad's patrol, slip through this path, and you'll enter the Sanctuary."
"...The kingdom won't forget this debt."
A few nights later, under clouds veiling the moon, the guards—disguised as a lost merchant caravan—ascended the cliff path.
....
.
"Hic..."
It was a vicious trap. The moment arrows rained from above through the thick darkness, Veronica and the knights realized too late they'd been duped.
The elf man from that night was nowhere among the rangers firing at them.
Who could it be? Sister Beatrice, always craving new battlefields? Or brother Bern, hungering for fresh elf slaves?
Whoever it was, their intent was brutally clear.
Someone sought to use Veronica's life as kindling for war between kingdom and elves.
If word got out that she and the palace guards died here, the kingdom—having suffered regicide—couldn't avoid all-out war.
Even if war was averted somehow, humans breaching the Sanctuary would ruin relations irreparably. Her stepmother's faction would use it to purge the guards entirely.
Fighting or fleeing was impossible. The knights were lightly armed for infiltration. Already at a terrain disadvantage, they couldn't beat the rangers.
Even scattering and abandoning the carriage wouldn't shake pursuit in the Great Forest.
Worse, if Veronica were captured alive, their identities might leak.
So they had to be greedy merchants here—nothing more. Not the kingdom's princess and her guards.
Fortunately, this mission used nameless shadows. As long as no one learned Veronica was here...
The worst could be avoided.
"Our duty is to protect you, Princess."
"Forgive us for not seeing it through."
"...Please survive."
A dog's death, without drawing a single sword.
They had the skill to dodge or block the arrows. The will and grit to fight for kingdom till the end.
Yet they chose to stand still and die.
For the kingdom. For Veronica.
I have to live.
To not waste their sacrifice—their names not even properly remembered—Veronica kicked free of the carriage hold and fled, grief on her back.
Invisibility. A spell to hide form and presence.
"...A survivor?!"
"A child...?"
Her best spell, desperately cast, but the elves pierced it effortlessly.
...Crunch.
"Pursue at on—"
"W-wait! A messenger from the village—"
"Ranger Captain and all rangers! Return to the village immediately!"
"What?! Why—"
Leaving the elves' voices echoing from the cliff top, Veronica bolted into the dark.
She ran and ran.
- Awooooo—!
Wolf howls echoed from afar.
The rangers' hunting wolves might be on her trail now. A poisoned arrow could pierce her unguarded back through the thick brush.
In terror where death could strike her throat any instant, all Veronica could do was grit her teeth and force her trembling legs onward.
Tinnitus drowned her ears, her heart pounded to burst. Blurred by tears, her vision held only the Great Forest's biting chill.
"Hup... sniff..." Crunch.
She bit her lip to stifle sobs. Blind to direction, she just ran.
Thud—!
"Urgh..."
Barreling through the pitch night, she slammed into an invisible barrier. Heart sinking—Have the elves caught me?—
Thud—. Thud.
"...Perception block?"
Soon she realized it merely concealed space, and sighed faintly in relief.
- Awoooooo—!
"...!"
Short-lived. Wolf pack howls from behind tensed her nerves taut.
She'd run till breath burned her throat. Exhausted, she had no strength left to face wolves.
...Nothing to lose.
Veronica gathered mana.
Ziiing—.
She clutched the pendant magitool hidden at her throat, holding it to her chest.
Whoom—. Flash—!
Mana burst from the tool, boring a small hole in the concealment spell.
....
.
A vast flower field of enormous blooms, bigger than her, stretching to the dark beyond sight.
She dimly guessed it was an elven garden.
- Grrr.... Yap, yap—!
Forward... forward, keep going...
Her body and mind had long hit their limit.
Stop and die. No other choice.
Her mind held only the drive to press on.
She staggered ahead, chanting farther, farther, eyes glazing, until...
Her consciousness blacked out at the brink.
* * *
.
....
...
Bright light stabbed Veronica's eyelids.
Hunger followed. Then muscle ache wracked her body.
Pain like a beating dragged her from sleep to cold reality. She wanted to stay under forever, but...
...I have to escape.
For those who begged her to live, she had to wake. And so...
Flash.
Opening her eyes with resolve, she saw...
"...?"
Fresh green hair. Pale lilac eyes flecked with petals. Tiny, translucent paired wings.
A doll no bigger than a handspan.
A spirit...? No, doesn't seem so...
At first a spirit, but up close, it had clear substance—not ethereal.
Then what was it? As Veronica pondered, a possibility flashed.
Could it be...?
The legendary being said to have aided Tarka dynasty's founder in building the kingdom, now lost to myth.
"...Fairy?"
Seeing the legend wielding a fork, eyeing her warily...
"No, a dream...?"
Still half-asleep, Veronica stared blankly.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Read 19 more chapters ahead on NovelDex!
https://noveldex.io/series/reborn-as-a-fairy-obsessed-over-by-heroes
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━